TBA:12 FOOD
Via Tribunali
TBA Eats
A well-executed meal is a tactile, participatory art performance. This year, PICA has invited a different Portland chef each night to take over our first-ever outdoor kitchen, built on-site for TBA, and cook up food inspired by late summer produce. The dishes they prepare will be snapshots of September, presented through texture, flavor, smell and sight. Come hungry! From noshy snacks to full-blown meals, come eat thoughtful food that could only exist at this peak of local produce, when summer begins to wane. Without a reservation or long wait, experience the imaginative talent in Portland kitchens and chefs’ personal ideas of pleasure and satisfaction.
Driving a huge and amazing wood fire oven right onto the high school grounds, Via Tribunali will make bubbling Napolitano pies: that means super thin, flavorful crust; fresh mozzarella and Grana Padano parm; plumy tomato sauce; and even, apparently, Vesuvian ash that mortared the bricks! Via Tribulani began in Seattle, but its popularity has helped it to spread from Portland to New York. Something admittedly molten and volcanic happens in Via’s brutally hot ovens—now, at the height of local tomato and basil season, more than ever.