July is Craft Beer month… and the highlight is Bailey’s

July 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This means it was time for the now annual pilgrimage to the Oregon Brewer's Festival. This year we showed we had learned our lesson from hiding at the Buzz Tent last year on a Saturday (now on our Murtaugh List), so this year attended on OBF opening day. Sure, we had to take the day off from work, but it was worth it for no lines and plenty of laid back tasting and conversation instead of loud talking over random group cheers/shoutings/screams that usually punctuates the tents. Thanks to sharing tastings with others, I tried approximately 30 beers. Besides the toasty tasting Maui Coconut Porter, the rest of my faves were at the Buzz Tent (such as vanilla coffee chocolate Caldera Mogli, and pepperjack Riverport 5/5 Pepper), where it took two instead of one tokens to get a taste.

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For me, that's not the highlight of this July though. I missed the Rogue Annual Beer and Cheese event this month because I dropped the ball on when it would be and didn't block my calendar, so I had an inevitable work conflict. But that's not the highlight either. No, the highlight is Bailey's Anniversary Barrel Aged Beer Fest. I know there will be no annoying woo-hoos at the mature anniversary event at Bailey's Taproom, our usual hangout for beer, and it is held inside so you can enjoy AC and shade (though they have a few tables for outside patio drinking sometimes). Bailey's is our drinking hole thanks to their constantly (a couple times a week) rotating tap which I follow all the time on FB and twitter. Despite the lack of food menu, they have an understanding with the Mexican hole in the wall across the street, Santeria, that delivers their dishes to Bailey's, and that is just fine with us and leaves you more money for beers. This is their 3rd anniversary, an event they celebrate where they tap aged barrels of beer for sampling at only $15 (which includes a real glass glass and 5 tasting tokens). It's like another Cellarfest! Yes, an event enjoyed indoors with beer aficionados, not 1000 people looking to just drink a lot of beer.

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They've written up 2/3 of their descriptions already, and they include, so you have an understanding where my beer palette lies since my re-education and relocation from Chicago thanks to all that is available in micro brew capital Portland… (below photo is quite representative of a typical visit to Bailey's)

  • Oakshire Very Ill Tempered Gnome was first brewed for the Holiday Ale Fest.  Oakshire then took this Strong Winter Ale and aged it in a Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir barrel for five months.
  • Rogue Juniper John John is a Juniper Pale Ale aged in Rogue’s Juniper Gin barrels.  A hint of cucumber and a sprucey note in the aroma are followed by a Juniper bute mid palate finishing with a soft oakiness.
  • Upright Lambicus Six is the first batch of their Six (a dark Rye) that has been sitting in a Pinot barrel since May ‘09 with brettanomyses lambicus added to it.  The result is a Flanders style red/bruin character.
  • Russian River Consecration is a belgian style ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels.  Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Saccharomyces and Pediociccus are added, plus currants
  • Firestone Parabola has been on of the most popular beers at the past two anniversaries, this beer features bold bourbon and tobacco aromas and rich dark chocolate, charred oak flavor.
  • Moylan’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale.  Moylan’s took this rich malty beer and aged it in both Apple Brandy barrels and Port barrels.
  • Fort George ‘09 Illuminator.  We’ve been holding on to this one for a year.  It is dark brown in appearance, with an intriguing hint of bourbon, rich, malty, and balanced with the dryness of hops and a tart finish.  Aged in Heaven Hills bourbon barrels.
  • Lompoc ‘08 Bourbon LSD.  Another beer that we served at our first anniversary and have been hanging on to.  This beer was fantastic two years ago, we’ll see what another couple of years of aging did to it.
  • Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza is brewed in the Franco-Gelgian tradition of strong golden ales.  It is Spicy and peppery with  a gentle hop bouquet and the beguiling influence of wild yeast.  Aged in Oak barrels.  8% ABV
  • Full Sail ‘09 Black Gold was initally brewed in Feburary 2008 and released as their Imperial Stout.  Full Sail ages a portion in Bourbon casks and releases it a year later as Black Gold. We held on to this for an additonal year.  Chocolate and caramel nuances blend with the hops for a smooth Imperial Stout.  10.5% ABV
  • Allagash ‘08 Curieux is their belgian Tripel aged in Jim Beam barrels for eight weeks.  The beer picks up soft coconut and vanilla characteristics…and also a hint of bourbon flavor.  We had this at our first anniversary and then held on to an additional keg.  11% ABV
  • New Holland Dragon’s Milk has a soft, rich carmael-malt intermingled with deep vanilla tones; all dancing in an oak bath.  New Holland brought this beer to OBF a couple years back, I’m guessing there are a couple of people who wouldn’t mind trying it again.  10%ABV
  • Deschutes Twilight is their summer seasonal that they aged in Pinot barrels.

