IN OUR : JASON STOLLER SMITH Brian Libby

When Jason Stoller Smith arrives with a cooler full of ingredients, youʼd never know this father of a newborn baby is working on almost no sleep. Armed with , polenta, kale and an uncommon mushroom called chicken of the woods, he has the enthusiasm of a child whoʼs brought his own candy to the store.

An Olympia native, Smith heads the kitchen at Dundee Bistro, which is co-owned by legendary local winemakers Dick and Nancy Ponzi, founders of Ponzi Vineyards. Dick Ponzi built the oak case for Smithʼs impressively long and sharp Masanoba knife; Nancy taught him how to thinly slice the black kale, or Cavolo Nero, that weʼll eat today. The winery is also reserving a portion of its newly expanded facility for Smithʼs meat curing room. “I feel like Iʼm part of the wine industry,” the chef says as he begins his first step for the , blanching the kale in hot water. Here and in studies at the Culinary Institute of America, Smith has continually reminded himself that good and wine arenʼt enough. A pairing is only ideal if it elevates both to an experience greater than either individually.

A year after joining Dundee Bistro in 2002, Smith was invited to at the James Beard House in New York, where he remembers being mistakenly yelled at by the maitreʼ d upon showing up early to cook. “He thought I was one of the neighbor kids who had been ringing the doorbell and running away,” the chef remembers with a laugh. Working as he talks, Smith combines water and half & half in a stovetop pan as the base for creamy polenta (standard milk would too easily burn or curdle).

Before coming to this crossroads of the Yamhill County wine industry, Smith was executive sous chef for the at Mt. Hoodʼs landmark Timberline Lodge. Living a young manʼs dream, he could often cross-country ski to and from work. But being up in the Cascades also kept Smith more isolated from the bounty being grown and produced in the Willamette Valley. Now wine and food purveyors literally come to his door, with a weekly farmers market held in the parking lot outside Dundee Bistro. Smith chooses a mild Italian prepared by a local Yamhill County, Oregon purveyor, Salumeria Di Carlo (a regular at the Portland Farmers Market), using Carlton Farms pork. The chef begins grilling several of the sausages on the stovetop grill. The sausage is made with a “buffalo chopper” instead of a sausage grinder for a coarser texture.

The chef procures his mushrooms for the dish, known formally as Laetiporus sulphureus but also called sulfur shelf or chicken of the woods, from a local teen. “His grandma taught him all the good places to find them,” Smith says. The chef likes chicken of the woods for its firm texture and mild earthy taste. In fact, he sautées the mushrooms in olive oil and salt on the stovetop for as long as the accompanying shallots.

After a few turns of black pepper from his hand mill, Smith adds demi glace to the mushroom-shallot mixture, and it quickly envelops the kitchen with a rich aroma. Although traditionally a kind of secret-weapon for professional chefs, demi glace (a mixture of beef and veal stock with Madeira or sherry) can now be found at many butcher shops and/or higher-end grocery stores.

To the half & half on the stove he adds a coarse grain of polenta (Mulina A Pietra brand) from Italy and engages in perennial bouts of stirring. Like risotto, though, itʼs also acceptable to walk away now and then. At the end, heʼll add butter and grated Manchego cheese to the creamy polenta.

The blanched black kale is next cooled off in ice water, drained, and stripped of its ribs for chop