I was fortunate to be able to attend last week the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 at OMSI with Chef Ryan Morgan and Chef Jim Dodge. I was excited and very curious to see the many savory ways to incorporate berries into a multi course dinner instead of the usual suspects of berry smoothies and cocktails, pies and ice cream. The menu looked very impressive, with wine pairings or dry sparkling pairing available for each of the four courses.
The dinner took place on the OMSI terrace, which gave us a view of the Tillikum Bridge as the sun slowly set behind the rest of the Portland cityscape along the Willamette River during dinner.
During the Hors d’oeuvre time as we mingled, cocktail pairings by the Eastside Distilling & Commissary Syrups included this Portland Potato Vodka with Strawberry and Cucumber and Lime, as well as Below Deck Silver Rum with Marionberry, Cacao, Ginger and Lemon. No-Li Brewhouse Mosh Pit Tart Cherry and Cranberry Ale offered a beer pairing option to cocktails.
Hors d’ oeuvres
Blueberry and blue cheese empanada with ginger and green onion chimmi – this was definitely my favorite of the three as it really put the berry front and center and was such a unique combination of flavors that is so creative to put together, very impressive.
Smoked pork, raspberry glaze, herbed salsa is a combo I’d like to see more often. BBQ is often about the spice and sweetness through tomato, but you can get fabulous sweetness for your bbq meats from berries too!
Cured salmon and shrimp salad with herbs and blackberries in butter lettuce offered an appetizer that was probably the healthiest of the three
Salad course
Herbs, flowers and silky greens with honey, up in your face chevre and marionberries was presented beautifully and paired with Adelsheim Vineyards 2014 Pinot Gris
Main course
Chicken barbacoa, pickled strawberries, cotija cheese, blackberry serrano sauce served over duck smashed potatoes topped with shaved kale slaw Holy moly was this amazing! My only complaint was that the plating was not consistent – which resulted in my table looking around to find the most photogenic one since the saucing varied so much.
This course was paired with side by side tastings of Pinot Noir that included Foris Vineyard 2011 Pinot Noir from Rogue Valley with the same year but different area, Seufert Winery 2011 Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley.
Dessert
Boysenberry cassata, yuzu butter chiffon cake, soft cream, boysenberry sauce I admit I had never heard of a cassata before this course, and it turns out it’s a Sicilian Italian dessert that starts with a small cake (here a very thin layer of that butter chiffon cake) with a big layer of a softer ricotta cake that’s very soft, almost remisicent of a cheesecake that is softer like whipped cream.
It even came with a little raspberry spritzer to polish off the berrylicious dinner experience of the Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015
One of the important things I learned is that while now in the summer it’s easy to support our local farmers with the fresh local berries, you can continue to support them year round by buying frozen local berries in the freezer section. The berries are processed and frozen (or canned, or jarred, etc.) often mere hours after being picked. So even as you thaw the berries they will be significantly fresher still from imported berries. Furthermore, Oregon Berries benefit from a especially friendly climate here and soil type which makes them taste different (better!) so you will notice a difference in berry flavors!
Which of these courses sounded most delectable to you?
Disclosure: I attended the dinner as part of a media pass of the Oregon Berry Festival courtesy of the Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.