They have a few more beers lined up, so I am awaiting one more write up at the Bailey's Blog from Bailey's soon with the rest of the beers for their big day. This Bailey's Bday event is to me, the real deal example of celebrating Oregon craft beer month, not OBF.

 

 

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

Burgers x 5: Beer n Burgers Event

July 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

On Saturday, Portland Monthly Magazine and Whole Foods partnered up to put together a block party benefiting Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. If purchased before the event, the $10 ticket for burger sampler ($15 for 5 burgers and 5 beers) was a ridiculous value- even the additional $5 cost at the door wasn't bad.

The day started out overcast and cool, but quickly warmed up as the sun came out. The picnic-like event setup with the checked tableclothes on tables and large cushioned ottomans that had a "plate" piece in the middle to balance cups of beer, Portland Monthlys liberally scattered to hold down the tablecloths, mason jars of sunflowers, a white picket fence delineating the event area, backyard bbq upbeat party music and smell of roasted peanuts was very welcoming even before the sun arrived though, so good job on that for the planners!

They also tried to set up garbage cans and recycling bins, but I don't think the recycling bins were well marked enough to separate paper, plastic, and compostable like the setup at the Farmer's Markets are, so probably wasn't quite as successful at separating based on what I was seeing in those bins. For those who weren't drinking, and even those who were, I think they missed out on easy $1 sales of bottles of water that could have also benefited the cause.

I will look beyond the irony of standing on a street in front of a Whole Foods stuffing yourself silly with 5 sample sliders in raising money for hunger and voting for best burger. Seriously, these were the size of fast food burgers (or at least the patty was the size of my palm, so I was over my quota for a serving size- don't think you can fool me because some of those pattys were also thick), so I guess they might be considered "sample/slider size" compared to the original humongous size that is probably served as a burger entree, but still! It would have been easier to have all 5 samples if most of them had been halved actually. Eventually what I ended up doing after my first burger and a half was only taking a couple bites and wrapping the rest back for later. And this is without me having any beer either I was full after 1.5 samples…

First tasting was Deschutes Brewery's entry by Executive Chef Jeff Usinowicz and Pastry Chef Jill Ramseier. They offered an "Ultimate Burger", concocted from butter-seared Panorama beef with root beer-braised pork belly, deviled egg mayonnaise and smoked paprika ketchup on a white cheddar bun. The deviled egg mayo was a great condiment, and the white cheddar bun a gougeres-like fluffy cloud for grounding the beef, belly, and ketchup. I thought the pork belly was a bit overdone though so the concept wasn't executed per the advertising, so this earned third place in my head of the five burgers submitted for this event.

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Henry's Tavern had Executive Chef Jerome Duncan's entry of a urban stuffed burger, an offering of a broiled slider topped with smoked mozzarella, pepperoncini and beer braised onions with lettuce, tomato, and Tree Hugger Porter mustard on a Brioche bun. Biting into this burger and to encounter the pepperonici and sauteed onions, and then have the smoked mozzarella ooze out, gave this IMHO the best burger patty, and it was a my second place ribbon for best burger. This was a really heavy filling burger well countered by the fresh tomato and lettuce. Here's too shots: one from each side.

