Feast Fab Collab – and way to win tickets to Feast!

I have been attending Feast Portland for many years now, and am an enthusiastic supporter of the amazing 4 day food festival event that helps brings awareness and raise money for charitable partners fighting against hunger. Feast Portland also celebrates the delicious local bounty of the Pacific Northwest, ranging from producers of food products to those who transform ingredients into dishes on a plate or in a glass – restaurants and chefs and mixologists and more. Most of the events at Feast bring together various makers of food to collaborate to create a limited time offering for Feast. Of the 40+ events during Feast Portland, many are sold out, but there are still a tickets to some events, and there are ways to participate in Feast without a ticket, thanks to the Feast Fab Collab.

Feast Fab Collab 2018 Feast Mode Lager Beer (sold in cans) with 10 Barrel Brewing Co., a lager featuring pilsner malt, flaked rice and a subtle hopping for an ultra light and refreshing beer. $7.99 for a four pack of 16 ounce cans (so four pints), available at New Seasons Markets + Feast Fab Collab 2018 Olympia Provisions Chef Sausage Series with Salumist Elias Cairo + Ava Gene’s Owner Chef Joshua McFadden, a specialty Italian pork sausage spiced with garlic, fennel, chili flake, and stuffed with kale and provolone cheese, available at New Seasons Markets = perfection

Now in it’s third year, the Feast Fab Collab is a collaboration of products you can purchase outside Feast – in this case you can find them exclusively at New Seasons Market. The food items are limited edition just for Feast, and created in partnership with famed chefs and food producers also participating in Feast. And, you’ll still be doing good – a portion of gross sales from all Feast Fab Collab items are donated to Feast Portland’s charitable partners to be part of the fight against hunger too. This year the partners are Hunger-Free Oregon and Urban Gleaners.

For 2018, the Feast Fab Collab items include

  • Feast Mode Lager Beer (sold in cans) with 10 Barrel Brewing Co., a lager featuring pilsner malt, flaked rice and a subtle hopping for an ultra light and refreshing beer. $7.99 for a four pack of 16 ounce cans (so four pints).
    Feast Fab Collab 2018 Feast Mode Lager Beer (sold in cans) with 10 Barrel Brewing Co., a lager featuring pilsner malt, flaked rice and a subtle hopping for an ultra light and refreshing beer. $7.99 for a four pack of 16 ounce cans (so four pints), available at New Seasons Markets
  • Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches with Maya Lovelace (of famous Southern Appalachian pop-up Mae PDX and coming restaurant Yonder) and Ruby Jewel. The two flavors of mini ice cream sandwiches (it says mini, but they are still palm sized – it is only mini in terms of the ice cream sandwiches at Ruby Jewel are usually even bigger!) include Maya’s Southern Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwich with chewy cornmeal cookies from Bob’s Red Mill and strawberry buttermilk ice cream using strawberries from Oregon Fruit Products. The second ice cream sandwich is Grandma Mae’s Sweet Molasses Ice Cream Sandwich inspired from Maya’s grandmother molasses and apple butter sandwich cookies. If I had to choose between them, I prefer the strawberry one with cornmeal but really it’s just personal preference because I like strawberry and cream more then molasses flavors. Each sandwich is $2.99.
    Feast Fab Collab 2018 Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches, the Grandma Mae’s Sweet Molasses Ice Cream Sandwich with Maya Lovelace, available at New Seasons Markets Feast Fab Collab 2018 Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches the Maya’s Southern Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwich with Maya Lovelace, available at New Seasons Markets
  • Olympia Provisions Chef Sausage Series with Salumist Elias Cairo + Ava Gene’s Owner Chef Joshua McFadden, a specialty Italian pork sausage spiced with garlic, fennel, chili flake, and stuffed with kale and provolone cheese. I’m serving it below exactly as they recommended it, very simply just grilled the sausage and sliced it up with fresh pasta, olive oil and some garden cherry tomatoes – sounds simple but it lets the freshness of the summer tomatoes and all the flavor of the sausage really stand out! Maybe in retrospect I should have wilted some spinach, but at this point the sausage was oozing cheese and I wasn’t going to wait any longer to eat it. A package of 12 ounces of sausage runs $8.99.
    Feast Fab Collab 2018 Olympia Provisions Chef Sausage Series with Salumist Elias Cairo + Ava Gene’s Owner Chef Joshua McFadden, a specialty Italian pork sausage spiced with garlic, fennel, chili flake, and stuffed with kale and provolone cheese, available at New Seasons Markets Feast Fab Collab 2018 Olympia Provisions Chef Sausage Series with Salumist Elias Cairo + Ava Gene’s Owner Chef Joshua McFadden, a specialty Italian pork sausage spiced with garlic, fennel, chili flake, and stuffed with kale and provolone cheese, available at New Seasons Markets

