Big Sip and Sip McMinnville- Wine Tasting Ramblings In My Head

March 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I recently attended two wine festivals in the past two weekends: first the Big Sip, in its first year and at a hotel in downtown Portland. The other, the Sip McMinnville Wine and Food Classic, in its 18th year at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Shortly before that, I had also gone to Portland Seafood and Wine Festival, but I don't have as much to say about it except its lack of featuring much seafood despite its name on the billing.

One of the benefits of living in Portland is that we have access to so many wines produced locally. You can get to the heart of wine valley in only an hour, couple hours, or few hours, depending on what region and subregion you are shooting for- there are many AVAs in Oregon. Yet, even though these wineries are not that far of a drive away, many also actively promote themselves to the Portland residents by participating in food and wine festivals with a booth and bringing their wines for tastings for minimal fees (often 50 cents or $1) during the spring, summer, and fall season and selling bottles out of that booth.

These recent two festivals in particular were scheduled at back to back in weekends, and even shared the "Sip" in the name, but had different purposes. Big Sip was promoted towards good wine buys as discounted prices, which is exactly what it had. Meanwhile, Sip McMinville was a showcase of in order to see what vendors you knew or were just learning about had to offer. Both also offered a Groupon deal a week or so before the event.

First, Big Sip- there were about 35 wineries offered, but some were being represented by distributors, not the wineries themselves. For the Groupon deal of $27, it covered admission, grabbing a glass (but no one took the glass home- they were just the generic kind there for convenience and certainly better then using plastic cups but without having to waste printing and taking souviner glasses home), a "$10 value" cheese plate, and 15 tasting tickets. That's half price off – and that's about the right price for what it was.

One thing I liked was at the door, instead of the typical map with list of vendors, they had a list of all the wines on the floor in alphabetical order along with the regular price for a bottle, price for the bottle at the Big Sip event, savings, and amount for a case (some also 3 or 6 packs). This was particularly nice so that instead of having to circle the floor to see what everyone was offering and was a easy way to highlight prices when it came down to buying decision time at the end, instead of having to scrawl down prices along with my tasting notes since sometimes in the midst of tasting and other people at the table you might forget/have a blocked view of the price list, if even displayed. Some of the prices really were 15-30% off. Who I visited:

  • Airfield Estates. I had never heard of them before, and their labels are fun – their estate is situated by an WWII airbase. They only had 5 of their wines there, but they offer a lot of different styles in their portfolio. Although I didn't buy what they offered, it perked my interest in them. I have to say they have one of the better winery websites I've seen.
  • AlexEli Vineyard. Also new to me, and focusing more on whites, which is too rare here, and they have reversed it: of the five wines they had, they had the pinot noir but the rest were riesling, gewurztraminer, and white blends! Phil seemed to have a prime spot on the floor so I hope others also appreciated and will encourage AlexEli Vineyards. I did with their dessert gewurz, Gewürztraminer Blumen Von
  • Cana's Feast. They are trying to do an Italian style with their wines, at their winery you can visit and try their wine with Italian food, so sounded like a possible future lunch visit on the next day/weekend trip to the Yamhill Valley
  • Cathedral Ridge. Tried their 07 Syrah and 07 Bordeauxhd blend of syrah, cab, and merlot. These weren't bad, but they didn't stand out to me either. I personally like syrah to be allowed to powerful and full, and these seemed more of a tame tease but would be likable to those who prefer something more smooth
  • Edenvale. They were offering their 03 Late Harvest Viognier, 05 Reserve Syrah, 05 Reserve Tempranillo, and 07 Reserve Viognier at 2 tickets a tasting of each when everyone else asked for one (or would overlook it when you purchased a bottle). Every time I taste them, I feel sorta meh- I admire that they are willing to hold their wine as long as it takes before releasing them, but I am not seeing enough complexity payoff
  • Hawkins Cellars. Their 09 Syrah was interesting, as it started with more fruit then ended on a note of spice. I don't have another descriptor that I had written after the taste.
  • Marshal's Winery. They seemed like a rough and tumble, smaller operation, and reminded me a bit of table wine you could get in Europe that did the job but didn't get in the way or particularly sing in terms of character
  • Namaste Vineyards. I appreciate what they are trying to do with white wines, and I need to keep my eye out to try their white port- a port made with Chardonnay and local Clear Creek Distillery brandy- doesn't that sound interesting? Their website is terrible, thank goodness they are so personable at their booth, they should probably do more festivals.
  • Quailhurst. They offered a vertical tasting of their pinot noir from 02, 03, 04, and a couple other bottles. Although I was tempted by the discount to their regular price, since I know I have twice as many red as white and most of my red are pinot noirs, I need to be more selective and not get my head turned by "a deal".

Besides getting a few more names for me to keep an eye on, the Big Sip had satisfying snacks in between the tastes (or before… or after) going for it. Since it was located at the Doubletree by Lloyd Center, it was easy to get to by public transit, and also meant that people were not depending on the Big Sip for food as there are plenty of options in the area. Still, Big Sip had cheese trays which seemingly everyone had in hand- did everyone who came buy the Groupon?

Also, for $1 a piece, you could get a lovely bite of egg salad with pickled beet and sprinkle of paprika on a baguette for some protein. The peeps just make that display, don't they?

