Best Dishes the Eater Portland Team Ate This Week | Eater Portland

"A First Foods dinner featured three Indigenous chefs—Freddie Bitsoie, Nephi Craig, and Jack Strong—each presenting courses rich with history and cultural meaning. Freddie Bitsoie’s first course was a pinon-crusted salmon with roasted corn, golden beets, and a juniper-agave glaze; the pinon crust provided a mild, toasty foil to the dish’s sweetness. Nephi Craig prepared a perfectly roasted duck with a duck confit–stuffed squash blossom described as superior to duck eaten in France. Jack Strong closed with a duo of venison chop and venison sausage with purple potato purée, huckleberry jus, and crispy parsnip; the venison was medium-rare and devastatingly tender, and the side-by-side presentation emphasized the protein’s versatility. The chefs spoke about Indigenous foodways as a sustainable way of eating in balance with the land and foundational to much of modern cuisine." - Eater Staff