The beer and mini ice cream sandwiches are available now at New Seasons Markets in Oregon and Southwest Washington states, and the Olympia Provisions sausage will be available this Monday September 3, just in time for Labor Day bbqs.

All of these products will also be featured at the Friday and Saturday Grand Tasting Presented By New Seasons Market, who is the main sponsor of the two Grand Tasting events. Thanks to their generosity, I am raffling off TWO tickets to the Friday Grand Tasting event!

So here’s how you can win tickets –

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Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner

You probably know that I enjoy all beverages – cocktails, wine, and beer. I’ve been a fan of Alto Bajo, a bright, airy restaurant specializing in regional Mexican cuisine and located in the newish Hi Lo Hotel – and I’ve written about it previously as a great hidden brunch gem that takes reservations. I also really like its bar which specializes in tequila and mezcal, also as a hidden gem for classy drinks in a chic atmosphere that is suitable for a nice party of friends or coworkers where you can actually hear each other talk and fit comfortably in the lounge. So when I heard they were hosting beer dinner pairing their modern Mexican food with the beers of an award winning brewery, I was in for the Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner! If you are vegetarian or vegan, you should also know that Alto Bajo offered a vegan alternative for all the courses – I didn’t utilize it, but appreciated that they thoughtfully wanted to include non-meat eaters.

Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner menu

Since I last wrote about it, there was a change of chefs, and now Chef Bryant Kryck leads the kitchen. Some favorites of mine still remain, like the Mayan Sikil Pak at lunch and dinner. Chef Bryant has also increased the protein options. So although my favorite brunch omelette of theirs no longer stars huitlacoche with corn, local mushrooms and poblano cream sauce, now you can choose from fillings for your omelette (or burrito, or rice bowl, or chilaquiles, or other taqueria options) with smoked chicken thigh tinga, brisket barbacoa, pork shoulder carnitas, smoked truffled mushrooms, or red chili shrimp. I’ve been curious about the new menu, and got to sample some of it at this beer pairing dinner, while also seeing some of favorites still remain on the menu.

The Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner started off with a casual reception with Firestone Walker Pivo Pils, a German Pilsener, with Alto Bajo’s housemade chips and salsa roja and salsa verde at a central table where each person could help themselves. I am not ashamed to admit I went back twice. The chips and salsas are just as addictive as they were previously.
Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, reception with Firestone Walker Pivo Pils, a German Pilsener, with Alto Bajo's housemade chips and salsa roja and salsa verde Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, reception with Firestone Walker Pivo Pils, a German Pilsener, with Alto Bajo's housemade chips and salsa roja and salsa verde

The first Course was a pairing of Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion #10 American IPA with Pivo Pils braised beef short rib sope. This is not normally on the menu – Alto Bajo did this special dish utilizing beef short rib braised in Firestone Walker’s beer just for this event – and I appreciated that they thoughtfully did something one-off to both highlight the Luponic Distortion while also utilizing another Firestone Walker beer too as a thoughtful partnership.
Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, a pairing of Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion #10 American IPA with Pivo Pils braised beef short rib sope Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, a pairing of Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion #10 American IPA with Pivo Pils braised beef short rib sope Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, a pairing of Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion #10 American IPA with Pivo Pils braised beef short rib sope