The Pinot Noir style is what I had a lot of at Sip McMinville, and it was especially interesting to compare the pinot noirs from the Willamette Valley to those from Southern Oregon as well in taste testing amongst various wineries. It was like a March Madness Pinot Noir bracket.

In fact, even before arriving at the event, we stopped off at Anam Cara Cellar's tasting room to start our tastings at 11 🙂 . We have visited Et Fille before who was guesting that day at this tasting room. Et Fille sources one of their wine's grapes from Nicholas Vineyard which is Anam Cara also uses, so it would be an interesting comparison tasting the two. I personally really like the Nicholas sourced wine from Et Fille and have their 07- so it was no surprised that I liked their 08 Nicholas too. Anam Cara's 07 Nicholas Estate Pinot Noir had a similarly great nose, silky mouthfeel, and light berry with toast, and their 07 Estate Reserve adds a bit of smooth butterness from the French barrel.

Then it was stepped up even more, with their 07 Mark II with its smokiness and their Heather that has more velvet berry. We were torn between the siblings of Mark and Heather, but I prefer Mark. I only bought a bottle of their Nicholas Estate Riesling though- its clean bright taste that is round but not sweet is a great find for a Riesling. And, I need more whites in my cellar, thank you! The 08 Gewurztraminer from Anam Cara is sweet and mellow- but since I have similar profiles in my collection, similar to the pinots, I was able to rationalize a pass for now. But, it was wonderful to meet Anam Cara, I'm sure we will meet again.

At the Sip McMinnville, the highlights were that it was inside the Evergreen Aviation and Space museum, so it had better atmosphere, and the many rows that it had for the booths helped divide people up so you were in a crowd but were never crowded. In terms of wineries visited:

  • Rizzo's upcoming petit verdot with its pepper spice, this was the third time I've been to their booth, but when I tasted this one, I knew I had a crush finally on a bottle that I had to have. Eagerly awaiting its April release.
  • Bradley Vineyard. It was nice to see them since I visited them in the Umpqua Valley and still remember their 08 Baco Noir very well, as well as their Pinot Noir vertical tasting- at this visit the 07 has a lean towards spice, while the 08 has a lean towards creaminess. If I was going to buy Pinot Noirs, this is the winner and where I would go (well, assuming I didn't want to spend $60 to buy Mark II from Anam Cara- which is equivalent of two bottles of Bradley's pinot). I didn't think their 09 Baco stood up to their 08, so am willing to wait and see a future year though given my current cellar. We also tried their Sugar N spice Gewurtz, but I didn't think the port style was to my taste of what I wanted with a dessert Gewurtz
  • Rivers Edge, another one I had visited before in the Umpqua Valley, and I remember their pinot noir jelly and Black Oak pinot noir well- I had tasted it from the barrel then (actually I went back and snuck a second free tasting) and wondered how it would grow up as it aged. Well, now I know. We compared the 08 Black Oak with their 08 Umpqua Valley, 07 Barrel Select, and 09 Dulcet Cuvee. The Black Oak was first place for me, but there was debate between the Black Oak and the Barrel Select.
  • Tesoaria Palotai. I think they must want to be passed by word of mouth only, based on their website. Well, that's fine, more Moutage for me. Besides picking up the bottles of Moutage I had known immediately I wanted when I first tasted it at the Seafood and Wine festival, tasting it again a month later doubled how many I wanted so I am not torn between enjoying it and hoarding it. We also tried his Zinfandel, which was a wild animal Zin compared to what you would normally expect thanks to its extra spice tone- it's rebellious nature immediately appealed to me. We also tried their Merlot with its complex berry profile, and the new Atilla which this time uses Barbera. The style here still remains a bold smack that sometimes needs some timeout time to smooth over- just have the fortitude to power through tasting all his offerings and take notes, and take your time.
  • Tried Macindoe's 08 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley which had a nice round body but some spice in the profile to perk it up, Stoller's 07 Pinot Noir that had a soft round body, Maysara's 08 Jamesheedand 07 Estate Cuvee… all of which were definitely high on the pinot noir bracket but didn't make it to the final round
  • Dominio Wines. First time meeting, tried their Viogner Dragonfly, Tempranillo/Syarah Spellbound, and then Estate Syrah Song of an Uncaged Bird. Besides the names, the winery also has its own interesting take on its taste profile, and since they apparently offer many more at the tasting room then the three at this event, seems like someplace to check out and see what they are developing
  • Also visited Coelho for the espontaneo marechal foch and dessert wine, Lone Oak's Syrah, and Pudding River's Chardonnay and Viogner… probably won't be checking in with them again as they were not my taste
  • Ancient Cellars and Eliana didn't have anything new yet from when we had last seen them, so they didn't count in the bracket this time because they are already in my cellar.
  • By the time got to Zena and Edenvale, my palate was done with reds: I only knew by immediate gut feel whether I wanted it or not, and I only wanted it if it was bringing me something new… but not this time anyway.

