It's not easy being two (or three) places at once, but for Feast Portland 2014, we've enlisted the help of Lee Anne Wong, Jami Curl, and Dominique Crenn to do just that. For the whole weekend, these amazing chefs will be taking over our Instagram feed and posting pictures to give you a behind the scenes look at one of the world's premiere food and beverage festivals. Don't miss any of the tasty action by following our Instagram: @renderfoodmag!
Below, you'll find a profile on each chef, along with the events that they will be participating in. Although most of them have been sold out for weeks, you can live vicariously through the chefs!
Happy feasting!
Lee Anne Wong
Chef Lee Anne Wong is a New York native inspired by culinary global fusion. She's cooked and staged in well known kitchens all over the world, including Marcus Samuelsson's Aquavit, Jean Georges Vongrichten's Restaurant 66, The French Laundry, Casa Oaxaca in Mexico, and Cap Jaluca in the British Virgin Islands, all of which contribute to her international interpretation of local flavors. Additionally, she flexed her muscles in development roles at the French Culinary Institute, handling event production and menu customization for the school's International Culinary Theater. Chef Wong has also lead an impressive career in front of and behind the camera, making it to the final four as a "cheftestant" in season one of Bravo's "Top Chef" series. She was then brought on as Supervising Culinary Producer for seasons two through seven, and has worked as a culinary consultant for "No Reservations."
Recently, Chef Wong has relocated to the tropical paradise of Honolulu, Hawaii to open Koko Head Cafe, an island style brunch house. She's a lover of all things porcine, a whiskey enthusiast, and a self-proclaimed "all around ham."
Chef Wong will be participating in this year's USA Pears Night Market at Zidell Yards, serving up tasty street food to the masses.
Jami Curl
Jami Curl is the founder of QUIN – a small batch, handmade candy company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. She loves working with sugar, exploring the magic of candy and telling the perfect story.
Recently named Fast Company magazine’s 71st most creative person in business, Oprah.com said Curl's Smoked Cola gumdrops are one of the four foods to try in 2014. Throughout her career she has appeared on stage and screen sharing with others her tips and tricks for operating a small business, creating the perfect dessert and capturing the essence of fresh fruit in candy.
Curl's favorite meal involves saucers of champagne and piles of oysters. She has wild dreams of spending her retirement operating a culinary summer camp but for now lives in SW Portland with her young son.
Her hands on course, "Candy is Magic," is sold out, but you can catch her at the Union Wine Company's Night Market booth, where she'll be spinning Pinot Noir cotton candy and serving Riesling caramel corn.
Dominique Crenn
Growing up in Versailles, Dominique Crenn learned to love food early at the tables of the adults in her life: her mother, a great cook; her father, a politician with a taste for the finer things; and her father’s best friend, a well-respected French food critic.
Before making history at Atelier Crenn by being the only female chef in the United States to hold two Michelin Stars, Crenn cooked the world over, including a stint as the first female executive chef in Indonesia at the Intercontinental Hotel in Jakarta. In California, Crenn worked under the tutelage of San Francisco luminaries Jeremiah Tower and Mark Franz for over two years at the celebrated restaurant Stars. Her résumé also boasts turns at Campton Place, 2223 Market, the Park Hyatt Grill, and Yoyo Bistro, as well as an eight year run as executive chef at the Manhattan Country Club, in Manhattan Beach. Returning to San Francisco in 2008, Crenn headed the kitchen at Luce in San Francisco’s Intercontinental Hotel where she earned her first Michelin star in 2009 and again in 2010.
With honors from Esquire, GQ, and W, to name just a few—as well as countless wooed diners—at Atelier Crenn, Dominique Crenn has solidified her reputation as a modern force in the kitchen.
This year, Crenn is cooking alongside some of the world's most interesting chefs for the "State of the Art" dinner.
