Finding My Own Season

Portland, Ore., is a chef's dreamland, and is arguably one of the most beautiful places in the nation to spend a summer. Why, then, did I pack my knives to leave and head north to Alaska?

A few years ago, I was working in Portland as the executive chef at a small pub-bistro (pub first, bistro second) located in a 1920’s farmhouse with a kitchen the size of a smallish closet. Not terribly functional, but it...