Right at the Fork

02/21/2025

Episode #409 is a must-listen!

Chef Jose Camarena (), Executive Chef at Portland’s highly regarded República (), may just be the youngest guest on the podcast. 

We talk about his family Sunday dinners, how he became interested in the food industry and how his family lineage of hard work in horse grooming instilled in him the grit to work hard to reach success in a tough industry.

Chef Lalo will be appearing at Steelport Knife Company () this Saturday (2/22) in the first of a series of knife skills classes Steelport is putting on at their Sandy Blvd factory, where you can meet him and learn some helpful knife skills. 

Stay tuned to Right at the Fork for interviews with more Steelport chefs.

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02/16/2025

Episode #408 is here, featuring Meg Cotner () of Bridgetown Bites ().

Meg is a freelance writer and editor based in Portland - and with Bridgetown Bites, covers restaurants, bars, cafes, food trucks, events, and includes opinion pieces, all centering on the Portland food world.

We talk about what it requires in time and effort to keep up the site, as well as Meg’s personal and business objectives and her writing and eating background that led her to Portland and starting her website.

Meg also provides a great list of her favorite places to eat and sip, some off the radar, some on. 

It’s worth a listen just go be clued into what someone who’s out there enjoying and thinking about the food world thinks are places you should go!

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02/13/2025

Catch up on Right at the Fork and a look back at episode 391 featuring Alexa Numkena-Anderson ( ) of .pdx .

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02/05/2025

Episode #407 is live!

Frank Squillo has had quite a storied career, but as he points out in this episode, there are definite parallels between his career as a radio host and now, as co-owner of the storied Wanda’s Cafe and Bakery, a mainstay of the North Oregon Coast that he purchased with his husband in 2019 and has operated since.

We talk about what it takes to run a successful restaurant on the Oregon Coast - the key ingredients in the business and in the recipes.  We’ll even go into the things he’s learned and how he deals with challenging situations and challenging people. 

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01/29/2025

We’re traveling this week, with Episode 406 featuring Jon Galdos, owner/operator of a premiere tour company in San Sebastián Spain -

The convergence of his love of travel and thirst for holiday time led him to find this passion almost 20 years ago, during a successful career in engineering.

Jon explains in this interview how he approaches designing experiences for people in one of the most culinary-rich areas of the world, and how he came to love what he does.

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01/18/2025

Episode #405 is live - featuring , the Chef and co-owner of one of Portland’s now most iconic brands and restaurants, . 

Now with locations cornering the continental US, Tyler and his cousin Kim have made some serious noise in the ice cream world.

In this episode, Tyler talks about the longshot pitch to Disneyland to be their official ice cream vendor, and how quickly the folks at Disney decided they wanted Portland’s Salt & Straw vibe over some of the big, more well-known ice cream brands, like Ben & Jerry’s.   Tyler talks about the process of building the store and all that was involved with that with the input from Disney.

Also, Tyler talks about the business of building and using the Salt & Straw brand to its advantage, and what that has meant for growth.

We cover sampling, flavors, staffing, as well as some of the places Tyler loves to go in Portland right now. Listen now, link in bio.

12/13/2024

Catch up with Right at the Fork with Episode 401!

We catch up with Carlo Lamagna (), chef and owner of his Magna restaurants in both Portland and Denver.  Carlo is creating communities and success in promoting Filipino cuisine, so much so that he’s garnered recognition from the James Beard Foundation and diners around the globe since his humble start in the business from Detroit to Chicago to Portland.  He’s had his eye on Denver since before he landed in Portland years ago, and so now he’s reaching his dream of opening a place there.

Carlo talks about the difference between his two restaurants, and how appreciative he is that his hard work has paid off. 

11/07/2024

Episode 398 is here! Link in profile.

We are delighted to have Mary Cressler and Sean Martin on the podcast to talk about their venture, Vindulge.  We talk about how it came about and evolved, especially through the pandemic, when their business model had to change.

10/24/2024

Somebody loves me!

10/04/2024

You can’t miss Episode 397!

Guest host Bill Oakley () takes the mic and talks to Nori De Vega, who many know from Instagram as and her great coverage of the Portland food scene.

Nori tells Bill about her journey from the Philippines to the US, back to the Philippines, and what ultimately brought her to Portland.

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09/27/2024

A little video of our week in Sardinia as we near departure day.

09/13/2024

Episode 396 is live!

Right at the Fork’s most frequent guest, Gary Okazaki (), joins Chris () on the podcast to discuss his favorite most recent experiences in the Portland food world.

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09/13/2024

Catch up on the podcast with Episode 395, featuring Jamal Hassan ().

Jamal is a seasoned beverage consultant and the owner of Ice Cold Co. (), a Portland-based company specializing in clear craft cocktail ice.

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09/06/2024

What’s going on at PDX? ✈️✈️✈️

Kurt Huffman, one of the most influential and key people in Portland’s food world, joins us on Episode 394 to discuss his company ChefStable’s forays into the airport dining circuit with new restaurants in PDX’s brand new terminal. 

Kurt informs us about what it takes to apply and gain entry, and what the metrics appear to be for the new Grassa and Loyal Legion spaces.

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08/13/2024

08/04/2024

Best one in a while.

06/12/2024

It’s been just over a month since Chad Draizin woke up to a notification that his flagship Fifty Licks Ice Cream store had a problem.

Chad joins us in episode 388 to discuss the challenges the damaging fire presents to his business and what needs to happen to think about opening that location again.

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06/11/2024

BIG DAY FOR PORTLAND!! Huge bows go to Akkapong Earl Ninsom and his stellar team at Langbaan Portland as the OUTSTANDING RESTAURANT IN THE USA, and also Gregory Gourdet for yet another win, this time BEST CHEF NORTHWEST.

🙏⚡🙏⚡🙏⚡🙏⚡🙏⚡🙏⚡

This is big, and the winners are so deserving. I'm personally honored to know these great people and have enjoyed their talents at numerous places over the years. And also to have had GG, Earl and others on our Right at the Fork Podcast.

Two of the toughest reservations in town just got a little tougher.