A real Oregon crab boil in Vancouver last week introduced media to the foodie side of a state most Canadians associate with the great outdoors and/or the quirky hip of Portland. The Travel Oregon team, led by Greg Eckhart, kept it real with a super-casual and fun evening that was unusually short on hype and long on great food and drink. Instead of the typical marketing presentation, it followed a proven dinner party format and focused instead on impromptu conversation and the fabulous fare that was served.
For starters, there was the Rogue River blue cheese that beat out almost four thousand contenders from 42 countries to win the top prize at the 2019 World Cheese Awards – the first US win in the awards’ 32-year history.
Red and white wines, beer and porter came from some of the craft breweries and wineries that proliferate in Oregon’s picturesque towns and scenic valleys. Tori Middlestadt from the Willamette Valley Visitors Association told us there were about 750 wineries in Oregon, and more than 500 of them are in the Willamette Valley. Stretching from Portland to Eugene, the valley is Oregon’s largest wine region, known for its excellent Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. The wineries here got rolling in the 1960s, and are already recognized for their pioneering approach to sustainability and preference for biodynamically and organically farmed ingredients.
The star of the evening, of course, was the sweet-tasting Dungeness crab, Oregon’s most famous seafood. (Newport, Oregon is known as the Dungeness crab capital of the world.) Kelly and Janice Laviolette of Kelly’s Brighton Marina on the Oregon coast were there to share their expertise on catching, cooking and eating the delicious crustacean.
Kelly is a Regina-born Canadian whose family put down roots on the Oregon coast years ago. After working at his dad’s marina, he opened his own. According to Kelly, recreational crabbing is a year-round pursuit in Oregon, where catching Dungeness dinners is a thrill for tourists and locals alike. It’s a family-friendly activity, he says.
“It’s great to see people from all walks of life going crabbing,” says Kelly, who described it as a team effort with constant action, more like prospecting than fishing. “It’s all about moving around the area until you find them. The tides are different every day.”
“The bigger they are, the more savvy they are,” he said. “It’s easy to catch the itty-bitty ones.”
Commercially-caught Dungeness crabs have to measure 6 inches across the shell, while the minimum is slightly less for private catches. The “Crabbing Special” motorboat rental at Kelly’s Marina includes baited rings, a measure and crab cooking.
“We’re purists,” said Janice. “We cook in salt water.”
As the couple tipped off the guests on how to best crack and eat the cooked crab, they were emptied from buckets along with prawns, clams, potatoes and corn directly onto the paper tablecloth in true coastal fashion.
The evening was a boatload of fun and so unexpected that it got us wondering what else was going on in Oregon.
Hot springs and historic hotels. Food trails and foraging tours. Truffle hunting and forest bathing. In the Tualatin Valley, just minutes from Portland, Japanese influences in hotels, restaurants and the first American-owned-and-operated sake brewery.
In Southern Oregon, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Feb. 29 – Oct. 31) and the indie film festival in historical Ashland (April 16 – 20). Central Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor, one of the largest ski resorts in the US, also has one of the longest ski seasons, with skiing typically available through the month of May.
For more information: traveloregon.com
