What We Eat


	Exact Match

Desert Island Dinners

What We Eat welcomes Caprial Pence to our desert island.

Caprial Pence shares her talent for creating innovative regional dishes on her popular public television series Cooking with Caprial and on her new show, Caprial! Cooking for Friends. Her series produced by The Learning Channel-a 1994 nominee for the James Beard Award for best television cooking show-currently airs internationally.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Caprial returned to her native Pacific Northwest and in 1986 began working at Fullers Restaurant at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel. She was quickly promoted to Chef de Cuisine, a position she held from 1987 to 1991. Under Caprial's direction, Fullers was a leader in Seattle's nouvelle cuisine, and in 1990 she was named Best Chef: Pacific Northwest by the James Beard Foundation.

In order to be closer to family, Caprial and her husband, John, a fellow CIA graduate, moved to Portland and opened their own small neighborhood restaurant, now called Caprial's Bistro, in 1992. Acclaimed for its seasonal Northwest cuisine with ethnic influences, the Bistro underwent a major expansion and remodel in 1998. The warm, comfortable, casual atmosphere remains, while new highlights include a spacious open kitchen, a full bar, and a cooking school, where Caprial and John teach their popular series of classes.

In her cookbooks- Caprial's Seasonal Kitchen, Caprial's Café Favorites, Cooking with Caprial: American Bistro Fare, Caprial's Bistro-Style Cuisine, Caprial's Soups & Sandwiches (co-authored by Bistro chef Mark Dowers), and the recently published Caprial Cooks for Friends,she inspires home cooks with her accessible recipes that have impressive results.

Find out more at Caprial's website - Caprial.com

Now read about Caprial's Desert Island Dinners experience:

WWE: Caprial Pence, thank you for joining us for Desert Island Dinners at What We Eat
Caprial Pence: Thanks for inviting me.

WWE: OK, a quick breakfast question, how do you like your eggs cooked?
Caprial Pence: Over medium, poached, and scrambled.

WWE: Imagine that we whisk you off to a desert island. You are allowed one meal and one drink, but it has to be the same one every day. What would you choose?
Caprial Pence: Good French Champagne, rack of lamb, mashed potaotes, fresh raspberries, cheese, and fresh bread.

WWE: We are pleased to tell you that we have decided to build a restaurant on your desert island. So to you, our only customer, what type of food would you like us to serve?
Caprial Pence: Asian.

WWE: Is there any restaurant that you'd like us to model ours after? Remember, you have to eat here every single day!
Caprial Pence: Xa in St. Remy, France.

WWE: As a special thanks to you for visiting our island, we will bring you a bag of goodies - what 5 food items would you like us to pack?
Caprial Pence: Chocolate, wine, cheese, bread, and butter.

WWE: And we can't let you leave the island without making something extra special, so what Desert Island Dessert would you like us to make you?
Caprial Pence: A cheese and fruit plate, and a bigger boat for the ride home!

WWE: Thank you very much Caprial for supporting What We Eat and for sharing some food fun with all the foodies out there!

Read previous months' Desert Island Dinners interviews :

Chef Michael Chiarello
Chef Anne Willan
Professor Michael Howe