Over the last few years, as the level of creativity cooked up by local chefs has garnered increasing national attention, Portland’s inventive food scene has come to a boil. Celebrating Oregon’s bountiful ingredients, as well as the masterminds who work with them, Feast Portland (Sept. 20-23) not only highlights local foodie talent, but infuses the city with some of the coolest kitchen personas from around the country. Presented by Bon Appétit, this buffet of James Beard Award-winning talent will pack Stumptown full of dinners, demos, classes and tastings.
Main events at the belt-busting festival include Thursday’s Sandwich Invitational (a delectable beer-paired contest featuring entries from Bunk Sandwiches, Podnah’s Pit BBQ and Kenny & Zuke’s, among others) in downtown’s Director Park; Friday’s Feast Portland Night Market (a Southeast-Asian-style celebration of street food with contributors from Portland, Austin, NYC and London) at the Ecotrust Building; and the Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting (with demonstrations by Naomi Pomeroy from Beast, Paul Qui of Austin’s Uchiko, and many others) in Pioneer Courthouse Square Friday and Saturday.
Packages with passes to the entire Feast, as well as individual event tickets, are available for purchase online now. Space is limited, and while Feast may never have too many cooks in its kitchen, there’s only so much room for discerning diners.
Bunk takes Gotham: Tommy Habetz of Bunk Sandwiches.
The week before last was a big one for local chefs, who gathered in New York City for the May 21 launch party for Feast Portland, the much-anticipated food and drink festival that will take place Sept. 20-23 in downtown Portland.
Later in the week, two other culinary standard-bearers — both of whom will also be participants in Feast – led hands-on, Portland-focused events for travel writers and meeting planners. In Chicago, Jenn Louis of Lincoln (one of Food & Wine‘s Best New Chefs of 2012) led a hands-on cooking demonstration. And in DC, Mark Bitterman (owner of The Meadow and author of the James Beard Award-winning Salted) piqued attendees’ taste buds with samplings of artisan-made finishing salts.
Foodies, mark your calendars: tickets for the first annual Feast Portland food festival go on sale on Tuesday, May 22 at 6 a.m. Pacific time. Find them at www.feastportland.com. That day, you’ll see the full schedule of events (Sept. 20-23, 2012) and guest chef announcements, and be able to pick and choose whether you’ll be going for a full conference pass or individual events.
If you’re traveling to Portland for the festival, the full pass will give you the ultimate Portland food experience. And, keep an eye out for a special Portland Perks hotel package that will run during those dates. If you travel to eat, this is a national experience not to miss. See you at Feast Portland!
Although the opening weekend for the Portland Farmers Market in March is the official start to the fresh food season, I find my tastes align more with berries than with Swiss chard. As such, I always eagerly anticipate late spring, when the first sweet delicacies appear. May and June are also two of the best foodie months in town.
May kicks off with the Taste of the Nation, a fundraiser for Share Our Strength that brings together tastes from restaurants, breweries and wineries.
In mid-May, the Indie Wine and Food Festival highlights the best of local, small-batch vintners and pairs them with nibbles from great restaurants.
Over Memorial Day Weekend, winemakers open their doors for the 21st annual tasting extravaganza in the Willamette Valley.
Finally, in June, the entire month becomes a feast for foodies with the return of Dining Month Portland, which includes three-course dinners for just $25 at nearly 50 restaurants, every day of the week. This year’s participants include James Beard Award nominated locales like Lincoln and Nostrana, plus past winners like Paley’s Place.
A salad with greens from the backyard garden at Besaw's on Northwest 23rd Avenue.
Jessica Kleiderman was so inspired by the wealth of good food in Portland’s neighborhoods that she started a tour company to share that wealth, and called it Forktown.
Any foodie who’s been here knows that the abundance of craft artisans (chocolatiers, bakers, cheesemakers, distillers, brewers …) in Portland is unparalleled. And some of the most interesting ones seem to be hidden within neighborhoods, these locals’ favorites.
Twice a week, Jessica invites you to her “Forktown,” leading tours to the Northwest and North Portland areas where you can taste for yourself why Portlanders find their city so delicious. (more…)
In this recent video from our friends at Travel Oregon, Portland chef Philippe Boulot takes a break from his kitchen at The Heathman Restaurant & Bar to chase steelhead on the Deschutes River, spey rod (and camp stove) in tow.
Back in Portland, Philippe serves up a tasty offer — a $20 dining certificate at The Heathman – as part of our year-round Portland Perks hotel package.
Or, enter by Nov. 30 to win your own “Wanderfeast,” a four-day culinary trek across the state.
There’s plenty of new eats in Portland these days, as detailed by this story in The Oregonian. But the newcomers don’t outshine some of our veteran chefs, many of which continue to draw national attention — such as this article in Travel & Leisure.
Portland continues to flex its foodie muscles, appearing in my Twitter and Facebook feeds more frequently lately. I love living in such a tasty city. Here are a few recent mentions in case you’re wondering what you’re missing.
For the 100th episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations,” viewers voted on the most memorable moments from the last six years — and Portland won!
Portland’s food carts are getting noticed more as well. They are amazing little mini-restaurants that specialize in a particular type of food and offer generous portions for a reasonable price.
Presentation is everything: a Chicago-style dog at Wayne's.
At the risk of further damaging my credibility with my foodie friends (Eric, I’m looking at you), let me devote a few lines here to Wayne’s Chicago Red Hots, a haven for Windy City expats, Cubs fans and all those who heed the siren song of a Vienna Beef dog accompanied by yellow mustard, neon green relish, chopped onions, tomato slices, sport peppers, celery salt and a pickle spear, all held in the warm embrace of a steamed poppyseed bun.
Worried that your culinary-minded companions won’t bite?
Here’s a compromise: You go to Wayne’s — it’s located in Northeast Portland, less than a 15-minute drive from downtown — while they head a few doors down to Ned Ludd, a critical darling whose chefs, according to Willamette Week, “celebrate . . . low-tech methods rather than revolution — and create stellar food from humble ingredients in the process.”
Which, come to think of it, sounds like Wayne’s, too.
Over the last few years, as the level of creativity cooked up by local chefs has garnered increasing national attention, Portland’s inventive food scene has come to a boil. Celebrating Oregon’s bountiful ingredients, as well as the masterminds who work with them, Feast Portland (Sept. 20-23) not only highlights local foodie talent, but infuses the city with some of the coolest kitchen personas from around the country. Presented by Bon Appétit, this buffet of James Beard Award-winning talent will pack Stumptown full of dinners, demos, classes and tastings.