We finished up Sip McMinville with pressing our noses against the glass wall because the Spruce Goose building was already closed, and then off to a great recommendation and dinner experience at Dundee Bistro. We made it right around 6:40ish without a reservation and were given two two-tops at the bar area pushed together, which was fine as long as we didn't have to wait.The other drawback besides being too late to see the Spruce Goose (and wishing they had clearly told us hours of the buildings if they were going to vary from the event since the cost of the ticket included museum admission) was the lack of food. Well, there was food, just not really quality food worth the price- maybe Canby Asparagus Farm being the exception which is why the long lines while others had no lines. For an event that is open 12-9pm, they didn't have much to feed the people who needed more in their stomach. The best thing I saw there was actually a $1 taste at the Abbie and Olivers booth – and those were 6 little bites of cheese. I'll be covering the cheeses in a future post, as I bought 3 of those 6 cheeses- I'm writing this on a rainy Sunday, but this post is getting way long.

The food at Dundee Bistro at least was great- the dinner menu was crafted with a great variety of combinations of flavors and both light and heavy dishes, obviously picking from what is fresh and available and local, though it seemed the dessert menu was not so much thought through as it seemed like it could be from anywhere, anytime. It seems they really do change through their menu daily as advertised, and even checking their menu today after a visit last night I really do see a change in most of the menu. Everything tasted fresh and mostly well executed, it was clear the kitchen is on its game, or at least was this visit. There were only a few mistake in the food plays- the short rib and pork loin entrees were totally on, but the pulled pork sandwich with cheddar, bbq, spinach and truffle fries didn't need the mustard competing with the bbq in the sandwich.

Meanwhile, while I still really liked my truffle fries with lemon aioli, a sprinkle of parmesan would have really made that a whole other level. I was tempted by the beef short ribs that were described as "falling off the bone" with a leek risotto and applewood bacon, onion Oregon blue cheese & broccolini YUM- but I had a feeling it would be super heavy and rich and I would fall asleep on the way home.

So instead I tried to go lighter and healthier and simpler with their homemade taglietelle with Oregon black truffle, pea shoots & grana padano. I think a sprinkle of breadcrumb or nut slivers like almond to add a little crunch texture but not detract from the truffle would have made the dish perfect, and also taking out the pasta from the water 2 minutes earlier so the pasta was more al dente instead of the same texture as the pea shoots… At least this confirmed for me that the pasta was indeed homemade as it is much easier to overcook fresh pasta- and these weren't overcooked, just past al dente by a bit. But these are texture enhancement requests. Adding a splash of black truffle oil in mixing the pasta before topping it with the Oregon black truffle would have been the extra credit taste profile upgrade because I was looking for more pungeant truffle. Overall, these are minor nitpicks.

Though I would like to recommend it, I cautiously wonder how crazy Dundee Bistro is going to be as the area gets into during peak winery visiting season- better count on a call ahead first. I wonder what it is like particularly because when even a table sitting during just at  the beginning of the dinner rush is told one of the appetizers (the Applewood Bacon & Cauliflower Beignets) were already out… didn't you just open less then 2 hours earlier for dinner? But I appreciated that they comped truffle fries to share while we waited for our entrees.

Meanwhile, another diner at my table was told he had received the last pulled pork sandwich- which was one of the 6-7 main courses (not counting the pizzas and pastas, which you could arguably have as an entree rather than a large shared appetizer). Really, it's not even 7:30 yet… seems like they may have some logistical management problems there. I'll try it again and have to see. Overall, Dundee Bistro seems like something you could teleport directly to/from Napa, it was so spot on with what a restaurant surrounded by so much bounty in its locale should offer and would be like in its philosophy.

If you are a reader not from this area, you may not be familiar with this "Napa-Sonoma" parallel of Oregon. There is a Napa Valley-like area consisting of a synergetic effect of wine tasting rooms and lodging, dining, local farmers and various kinds of artisans in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. There are other AVAs (and sub AVAs) in Oregon, and I haven't done much exploring as much as I do want to in order to better understand how to pick out where would be a good winery weekend getaway- but I did visit Umpqua Valley once. My weekend visit to the Umpqua Valley last year and my experiences during the Umpqua Valley Barrel Tour made me think it was a closer parallel in terms of atmosphere  to Sonoma. Unlike in the Willamette Valley, Umpqua Valley wineries were often harder to find. On the other hand, I saw lots of signage in the Willamette Valley directing you to tasting rooms and wineries). Also in Umpqua, there was little in dining options that would stand up as a peer match to the wines produced locally: basically it's not as mature of a community to attract visitors.

Dundee Bistro and the new Red Hills Market seems to be proof of otherwise in the Willamette Valley. On our way to Sip McMinnville and on the way back home, this similarity and slow transformation into a Napa like community resonated even more as I saw it myself as I checked out the new developments. 99W is like a younger sibling to Napa's Route 29. It's still forming itself, so there's still a bit of turnover here or there, but it is definitely heading in that direction to become a gourmet district, not just groupings of wineries in a location.  A stronger food industry presence locally could probably help keep people to stay, versus just driving in and out- I know I would prefer that if there were good options to make it worthwhile. Yay, synergy, keep it up!

Such a perk to live in Portland- it is an ecosystem of deliciousness that just keeps getting better and better.

