Heritage & Harvest Supper
From Pop-Up to Heritage and Harvest Suppers
We’re thrilled to announce our evolution after an incredible year of bringing you Southern comfort food with a Pacific Northwest twist! Heritage and Harvest Suppers perfectly capture our mission: honoring the rich heritage of Southern cuisine while celebrating our excellent local harvest. Join us for our first anniversary celebration, where we’ll feast together like our ancestors did – with generous portions, warm hospitality, and community spirit.
The next Heritage and Harvest Supper is Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Portland, Oregon, at the Che (920 NE Glisan St, Portland, OR, US, 97216). There are two dinner reservation times, at 4:00 PM and 6:30 PM. The menu consists of a five-course dinner.
We open with an amuse: Benne Wafer with Smoked Fish. Thin, crispy benne seed wafer, smoked trout, pickled spring onion, Alabama white sauce. One bite, enormous cultural weight.
Starter: Crab cake on Johnnycake: crab cake, fried Johnnycake base, green garlic butter, jalapeño-carrot Escabeche. Vegetarian option: black-eyed pea and herb cake on Johnnycake. Same base, green garlic butter, escabeche. The Johnnycake is the intersection of Indigenous and African grains.
Mid Course: Lowcountry Perloo – a one-pot rice dish: Carolina Gold rice, shellfish, smoked sausage, holy trinity, low and slow-cooked until rice absorbs everything. Vegetarian option: Mushroom & field peas perloo. King trumpet and shiitake mushrooms, field peas, and Carolina Gold rice. This is the dish that fed people who had nothing but a pot, a fire, and what the water gave them.
Main (vegetarian): Carolina Gold Rice Pilau, charred cabbage, fermented peppers, toasted benne seeds. Main (non-vegetarian): Sorghum-glazed heritage pork with field peas and skillet cornbread. Sorghum and cane vinegar glaze, cast iron finished. Field peas on the side, skillet cornbread for the table. These dishes say Sunday Dinner without apology.
Dessert: Sorghum-custard sweet potato cornbread pudding. Day-old skillet cornbread, soaked overnight in sorghum-vanilla-bean custard, baked low and slow until set, with a lacquered top. Finished table-side with a warm rhubarb-cane vinegar compote and a bourbon creme anglaise. Toasted benne brittle shard on top closes the benne thread that opened the meal.
April Heritage and Harvest Supper Menu: Portland
Amuse Bouche: Benne Wafer with Smoked Fish. Thin, crispy benne seed wafer, smoked trout or bluefish, pickled spring onion, Alabama white sauce. One bite, enormous cultural weight.
Hors d’oeuvres: Crab cake on Johnnycake: crab cake, fried Johnnycake base, green garlic butter, jalapeño-carrot Escabeche. Vegetarian option: black-eyed pea and herb cake on Johnnycake. Same base, green garlic butter, escabeche. The Johnnycake is the intersection of Indigenous and African grains.
Appetizer: Lowcountry Perloo – a one-pot rice dish: Carolina Gold rice, shellfish, smoked sausage, holy trinity, low and slow-cooked until rice absorbs everything. Vegetarian option: Mushroom and field pea perloo using King trumpet and shiitake mushrooms. This is the dish that fed people who had nothing but a pot, a fire, and what the water gave them
Main: (vegetarian): Carolina Gold Rice Pilau, charred cabbage, fermented peppers, toasted benne seeds. Main (non-vegetarian): Sorghum-glazed heritage pork with field peas and skillet cornbread. Sorghum and cane vinegar glaze, cast iron finished. Field peas on the side, skillet cornbread for the table. These dishes say Sunday Dinner without apology
Dessert: Sorghum-custard sweet potato cornbread pudding. Day-old skillet cornbread, soaked overnight in sorghum-vanilla-bean custard, baked low and slow until set, with a lacquered top. Finished table-side with a warm rhubarb-cane vinegar compote and a bourbon creme anglaise. Toasted benne brittle shard on top closes the benne thread that opened the meal
The Southern Table: A Four-Course Dinner Demonstration with Chef Kamal, Portland
The menu begins with pimento cheese gougères, airy French cheese puffs made with sharp pimento cheese and served warm with piment d’Espelette rémoulade.
Next is a bowl of potlikker soup, made from spring mustard or turnip greens, an homage to the deeply flavorful broth created by long-simmered greens, a staple of Southern cooking rooted in survival, nourishment, and community.
Entrée: The main course features red wine–braised oxtails, slow-cooked until tender and served over creamy stone-ground cheese grits. Oxtail is a foundational dish across the African diaspora: the American South, the Caribbean, West Africa, and Brazil. It’s a “fifth quarter” cut, the part of the animal that enslaved cooks were given and transformed into something transcendent.
Dessert: Celebrates the Pacific Northwest with a Lemon-Strawberry Trifle and lavender chantilly. Layered with fresh Hood Strawberries, bright lemon curd, and lavender-infused chantilly cream.
Each course represents my belief that the laboratory and the kitchen share the same pursuit: understanding transformation at the molecular level while honoring the soul of tradition. Hosted at The Redd, one of Portland’s most exciting food innovation spaces, this evening offers a rare opportunity to experience Southern culinary traditions firsthand—through food, history, and conversation. Seats are limited. All tickets include a live chef demonstration, a three-course dinner, and mocktail pairings. A limited number of seats are available at the “chef’s table,” which allows for first plating and interaction with the chef and staff.