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Nicky USA’s Wild About Game – recap of 2017

Nicky USA is a butchery and meat distributor for the Portland area and Pacific Northwest for the past 28 years – and most major restaurants in town that are fine dining establishments procure meat from Nicky USA. If you want sustainably raised game meat, Nicky USA is the one you go to. Every year for the past 18 years now, they have hosted an incredible event Nicky USA’s Wild About Game, (often nicknamed “WAG”) which they call “The Meatiest Celebration in the Northwest”. As you could guess from the name, Nicky USA’s Wild About Game is all about the high quality meat. Besides more then 40 tables of food and drink industry vendors showcasing their products, many partnering with chefs from amazing local restaurants to highligh their product, Wild About Game is also a food and cocktail competition!

Nicky USA's Wild About Game, 2017 Artisan Marketplace vendor samples Nicky USA's Wild About Game, 2017 Artisan Marketplace vendor samples Nicky USA's Wild About Game Nicky USA's Wild About Game

Besides the Maker’s Mark Cocktail Competition, there is the Carter Cutlery Game Cooking Competition. A chef from Seattle and a chef from Portland compete using the same assigned game meat. The winners of each face off are decided by a panel of judges and also by the attendees who get a chance to vote for People’s Choice overall. The overall winners by the judges and people enter the WAG Hall of Fame.
Nicky USA's Wild About Game - Hall of Fame as of 2017 competition listing the previous 16 years of winners for judges choice and people's choice

As an attendee of Wild About Game you will get to taste the head to head dishes that come from Chefs. There will be a schedule of each face off when a chef from Seattle is paired against a chef from Portland, using the same game meat. They will both offer their samples one after the other at that scheduled time so you can compare and contrast them. This then repeats for four categories during the event, with you snacking at the Artisan Marketplace in between when the chefs dishes are ready. For the 2018 Nicky’s USA Wild About Game, the competitors include

Tickets just went on sale via Mercury Tickets. The cost to attend the event this year is $75, and keep in mind it is all inclusive of all the food and libations you can fit during the 11 AM – 4:30 PM event duration – do not surprised that you will be seriously full. Please note that event only admits those 21+.

To give you better insight of the event, here are the details from the 2017 event so you know exactly how you are really get above and beyond your $75 worth.

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Langbaan Chefs Who Inspire Dinner with Edouardo Jordan

Langbaan is already an amazing restaurant with its incredible multi-course dinner that take you on a tour of regions of Thailand (example dinner that I recapped here), and in addition to those special dinners they also have been doing a Chefs Who Inspire Series. For these dinners, Langbaan head chef Earl Ninsom brings in a chef who inspires him and they collaborate for a unique, once in a lifetime meal in which they offer twists of dishes by collaborating with each other or riffing off ideas from each other. I attended one of the Chefs Who Inspire Dinners with Chef Justin Woodward (recapped here), and last week, I attended one with Chefs Who Inspire Dinner with Edouardo Jordan.
Langbaan Chefs Who Inspire Dinner with Edouardo Jordan of Salare and Junebaby, a collaboration with Chef Earl Ninsom of Langbaan to benefit Farestart Langbaan Chefs Who Inspire Dinner with Edouardo Jordan of Salare and Junebaby, a collaboration with Chef Earl Ninsom of Langbaan to benefit Farestart

Chef Edouardo Jordan is the chef and owner of Salare (I actually first had his cuisine at a dinner where he came down to Portland to do a dinner a Salt Fire Water series Dinner with Renata back in 2015), and last year, almost a year ago, he opened new Southern restaurant Junebaby. He recently won two titles at the 2018 James Beard awards for Best New Restaurant in the US, and Best Chef Northwest, though Chef Earl had already asked him to be part of this Chefs Who Inspire series before he won those accolades.