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Filed Under: Festival Event, Food and Drink, Wine, Winery Visits Tagged With: , , , ,

Zwickelmania 2011

February 20, 2011 by 1 Comment

Saturday February 19th 2011 was the third annual Zwickelmania. Zwickelmania is hosted by the Oregon Brewers Guild (OBG) and is a five hour statewide event in which many breweries throughout Oregon open their doors and offer visitors a chance to tour the breweries, meet the brewers, and sample their favorite beers… Various shuttle buses sponsored by Rogue or Brewvana drove different routes to take those who didn’t want to drive or bike/wanted to visit multiple breweries on a route in a row from stop to stop… and did I mention all for free? Amazing.

Each brewery has different offerings. The ones that I specifically set my sights on for my first time doing Zwickelmania were first choice, Laurelwood, that was offering cupcake and beer pairings. Meanwhile, Alameda’s free tastings were 2 beers: My Bloody Valentine (a Blood Orange Saison), and Caffeinated Bear (a special keg of their award winning Black Bear XX Stout infused with 3 pounds worth of cold-brewed Kobos coffee per keg) sounded interesting. Fellow enjoyer of deliciousness H wanted to see Columbia River Brewing (new to Portland and they had purchased the location of Laurelwood Pizza) and Upright (which we had both separately kept wanting to visit, but neither of us had ever been), both of which were also on the same route as my two top picks, so we headed out at 10:30 to start our brewery open house adventure on the N/NE route.

We decided to start with Columbia River Brewing. After parking the car along a neighborhood street, she risked my life by dashing out in front of an approaching car to cross the street but was cautious about crossing in front of a car that had to turn onto the street from a driveway. We still ended up at Columbia River Brewing before they opened at 11, and tried to casually peruse their food menu (highlighted by an offering we saw of a Black Angus Beef burger stuffed with bacon and cheese) and waited a few beats after they opened the doors.

This was their first time on Zwickelmania as well, and after they generously poured pretzels and some sliced hye roll onto serving platters and offered glasses of water, Rick the brewer took us on a tour. He talked about the various barley he uses- he sometimes will even mix them, and he has in his recipe book more then 80 some recipes, some which are 200 years old. He also told us about how he became a brewer, which started with a short apprenticeship in England where he fell in love with beer and brewing while on vacation and started learning the ropes right there on vacation. Unfortunately we only had 30 some minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to stop, so we left as the group was starting to get samples directly from the tanks.

Smelling and tasting the samples of the grains ingredients that can be used in the beer recipes. I found it endearing that they were labeled using obviously hand-torn paper from a notepad that advertised a drug (Clavamax- which is an antibiotic for dogs and cats!). Also, their old school tanks, which are not automated/computerized – the only technology is monitoring the temperature.

Next stop was Laurelwood Public House and Brewery. They had advertised that they would be pouring four, but they actually gave out samples of five, although only four were officially paired with a dessert item. The beer samples included the Organic Expresso Stout, Beer X, and Vanilla Porter at one table, and at a smaller stand the Moose and Squirrel Imperial Stout and the Bourbon Olde Reliable Barleywine. This was definitely the highlight for me of all the brewery stops.

The chocolate cupcake with expresso whipped cream was paired with the Laurelwood organic expresso stout. The expresso stout has a coffee taste profile to it that comes out quite clearly, while the cupcake was moist and perfect. Ok, I had two of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was true of other tasters too… we got there 20 minutes before the Laurelwood posted opening time of noon, but they were already pouring and tasting, and a little bit later they had to bring out the big refills of the food, and those cupcakes were being displayed on the real working instead of the pretty trays. That tray made such a welcoming sight for your eyes though upon first entering the crowded little tankroom (though we saw a loft lounge on the 2nd floor!)

The chocolate cupcake with chili is paired with the Laurelwood vanilla porter. The chocolate cupcake with chili just had a little bit of that chili dusting on the cream to balance out the sweet and bitter that was present in the vanilla porter. Meanwhile, the dried cherry and orange peel chocolate bark was paired with the Laurelwood Beer X so that the fruit tartness could further add to the complexity of Beer X. I also used the bark to balance out the Moose and Squirrel Russian Imperial Stout, which was too bitter for my liking.

Our favorite pairing of the day was the smokey ginger and bacon cookie sandwich with maple cream filling, paired with the bourbon barrel aged Olde Reliable barley wine. The cookie was huge and chewy, and since the barleywine has a bitter finish, the sugar on the ginger cookie could add a bit of sweetness along with the maple cream, while the little pieces of chopped bacon in the cookie gave it a bit of savory salt

Next stops, and with less pictures, were Alameda and Upright. Alameda‘s offering My Bloody Valentine, a Blood Orange Saison, was amazing. I was expecting more blood orange undercurrent to it, so it was not quite what I expected, but still a beer to kick back and enjoy. Meanwhile the Caffeinated Bear (a special keg of their award winning Black Bear XX Stout infused with 3 pounds worth of cold-brewed Kobos coffee per keg) definitely had upped the intensity of the coffee flavor- up to tasting like it had a shot of expresso in my beer- without enough of the roast and chocolate to smooth it out, though I’m someone who likes sugar and cream with my coffee and would never drink a plain expresso.

At Upright‘s basement tasting room, we shared a $6 tasting tray (they had about 10 beers to choose from, though only half were their own and others were guest) as well as tasting a beer tapped from the tank by a brewer for free. Then we rode the Brewvana shuttle for the last time back to Columbia.

