In early February, I had the honor of photographing the Chefs Week PDX West Coast Modern dinner held at Ataula. Chefs Week PDX brings culinary minds from across the west coast together to collaborate on meals, parties, and products that put their creativity and Oregon's bounty in the spotlight. Pretty much chefs getting together to have fun and make magic. And the West Coast Modern dinner was no exception.

The event featured Ataula's Jose Chesa with Maya Erickson (Lazy Bear, San Francisco), Gregory Gourdet (Departure, Portland), Mei Lin (Top Chef 12 winner, Los Angeles), Ryan Fox and Ali Matteis (Nomad.PDX, Portland), Dana Tough (Spur, Seattle) and Justin Woodward (Castagna, Portland). Imagine: Seven chefs, a dozen sous chefs, the restaurant team, and the Chefs Week team all bustling around the kitchen.

On that evening, I went between documenting the energy of the kitchen, finished plates, and the dining room ambience. It was intense, and so much fun. Each dish was an artful take on modern cuisine with a Pacific Northwest twist and such a pleasure to photograph.

Hiramasa, hazelnut, shiso, toasted rice vinaigrette (Mei Lin)
Foie gras, winter rose (Justin Woodward)
Charred driftwood (Ryan Fox and Ali Matteis)
Oyster, smoked mussel, dashi, coconut, kelp (Gregory Gourdet)
Socarrat, quail, saffron-garlic, parsley gelee, quail xupa-xup, bomba rice (Jose Chesa)
Corned duck breast, cauliflower and apple soubise, aromatic seed crumble (Brian McCracken and Dana Tough)
Rice, koji, matcha, hucklberry (Maya Erickson)