![]() ![]() Who else is even thinking about the microbiology of the region? If not Matt Lightner, then who?Ħ18 NE Thir d St, McMinnville, oktaoregon. Some of Okta's fermentation ideas won't even announce themselves for a year or two. Recall: It took Noma, the world's best restaurant and groundbreaking fermentation hub, two years to earn its first Michelin star. Me: A single, twentysomething Portlander who has been casually. ![]() One Tail at a Time It was love at first sight. Ten weeks after opening, the kitchen is making some of the best and most refined dishes in Oregon, backed by a commanding wine list, compelling cocktails, and excellent service. by Brooke Jackson-Glidden Jan 12, 2023, 10:07am PST Michelin Star, throwing shade. Okta challenges, too, in a different way. Farm field-to-fermentation lab-to-table has landed in McMinnville. ![]() Castagna baffled a lot of Portlanders at first. Michelin-Starred Chef Matthew Lightner Seeds Oregon’s Next Food Revolution at Okta. When talking about Lightner's food now, “bold” has a different connotation. Wine glasses are hand-blown Zaltos, the height of chic, but the dress code is Come As You Are. The room is a narrow sea of calm, all dark slate walls, built-in cushy banquettes, custom white oak furniture. Treat the foodies in your life to an unforgettable. In short, these glorious super nerds hope to capture the soul and biology of the Willamette Valley on plates. Restaurant Reading buy gift vouchers to LOrtolan Michelin starred. Already, their arsenal includes thirty kinds of miso, lamb powder, and brisket garum (fish sauce). Meanwhile, in a barn steps away, Lightner and fermenter Larry Nguyen are creating an experimental food lab and modern pantry that pushes the notion of made-in-Oregon. The ethos is hand-tended and low soil disturbance, with the night's dishes plotted in the field, in the moment, and in consult with Boeh. He's growing most of the restaurant's provisions on a one-acre farm seven miles from the kitchen door, hand-planted by soil whisperer Katie Boeh. This rambling patch of paradise is his new grocery store: A-caliber heirloom vegetables, wild plants, mushrooms growing on tree stumps. With Okta, Lightner has gone to ground zero. It's as if Ziggy Stardust returned and put out a poetry album. Summer's tasting menu kicked off with glistening corn kernels landscaped over duck egg custard a bowl of tiny heirloom tomatoes, six different kinds, sided by charred greens in chamomile butter and velvety albacore sashimi tucked under cucumber fans. In July, Lightner's 26-seat Okta landed like a friendly alien spaceship on McMinnville's Main Street, the center and small-town heart of Oregon wine country. That future is here, and it's not what we expected. ![]()
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