We kicked-off a wonderful weekend of wine and food in Oregon's Willamette Valley with our good friends Ken and Grace Evenstad, who make Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at their Domaine Serene winery. Our first stop was Beast in Portland, home of one of Food & Wine's Top New Chefs for 2009, Naomi Pomeroy.

The six-course set tasting menu had some real highlights, including a chilled Armenian cucumber and yogurt soup with Dungeness crab and trout roe, which was refreshing on a sweltering night. The charcuterie plate featured a foie gras bon-bon with sauterne gelee and a steak tartar and quail egg on a toast slice, while the Oregon Cattail Creek lamb loin chop was memorable for its flavor and sweetness with the lamb demi-glace.

Pomeroy describes her cooking as “refined French grandmother” – both exquisite and accessible with a major focus on local ingredients. The restaurant is a one-room, no-frills, yet very pleasant space consisting of the kitchen and two community tables that seat 8 and 16. There are two seatings a night, offering only the six course tasting menu, with or without wine pairings, and “substitutions politely declined,” which would seem not to be a problem at this wonderfully creative restaurant.

Our other meals in the town of McMinnville (near the Evenstad’s home in the Dundee Hills) included highly recommended Bistro Maison (authentic French terrine, fish soup and cold pea soup with mint and crème fraiche), La Rambla (tapas such as short rib croquette and tempura-fried green beans with aioli dipping sauce), and Nick’s (the five-course tasting menu included poached egg with faro, pureed zucchini soup, tagliatelle with sea urchin, lamb three ways, and pork roast with homemade sausage). The real highlight of the weekend was a meal prepared by Ken and Grace with the freshest herb stuffed grilled salmon we have ever had, accompanied by six amazing 1996 French Burgundy and Oregon Pinot Noir wines that we enjoyed in a blind tasting before serving them at dinner.