Toro Bravo

At the heart of Portland's red-hot food scene is Toro Bravo, a Spanish-inspired restaurant whose small plates have attracted critical praise and a fiercely loyal fan base. But to call Toro Bravo a "Spanish restaurant" doesn't begin to tell the whole story. At Toro Bravo, each dish reflects a time, a place, a moment. For chef John Gorham, it's personal. Gorham's the sort of guy who'd get his sous chef's name tattooed on his backside; the sort of guy who'll order rum shots for the...
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At the heart of Portland's red-hot food scene is Toro Bravo, a Spanish-inspired restaurant whose small plates have attracted critical praise and a fiercely loyal fan base. But to call Toro Bravo a "Spanish restaurant" doesn't begin to tell the whole story. At Toro Bravo, each dish reflects a time, a place, a moment. For chef John Gorham, it's personal. Gorham's the sort of guy who'd get his sous chef's name tattooed on his backside; the sort of guy who'll order rum shots for the table after you don't believe you can ingest a single thing more. Most important, Gorham believes that there's more to food than mere sustenance. The Toro Bravo cookbook tells that story: from Gorham's birth to a fourteen-year-old mother who struggled--all her life--with drug addiction, to time spent in his grandfather's crab-shack dance club, to formative visits to Spain, to becoming a father, to opening a restaurant. It's about the power of passion, relentlessness, and, of course, food.