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Next stop was some water. And then, Whole Foods Market Seafood Mongers Christopher Schmidt and Eric Vegas and their Grilled Salmon Slider, a red pepper and fennel salmon slider with herb aioli and organic baby greens on wheat bun. I haven't had a salmon slider before, though I do like salmon, and I also like Thai Fish Cakes which are almost like slider patties… This Grilled Salmon Slider was too fishy for me. I think if they had gone further down a Thai-style seasoning, or adding more fruit salsa-like topping like mango or pineapple, or gone a more citrusy lemon-dill way maybe it could have worked. But, it's not quite fair to judge seafood mongers equally against restaurant chefs either- couldn't someone have given them a hand? Dressed with italian seasoning a smidge of mayo and greens and that's it? Did they taste this?

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I know, it really looks like it should have been a Thai fish cake instead. Sadly, no it wasn't.

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After packing this one away for later, the next stop, and the winner of my vote for #1 burger, was Laurelwood Public House and Brewery. Executive Chef Scott Clagett created a portabella mushroom beef burger with bacon-tomato jam, arugula, crispy onions, Oregon truffle aioli on a brioche slider bun. Arugula was a genius green to include as a topping dressed just enough with the aioli, and the crispy onion a texture counterpoint to the very well seasoned beef that was juicy from the portabella mushroom. I am a cheese lover, and I didn't even miss the lack of cheese here that truly made it a burger instead of a cheeseburger.

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Final stop and sitting at #4 was Widmer Brothers Brewing Chef Ryan Day and Chef Travis Hansen's Rouladen Burger, stuffed with a chopped pickle, onion, bacon, and stone ground mustard topped with a smoked onion cheese sauce on a rye melba. All of us appreciated the choice of a rye melba and the size of this taster, enough to give you several good bites of flavor but not totally fill you. Rather then a chopped pickle which was in the right path but not quite tart enough, a cornichon or two would have been able to hold up better tot he smoked onion cheese sauce and stone ground mustard and visually fit. With cornichons or better pickles, this slider could have been higher for its contemporary take on a slider to show you can be tiny but still pack a lot of flavor punch.

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And now from the past few days, I'm suffering from indigestion.

 

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Cheese Bar Spectacular Report

June 22, 2010 by 2 Comments

Adam Berger of Ten 01 and Steve Jones of Cheese Bar held a collaborative special event called, “The Cheese Bar Spectacular,” yesterday at Ten 01 from 6-9pm. It was 3 hours where you could wander around Ten 01 with a beer or wine or even a craft cocktail (I still adore their Pistache drink) while stopping at stations for tastings of 101 of Steve’s favorite artisan cheeses from around the world. It was amazeballs. And here is my Cheese Bar Spectacular Report

There were six stations (each station generally two tables long) placed upstairs and downstairs inside the restaurant. The stations included Soft Cheese, Cow Cheese, Goat Cheese, Sheep Cheese, Bleu Cheese, and Mixed Milk Cheese. Some bloggers talked about drink and cheese pairings, but it was just an open cheese tasting market (well, there were certain selected wines and beers at the bar that were highlighted, but no specific matchings with anything. Actually, I wish there had been more to balance out the bleu cheeses specifically because I like bleu cheese, but even my standing favorite Maytag and Rogue fared poorly when I had them towards the end of the event because my palate had become too unbalanced. I was cheesed out!).

101 cheeses… and I probably almost had that much. In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the goat cheese table, having only done 1/3 of it. I did pick up a sample of every cheese from all the other tables though, even cheeses I had before just to compare with the new ones.

My favorite was naturally, a combination of both truffle and cheese, a Pecora Il Tartufo- pecorino with black truffle, a sheep from Tuscany… at only $30.90 a pound. This sheep cheese just burst into your mouth with flavor. And what can I say, if I had a type, it would be Italian Cheeses (they are most likely to go with everything!) and also Specialty Blended Cheeses (with chipotle spices. With lavendar. With alcohol. Fruit. Yum!). In general, the sheep cheeses was the “safe station” in terms of being surprised by strong stinky cheeses like at the goat and cow cheese station.

On the more affordable side, an Oregonian produced soft cheese, The Little Goat Dairy By the River’s Edge Chevre which was smoked over maple had a nice complex flavor and is only $10.90 a package, really stood out. I was surprised there were not more smoked cheeses, actually. I guess Steve doesn’t like them, since this event was after all put together by his favorite picks? And no burrata (that I saw)? I only saw Rogue’s blue, but several from Willamette Valley.

