A Portland Bakery Picked Up the Food World's Biggest Prize
Portland's big winners were Kyurim 'Q' Lee and Jin Caldwell's JinJu Patisserie, which won the award for Outstanding Bakery. It's national recognition for a bakery that already has an enormous amount of local acclaim. Lee and Caldwell were both born in Korea and trained in Las Vegas before they fell in love and moved to Portland. When they opened up their bakery in 2019 they earned immediate accolades for their huge, flaky photogenic croissants and elegant bonbons; Willamette Week singled out their gianduja kouign amann as something that helped the city get through 2020. The two bakers accepted the award onstage at the ceremony in Chicago and thanked the Portland community and their staff. At one point, Lee turned to Caldwell, clutched her hand, and said, 'We did it.'
Eater Portland caught up with the couple afterward and asked how they would be celebrating. For one thing they'd be meeting up with the other bakers and pastry chefs floating around the proceedings and exchanging info. But Lee also had another agenda: 'Drinking all night.'
Another Oregon finalist had a big win, with Timothy Wastell of the Antica Terra winery in Amity taking home the medal for the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific category. (The other Oregon nominees in the category were Joshua Dorcak of MÄS in Ashland and Ryan Roadhouse of Nodoguro in Portland.) Antica Terra is famous for its playful but sophisticated wines and complex tasting menus that go way beyond what is typically offered at a winery. During his acceptance speech he paid tribute to beloved Portland chef Naomi Pomeroy, who died last year, and said 'fuck ICE,' which was something of a motif during the ceremony.
The other Portland James Beard nominees were Scotch Lodge, which was up for Outstanding Bar, and Coquine, nominated for Outstanding Restaurant. For a full list of the winners, go here.
Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2025. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation. See More:
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USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
ESPN shelving Spike Lee's Kaepernick doc in wake of NFL deal is suspect
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USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
ESPN shelving Spike Lee's Kaepernick doc in wake of NFL deal is suspect
Spike Lee told @Reuters his multi-part docuseries about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for ESPN Films will not be released Less than two weeks after the NFL and Disney announced a partnership that gave the league a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN, the network is suddenly reversing course on a previously planned documentary series on Colin Kaepernick being directed by legendary filmmaker Spike Lee. The timing is suspect, to say the least. As I called out when the deal was made public, ESPN's ability to be trusted as an objective news source on the NFL is severely compromised by the partnership -- even if a potential inability to hold the league accountable through reporting is more optics than truth. This documentary being scrapped is early proof of that. Who amongst us didn't have the thought that maybe, just maybe, the NFL had something to do with it? That may not necessarily be the case. In a statement to Reuters, ESPN cited 'creative differences' for why the network, Lee and Kaepernick collectively decided not to move forward with the project. But the NFL interfering can't be completely ruled out. "It's not coming out. That's all I can say," Lee told Reuters, saying he couldn't elaborate because he signed a non-disclosure agreement. In other words, we may never know what happened to get this project shelved. A REUNION: Rich Eisen will host his first SportsCenter in 20 years What we do know is the story of Kaepernick, who filed a grievance against the NFL alleging collusion after he was unable to find employment following his protests of racism and police brutality during the national anthem. The NFL settled with him. If the NDA doesn't prevent Lee and Kaepernick from shopping that story and all the particulars to another network, and it turns out to be more damaging for the NFL than we already know, it'll be an incredibly bad look for a network that decided not to air it and also happens to be partly owned by the NFL. If the NDA does prevent them from shopping it around... well, that's not a great look either. The Bengals are taking calls on Trey Hendrickson With no apparent movement in their negotiations with Trey Hendrickson, the Cincinnati Bengals are now listening to trade offers for the dynamic edge rusher, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Sunday. FTW's Robert Zeglinski came up with a list of four logical destinations for Hendrickson, in the event Cincy does move him. Naturally, the Detroit Lions came up, as they typically do when a pass rusher hits the market: "Even after losing both their offensive and defensive coordinators in the offseason, Detroit still has one of the NFL's most complete rosters. That is, well, aside from a bona fide complementary pass-rusher alongside franchise player Aidan Hutchinson. The Lions' EDGE depth behind Hutchinson features names like Marcus Davenport and Al-Quadin Muhammad, which isn't awful, but it's also not ideal for a team that views itself as a Super Bowl contender." I still think the Bengals need to do everything in their power to keep Hendrickson. Without getting a couple starters in return, they'd be doing Joe Burrow and that entire offense a huge disservice by removing the best player from an already poor defense. Quick Hits: PS2 interview ... Robles apologizes ... This was For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here.
USA Today
9 hours ago
- USA Today
I was interviewed by Spike Lee for Colin Kaepernick doc. What happened to it?
I don't remember the exact day it happened. It's still a blur. A year or so later. But one day I got a note from Spike Lee's production company saying Lee wanted to interview me for his upcoming documentary about the life of Colin Kaepernick. A number of people were interviewed for the doc. I was likely one of many dozens if not hundreds. It didn't matter if I was a small fry in an ocean of stars. You have to understand what Lee means to me. To a lot of me's. To a lot of Black people. Lee is one of the great truth tellers, one of the strongest, one of the smartest, the best of us. Of all of us. There are few people left unafraid to talk about the complexities of race. Lee is one of them and he does it with astonishing clarity and skill. As a director, of course. But off camera as well. Lee knew that I had covered Kaepernick's protest movement extensively, and the interview focused partly on that, and on other aspects tangential to the former quarterback. Lee was gracious and when the interview concluded extremely thankful. Some people say never meet your heroes. I'm glad I met mine. I say all of this because actually there are two heroes in this story. One is Lee and the other is Kaepernick. The latter is one of the great sports civil rights leaders we've ever seen. Someone who took on the NFL and started a movement. Which is why the documentary made so much sense. A cinematic legend and groundbreaking player come together to tell a remarkable story. So what the hell has happened? Reuters was the first to report that the multi-part documentary series for ESPN Films about Kaepernick will not be released by the network, Lee and ESPN said. "ESPN, Colin Kaepernick and Spike Lee have collectively decided to no longer proceed with this project as a result of certain creative differences," ESPN said in a statement. "It's not coming out. That's all I can say," Lee said. Lee said he couldn't discuss why. "I can't," he said. "I signed a nondisclosure. I can't talk about it." I don't know what happened. I'm not sure we'll ever fully find out. When I see the words "nondisclosure agreement" that sounds like the secrets around why all of this happened won't be revealed anytime soon. If ever. When Lee says "it's not coming out" does that mean, gulp, ever? Or just not on ESPN? Can the project be salvaged? I don't know. What I do know is that this is all incredibly sad. It's devastating. What happens next seems murky. It's possible Lee and Kaepernick can shop the series elsewhere. There have been various reports that Lee and Kaepernick were at odds over the direction of the series. Puck News reported in 2024 that Lee wanted to investigate Kaepernick's treatment by the NFL as the largest issue, while Kaepernick wanted it to be more about his personal experience. The outlet also said that Lee and Kaepernick worked out their issues. It was also reported that ESPN was open to allowing the director and quarterback to shop the series. Let's hope that happens. Let's hope these two heroes find a way.
