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Jack Czarnecki
Owner/Executive Chef, Joel Palmer House, Dayton, Oregon
http://www,joelpalmerhouse.com 503-864-2995
The Joel Palmer House, specializing in wild mushroom dishes paired with Oregon wines, is a State of Oregon "destination" spot, Jack Czarnecki, refered to as the foremost authority in America on cooking with mushrooms, is a James Beard award-winner, a well-read author of several cookbooks focusing on wild mushrooms, has served on the board of the association of the 800 top restaurants in North America, was the instigator of the March, 2005 Bon Appetit article, "The Great Oregon Truffle Hunt", is part of our (as he so fondly puts it) "truffle mafia", and is one of the VERY few "chef-foragers" in the country.
Marché Restaurant
Eugene, Oregon http://www.marcherestaurant.com (541) 342-3612
Stephanie Kimmel, Owner/Founding Chef, and Rocky Marselli, Executive Chef, both were early, enthsuiastic, and invaluable supporters of our efforts, and have been steadfastly so. The Marché coordinates the cuisine for the Oregon Truffle Festival, and was the site for the first two world-record-size Oregon Black Truffle press announcements. With their purchases and menus, they support local farmers, ranchers and foragers and are dedicated to using organic, chemical free and genetically unaltered products whenever possible.
Tom Bollag
Owner/Chef, Chef's Kitchen, Eugene, Oregon (541) 687-2433
Tom has probably been using fresh Oregon's wild mushrooms in restaurant fare longer than anyone else in the country. A pioneer, therefore, in Oregon Truffle cuisine, there are a lot of chefs that would like to know his closely-guarded secrets. Buying from truffle diggers at the back-door, for rock-bottom prices, he used to be known, and loved, for the copious amounts of Oregon Truffles in his truffle dishes, without passing on the costs to his customers. However, since he became exposed to what mature and ripe Oregon Truffles can do, he now pays Oregon Wild Edibles! much more to have that kind, only uses a healthy dose of them, still does not pass on their true costs to his customers, and is loved even more!
Dr. Charles LeFevre
Charles LeFevre, PhD, mycology Eugene, Oregon
Owner, New World Truffiers http://www.truffletree.com (541) 513-4176
Dr. LeFevre sells tree seedlings innoculated with "French Black" truffles. He is the recognized world scientific expert on Oregon Truffles, and the principal organizer of the Oregon Truffle Festival. He is also the president of the North American Truffling Society.
John Getz
Florence, Oregon (541) 999-0966
John Getz is a wild mushroom harvester in a class by himself. He has an intuitive feel for, and powers of observation about, forest ecosytems, particulary as related to fungi, that few others if any, possess. He was the discoverer of the relationship between the Allotropa plant and the American Matsutake mushroom, with which he mapped all its 7 now-known habitat types. After honing his skills for decades with the Oregon Dunes Matsutake (the finest in North America), he, with some clues from Dr. LeFevre, turned his attention on Oregon Truffles, and learned to gather, with only his hands, and without leaving a trace of his presence, as many truffles in two hours as anyone else was gathering in an entire day by vigorous excavation with tools.
Bill Fujimoto
Owner, Monterey Market, Berkeley, California http://www.montereymarket.com (510) 526-8856
Monterey Market is a legend. Long before wild mushroom displays became common sights in gourmet and/or impressive produce racks, Monterey Market had the premier mushroom counter in the country, providing staple ingredients for the diets of people from cultures the world over, living in the San Francisco Bay area. Having stayed just the same all these years, others have become more flashy and artistic, but Monterey Market's is still the premier because the most impressive specimens end up there on display, because their mushrooms are priced to sell in volume, because Bill Fujimoto is such a fan of mushrooms, and because . . .well . . .you'd just have to see it to believe it.
Bill refused to try to sell any more Oregon Truffles in his store, having had years of failed attempts with Oregon Truffles, until 2004, remarking to Daniel Duane, while being interviewed for Duane's Bon Appetit story, that Oregon Truffles from Oregon Wild Edibles! were a "new product", for which he now had repeat customers.
Trump's
Trump National Golf Club, Palos Verdes, CA
Kevin Aidukas, Executive Chef, "Trump's" Restaurant (310) 303-3265
Thomas Campignon, Wine Steward (310) 303-3260
Recommended by Jack Czarnecki and Domain Drouhin (Joseph Drouhin's Oregon winery), Thomas invited our company president, Jim, to the first full-seating at Trumps, a wine dinner featuring both maison Drouhin's French and Oregon wines. Since Jack forages for Oregon Spring Truffles on the grounds of the Oregon winery, they were hoping to be able to serve Oregon Truffles and Oregon wines from the same grounds.
It was too early for the Spring season, so Jim took both Oregon Black Trufles and Oregon White Truffles (and his mother), but, since it was too late for fresh Oregon Whites, he took frozen. Arriving the day before the dinner, Jim learned that Kevin had never yet cooked with Oregon Truffles. Jim gave an orientation to Kevin and his staff (Jim burns water, but he has paid attention to what his local restuarant chefs have done, has picked up some general ideas, and does have as good a grasp as anyone on the idiosynchrousies of Oregon Truffles). Kevin took a few home for the night, and boldly choose his first course to use the frozen Whites.
Jim was a little anxious, but, from the very first bite, it was clear that Kevin was a master--he had managed to highlight both the flavor of the Whites AND use it to accentuate the flavors of the other ingredients! Magnifique!
The crowd response to the meal and presentations was so favorable, that, before the evening was through, Thomas had exacted a promise from Jim to return the next year for a dinner with Oregon Truffles as the headliner!
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