photo by Tim Gunther

This year marks the fourth annual sexy Valentine’s din dins! In addition to an evening on Valentine’s Day proper in Portland, we will also be hosting a weekend Valentine’s dinner in Hood River with Sakura Ridge Farm & Lodge and neighboring Phelps Creek Vineyards.

Sakura Ridge is a stunning bed & breakfast– if I weren’t hosting this event, I would already be booked up there! They are also an organic farm, and will be lending unparalleled lamb, cherries, and pears to our menu. Phelps Creek is located just down the hill, so the pairings with Sakura Ridge ingredients are effortless, and the wine is the best I’ve had in the Gorge.

If you plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day over the weekend, we hope you can join us at Sakura Ridge on Saturday, February 11th. It would be a bummer to drive back to Portland afterwards– I’d book a room now as they only have five! Sakura Ridge guests will wake up to a lovely Sunday breakfast by Deanna, followed by a complimentary barrel tasting and winery tour at Phelps Creek for all dinner guests.

The Portland dinner will be held on Valentine’s Day proper, which is a Tuesday this year. It will be at the Little Church (NE 23^rd and just north of Alberta), the dear venue where we held the rabbit din dins last April.

This year, sexy to us means Italian– which means a visceral, unbridled menu & evening (with plenty of surprises) and Armani and Gucci-clad servers and cooks. Here’s what’s sounding sexy to us now:

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guests at din mini, photo by Dina Avila

din din’s last public event of the year is a “Dinner for Digs,” a fundraising series for non-profit My Voice Music. My Voice Music teaches underserved youth social sklls, emotional expression, and self-esteem through music and performance. They mean it– Executive Director Ian Mouser recently gave me their demo album– the My Voice Music youth play some serious tunes! I’m honored to help raise funds for the new program space of an organization doing such legit and genuine work!

On Saturday, December 10th, din din will be cooking for this “din for Digs” and bartender Kelley Swenson, who may have served you at restaurants Ten O1 and June (and the recent din mini!), will be pairing a cocktail with each course. Kelley serves cocktails that are serious in their balance and love of ingredient with a levity that is so fun and right after din din’s heart!

The dinner is at Ian and his partner Karen Darr’s home and is $60 for food and beverage pairings. Contact Karen at at karen@myvoicemusic.org to make your rezzo.

Here’s our menu (it’s all pescatarian so the perfect chance for non-meaters to join us!):
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Last summer we debuted din mini, a meal of many tiny dishes at a table of gargantuan proportions. We decided to make it a keeper!

This year, we’ll be at Disjecta. Disjecta Interdisciplinary Art Center provides essential resources for artists to create and exhibit new work.  Disjecta extends beyond the arts as a cultural facility where ideas, dialogue, creativity, and diversity flourish, and they’ve welcomed din din to join in!  

Their giant domed gallery sits below exposed beams set in a very handsome geometry. We’ll be under this arc at an epically long table alone in the room and set with centerpieces that reach for the beams and tablewares befitting a nymph.

This is a sketch of the mini menu, which will be paired with “miniature” spirits, wine, and coffee:
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din diners have demonstrated great resourcefulness in finding out about us, as for four years now we’ve skirted the obligatory website. I am very happy to finally reward that ingenuity and patience with a new site!

Developing the site actually proved to be a very fun exercise in deciding just how to represent what din din is. We were able to feature the very original din din artwork done by Vo Minh McBurney, which has captured din din perfectly since the early days.

Nate Laffan designed Minh’s art into a really unique and fun website that I couldn’t be happier about!  (If anyone’s in need of web design, I highly recommend Nate!)

Have fun perusing the site and please send any suggestions our way. [...]

Thank you to all who attended jardin din! It was our pleasure!

Check out these as always amazing photos from Tim Gunther of jardin din!

Ryan Fish of Marrow Mag also posted this sweet writeup on the evening.

din din was honored to cook at a Plate & Pitchfork this year!  The famed Plate & Pitchfork dinners take place at the farm, in the fields with the mission of educating about local food, supporting local farms, and benefiting local food organizations. I was lucky enough to join Chef Jeremy Eckel of Bar Avignon for this dinner at Viridian Farms (which is on an island!)  The friendly and totally dialed P&P staff made it such a pleasure! View pics of the event and read more about the evening on this sweet blog post from Chris Angelus of Portland Food Adventures.

Here’s the menu we served using Viridian’s one-of-a-kind produce:
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Hi all,

While I’m failing to fulfill my promise of a late June din din, I’m all smiles to finally announce the din din I dreamt up while in France with the Chef Studio in the spring! 

Sunday, July 31st nous vous proposons: le jardin din! 

The name was born en route to a garden store outside Tours, France, where I saw this sign:

JAR
DIN
→

(“jardin” means “garden” in French)
Voila, jardin din!  (Merci, la France!)

I had already been told by a friend that I should host a summer garden din din at Versailles Gardens and Pomarius, a garden store and nursery respectively owned by a français and a belge, Gerard Philippon and Peter Lynn. Already completely attached to the jardin din idea, I was doubly sold after scoping out Gerard and Peter’s little French outpost in the NW neighborhood nestled under the on ramp to the Fremont bridge. I summoned all my charm to convince them to allow us to descend on their serene urban nursery, which is lush with hand-selected plants and adorned with stone fountains Louis XIV himself would have had to have and grand French pottery too heavy to bother transporting this far unless it was that good. The icing was finding bee hives tucked into the landscape and chickens at my feet.
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 Hi all!

In honor of a loosely annual din din tradition, the next din dins will be Easter weekend, April 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. Dinner Friday and Saturday evenings and brunch Sunday.

We’ll be at The Little Church, a darling church built a century ago that is now owned by a dear couple who rent out their bright and welcoming space for events, classes, etc. A defunct church is the perfect place in which to stage our secular Easter motif, which will include a menu of literal Easter imagery served on a table dressed with spring grasses. Artist Kate Fenker will again be transforming some of our ingredient into an artful surprise. And there’s a baby grand at The Little Church, so we’ll enjoy tunes played by pianist and singer Mike Metzner.

All the fuss befits the noble wines that we are honored to offer alongside the food. Olga and Barnaby Tuttle of Teutonic Wine Company will join us with their wines made from Alsatian grapes that they grow in Alsea, Oregon and shepard into stunning wines with fresh acidity and impressive minerality. I love hearing them talk about their soil and grapes with a very endearing enthusiasm and now you’ll have the pleasure of meeting them as well. A perfect conclusion to Lent!

The menu will read something like this (Wine pairings to come. Brunch will be a more concise and homey riff on this menu.):

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hi all! din din invites you to share a sexy Valentine’s with us with three dinners February 12th, 13th, and 14th. All weekend we’ll be in dresses and heels, suits and ties, serving a menu of wine-laden sauces, luscious custards, and silky wines. The third annual sexy din din Valentine’s weekend will be held at inner SE art galley The Art Department (of last year’s “sea in the city” all-shellfish din din), which we’ll adorn with lace, candles, and pearls. As always, singles and couples are both very welcome– bring a date or just hope to get lucky with someone at your table! Here is a sketch of the menu: [...]

hello din din-ers!

There are still some seats left for this weekend’s din din House Spirits Brunch Series:

Saturday, November 13th

Sunday, November 14th

Monday, November 15th (for those of you in the service industry or otherwise non-9 to 5)

I had James Beard’s love of pasta and alcohol at breakfast in mind when writing the menu:
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