Thanks Brewvana, for the transport and the complimentary pretzel necklaces and bottled water, and we’d be interested to see what kind of tours you’ll be putting together (they open in April). The photo of the art on the top of the bus ceiling tells you their attitude towards beer.

Finally, it was time for food. We decided on Burnside Brewing- thanks H! We started with fries and she with oatmeal pale ale and I with the apricot wheat and scotch bonnet pepper ale. That pepper ale is basically like super jacked up pepperjack beer- difficult to drink on its own, but it actually was fine with my entree until I was full. On the other hand, we appreciated how the oatmeal added a touch of smooth cream, just a touch, to the pale ale. Fries were nothing special- just absorbers of grease (and alcohol, so there is that). Tossing this in a little bit of truffle oil or parmesan or garlic or adding interesting dips like cheese sauce or curry would have made this so much better. The fries, essentially, need something else.

For our entrees, H had the excellently executed Duck Menage a Trois which was cooked perfectly to crispness while still being moist with juices, while my super meaty and savory Thundering Stampede 3-meat meatloaf was also really good. My meaty entree of meatloaf was enhanced by the addition of buffalo and elk and then the whole thing wrapped in bacon made for some complex savoryness. The meat was accompanied along with some slightly undercooked fingerling potatoes (too bad, as I wanted it to wipe up all the juice on the plate) and the vinaigrette dressed greens which balanced the savory of the meat with just the right amount of acid. Did I mention how meaty savory good the meatloaf was? Great great entrees.

Just like the appetizer though, the dessert also disappointing. The description, Bacon-Maple Ice Cream Banana Split with Chocolate Stout Sauce, intrigued us from the start. I was expecting a stronger bacon profile- like chunks of bacon- with the ice cream, those flecks weren’t cutting it. Fifty Lick’s bacon ice cream is far superior. Still, if I wanted some good food with my beer and not just adequate food, as long as you’re ordering an entree, Burnside does offer more substantial complex entrees then any other brewery I’ve visited so far. It is gastropub rather then comfort food pub grub, aka restaurant quality entree that might draw you here even without the beer offerings (although the atmosphere here is standard northwest brewery- exposed ceiling, minimialist industrial with lots of wood to warm it up). Too bad the appetizer and dessert are still at the typical brewpub level, so not as standout and leads to an uneven menu.

Burnside is still so young though, so much potential is there. And, after reading the yelp reviews later, I wish I had tried the appetizer of Cohiba- I had noticed it when reading the menu but passed since I was interested in the entrees. The cohiba is a raved about offering of Duck Confit, crispy crepe, wrapped in collard greens. Maybe when we go back and get their dry Irish Stout, which was still on deck when we visited?

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Filed Under: Beer Review, Festival Event, Food and Drink Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Deschutes Street Fare 2010

August 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Deschutes Street Fare was a street festival event that featured sampler size street fare from ten food carts, paired with Deschutes beer tasters, to benefit Morrison Child and Family Services. It's just getting summer-like hot in the past day or so, which meant that when the gates opened at 5pm there was full on sunshine and sweat as everyone seemed to come directly from work. Within a few hours, it started to calm down so everyone was no longer elbow to elbow, and half the street started to get some shade as the sun went on its way down.

Except for the crowd (which was a good thing for Morrison, but meant that when the space got full it was very uncomfortable and they even limited admission for a while because of reaching capacity… not sure how you calculate capacity on a street but I'm sure there must be an algorithm), I have no real complaints. Obviously, they were not sure what the turn-out was going to be, and since they had only set aside the outside block between Deschutes and Armory and no space inside Deschutes itself there wasn't a lot of space to go to. As comparison, the Beer n Burgers Event had also only been a block and that space had been fine (not even included the sidewalk), though they also only had 5 stands, not 10, and no musicians or stages.

I got a sampler pass, which got me in the door and also 7 tokens for $25, allowing me to sample 7 out of the 10 pairings. I carefully tried to plan my calories for the day based on this. When I arrived, the line for prepaid vs at the door was the same, so apparently the only advantage was that online you could pay with a credit card while at the door was cash only, and even those who had already decided what to buy got to enjoy everyone at the door reading through how many carts there were and trying to guesstimate how many tokens to get. I wish there were more reward for those who plan ahead and guarantee a paid sale before the event, but I also had the advantage of already knowing my cart visit order.

First was Slow & Low, for their cantonese pork belly Bahn Mi with housemade kimchi, kimchi mayo, cilantro, iceburg lettuce, and fennel pickle, paired with Cascade Ale. This was very satisfying, though there was a little too much bread competing with that tasty pork belly. Needed less doughy bread, or more belly (fat and all, as I would expect from a traditioanl bahn mi). Cascade went so naturally with this I didn't even think about it.

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Next was a stop at Grilled Cheese Grill, which has been on my wishlist for a while, and still is after this tasty example of a jalapeno popper sandwich of roasted jalapeno peppers with colby jack cheese, cream cheese, crumbled corn tortilla chips on grilled sourdough bread. It was matched with a green lakes organic ale to try to cool the spice. Extra love for them because they gave out branded frisbees, which were great for balancing food and drink while standing. I saw that some thought this had too much heat and couldn't finish it, but I had no problems.

