Industry Dinner - The Streets of Portland

Featuring the flavors of the Bruce Carey Restaurant Group

Join us for a casual evening (sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank) created for socializing as the chefs of Blue Hour, Saucebox and Clarklewis present delectable dishes for all to enjoy. We're making sure guests have lots of time to enjoy each other's company and to make new friends while we recognize our out-going board members and hold a special OWA live auction that you won't want to miss. For a little entertainment there will be the first live oral auction with some special items not available during the silent OWA auction. Oh yeah, you'll not want to miss this.

LOCATION: Portland DoubleTree: 1000 NE Multnomah St, Portland, OR 97232. Dinner will be in the Multnomah Holiday room starting promptly at 7:00 pm on February 19. Please consider bringing a bottle of wine to share with your table. 

This year we pay tribute to a Portland restaurant Icon and the acclaim of his restaurants found on the streets of Portland from the heart of the Pearl to the evolving eastside, Bruce Carey's properties are among the cities finest. Learn more about Bruce.

 

Join us and enjoy the chefs and flavors of the Bruce Carey Restaurant Group. 

BLUEHOUR

The dining room at Bluehour is a modern classic, designed by renowned architect Brad Cloepfil, who also conceived the adjacent W+K headquarters. The space affords intimacy and conviviality in a labyrinth of corners created with 16 foot tall dark-green drapery panels that move and change according to the desired mood and time of day. For casual or special occasions Bluehour has different menus to suit many cravings.

The Chef: Thomas Boyce - Boyce knew of Carey's reputation in the shaping of Portland's food community, from Zefiro to clarklewis. Boyce leads the trend of established chefs coming to Portland to cook, rather than Portland serving as a breeding ground for chefs who then move on to larger cities. With Bluehour, Boyce will create a new chapter in both the evolution of one of Portland's finest restaurants and the utilization of all the finest raw ingredients Oregon has to offer.

 

 

 

CLARK LEWIS

A bustling eatery in the central eastside industrial district serving Italian inspired local, organic, seasonal, sustainable fare. clarklewis has received many honors since opening, including restaurant of the year (the Oregonian), 10 most notable new restaurants of 2004 (Wall Street Journal) and 10 hottest new restaurants of the year (msn.com).

The chef: Dolan Lane - Lane graduated from San Francisco's California Culinary Academy but gives greatest credit for the chef he's become to a series of generous mentors, including Walter Pisano of Seattle's Tulio Ristorante; Marsha Polk-Townsend in San Francisco and most recently Kenny Giambalvo at Bluehour in Portland. "People have always been good to me, have shown me a little more in each position I've taken, from making fresh mozzarella with Walter to learning French techniques from Kenny. I learned cooking, but I also learned hospitality and warmth for guests. You're inviting them into your home for a meal."

 

SAUCEBOX

Established in 1995, saucebox has maintained its reputation in the city as the place for the finest in pan-asian and pacific island cuisine with its insider vibe and unique presence. Unforgettable dishes and innovative cocktails have given saucebox national notoriety in The New York Times, Bon Appetit Magazine, Travel & Leisure and The Wall Street Journal - but it's local attention and accolades like being honored as "Restaurant of the Year" In 1998 by the Oregonian that make saucebox a landmark of Portland restaurant and lounge scene.

The Chef: Alex Dystra - Working two jobs from the age of 19, Executive Chef Alex Diestraattributes his deliberate rise in the restaurant business to hard work and good luck; although the two jobs approach was more about wanting to learn and get more training than needing the work. With this strategy, Alex found himself in great kitchens with fantastic mentors, including Indonesian Chef Richard Van Rossum, who hosted a 2001 James Beard dinner in NYC with Alex at his side. James Porter of Petite Maison in Scottsdale, Arizona is also an inspiration and a great friend to Alex. Yet he cites his mother - a great cook - for having the most influence on him. With her appreciation for traditional methods, she coaxes distinct flavors from quality ingredients and makes bright, delicious, always memorable dishes.

 

 

Bruce Carey

At any of the restaurants in the group that bear his name - Bluehour, Saucebox, 23Hoyt, Clarklewis (and the late Zefiro) - Bruce Carey lends his particular brand of attention to detail. This standard of excellent food, presentation, and service is a Carey hallmark. It's certainly how he is remembered by those who were there, at Stephanie Pearl Kimmel's Excelsior Cafe in Eugene in the 80s: seemingly everywhere at once, providing top-notch service. Carey and compatriots Joe Rogers, Christopher Israel and Monique Siu changed the restaurant landscape in Portland. They didn't invent great food, style, and service, but rather polished the experience of dining to a high shine. Carey is likely the only restaurateur in Portland with a Master's degree in Arts Administration. In another life, Carey might now be at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., an early ambition, or perhaps heading up an interior design studio. As it is, the modern spaces he's created with the help of Portland's best contemporary architects, are the stylish products of his refined aesthetic sometimes even decorate - as at 23Hoyt - with eclectic pieces, art and object, from his personal collection. In San Francisco, he worked at both the James Beard Award-winning Zuni Café and Fog City Diner. While in the Bay Area, Carey met Christopher Israel, who had just completed his art history degree at Berkeley and was working at Square One under Joyce Goldstein. When Carey and Israel moved to Portland, "We were thinking about opening a restaurant, because compared to San Francisco there were very few casual-fine places to eat," Carey says. "We had no jobs, but with blind faith we told the landlord on our rental application that we were going to start our own business." That restaurant was the legendary Zefiro at the corner of NW 21st and Glisan. Zefiro opened in 1990 with Monique Siu, whom Carey and Israel had met through catering jobs at Briggs and Crampton and Ron Paul. In the twenty-plus years since the opening of Zefiro, Carey and his collaborators have opened Saucebox, Bluehour, 23Hoyt. In 2007, Carey acquired SE Portland?s Clarklewis. Next up for the prolific Carey is a branch of Seattle?s Via Tribunali, an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria. Carey serves on the Board of Trustees of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and on the Advisory Board of the Cascade AIDS Project. He shares a SW Portland home with partner Joe Rogers and their two sons, Heinrich and Bruno.