On the menu at wine country’s eminent hotel restaurant: garden-inspired dishes and stories about bees, a sense of place and Native foods.
Photos by Ross Maloof
For chef Jack Strong, food is a form of storytelling. “There are so many stories I want to tell,” he says — and his culinary narratives often weave together a deep sense of place and wonder. Since stepping into the executive chef role at JORY, the restaurant at the esteemed Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg, Strong has found endless inspiration for stories from the chef’s onsite garden.
Located a short walk from the restaurant kitchen, the 1.5-acre plot is a riot of colors from summer through fall, with long rows of red and orange gypsy peppers, pockets of yellow summer squash and bursts of purple blossoms from saffron crocus. On a recent September afternoon, the late sun cast a golden glow over towering stretches of trellised heirloom tomatoes.
Other eye-catching garden gems ranged from tangles of shishito peppers and tidy grids of microgreens to patches of melons, sweet potatoes and slender filet beans. Add in the sky-high sunflowers and ten colorful beehives, and it was the perfect garden postcard.
“We just harvested honey last week, and I knew I wanted to share a story about our beehives,” Strong says. He partnered with pastry chef Shelly Toombs on a new dessert that’s an ode to the garden’s resident bees. Debuting on the summer menu, this star dessert was a honey-lemon verbena semifreddo served with a delicate honeycomb tuile, fresh blackberries, blackberry sorbet, goat cheese mousse and a dusting of fennel pollen soil. Strong calls the dessert a “celebration of bees.” The poetic title of the dish will remain on the menu. “But the desserts will evolve and change with the time of year and season,” he says, “so we’re always sharing the story of the beehives and where we are in place.”
Spotlighting First Foods in the Garden and on the Menu
Born and raised in Oregon, Strong is a member of The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and throughout his over 30-year career — which has included stints at multiple resorts in Arizona, a James Beard nomination for Best Chef Southwest and co-authoring a cookbook — he has always worked to incorporate Native foods into his culinary repertoire.
At JORY, he regularly showcases first foods on the menu with dishes like clams served in a corn and chorizo broth with pickled chilis or tribal-caught salmon and savory tepary beans. Strong has also been collaborating with resident gardener Anna Ashby to plant more varieties of corn, beans, squash and sunchokes — all first foods rooted in his culinary heritage.
Last year, he began seeking more ways to connect with other Native chefs and growers around the Willamette Valley. He hosted the restaurant’s inaugural Celebration of First Foods Dinner with Indigenous winemakers and wine professionals. Strong envisioned the dinner as a sensory exploration of first foods, with dishes centered around tomatoes, peppers, squash, potatoes, beans, cacao and corn.
Strong showcased not only his creativity that night but the tremendous joy he brings to the table. Almost every plate had an element of surprise, from the Olympia oyster dish topped with heirloom tomato water gelee (saved from the garden’s last summer harvest) to an edible candle (made with duck fat) that arrived alongside a plate of Ozette potatoes, duck, huckleberry sausage and purple potato chimichurri. The historical takeaway for this exceptional dish? Ozette potatoes are the oldest variety of potato grown in the Pacific Northwest. Strong was able to source them from Duane Lane, a local connection who is a Yakama descendent and member of the Northwest Native Chamber.
Other standout moments throughout the evening included an heirloom tomato sorbet as a refresh between courses and the grand finale — chocolate and corn brioche bread pudding drizzled with chili-spiced chocolate sauce, chocolate “soil”, corn ice cream and garden caramel popcorn.
These signature dinners and the tasting menu fuel Strong’s passion for cooking and hospitality. “I love cooking and I love taking care of others, but the cherry on top is creating these special moments where you bring a little something extra and get to give that wow factor.”
2024 Celebration of First Foods Dinner and Native American
Marketplace
Head to the Allison Inn & Spa for their second annual Celebration of First Foods Dinner and an inaugural marketplace featuring Native vendors. The First Foods Dinner on November 1st begins with a welcome reception and cultural blessing, followed by a multi-course dinner showcasing the creativity and flavors of Indigenous cuisine prepared by three Native chefs. Guest chefs for the dinner include Nephi Craig (founder of the Native American Culinary Alliance) and Freddie Bitsoie, author of New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian.
The inaugural marketplace will be held from 1pm to 4pm on November 2 in partnership with Northwest Native Chamber. In addition to the weekend of events, the dining room at JORY restaurant will feature a special dish throughout November, highlighting native flavors of the Northwest and Southwest. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, a portion of dish sales all month will go to Siletz Valley School’s culinary program to help fund future educational opportunities. Located near Newport, the K-12 charter school serves the Siletz Indian Reservation and launched a pioneering culinary program last year. It’s one of six coastal high schools participating in a pilot seafood butchery program where students learn how to clean and cut a variety of fish caught on Oregon’s coast. Other classes cover basic culinary skills and hospitality education.
Last year, the program received a fish donation from the Oregon Albacore Commission, and the students learned to filet and cook the fish for school lunch and then use the scraps as garden fertilizer. Participating students launched a mobile kitchen this year, naming it YAA-TR’EE-YAN a Dee-ni word for a gathering of people or “feast.” They are learning every facet of running a small business through the branded food truck. You can meet the students and see the truck at the Allison’s Indigenous marketplace, where the young entrepreneurs will sell popcorn on November 2nd.
