A Carnivore Goes to Portland
When dreaming up ways to make a food festival entertaining and unique one must use their best creative minds. For you can get lost in the array of soggy small bites and various toasts (when did this become a thing?!). So my personal goal for Feast Portland 2016 is to eat all the animals. Or at least as many as I can find.
If you’re keeping score at home – I’ll be giving my level best to find, consume and rate the following:
Best Bite of Mainstream Meat: Beef, Pork, Lamb – Winner: Ben Bettinger of Laurelhurst Market for his Smoked Oregon Lamb Shoulder
Best Bite of Beast: Boar, Goat, Elk, Venison, Gator : Nina Compton of Compere Lapin in New Orleans for her Roasted Jerk Goat
An ominous but potentially delicious way to begin the Smoke event!
Best Bite of Bird: Chicken, Duck, Quail, Pheasant, Turkey, Ostrich: Raven Rose for their Ballymaloe Chicken Liver Pate
The Best of the Best at Feast Portland
In addition to locating and munching on my fine feathered and furry friends, I’ll also be coming up with a ‘Best of’ List for the following items. Ideally this will serve as a bit of a guide for others who want to travel to Feast next year – and to give props to those who have excelled at their respective crafts!
Best Wine – White: Maysara Anahita Riesling – 2015
Best Wine – Red: 2012 Elizabeth Chambers Temperance Hill Pinot Noir
Best Rose: 2015 Anne Amie Huntington Hill Pinot Gris
Best Spirit – Townshend’s Bluebird Alpine Liqueur
Best Charcuterie – The Olympia Provisions spread at the Grand Tasting
Best Overall Bite: Nina Compton of Compere Lapin in New Orleans for her Roasted Jerk Goat – it was so damned good I could cry!
Outside Feast Portland
As you may or may not know, Portland is one of the best dining destinations on the West Coast. Sure, everyone has probably heard of Voodoo Doughnuts and restaurants like Naomi Pomeroy’s Beast – but there are others to love. In between the festivities at Feast I’m going to attempt to eat at a bunch of places on my Portland dining bucket list including Andy Ricker’s Pok Pok, Little Bird Bistro, Caffe Mingo and more. In addition, I’m going to hit up Nostrana at some point for the best charcuterie plate I’ve ever had!
Follow the Dog On