Christianson Introduces New Beef, Perrault New Place

DOWNTOWN -- Matt Christianson, executive chef of downtown hotel The Nines' La Quinta-meets John Portman atrium hotel-meets haute barnyard restaurant Urban Farmer, is playing God tonight. Well, not quite God, but genetic engineer. Well, not quite genetic engineer, but tonight, Christianson will begin serving the first-ever Cascade Red beef, the first new breed of cattle to be developed in the US in 47 years. A "Red Angus/Pinzgauer cross," the Cascade Red has been raised by The Basque Ranch, and "ranges on the lush, eastern foothills of Mount Hood." According to the release, "the first Cascade Red was 1,100 pounds and dressed out at just under 600 pounds. It was slaughtered locally and dry aged for 28 days before being delivered to Urban Farmer. Then, it was aged another 14 days in Urban Farmer’s in-house dry aging cooler." Noticeably absent? Any sort of friendly name for that first cow to go. Noticeably present? A list of all the things those 600 pound are going to be used for, including baseball steaks, short ribs, chuck eye round, and bones.

EAST BURNSIDE -- Greg Perrault, formerly of New York's Tasting Room and more recently Micah Camden's walkthrough-kitchen NE Killingsworth place DOC, will be opening his own place, named June, in June. Joining other East Burnside joints like Le Pigeon (down on 8th) and Heart (next door), June is supposed to bring "Old World" cooking to that little stretch of the east side. [The Oregonian]