Northwest & Pacific Chefs

Sheldon Simeon

RESTAURANT Star Noodle (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Lahaina, HI

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s meshing his Hawaiian background with Asian ingredients and techniques to make a progressive, phenomenal noodle house.

CULINARY SCHOOL Maui Culinary Academy (Kahului, HI)

BACKGROUND Aloha Mixed Plate, Old Lahaina Luau (Lahaina, HI)

MUST-TRY DISH Vietnamese crêpe with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts.

INFLUENCES “My main influence in cooking stems from the Hawaii Regional Chef Team, particularly Alan Wong and Roy Yamaguchi.”

FAVORITE DISH Pohole (fern) salad. Growing up, Simeon ate it at luaus and parties at his grandparents’ house. “I know I wanted something on the menu that ties to my roots.”

Photo © Courtesy of Star Noodle.
 

Ben Bettinger

RESTAURANT Beaker & Flask (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Portland, OR

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because the big, knockout flavors he delivers are a perfect match for the restaurant’s exquisite cocktails.

CULINARY SCHOOL Western Culinary Institute, now Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Portland, OR)

BACKGROUND Clyde Common, Paley’s Place (Portland, OR)

MUST-TRY DISH Pork cheeks with braised peppers, pickled octopus and aioli.

BEST KNOWN FOR Being the "baby-faced" chef behind Portland’s Restaurant of the Year (Willamette Weekly).

HOW HE UNWINDS AT THE END OF THE NIGHT“Coors out of the can.”

FIRST PRESS EXPOSUREBeing quoted in the Burlington Free Press (in Vermont) when he was 11. “The editor called my mom and said, ‘Your son said he likes brie and apple sandwiches—is this serious?’ and she said ‘Yes, he eats it all the time.’”

Chris DiMinno

RESTAURANT Clyde Common (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Portland, OR

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because his adventurous cuisine marries farm-to-table cooking with the trendy vibe of one of Portland’s hottest bars.

CULINARY SCHOOL The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)

BACKGROUND Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY), Telepan (New York City)

MUST-TRY DISH Seasonal pastas such as pappardelle with mushrooms, leeks and truffle oil.*

ALTERNATE CAREER CHOICE “If I weren’t a chef, I would be a bicycle mechanic. Hands down. I will never sit behind a desk as long as I live.”

FOOD AVERSION “Canned tuna. No matter how ‘good’ any brand is, it is always terrible.”

Nick Duncan

RESTAURANT La Belle Vie (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Nampa, ID

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s bringing elegant, French-influenced food to small-town Idaho.

CULINARY SCHOOL Boise State University (Boise, ID)

BACKGROUND Bella Aquila (Eagle, ID), internship at Brick 29 (Nampa, ID), Le Cafe de Paris (Boise, ID)

MUST-TRY DISH Lamb crespelle with pesto cream sauce.

INGREDIENT HE ALWAYS NEEDS MORE OF “Salt. I’m curing something at least once a week, whether it’s duck confit or homemade sauerkraut.”

DISH HE WISHES HE COULD SERVE “Offal of all kinds, like sweetbreads or tripe.”

STRANGEST INGREDIENT “Bear. I made a chorizo-style bear sausage once.”

Sunny Jin

RESTAURANT Jory (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Newberg, OR

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s enriching the Willamette Valley’s culinary scene by pairing his exceptional dishes with the region’s inspiring wines.

CULINARY SCHOOL Western Culinary Institute, now Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Portland, OR)

BACKGROUND Internship at El Bulli (now closed; Roses, Spain), Tetsuya’s (Sydney), the French Laundry (Yountville, CA)

MUST-TRY DISH Trio of rabbit-braised leg, loin roulade and rabbit bacon cassoulet.*

ON EL BULLI “I miss it. I wish I was back there. At the time it was such a grind, and I had a hard time accepting certain things about it. But having lived through it, I see it now as a really valuable experience.”

ALTERNATE CAREER “I started going to school for forestry and management. I didn’t like it.”

HOW HE GOT INTO THE FOOD BUSINESS “I used to cook at a country club for free golf, but I wasn’t serious about it.”

Jenn Louis

RESTAURANT Lincoln (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Portland, OR

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because her minimalist approach to sustainable cooking produces food that’s honest, straightforward and delicious.

CULINARY SCHOOL Western Culinary Institute, now Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Portland, OR)

BACKGROUND Wildwood (Portland, OR)

MUST-TRY DISH Baked eggs with cream, castelvetrano olives and herbed bread crumbs.

