Jim Parker has a lot to answer for

Though there are some prior examples of cheesy Tater Tot recipes (one, submitted to Taste of Home’s Quick Cooking in 2003 by a reader in Tennessee, involves four different dairy products and a crushed-potato-chip topping), the first mention of proper Tater Tot nachos in any media was in 2006, with the opening Oaks Bottom Public House in Sellwood. The man responsible: Jim Parker, a prolific publican and former journalist who opened the pub with New Old Lompoc owner Jerry Fechter.

The secret history of totchos

Everything’s better on banh mi

Ng says he started receiving orders from non-Asian restaurants in the early 2000s, mostly for Franco-Vietnamese “mini-baguettes,” best known in the United States as the foundation of bánh mì, the sandwich that shares their name. An Xuyen now supplies custom products to a number of customers, including hamburger buns to Foster Burger, pan bread to Sen Yai and bun dough to Steamers Asian Street Bistro, but the baguette remains a favorite.

An Xuyen’s Southeast Asian breads are the foundation of some of Portland’s best sandwiches