How Portland’s star seafood chef stays sustainable

The fifth course to land on my table at Erizo, a restaurant celebrating its first year in Portland, Ore., comes on an oversize metal tray filled with ice, five dishes of chilled seafood each cradled in elegant seashells representing the shellfish within: clams, crab, and oysters.

The clams are horseneck—Oregon’s most common clam—maligned for their tough texture and more often used for bait than fine dining, though you would never know from this version served with green bamboo. The...