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Garden State came with their famous meatball parmesan sliders with all natural beef and pork in a big meatball covered with mozzarella and marinara, paired with Mt St Hellens keller beer. It is as seriously filling as it appears. 

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Mum's Kitchen offered a South African influenced Indian spicy garlic pork curry with fresh squeezed IPA, a pairing which just didn't work for me.

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My palatte was immediately refreshed and cheered by Flavour Spot's sausage&maple dutch taco (waffle sandwich) and their maple pecan version, both paired with maiboc. Extra shoutout for providing their branded wet naps for sticky finger cleanup, so thoughtful.

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Potato Champion's poutine from Spudnik, paired with alma NWPA, met expectations. Really though, getting the real deal from the cart at SE 12th and Hawthorne after a few drinks where it is more loaded with gravy and chunks of rogue cheese can't compare to a sampler.

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The excellent finish was Oregon Ice Works strawberry gelato, which I had with Green Lakes Organic Ale. The strawberry was the best of the three offerings they had, the other three being peach and chocolate black butte porter.

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This means I passed on Whiffie's bbq brisket and mozzarella fried pie paired with Hop in the Dark- I was tempted for the beer alone, it being the only dark beer, but I had Whiffie's already at the Bite. For similar reasons of having experienced them before, I passed on Pyro Pizza and their margherita pizza on wheat crust with Twilight ale. I also passed on Ali Baba's gluten free chicken and kabob with gluten free pale ale, though the gluten free pairing was clever.

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Bite of Oregon: Day 2 (Sunday)

August 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment

There are always survival strategies for food festivals. Back in Chicago, for Taste of Chicago, being the monstrous mess it was in terms of being spread out and full of so many people, it meant planning ahead to map what food you wanted, in order of how much you wanted the item and based on location, estimating the ticket cost (you paid for food in tickets), finding people to share items which were not available in "bite" portions who had the same taste, bringing your own beverages, and planning off times such as on a weekday and eating times (not so crowded that you had to wait in really lines, not so dead that food was just sitting around).

It's understandable to charge an admission fee- but payees want to see the admission fee well at work at the event- and remember they might be comparing multiple events offerings/costs. Particularly, Bite of Oregon comes after the Oregon Brewer's Festival, which in comparison has no admission fee but does require a one time $5 mug purchase if you wish to drink. For Bite of Oregon, the $8 per day is in otherwise high. Tip number one, there are always coupons and free passes given away by radio shows. This year they had a deal on Groupon even and did a two for the price of one weekend pass, which worked out for me to buy two admissions, and I went two days, which spread out the cost of admission to $10 for two people on Friday and me again on Sunday (and I could have gone Saturday but was too full and tired, so that is on me). Those seem like pretty acceptable costs, especially given the benefit to Special Olympics. The fact that the line for those paying at the door was moving twice as fast as the line of those who had prepaid- not so great. Oh, and try going though the gates on the waterfront side, not the street side where everyone who parked/public transited came from.

Second, the best part of the Bite has been the Wine Pavilion, not the food, because there is very limited representation of different restaurants and of those restaurants, even a smaller amount offering interesting foods that you couldn't just get anywhere else. Unlike other festivals where there are many wine booths and no place to just sit and relax, the atmosphere of the Bite allows you to get tastings and talk to the winemakers at your leisure because of their setup. Taste at a few booths, come back after eating a bit, or go sit in the shade for a while to chat, etc. No one is too intoxicated because drinking a lot is the not the main goal of the Bite, even if it's the Bite's best offering. For the chance to see this many winemakers in one place that includes tables and chairs and even several tents for shade, and several spread out bathroom locations (ok, still honey buckets) at a location easily accessible by public transit, the admission here isn't too bad. I created a "prioritized vendor list" to the wine area, even those I had visited before to see what new bottles they were now offering. And, the area is so small that there isn't a need to worry about mapping locations like the OBF.

Finally, don't plan to really get full here. I expect to try different tastes at the Bite, not have a meal's worth. I know it's advertised as Bite of Oregon, but when you see there are actually only 13 restaurants, 5 food carts, and 8 dessert booths, and of those 20 are from Portland, and realizing that just like many street food festivals restaurants are inevitably going to pick what's easy and cost efficient in this kind of outdoor atmosphere rather then what best exemplifies their restaurant/is tasty… so you need to set your expectations realistically. There's going to be the pizza or stir fry in a chafing dish or grilled/bbqed standbys that are usually forgettable, and lower the tasting list even more. It's sort of sad to think that event the Spring Beer and Wine Festival had more diverse offerings. I didn't even need to write anything down food-wise.

What drew me back to the Bite was the Oregon Chef's Table tent, and this is where you should look for offerings next year too. There, a few restaurants hold a shift of 4 hours or so offering some examples of what is served at their restaurant. Everything is in a taste portion, a la Top Chef style during their episode challenges. This was the only authentic representation of exploring new food that the Bite had (besides an offering of a few food carts, which is nice for those who don't work downtown or come late night to catch these carts- though honestly, the Food Cart Festival was a better example of taste exploration then this, offering more variety then the Bite).

Take my Sunday visit. Here is what I had.

A taste of the award winning chili  by Bill Hess, the Southern Oregon Regional Chili winner. Ok, maybe two tastes. And, this was free.

