Page and Dorenburg on Trust, Castagna, and Ken's

The International Association of Culinary Professionals conference finally descends on Portland Tuesday; one of its most glittering events, April 23rd's A Culinary Duet to Benefit The Culinary Trust will be hosted and MC'ed by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg. The award-winning, New York City-based authors of 1995's classic Becoming a Chef and several other culinary tomes (including, most recently, "The Flavor Bible," checked in before checking their culinary luggage for the trip.

How will it feel to be back in Portland?
We had a great time in Portland on our Fall 2008 book tour for THE FLAVOR BIBLE, where we were hosted for a wonderful event at In Good Taste and enjoyed memorable meals at Paley's Place and several at Ken's Artisan Bakery. We also had a lot of fun with Helen Raptis, who hosted us for a segment on KATU-TV. We have been looking forward to our next visit ever since!

Where do you plan to eat?
We've been so busy between finishing our next book and traveling (we just keynoted the 2010 Pillsbury Bake-Off kick-off festivities in Orlando on Sunday) that we haven't finished making all our reservations yet -- but we're planning to check out Castagna and looking forward to hosting the IACP Culinary Trust dinner on Friday, April 23rd, which we expect will be a not-to-be-missed evening.

Tell us about what you're doing for IACP?
We're speaking on a panel on Thursday, April 22nd, with blogger Amy Sherman and author Michael Ruhlman, exploring the past, present and future of recipes. We're also presenting an award at that night's Gala, and will be signing copies of our books THE FLAVOR BIBLE and WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT on Friday afternoon from 1:30 - 3:30 pm at the Cookbook Expo.

And you're hosting a dinner?
A Culinary Duet to Benefit The Culinary Trust pairs seven of Oregon's leading chefs with some of their favorite artisan producers to showcase the state's culinary heritage and bounty. We can't wait to be a part of this!

Your last book The Flavor Bible won a Beard Award. Tell us what you're working on now

Our book prior to that -- WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT -- won the IACP's 2007 "Book of the Year" Award, and we return to the subject of beverages with our next book ON MASTERING WINE. We believe that wine is one of life's greatest pleasures, and we're hoping to make it more accessible to our readers. Too many wine books are intimidating and/or overwhelming, so it's our mission to make it fun!

Besides the obvious New York, LA, Chicago, and San Francisco, where are your favorite food destinations?
We've had great luck all along the Pacific Northwest corridor. In addition to our favorites in Portland, we've had wonderful meals at Marche and King Estate (in Eugene), as well as at Jerry Traunfeld's Poppy in Seattle and at Vij's and Rangoli in Vancouver. In fact, we were served some of the most memorable food-and-beverage pairings of our lives at a relatively new restaurant called Nimbus in Bellingham, which is half-way between Seattle and Vancouver. We're excited to be paying our first visit to The Herbfarm in Washington later this month.

If you could transplant any Portland restaurant into New York, which would it be?
Every neighborhood in America should have its own Ken's Artisan Bakery -- including our own in Manhattan! We've loved every single thing we've ever tasted at Ken's, and think it could hold its own among Manhattan's best bakeries. But if you actually transplanted it, we'd be sad to miss it on our next visit to Portland!
·Previous IACP coverage (Eater PDX)
·IACP (Official Site)
·Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg (Official Site)