Chef Erik Van Kley Has Made Arden a Wine Bar Worth Seeking Out for Its Food as Much as Its Bottle List

Some cooks are strutters, some are grinders.

Strutters like to be on television, function a dining home in glowing whites and schmooze the foodie elite. Grinders like to work the line, cook dinner fantastic meals and discreetly smile as empty plates return from the eating home. There is, of training course, some crossover. But provided a choice, just take the grinder each and every time.

Erik Van Kley, the chef at Arden cafe and wine bar, is a committed grinder. The foods he has been earning there due to the fact 2019 is exclusive and persuasive. He is almost normally present in his small, underequipped kitchen area, cooking his coronary heart out. Inspite of Van Kley’s preternatural competencies, few have heard about the joys of an Arden evening meal. This is a disgrace.

Van Kley came to Portland from Michigan, the middle little one of a touring French history scholar and a homemaker with a journalism diploma. He eschewed higher education and learning himself in favor of a kitchen area hand’s everyday living, starting off as a dishwasher in large school and understanding the ropes from “an outdated-school kitchen wacko” who would occasionally break plates on the floor just due to the fact he could.

To fill his spare time, Van Kley began a “meditative” relationship with the guitar at age 14. He still plays morning and night, each working day, on his assortment of Fenders. Although his emphasis has shifted around time, his passion has constantly been jazz.

“It’s not outlined by a particular set of guidelines or boundaries,” Van Kley says, “but by the sum of its a lot of moving elements.”

He jokingly refers to his cooking fashion as “jazz delicacies,” but it is no joke.

In Portland, Van Kley has formulated an remarkable résumé, commencing at Gotham Setting up Tavern, just before shifting on to Le Pigeon and Small Bird, investing nearly 5 decades at each. He labored closely with Gabriel Rucker during all 3 of all those stints ahead of putting out on his personal.

Van Kley’s impartial venture, the place he debuted his jazz delicacies, was Taylor Railworks. There ended up no restrictions on what may possibly appear on a plate there. Enthusiasts adored the chile crab, a dish superior regarded in Singapore than Portland. Of the buttermilk-battered fried rooster, WW reviewer Matthew Korfhage declared, “The chicken is herbed and spiced with a curry-and-mint combination which is a ton closer to Mumbai than Memphis.”

Alas, Taylor only lasted from 2015 to 2017. Its area was bad, the format odd, and the worldwide, improvisational solution was as complicated to some as it was revelatory for others. The closure still haunts Van Kley. He concedes, most likely much too quickly, “I received a tiny out there with some dishes, and I fell on my encounter.”

Immediately after a handful of shorter-expression gigs, Van Kley signed on at Arden. The food menu had not been the Pearl District wine bar’s solid accommodate. It is now.

Some of the much more absolutely free-sort numbers from the Taylor times are absent from Van Kley’s Arden playlist. Even now, he and the a number of Taylor alums who now operate with him aim to “keep it enjoyment.” Generally employed ingredients include things like nuts for crunch, chiles for an attitudinal undertone, and a good deal of bold, umami-charged parts this sort of as fungi, cheese and fixed very small fish.

Menu goods rotate, but among latest appetizers, the best stars blobs of creamy burrata, crispy-fried mushrooms, pine nuts, and a shower of grated, earthy aged La Marotte sheep’s milk cheese dressed with shoyu vinaigrette ($18). It is a carnival of textures and flavors.

Hoping to pick out a 2nd program is maddening. Do you go for the decadent duck liver ragù embellished with sweet-smoky aji panca chile and smoked shoyu about tagliatelle, ringed by whipped ricotta, with Parmesan shavings on best ($17) morel mushroom and ricotta cappelletti in a savory Parmesan-imbued broth ($17) or the extravagant new menu addition: morels, spring onion and asparagus immersed in a buttery, abundant and gooey stracchino di crescenzo cheese fondue with a layer of French black truffle shavings ($27)? If your respond to is “all of the earlier mentioned,” you earn.

The entree segment may possibly not be as impressive as the preceding plates, but this is a quibble, particularly understanding that Van Kley and crew are handicapped with a small 4-burner stove, no flat-major grill, no stroll-in refrigerator, and a deep fryer that looks like a
toy. Duck fans will adore the platter for two that involves confited pan-fried leg and thigh, sous vide pan-seared breast, as well as miso-creamed kale in puff pastry shell ($49).

In addition to the main sections of the menu, there are ample side choices, ranging from togarashi-spiced marcona almonds ($6) to foie gras torchon with challah toast ($19), moreover desserts. Wine stays a definite draw, way too.

The greatest wager for the worth-acutely aware or indecisive is the chef’s prix fixe, 4 classes shared by the desk for $65 for every particular person. Insert wine pairings for a different $45 for every particular person.

Pay a visit to Arden before long and relish the bounty of a job grinder who has clearly discovered his groove.

Try to eat: Arden, 417 NW 10th Ave., 503-206-6097, ardenpdx.com. 5-9 Wednesday-Saturday.