Flying Fish Science Pub

I had hoped, like probably most of the world, that we’d finally be on the other end of COVID-19 by now. Instead, the caution continues, and the feeling of interrupted lives. Because of the high transmission rate of Omicron I’ve found myself mostly focused on takeout and delivery and staying home, with limited dining out. The first exception I’ve made in 2022 though was for the inaugural Flying Fish Science Pub. They hope to hold more events like Flying Fish Science Pub and I wanted to share what the experience is like. Welcome to my recap of Flying Fish presents Science Pub 1.0, a seafood market and restaurant collaboration with Chef Andre Uribe and Chef Patrick Marg of Sustainable Meals Oregon and guest speaker PSU biology professor, deep sea marine biologist and director of CLEE (Center for Life in Extreme Environments) Dr. Annie Lindgren.
Flying Fish Company market and restaurant with tented outdoor space located at 3004 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR, USA

I’ve been a fan of Flying Fish Company since I first met the idea of the company in 2019 and first tried their smoked salmon and a family recipe smoked salmon dip at events like Cowabunga and Nicky USA’s Wild About Game. What impressed me then and what still impresses me now is the passion for talking about where the seafood comes from in terms of the specific seafood type (salmon, albacore, oyster, etc), the environment it was harvested from, the affection and simple care in bringing out the flavors that are naturally there when you have this kind of high quality product. I miss the oyster bar and seafood market at Providore Fine Foods (mainly it’s more convenient location to me), which they closed when they opened their independent brick and mortar market and restaurant at their current location in early 2020, just as the pandemic began to be realized here. Thankfully, their ability to offer groceries and the outdoor dining space they have has helped them survive so far.
Flying Fish Company market and restaurant with tented outdoor space located at 3004 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR, USA

Hands down Flying Fish is the best place in Portland to get seafood if you don’t fish for it yourself or have a line to a fisherman. They publish their “Fresh List” daily like an old fashioned shop that has a board but modern because you can find it on the web. You’ll find fresh fish and shellfish of course, and smoked fish, but also the best pantry of tinned seafood and some meat options if you want to put together surf and turf. They have a menu of prepared food to dine outdoors or enjoy as takeout that includes some pretty amazing small plates and fish and chips. They even have an event list that includes different kind of field trips such as fishing or oysters. When I heard they were offering a dinner event called Flying Fish Science Pub that includes nourishing four course meal and nourishing conversation about sustainable eating, and it included a female marine biologist professor oh yeah, I was all in.

I want to note this was Science Pub 1.0 so it was the first attempt at this type of event, so they may make changes to future events so your experience may not exactly be like mine. But here is what my experience was like.

Flying Fish Science Pub takes place on a Tuesday, when the restaurant is closed normally, which means only the attendees of this private event of 20 some people is who you will be sharing the space with. The event is held outdoors, but it is in a covered tent with plenty of heaters, so you don’t need to worry about the weather or being cold (in fact it was so warm I ended up having to remove my coat!).
Flying Fish Company market and restaurant with tented outdoor space located at 3004 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR, USA Flying Fish presents Science Pub, a market and restaurant with tented outdoor space collaboration with Chef Andre and Chef Patrick of Sustainable Meals Oregon and guest speaker PSU biology professor, deep sea marine biologist and director of CLEE (Center for Life in Extreme Environments) Dr. Annie Lindgren

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Dine out on Wednesday May 16 for Restaurants for Raphael House

It’s that time of year again – the annual Restaurants for Raphael House day. If you dine out on Wednesday May 16 for Restaurants for Raphael House, for any meal or snack or drink all day at nearly 50 participating restaurants all over Portland, Lake Oswego, and Beaverton, you are helping support families escaping domestic violence. Please, call your family, or friends, or colleagues – make a plan to have lunch or dinner, or snacks and a drink. You don’t have to purchase any particular dish or drink – they all count. You don’t even have to dine out actually – many of the participants also offer delivery (via delivery services like Postmates (referral code 1I24N), Caviar, etc. – if you aren’t a member get $10 off with those links for joining) and that counts too towards the calculation of percentage of proceeds for the day.
Restaurants for Raphael House, enjoying a shake at Ruby Jewel Restaurants for Raphael House, enjoying happy hour martini at the lounge of Mother's Bistro

By spending your money in any way you like at these businesses, a portion of proceeds will go towards this non-profit providing life-saving shelter to women, men, and children seeking safety from domestic violence, as well as funding prevention programs. Founded in 1977, Raphael House of Portland is the largest domestic violence shelter in Multnomah County, and is dedicated to fighting the causes and effects of domestic violence.

Raphael House offers emergency shelter in a confidential location, a 24-hour in-house crisis line, transitional housing and advocacy programs to hundreds of adults and children annually, non-residential advocacy in partnership with the Portland Police Bureau, and also work to bring an end to violence through community outreach and education. Raphael House of Portland has been providing life-saving services to families for more then 40 years.

Restaurants for Raphael House, enjoying happy hour martini at Tilt

You can find the complete list here on their website along with a map, but here’s my list that includes descriptions of the restaurants from me to further encourage you to visit and order!
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Sake Fest 2017 is coming!

The 7th annual Sake Fest 2017 is coming Wednesday June 21st – and this year boasts a larger venue at the Oregon Convention Center. Held from 5:30 – 9 PM for the early admission ticket holders ($75) or 6:30 – 9 PM for regular admission ($55), the event boasts the ability to sample from among over 140 varieties of saké, plum wine and beer as well as bites to try your hand at pairing food and sake.
Sake tasting glasses to use during Sake Fest 2016 and to take home after Sake and pairings to make yourself from various food vendors and sake distributor booths at Sake Fest 2016

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Portland Beer Week 2017 Highlights

Portland Beer Week this year starts on Thursday, and runs from June 8 – June 18th 2017, 11 days of beer events happening all over Portland. This is not an exhaustive list of events – visit the Portland Beer Week website for all the events – but I wanted to highlight what I think are some unique events and my own personal take on Portland Beer Week 2017 Highlights.

This is just one of many events celebrating libations in June: I shared highlights for Negroni Week June 5-11 yesterday, and then for tomorrow I have a post about  Sake PDX Festival, which is coming up on June 21. And there’s Oregon Cider Week (June 15-25), PDX Margarita Festival (June 17) and then the beer festivals of Portland International Beer Festival (June 23-25) and Kriekfest (June 24)! All these events are just running into each other back to back this month!

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Dine out for Restaurants for Raphael House

Every year, I like to highlight the Restaurants for Raphael House event. For May 17, 2017, 45+ Portland area restaurants are participating in this tradition, now in its seventh year, where you can dine out for breakfast, lunch, dinner, any time on May 17 and participating restaurants will donate a portion of their proceeds to ensure our life-saving services are available to women, men, and children seeking safety from domestic violence.

Restaurants for Raphael House, enjoying a shake at Ruby Jewel
I grabbed a milkshake from Ruby Jewel last year as one of the stops to support Restaurants for Raphael House 

You can see the full list at their website, divided by areas of Portland (and a few in Lake Oswego and Beaverton) but a few summaries of what each of these restaurants offer based off a version of the list I saw this week include of what each of the participating restaurants are below. [Read more…]

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