Willamette Valley’s “50 Best” Restaurant Ōkta Launches “Cloud And Forest” Winter Tasting Menu

Willamette Valley’s ōkta restaurant “We are to have Matthew Lightner back in Oregon. ” That’s the refrain I said to myself course after exquisite course at ōkta, Chef Lightner’s fine dining restaurant in McMinnville, Oregon, in the heart of Willamette Valley wine country. Nebraska-born Lightner first moved to Oregon to attend culinary school in Portland.

Then, after enviable stints abroad at two of the world’s most revered avant-garde kitchens—René Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen, and Mugaritz in Spain’s Basque country—the young chef returned to Portland as Executive Chef at Castagna. Michelin-starred chef Matthew Lightner In 2011, Lightner left the Pacific Northwest again: this time to helm Atera in New York City, where he nabbed two Michelin stars and a rave three-star review from Pete Wells in . Four years later, he moved on from Atera to explore new projects, including restaurant consulting.

Tributary Relais & Chateau hotel in McMinnville After spending so many years cooking in the world’s most awarded fine dining destinations, it may have surprised some that Lightner chose to return to Oregon, opening ōkta in 2022 in the in McMinnville. But in the year and a half since, the awards have followed the chef to Willamette Valley, with ōkta landing on best restaurants lists for both and . Increasingly over the past four decades, Willamette Valley has been awarded the wine world’s top honors for its pinots and chardonnays.

But at ōkta (inside the luxe ), Chef Lightner is showing the world just how thoughtful and refined a culinary experience celebrating Oregon’s culinary treasures can be. Lightner’s menus showcase ingredients from the Oregon coast, including geoduck, sea urchins, From wild truffles and chanterelles foraged from the forest floor of Willamette Valley, to briny samphire, miner’s lettuce, Dungeness crab, and razor clams gathered at the coast, Oregon has an abundance of bounty year-round. Lightner takes advantage of Oregon’s countless culinary delights supplied by local purveyors, but the vast majority of the produce is grown at the restaurant’s own farm just seven miles away.

Harvest at ōkta farm Some of the chef-curated crops of vegetables, herbs, fruit, and edible flowers from the farm arrive on guest’s plates fresh and raw, mere hours after they were plucked from the Willamette Valley soil. But many are given time for their flavors to intensify and evolve, either preserved in Lightner’s extensive larder—or in its fermentation lab, which undoubtedly takes some inspiration from his time at Noma. Guest chefs, local winemakers, and diners gathered for a Summer Solstice party on the farm I had a chance to visit ōkta’s farm during their Summer Solstice Event earlier this year, and to preview the restaurant’s summer Seasons menu.

“Friendship” chrysanthemum flower custard with peas and blossoms Starting with a dish called “Friendship” (chrysanthemum flower custard with peas and blossoms), continuing to “Soil” (black truffle, seaweed, and artichoke mousse), and progressing to “Shifting” (burn morel amazake with caviar and red alder), each of the dozen courses was a master lesson in just how exquisite the bounty of the Pacific Northwest can be in the hands of a chef with Lightner’s talents and focus. “Pollinators,” a course on ōkta summer tasting menu Even all these months later, I’m still thinking of my favorite course of the evening: “Pollinators,” comprised of silky foie gras sweetened with fermented honey, served on a delicate cookie-like buckwheat crust, and decorated with frilly rings of peppery nasturtium petals in yellow, orange, and red. The night was memorable not just for the delicious and inventive meal, but also for the conversations with the fellow diners that were invited to get a first look at the new menu.

Among them, several winemakers from Willamette Valley whose bottles are featured on ōkta’s extensive wine list, artists including a Portland ceramicist whose refined porcelain vessels grace the restaurant’s dining room, and a world-renowned chef who cooked with Lightner in San Sebastian, who flew in from London just for the occasion. Chef Lightner is clearly grateful for all of the farmers, winemakers, and artists who contribute to ōkta’s ecosystem. “New Beginnings” fioretto cauliflower, koji, and cauliflower mushrooms Some might think summertime is the best time of year to enjoy seasonal tasting menus.

But that’s not the case at ōkta, where—thanks to Lightner’s fermentation and preservation projects—some of the most interesting ingredients on the menu debut in the winter months. The restaurant will serve its just-launched “Cloud + Forest” winter tasting menu now through the end of January. The restaurant’s Willamette Valley farm, just seven miles from the restaurant According to ōkta, “The new menu transforms gradually with the change of this new season, delivering inventive dishes that highlight produce from the farm, from squash and pumpkins picked weeks ago that were stored for peak concentration, to grapes and quince grown covered in native yeasts expressing concentrating sugars as temperatures drop.

Ingredients from ōkta’s root cellar are also front and center, from radishes, sunchokes and beets from the farm, to abundant mushrooms, ferns, wild botanicals, roots, and lichens. ” “Gold Rush” ume, magnolia, gold touchstone beets The new menu has 10 artful courses, including “Tolerance” (kuri squash, sea urchin, and pear blossom), “Grape Vines” (huckleberries with smoked cream and yuzu), and “Forest Floor” (foie gras with truffles, Golden Valley Brewery Porter, and buckwheat). “Grape Vines” huckleberry, smoked cream, and yuzu “As we enter the quieter, calmer, cloud-covered season, the flavors on our new Cloud + Forest menu reflect this moment in time.

” Says Lightner, “This menu celebrates the thoughtful ways we plan, grow, and preserve throughout all seasons. The melding of both the present and the past are offered through a tapestry of unexpected flavors. ” Ōkta’s serene dining room inside The Tributary hotel The Cloud + Forest menu will be curated through ten courses and is $285 per guest, with an optional wine pairing offered at $190 (non-alcoholic wine pairings are also available at $115).

The restaurant also offers a five-to-six course tasting menu—a streamlined version of the main dining room menu— in their downstairs Cellar Bar for $195 per guest, plus $175 for wine pairings. .