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During the rest of my brief two hour snack visit, I sampled three interesting taste portions, and all were from Oregon's Chef Table for $3 and I didn't even have to buy a happy hour drink.

 

From Alu Wine Bar and Restaurant, a house smoked salmon with radicchio and kumquat salad with a tamarind reduction and poppyseed lavosh. Although I appreciated the nice mound of smoked salmon in the portion, this was a bit of a mess to eat in this atmosphere. You can't really get this all together in a bite.

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From Soluna Grill, an ambitious concept considering this venue, their taste portion was oregon mushrooms, caramelized shallots, bacon, and roasted garlic corn flan. This looked beautiful, though the flan was a bit bland without making sure your forkful had the other accompaniments on it as well. And, as long as you assembled your bitefuls strategically, it was pretty tasty though a little on the saltier side for me.

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From Pitxi Restaurant and Wine Bar, my favorite Oregon Chef's Table offering, a duck mousseline with berry chutney. This was a great snack in the bright summer sunshine, simple to prepare and assemble (and thus smart), but with bold flavors melding both rich savory and fresh tartness well in a package that works well for an outdoor summer festival like this.

 

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I still give a hand to these Oregon's Chef Table chefs for rising to this mini-Top Chef challenge. And, maybe Bite organizers should hang out with organizers of the Food Cart Festival, of the Portland Monthly/Deschutes Beer n Burger, and this week, the Deschutes Street Fare, for some event planning advice, and how to get restaurant vendors to step up to showing their signature fare. Really, I can see the logistical argument being difficult on how to get restaurants several hours away from all over Oregon to camp here for a weekend feeding masses of people who probably will not make it to their actual location and make it worth their while to market to them… unless it was wrapped up much more obviously and neatly into a coastal or dessert or central oregon staycation or long weekend trip, those "zones" on the map aren't cutting it.

And honestly, we don't need all fancy restaurants or gourmet tastes to be added- even just a lot of ethnic restaurants offering examples to open up tastebuds to different cultural cuisines that some may not have ever tried. You might not commit to walking into for dinner but a taste of something you've never had of… isn't that what this is supposed to be about, some food exploration? Why not even go "International" instead of "Oregon"?

You can get a good experience out of anything- you just need to set your expectations and plan according to what is the most realistic return on your resources. I can see Bite is trying to grow, thanks to the addition of Food Carts this year and partner with Groupon- I hope they continue to think long and harder for next year. There's potential, but probably only so much patience by those coming to give the event another try while waiting for the Bite Organizers to understand and deliver to their audience.

 

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Filed Under: Festival Event, Food and Drink, Portland Highlights Tagged With:

Bite of Oregon: Day 1 (Friday)

August 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment

After a pretty intensely busy day at work, I dropped by on opening day of Bite of Oregon for an evening of a few food cart tastings and wine tasting at the Wine Pavilion.

My first stop once through the gate was PBJ’s Grilled, a cart that had wowed me at the Food Cart Festival and I just haven’t had the opportunity to visit the cart yet. They were offering three of the dozen gourmet upgrades of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that compose their cart menu. Just as the first visit, I still think how genius this is, and why haven’t more people in the US stumbled upon this? If cheeseburgers, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, tacos and sliders have been transformed from comfort food childhood simplicity to adult nostalgic but more complex flavor combination profiles that reinterpret something we’ve taken for granted, why has peanut butter and jelly been left out? Thankfully, at least PBJ’s had taken up that gauntlet.

I started out with The Hot Hood, a $3 for 1/4 a sandwich taster of their toasted pbj interpretation which included black cherry jam, jalapeno, bacon, and peanut butter. Similar to what I thought when the Spicy Thai (which uses sriracha and curry to give its bite), there seemed no question on why jalapeno and bacon should be part of a sandwich except why shouldn’t I always add bacon! The bacon particularly gave a little extra crunch to what is usually a pretty smushy sandwich. I admit that when I make peanut butter and jelly at home, I always use crunchy versions of whatever nut butter I have, so I really like the crunch to go with the chew.

Also, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are very food porn-tastic in photos.

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The other offering I tried was the Oregonian, this time between grilled challah bread were marionberry and Rogue creamery blue cheese and hazelnut butter. Maybe I had this twice even. Although I tried to sell this to others, they seemed afraid of the blue cheese, though at least on three tasters of this sandwich, they were careful to add only enough blue cheese to add a bit of savory creaminess and not let the blue cheese get strong enough to overwhelm the sandwich at all, and you couldn’t even smell it. It, along with the hazelnut butter, were more of just a little subtle highlight of support, as the marionberry definitely held the lead role. I like blue cheese, and having had blue cheese with a bit of berry topping often at wine tastings, I could have stood to have more blue cheese on my sandwich, though I understand the more cautious approach since many people don’t like it, thinking it’s salty or pungent.

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This tastes better then it looks… though you might consider clicking and then select the full-size version of the photos to see the larger version of this photo anyway. Personally, I liked the Hot Hood better between the two. And, for Day 1, PBJ’s Grilled was my overall most tasty Bite winner.

