Langbaan Chefs Who Inspire Dinner with Edouardo Jordan

Langbaan is already an amazing restaurant with its incredible multi-course dinner that take you on a tour of regions of Thailand (example dinner that I recapped here), and in addition to those special dinners they also have been doing a Chefs Who Inspire Series. For these dinners, Langbaan head chef Earl Ninsom brings in a chef who inspires him and they collaborate for a unique, once in a lifetime meal in which they offer twists of dishes by collaborating with each other or riffing off ideas from each other. I attended one of the Chefs Who Inspire Dinners with Chef Justin Woodward (recapped here), and last week, I attended one with Chefs Who Inspire Dinner with Edouardo Jordan.

Chef Edouardo Jordan is the chef and owner of Salare (I actually first had his cuisine at a dinner where he came down to Portland to do a dinner a Salt Fire Water series Dinner with Renata back in 2015), and last year, almost a year ago, he opened new Southern restaurant Junebaby. He recently won two titles at the 2018 James Beard awards for Best New Restaurant in the US, and Best Chef Northwest, though Chef Earl had already asked him to be part of this Chefs Who Inspire series before he won those accolades.

Thank you chef Edouardo Jordan for collaborating with us on our Chefs Who Inspire series. It was truly an honor to combine cuisines &work next to you. Thank you everyone that made this magical night possible. We are completely filled with love✨ A portion of our proceeds will be going to @_farestart —a program that is dedicated to serving the homeless, disadvantaged women, men, and youth . . . #langbaanpdx #travelportland #eatportland #portland #oregon #thaifood #comfortfood #foodandwine #foodwithroots #pdxeats #pdx #chefswhoinspire

A post shared by Langbaan (@langbaanpdx) on Jul 12, 2018 at 2:48pm PDT

During the introduction to his friend, Chef Earl mentioned how he knew Chef Edouardo from cooking against him and getting beaten – perhaps a reference to The Wild About Game event a couple years ago when they went head to head cooking rabbit. Chef Edouardo not only beat Chef Earl but also won overall for that year! Both chefs cook from their heritage and tell a story that is too often told white chefs in the elevated dining circles, but both have successfully broken through and become successful while infusing their own history and perspective in a way no one else has.

Fifteen percent of the proceeds of this dinner went to Chef Edouardo’s charity of choice, Farestart. Farestart is a nonprofit which for the past 25 years had provided the homeless and disadvantaged with culinary and life skills and job placement to give them a chance at a self-sufficient life. He referenced the commitment to growing and making a difference with the just that day announced that Angela Stowell was leaving her position as CEO of Ethan Stowell Restaurants to become the CEO of Farestart. If you are Seattle, besides visiting some of the restaurants and cafes where attendees of the programs get a chance to practice, definitely look up the Guest Chef Nights too.

Finally, here’s a look at the fantastic meal I enjoyed.

Snacks

Three snacks were served, one from Chef Earl, one from Chef Edouardo, and then one dish which was a riff of Chef Edouardo’s Junebaby dish by Chef Earl. The first two dishes were served first. The three snacks were paired with a cocktail with rye, cynar, lemon, pineapple, and spiced syrup.

Caviar with coconut Crème fraiche on crispy roti cracker

Smoked salmon rillette, pimento cheese, country ham, saltine cracker (you can get a variation of this at Junebaby) though I’m not sure you’ll get the presentation here using squash leaf and flower
   

The third final snack of a Thai twist on Chef Edouardo’s Shrimp and Grits with soft shell crab and grits and XO chili jam
 

Soup

Next after that hint of heat from the XO chili jam was this soup, Caramelized Sunchoke Soup with Capital Oysters and Argan Oil. Very thick and earthy with the treasure of the oyster in the middle, and paired with Georg Breur Rudesheim Estate Trocken Riesling from Rheingau Germany to help bring some acidity and brightness.

Salads

Next, two types of salads paired with Marc Bredif Classic Vouvray from Loire France, 2016. The first was full of different textures, a Southern Thai rice berry salad with morel mushrooms, cherry, peaches, celtuce, fava beans, and frozen duck liver
To really see it, here’s a video of it being assembled before it is covered in the rain of frozen duck liver slivers at the end. These are from my Instagram Stories, so it’s a vertical video – sorry, not sorry, live with it. Look at how the morel mushrooms are stuffed with peaches! I thought this salad was so unique.



Before and after the slivers of frozen duck liver – as the frozen liver warmed up the dish became saltier and more rich.

The next was a Chef Edouardo take I think on a Thai Beef salad, but added a Southern twist with the dressing. This is a dish of Beef Tongue with lettuces, flowers, and buttermilk dressing. This was so melt in your mouth delicious, I wasn’t sure I wanted the dish to stop!

Mains

The next course is typically at Langbaan a family style portion with multiple plates. If you are on your own (like myself and another guest next to me at the Chef’s Counter was – single seaters are almost always here) you still get lots of dishes all crowded on the countertop ha ha and you don’t have to use the plate to serve yourself but eat directly from the main dishes. This is where I got so full… my own tactical error in not saving room for 2 desserts that were next. If you ever come to Langbaan, remember to save room!

The dishes along with Coconut Rice, and paired with a crisp Jutta Ambrositsch Glockenturm Gemischter Satz from Austria vintage 2013, included

• Black cod curry, okra, sungold tomatoes
  
• Slow smoked turkey breast over greens, field pea hummus, tahini, benne seeds
  
• Dungeness crab with duck egg relish and summer lettuces (very spicy, the spiciest dish of the night)
  

Desserts

Two desserts, one from Chef Edouardo and one from Chef Ed (though I assume an assist from dessert goddess on staff, Maya Erickson). Both desserts were paired with a cocktail of mezcal, pineapple, rum, sherry, lemon, and palm syrup.

Here’s a new way to serve cake where you don’t have to worry about exactly how to cut the slices – just break them up by hand over ice cream and jam! Chef’s Edouardo’s chocolate cake, peanut butter ice cream, huckleberry jam

 

Then, the cool finish that was refreshing and light, Corn ice cream, Coconut yogurt, Caramel popcorn, Blueberries

If you are interested in attending one of the Chefs Who Inspire Dinner (rumor has it Chef Earl has on his list chefs visiting from Thailand that inspired him for sometime) make sure you follow the social media of Langbaan carefully for when the dates of ticket reservations are announced. Then, be prepared to buy your dinner seats in the first 5 minutes – they go fast in the limited seating of Langbaan. The day or so before the event, also check their social media – sometimes a few seats open up but you have to call and it’s first come first served for those last minute seats!