food
g r a c e • c a t o n
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rawn heads. All I see are eyeballs and
antennae.
Will Preisch smirks at me, “We like
to…challenge our guests.” The next thing Preisch
hands over to me is a thin green plant. “It’s a sea
bean. We went out and got it from the ocean a few
days ago.”
“Amazing! And also, you guys are too polite and
nice to be chefs,” I say.
“Ha…I’ve definitely made people cry,” says
Stocks.
How do you classify Holdfast Dining? You don’t.
A true Holdfast Dining experience consists of a
tasting menu laid out over nine courses and five
different wine pairings. With foraged edible plants
and ingredients from their own garden, here are
Portland’s very own food masters, Will Preisch
and Joel Stocks.
These two young gentlemen are living every
chef’s dream. They cook what they want, how they
want, where they want; no restrictions. They have
all of the power, and they will beyond satisfy your
taste buds.
They create a new menu every week. There is no
single inspiration or cuisine they follow.
“It’s not hard coming up with a new menu every
week because we don’t classify ourselves,” says
Preisch.
They shop at local markets and always cook with
what ingredients are in season.
“We’ve recently been getting seafood from a new
distributor. We told them that any strange or rare
fish they catch on a line that they weren’t expecting
or don’t want with their bunch of salmon or cod—
give us a call,” says Stocks.
They forage at the Oregon coast every other week.
Yes, that’s right… picture two men with their pants
rolled up, searching in the Pacific Ocean and tide
pools for plants that will soon be on a plate in front
of you. This is one of the many factors that set
them apart in the Portland food scene.
They pick fresh ingredients from Stocks’ home
garden. These chefs really work for the food they
put on the plate and can personally assure the
Attention to detail is the key
to building each dish, even
if it means using a pair of
kitchen tweezers for exacting
presentation.
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