The next stop was at Whiffies, which for this tasting created small pastry puff versions the size of my point and shoot camera (or basically half a hot pocket). They had their BBQ Beef and the Chicken Pot Pie when I visited. Both were ok- my opinion was that although the sizes were very taste-friendly, it changed the ratio of buttery flaky pie to gooey inside contents. The way to make this work is, similar to a samosa or empanada or the harder to find Thai curry puffs :D, make sure the inside filling is intense enough to balance out the fried outside shell… and in these sampler tasting portions, I don’t think it did. I still loved the taste of the deep fried pie container, but the fillings didn’t have enough flavor. I know at the Food Cart Festival though, when they just cut up their normal sized pies for sampling, the BBQ pie I had there had offered a lot more sauce and flavor, so I blame the smaller size here.

Actual size:

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Filling close-up

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Switching from chicken pot pie to BBQ Beef

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Filling Closeup with summer sunshine making it look better then it tasted:

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Not pictured were two other visits to food booths, sort of. We stopped at the Pie Spot, which offered pie holes and pie hole bites, and sampled the bourbon peach and pecan- bourbon peach won that round. From the Chef’s Table, which rotates various small plates based on what chefs are manning that slot on different days and times, Domo Dog offered the Major Domo Dog- smoked sausage, teriyaki onion, ponzo-mayo, flaked seaweed, sesame seeds, and red sweet sauce. The teriyaki really came through for a moist earthy sweet flavor.

Wine-wise, I stopped at Rizzo, Girardet, Hillcrest, Palotai, Zerba, Spangler, David Hill, Capitello, and Duck Pond.

  • Don’t bother with David Hill- I perked at seeing ports, but they were terrible, too much alcohol.
  • I was forced to try Duck Pond and was immediately annoyed by multiple askings to pay for the $1 taster despite stating wanting to try more then one wine. None of the other booths were so pushy for immediate payment.
  • At Rizzo, ignore the whites, at least at this showing. The reds are interesting, and unfortunately this was the very first winery I stopped at and I remembered to start making notes after the visit was over.
  • Girardet has a ice-wine style called “Frostbite” that has the sweetness but not much complexity if you’ve actually had Canadian icewines like Inniskillin or Jackson-Triggs before.
  • Hillcrest has more of a traditional profile to its wines. What I remember most is that they actually still stomp down grapes the for one/some of their wines, but I also have a strong aversion to feet. I might try them again but I thought a lot of them were young for me though I really liked the winemaker
  • Palotai was showing some newly/recently bottled wines that have potential but need some growing up time- my favorite was the syrah with its black peppery nose and overtones in taste but is not spicy, a bottle I’m still thinking about (I didn’t immediately buy a bottle, as I wanted to think about it… and I’m still thinking about it. I tend to buy a lot of reds and we still have many in our “cellar”- this one is interesting and unique, but do I really need it?).
  • Zerba had an amazing malbec that outshone the syrah and syrah port we tried because of its complexity.
  • The goal was actually to try to appreciate some whites, and we finally found it at Spangler with their crisp Sauvignon Blanc that didn’t have a too sweet or grassy or acidic legs. Unfortunately, they only had their syrah and not their petite syrah that a friend had recommended (the syrah wasn’t bad though- I personally like them darker)
  • We were surprisingly blown away by Capitello’s New Zealand-grape wines, which were not afraid to hide their bell pepper overtones. I know many wineries think this is a “problem”, and perhaps that’s why Capitello offered both the New Zealand grape version and the more expected taste in the Oregon-grape version. Whatever. It’s just like wineries now thinking they don’t want to over-oak… and no one makes those super creamy and buttery Chardonnays anymore in extreme rebellion because Chardonnay’s used to always be that way, and now instead of being able to get both styles you usually find only slightly oaked (if oaked at all) and there’s barely a difference between it and pinot gris and blancs. Bah. I bought the most wines here- the New Zealand version of the pinot noir as well as the sauvignon blanc. Their cuvee pinot noir is beautiful though pricey- and is also the type that though is complex now, is going to mature into old-world classic beauty in the next decade or so if you are willing to invest the money and cellar time.

Today, after the cheese class, I might go again. I have my eye on mainly the Chef’s Table tent again because of Belly‘s offering of a pork belly dip with bacon jus. If I get there in time for Kenny and Zuke‘s pastrami reuben sliders, I might try a taste depending on the visual appeal and taste pricetag- I might save the experience for actually visiting their establishment instead (although when I did for the first time, somehow I got lulled away from the pastrami for their still quite delicious chicken salad and their bagels and cream cheese).

Sunday afternoon/evening at Chef’s Table is highlighted for me because of Pitxi’s Restaurant and Wine Bar’s offering of Duck Mousseline with Berry Chutney Tomato Confit Bread, and also Soluna Grill’s Oregon Mushrooms, Caramelized Shallots, Bacon and Roasted Garlic-Corn Flan. I might try to reward H50 for having the balls to list as one of their booth options “nitro whipped sorbet in black peppercorn cone with balsalmic sauce”- unlike most of the other restaurant booths which often went the safe route of what is easily mass-produced in the booth environment.

I should note that when you walk in to Bite, the pamphlets list certain options being offered at the various booths. You should just know that just from these two carts, they serve what they want, so you should always stop and see what they are really offering rather then going off of the printings of the event guide.

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Filed Under: Festival Event, Food and Drink, Food Carts Tagged With: , , ,
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