During the introduction to his friend, Chef Earl mentioned how he knew Chef Edouardo from cooking against him and getting beaten – perhaps a reference to The Wild About Game event a couple years ago when they went head to head cooking rabbit. Chef Edouardo not only beat Chef Earl but also won overall for that year! Both chefs cook from their heritage and tell a story that is too often told white chefs in the elevated dining circles, but both have successfully broken through and become successful while infusing their own history and perspective in a way no one else has.
Langbaan Chefs Who Inspire Dinner with Edouardo Jordan of Salare and Junebaby, a collaboration with Chef Earl Ninsom of Langbaan to benefit Farestart

Fifteen percent of the proceeds of this dinner went to Chef Edouardo’s charity of choice, Farestart. Farestart is a nonprofit which for the past 25 years had provided the homeless and disadvantaged with culinary and life skills and job placement to give them a chance at a self-sufficient life. He referenced the commitment to growing and making a difference with the just that day announced that Angela Stowell was leaving her position as CEO of Ethan Stowell Restaurants to become the CEO of Farestart. If you are Seattle, besides visiting some of the restaurants and cafes where attendees of the programs get a chance to practice, definitely look up the Guest Chef Nights too.

Finally, here’s a look at the fantastic meal I enjoyed.

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Avocado Month Specials at Pine Street Market

June is California Avocado Month, when California Avocados are at peak availability. So to celebrate, here’s a look at the Avocado Month Specials at Pine Street Market from June 1-30. Pine Street Market is a food hall located in downtown Portland which is like the next level food court – picture a common dining area in the center, but nine micro-restaurants rather then the usual fast chain places you’d find in a mall. Half are participating in Avocado Month.
Avocado Month Specials at Pine Street Market for June 2018: for all of June only, Olympia Provisions Public House Annex will offer Oregon Bay Shrimp Roll with California Avocado which includes Olympia Provisions Andouillie sausage topped with Oregon Bay Shrimp, California Avocado, red onion, jalapeno, shredded lettuce, aioli, old bay seasoning and bread & butter pickles served on a bun

Pine Street Market is one of two food halls celebrating Avocado Month in conjunction with California Avocado Commission – the other is Los Angeles’ Grand Central Market, where Sari Sari Store, DTLA Cheese, Golden Road Brewing Company, Horse Thief BBQ, Olio GCM Wood Fired Pizzeria, Prawn, and Ramen Hood are getting into the avocado specials Here in Portland at Pine Street Market, you’ll find serving California Avocado Month specials Bless Your Heart Burger, Checkerboard Pizza, Olympia Provisions Public House Annex, and Wiz Bang Bar.

Sari Sari Store and Wiz Bang Bar additionally are sharing a special recipe highlighting avocado: Chicken Adobo and California Avocado Fried Rice Topped with Pickled Vegetables from Margarita Manzke of Sari Sari Store, and from Kim Malek of Wiz Bang Bar, get the recipe for Wild Berry Frozen Yogurt & California Avocado Lime Fudge Parfait. Or take it easy (I did…) by instead of making the recipe just going straight to the source, at least for June!

Avocado Month Specials at Pine Street Market for June 2018: for all of June only, Bless Your Heart Burgers is putting together a special version of the cheeseburger stacked with North West Natural Beef, Bacon, California avocado on the Martin’s potato roll, with Duke’s mayonnaise, shredded lettuce, sweet onions, homemade pickles and house made ranch

What I love about Pine Street Market (and Grand Central Market) is how easy it is to do a food crawl and try different foods from different vendors, all in one place. You go to the counter of each restaurant to place your order and usually get a number of some sort or pager so you know when to retrieve your dish or they will bring it to you. Don’t hesitate to go to multiple storefronts to place your order and have a couple of numbers at your seat- I have! Here’s how to enjoy the avocado month specials at Pine Street Market.

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