1992: Cafe Uniontown and the Ninja Turtles

Executive Chef at Cafe Uniontown - Astoria
Soon after graduation I had acquired a job as the Executive Chef of the Cafe' Uniontown in Astoria, Oregon.  A small bistro style establishment utilizing the local seafood and produce among other seasonal ingredients.  The dining room was quaint with chalkboards on the walls, culinary quotes taking you into a world of food and finery.  There was a view out toward the Columbia River combined with a partial view of the bridge.  The kitchen was small and the staff was comprised of locals that had worked for the owners for awhile and they wanted to keep them employed. (Never Again) I updated the menu using the new skills I had gained from culinary school and began my career as "Chef".  I was surprised to learn that Astoria had become a small meca for Hollywood as one of the old Navy building had been converted to a sound stage.  I would go to the docks in the mornings to get fresh Dungeness crab and buy Halibut and Seal bit salmon.  The prices were unbelievable.  Today the prices are about 5 times as much.
Nothing tastes as good as fresh crab and butter dipped in warm bread.  Clam, mussels, and scallops were also on the menu.  Chez Panisse and Star's were the trendy restaurants in the news and their chef's - Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower were who others were emulating.  The American food scene has come a long way and in some ways made it back full circle.

Ninja Turtles III  Cast and crew burn the village tour:
I was lucky enough that my food had gained a good reputaion in town, so when TNMT III was being filmed in Astoria the staff and crew started coming to dine there.  I met many of the people behind the scenes.  The art director, the greensman and many grips, cameramen and others.  They would come to eat and drink well after work, which made for late nights.  I remember one night when every seat was full and they all wanted steak Diane.  I got to put on quite a show.  Due to the friendships I made with some of these folks I was invited to the set to see how things were done.  I saw the soundstage sets and watched some of the filming.  I also got to go out to the village before they burned it down.  And finally I was invited to the wrap party.  These people kew how to party.  The rented a house and shrink wrapped the walls and furniture, so after the party they just rolled it all up and threw it away and the house was liek new.  It was great watching all the stunt people do tricks.

Lewis and Clark History : Lewis and Clark ended their long trip near Warrenton, Oregon.  There is still a small sod barracks where they eeked out an existence.  Their records speak of rain for 180 days in a row, of Indinias offering help and of them refusing the help and getting sick.  Along the beaches are numerous sand dollars, amazing items from Asia washed up on shore.  The wreck of the Peter Iredale and all manner of life.
Valarie and I used to walk the beaches collecting the treasures.  While we were living there we managed to go camping at all the campsites along the Oregon coast.  We visited all the light houses and went mushroom hunting with remarkable success.

Salmon Fishing in Nehalem Bay: Rich and Helen came out often to visit and go camping with us.  One of the highlights of this period of my journey was our trip to Nehalem Bay.  Rich had come back from Alaska visiting his dad and he had an inflatable boat with a small motor attached it was about 6 feet long if i remember right.  It had a solid bottom that was removable to support the boat.  So we got our poles and decided to go salmon fishing.  I had my net (a trout net) to bring in the salmon.  As we floated the river we noticed that the other fisherman had 10 and 15 boats with bigger motors.  The had nets that would catch a man.  Hmmm  How big were these salmon.  Well we fished all day and into the night we tried every manner of tactic to catch a fish each...  We finally did and what a sight.  The first salmon was on my pole.  The Chinook was longer than the boat and pulled us back and forth, the small motor npt strong enough to help much.  One of the close fisherman jetted over and tossed me his net to land the fish.  WOW and OMG!! It was at least 5 feet long and we thought it would tip the raft.  We thanked our helper and gave him back the net.  When Rich caught his salmon we had to repeat the process.  It was quite a sight to see to grown men and two giant fish in this little raft.  But it was worth it.  We spent the rest of the weekend crabbing and digging up clams and collecting mussels.  I used to get King's that big in the restaurant but over the last 20 years I have more often that not seen fish only half that size and people go wow those are big.. I just laugh quitely to myself and think of that wonderful weekend on the Oregon coast.

Halibut by the pound: The halibut boats would come in to sell there fish and if you knew the captain or one of his crew you could often get a deal if you went down right when they were docking.  I got a tour one day of a smaller boat.  The bins were8 foot deep with ice and halivut. Layered on their side and packed tight.  I picked one out that had a bite out of the tail.  The commerical market would not buy this but I could use it and remove the bit area.  They helped me put the 100# Halibut into the back of my trunk and I drove it up to the restaurant.  I began experimenting with halibut.  Baked, broiled or fried.  I kept a stack of index cards with recipes from that time and ended up with over 100 ways to prepare halibut.  It is one of my favorite fish.