HOW SHE GOT STARTED COOKING PROFESSIONALLY“While at Outward Bound, I had the opportunity to cook for the staff at base camp, in the middle of nowhere. Talk about an exercise in simplicity! I loved it.”

HOW SHE RELAXES “Getting home before 10 p.m., which is my curfew, and playing my drums. There’s no better way to unwind.”

NEWEST PROJECTComfort food temple Sunshine Tavern, which OregonLive.com calls “the hipster kid brother” to Lincoln.

Cormac Mahoney

RESTAURANT Madison Park Conservatory (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Seattle, WA

WHY HE’S AMAZINGBecause his irreverent take on global cuisine is drawing crowds to Seattle’s tony Madison Park neighborhood.

BACKGROUND Tako Truk, Sitka & Spruce, Vios Café, Dahlia Lounge, Palace Kitchen, Etta’s (Seattle).

MUST-TRY DISH Smoked clam risotto with uni butter.

ON FORMER BOSS MATTHEW DILLON, FOOD & WINE BEST NEW CHEF 2007 “He has the most influential voice in Northwest cooking right now. I learned so much about food and myself with him. He’s my favorite ex-girlfriend.”

TAKO TRUK SUNDAYSTako Truk, Mahoney’s food truck, continues as a pop-up at Madison Park Conservatory: “We serve stuff like fried chicken, pork belly tacos and a menudo soup we call The Cure, since it’s Sunday and everyone’s got a hangover. It’s my excuse to cook junk food.”

Brian McCracken and Dana Tough

RESTAURANT Spur (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Seattle, WA

WHY THEY’RE AMAZING Because they are shaking up the naturalist Seattle dining scene with molecular-gastronomy techniques and novel flavor combinations.

CULINARY SCHOOL McCracken: Western Culinary Institute, now Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Portland, OR). Tough: South Seattle Community College.

BACKGROUND McCracken: Earth & Ocean, Mona’s (Seattle). Tough: Tilth, Earth & Ocean (Seattle).

MUST-TRY DISH Sous vide butterfish with foaming fish fumé, chanterelles, black kale and white beans.*

HOW THEY DECIDED TO OPEN A GASTROPUB “People here are geared toward being comfortable, so why not take the [avant-garde] tools we’ve learned and put them into a bar setting?”

THE ORIGIN OF THE RESTAURANT NAMEThey were going for an urban Western feel. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” McCracken says.

Shaun McCrain

RESTAURANT Book Bindery (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Seattle, WA

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s using his illustrious training and unrestrained imagination to produce food that’s polished and delicious.

CULINARY SCHOOL Seattle Central Community College

BACKGROUND Bardessono (Yountville, CA), Michael Mina (San Francisco), Per Se (New York City), Taillevent (Paris)

MUST-TRY DISH Grilled Mishima Ranch "flavor curve," the kitchen’s nickname for beef cap, the fatty ridge of rib eye meat cut from American Kobe beef.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST ROOTS McCrain spent his childhood on a small farm outside Eugene, Oregon, where his family raised livestock and grew their own vegetables.

STREET FOOD SNACKS While living in Paris in his twenties, McCrain often visited street-side crêpe and shawarma trucks.

Blaine Wetzel

RESTAURANT The Willows Inn (Read a review)

CITY, STATE Lummi Island, WA

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s taking legendary Copenhagen chef René Redzepi’s Nordic philosophy and applying it to the produce and food of the Northwest & Pacific.

CULINARY SCHOOL Scottsdale Culinary Institute (Scottsdale, AZ)

BACKGROUND Noma (Copenhagen), Citronelle (Carmel, CA), L’Auberge (Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA), Alex (Las Vegas), Phoenician (Scottsdale, AZ)

MUST-TRY DISH Prawns with leeks, mussels and toasted bread.*

TASTE OF PLACE “Salmon is a way of life here. During the summer, you’ll see house after house with smoke billowing out of the smokers in the yard. I want to connect our diners with this island. When they eat here, I want them to know that they’re in the San Juans.”

LOCAVORE’S PARADISE “In season, we get 100 percent of our vegetables from our own farm. We have a huge variety of vegetables. We have radishes, turnips, onions, a massive asparagus patch, red currants, strawberries, an herb garden, peas and fava beans—all that spring brings in the Northwest.”