In a surprise to me, F picked out Willamette Valley cheeses from stations of cheese multiple times as ones he thought stood out.

I also really liked a Plymouth Wisconsin cheese, Sartori Bellavitano, a cow cheese washed in New Glarus Raspberry beer ($15.90 a pound).  Samish Bay’s Fresh Ladysmith, an organic cow cheese from Washington, was fresh and light in the line of mozzarella-likeness at $16.90 a pound, while for mixed cheese Perolari’s Robiola due latti and the Snow Goat’s Triple Cream Brie melted perfectly creamy on the crostini.

Although I appreciated the cheese map of where the stations were (and having little pencils and the back of that sheet to write notes), I think the Boy’s and Girl’s Club Showcase of Wine and Cheese had a smarter idea. They actually gave each individual a book, and inside the book was a number (corresponding to the table and then the offerings of that table) and then a description of the individual cheese. This would have helped me in picking out cheeses I wanted to seek out instead of having to take one of everything at a station and remembering what I had taken from a station. I know this would have taken a lot more work though, given each painstakingly hand written note already for each plate.

There were only seats at the bar area downstairs, so everyone was trying to balance a beverage glass with a little plate and somehow write down the names of the cheeses, and although I appreciated Ten-01 trying to get everyone to start upstairs where it was standing room and their quick turnaround on wine glasses, it was hard to maneuver and often there were people standing in front of the table. I went with taking maybe six at a time in order from a table and then walking away to keep the tables clear, tasting my selection, then taking photos of certain ones, but I skipped writing notes because it was just too much to manage with two hands and essentially hallway space. Obviously, I have missed my calling as an event organizer.

I did enjoy the event though- the quality of cheeses was a huge step above the Showcase of Wine and Cheese as these were artisan cheeses, and I don’t know when else or how else I could have had this caliber of cheeses in this amount of variety unless I parked myself at Steven’s Cheese bar and never left! I hope he makes this an annual Spectacular- if not with 101, a selection of matches would be super… well, still spectacular.

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Umpqua Valley Barrel Tour: The Tour Itself

June 12, 2010 by 1 Comment

So at 9am, we were on a bus with these menus in hand! How awesome is it to have all these wineries only a few hours away from Portland… and a tour in which they take care of the transportation for you.

 

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First stop was River’s Edge. Their Pinot Noir needed a little more time because of the confusing legs on it, but it was in the barrel so duh… the Pinot Noir Black Oak Vineyards barrel tasting was paired with one of my favorite food pairings of the entire day, the grilled chicken-apple sausage with triple cream brie and their pinot noir jam combining the smokey savory and creamy with the fruity and then dark red wine with a bit of tannin to finish it off. I even purchased a jar of their very liquidy jam to enjoy at home. Their winery is indeed located by the edge of a river, presenting a lovely view of vines and river and bridge and rolling hill and sky.  Yes, you can indeed enjoy wine at 9:30 in the morning!


 
Next stop was Bradley Vineyard, where we shivered as we enjoyed delicious wines and snacks outside. Who would expect that it would still be in the 50s in mid May? The view was incredible from their deck, despite the fact it was a rainy day, so worth a little shivering. This quote cheered us up as we entered the very small tasting room and were blown away by their delicious reds.


They also had really cool pourers at Bradley that measured their tasting portion in little mini-flasks. Their Pinot Noirs (they had several years to try) were paired with castillian chicken tapenade spread on baguettes, which were ok- the food couldn’t quite stand up to the great punch of the wine because the bread was too dry and hard and almost cracker-like, though the tapenade was rich from stewing in its slow cooked crockpot: having a spoonful of that on its own with the pinot from a cup might have been a better match.The hit with us was the Greek Cheese Pie (which they had catered by a local restaurant- maybe next time we should stop and eat there hmm) which warmed us up while enjoying their chilled off dry riesling outside in the cold air, and also the blue cheese spread (which you spread yourself on bread or veggies) paired with their Umpqua Rose. They also conveniently packaged their various spreads as seasoned mixes to sell so we puchased the mix for that even before we picked out which pinot noir we each liked best. I am going to enjoy that blue cheese spread with guests this summer on our patio with wine, so yes I already have plans for that tasty mix!

