Purple Hang Town Fry

The Heathman Hotel Restaurant in downtown Portland, Ore. has the best hang town fry breakfast in the city. The origin of this dish is Northern Cal., and it consists of oysters, eggs, onions and potatoes. It is presentably a scramble that is crisped on the outside like hash browns/frittata, yet its inside melts in the mouth because of the oyster’s slurp-slide texture. I used to work at The Heathman back when I was a grad student in writing at the nearby university (PSU). Sunday brunch folks loved ordering this dish with plain green salad as a side, and a requisite mimosa flute, and I remember sending the fry out table after table— and they killed it. Particular to the dish is its technique of mashing-chopping-folding up of ingredients on the griddle using two steel turner spatulas on either hand, and binding them together with one adjoined flip. It is quite a show, I think. (The fry, incidentally, is also a common street food in Thailand using pretty much the same inputs except the deletion of potatoes for strips of banana flowers, then doused with a sweet spicy sauce; the price is very, very cheap but the taste is very, very good.) The American version is just as delicious, and so I decided to make something similar for my Sunday. 

The Hawaiian sweet potato is color purple inside. I had baby Swiss chards and some fresh herbs (thyme, basil, oregano), brown eggs and garlic pita bread. (I precooked the sweet potato steamed tender and diced up chunks with skin-on, with a little salt and pepper, the day before.) Putting together my fry is pretty straightforward and fast: butter and olive oil in a hot pan, dropping minced stems of the chards and herbs until they sizzle and fragrant, add the sweet potatoes, stir nicely, then flourish the ribboned leaves of the chards on top for offset binding, mix, no special flipping technique necessary, cooked them quick together and fluently (five minutes tops). Toast pita and cut as you wish mindful of plate design and the ergonomic of eating (do you want to mop up the emulsion juice on the bottom of the plate, or make a bruschetta to pick the hash to the bread and finger food it?) Up to you, follow your appetite rituals. Lastly, don’t forget your glistening egg with a golden yolk; it must ooze and must be seasoned and flecked with red chili pepper flakes. Serve a l a Heathman-style (the hotel is a four-star boutique inn and the interior of the restaurant is a formal French bistro ambience). And then my fry is up.

As a long-time cook (and have been joyfully passionate about it), I use classic recipes, smart techniques and photogenic (often wistful) memories as a way to bring food on my table and delight on my palate. I’ve learned so much in Portland as a cook and urban gardener. We had happy (food) times there, and many friends to celebrate.