Vitaly Paley

Lured to Portland from New York in 1995 by the bounty of the Pacific Northwest, Vitaly Paley is one of the region’s leading chefs. As chef and co-owner of Paley’s Place, his cooking is based on simple preparations of local, sustainably grown ingredients. As the 2005 recipient of the James Beard award for Best Chef Northwest, Vitaly prides himself as one of the leaders of the movement to define regional Northwest cuisine – from the line-caught wild salmon in the Columbia River to Oregon strawberries. In 1995, Vitaly and his wife Kimberly moved to Portland and opened Paley’s Place. The restaurant—and Vitaly’s inspired cuisine—draws praise, both locally and nationally and has been featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Oprah, USA Today, and the Food Network. Vitaly and his wife, Kimberly, have recently published “The Paley’s Place Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from the Pacific Northwest”(Ten Speed Press, October 2008).