An Interview with "Eating Up the West Coast" Author Brigit Binns

The book, which nicely combines recipes, travelogue, and a guidebook, is broken up into 12 routes that take the reader from Southern California to Washington’s border with Canada. Binns loves the road, and it shows in the meandering routes she’s chosen. If you can’t make it there yourself, Binns’ recipes will give you a taste of what the coast has to offer (and maybe even inspire you to hit the road, too). We recently caught up with her by phone to talk about writing the book, traveling the open road, and some of her favorite meals.

Modern Farmer: What was the food scene like on your coastal travels?

Brigit Binns: In the old days on the shore it was all saltwater taffy, fried chicken, fried everything. Now, it’s really changing with both worlds existing together. There’s the tattooed guy from Portland who has discovered his own little slice of heaven on the Long Beach peninsula at the southern end of Washington state, where he can get seafood right from the ocean, cranberries from the bogs, and have foragers coming to his back door. But right down the road, there’s the biggest candy bar in the world.

MF: Did you have a favorite route?

BB: I keep coming back to Route 10 [in the book, which starts in Oysterville, Washington and ends in Moclips, Washington]. It was so beautifully unspoiled. The Long Beach peninsula is so gorgeous. It was something I’d never seen before. I’d definitely go back.

MF: What were some of your favorite meals?

BB: There’s a place in Anacortes, Washington, I found that wasn’t actually on my list called the A’Town Bistro. I just had the best dinner. That’s where I had the polenta fries and lamb shanks (both recipes are in the book). The bartender was also the manager and he told me all these stories about the town. That was a definite high point.

MF: Did you find yourself overeating on these trips?

BB: There were times when I would have to eat six different entrees in a day. It wasn’t very romantic. I didn’t want to insult the chef, so I’d usually ask for most of it to be wrapped up and then I would go and find a homeless person and give it to them.

MF: How did you decide what you’d focus on at the various places you ate?

BB: [My editor and I] had to try and figure out a balance of the dishes and recipes or I’d have ordered Dungeness [crab] macaroni and cheese at every restaurant. I’d try whatever I suspected was going to be the best of a certain high point and make sure I didn’t have too many burgers, too many sandwiches. That’s a lot of what you see at coastal joints. We had to veer off the beaten path in that department, too. That’s why we had Chinese chicken salad from the same place that makes pulled-pork pizza. It was one of the finds at Ribcage Smokery [in Pacific City, Oregon] that wasn’t originally on the list.

MF: Did you ever have a hard time convincing any of the chefs to give you their recipes?

BB: I’m usually able to convince them that there is no possible way a home cook is going to be able to duplicate what they do in the restaurant because they have different ingredients and equipment, different knowledge, abilities, patience, commitment. And by the time it gets into the book, it’s totally different because I’ve been messing around with it. The final recipe doesn’t resemble the one I received from the chef about nine-and-a-half times out of 10. I say in the book if you really want to taste it the way the chef meant it to be, you’ve got to go there.

MF: There’s a great history of writers taking to the road to find inspiration. Did the road help you write or did it make it more difficult?

BB: I love the road. I have an app on my phone so I can record myself and I’m unstoppable. I feel so good when I’m out on the open road, being independent, seeing new things, nothing but time for reflection. It’s a beautiful thing.

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