Bradley is where I started on my box o wine bottles to take back home- everyone who purchased wine had to put in cases underneath the bus with our name on it.

Brandborg Vineyard was next, tapping their barrel into a pitcher as they told us stories about how the couple met, finding this location for their winery, ferris wheels and love puppets. They did two smart particularly inspired pairings; their barrel tasting of Pinot Noir was paired at with a rich duck stew with mushrooms and olives over rosemary polenta and they also paired their Gewurztraminer with a Thai curry shrimp and rice with a couple pineapple chunks sot hat the light and bright Gewurtz balanced the spice brilliantly. I really liked their port-style syrah as it wasn’t overly sweet or thick (though their pairing this port-style syrah with a nut/cheese/dried fruit medley was more like trail mix and not a fit). They had a full portfolio of different wines to offer, showing a lot of diversity.
Next was Sienna Ridge. The best thing there was their honey buns. Sorry. Their profile of flavors for their wine was just not to my palette.
At Marshanne Landing, they had to deal with unfortunately a busload of people who had now visited 4 wineries and had tastings but no lunch. They were really generous with their spread of food, offering not only tastings but also cheeses and veggies and breads with olive tapenades, for which I hope they know a busload of people are very grateful (I know I certainly am). MarshAnne Landing included a pairing of their Merlot with an owner made tortellini carbonara instead of the originally planned spanakopita but his updated pairing was much better. Maybe I had more then one tasting here of this particular item (although I found out later this was being done by other bus peers at every winery where they essentially finished off any trays laid out of snacks! We were a busload of greedy guests which I am both apologetic for and what kind of tour for 7 hours doesn’t include a meal and puts the onus on the wineries being visited?).Marshanne also had paired a tri-tip with their syrah and their Red Planet mixed varietal wine with meatballs and raspberry sauce, the sauce at least tried to help what tasted like frozen appetizer selections from Costco. The tortellini carbonara was what stood out for me, though I was getting to the end of my wining and dining limit. As one more note, Marshanne had a great back patio with a contemplative view of a rainy day in the Umpqua Valley, and showcased local artists in their tasting room.



Last stop at Reustle took place in their packaging area supervised by Jean Luc. A little tree with little flowers watches the bus full of people messily devour ribs with the Reustle Syrah (the last pairing).
Reustle replaced the small chicken flautas we had the day before with the Gruner with a smoked salmon crostini with goat cheese and pesto- the flautas were a better complement. They still served their Pinot Noir with phyllo cups of Rogue Smokey blue cheese- it was a clever way, just like the day before, to package the blue cheese, but phyllo cups are a eat all of it in one bite or it’s messy because it falls apart sort of deal: how Brandborg toothpicked their triple cream brie was more user-friendly.
If I had to rank my favorites of the day in terms of wine and food pairing offerings, it would be Reustle, Bradley, Brandborg, tie between Marshanne Landing and River’s Edge, and then Sienna Ridge. It was definitely fun to spend two days exploring wineries and not being responsible for directions or staying sober enough to drive. But, I think before I go back to the Umpqua Valley, I should give the closer Willamette Valley wineries a try.

From Umpqua Valley Barrel Tour- North

 

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

2010 Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival: the retrospective

April 25, 2010 by 3 Comments

We were excited to pre-purchase our tickets for the 2010 Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival even before they were on sale, and so it was no surprise that we planned to show up 30 minutes early to start snacking on our 30 samplers from the 30 carts right at the opening bell. The event sold out (capped at 1200) people, and even though they spaced it over 2 1/2 blocks under the Morrison bridge it still got very difficult to navigate through lines just to get from cart location to another after just an hour after opening. Portland people do love food carts.

First stop was Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwiches, which I passed on because it’s relatively close to where I live. I’ve had their sandwiches twice: not as good as Best Baguette, but then again this is a cart not a restaurant, and they still are able to offer 8 sandwiches (Best Baguette offers about a dozen, but they also can offer freshly baked bread and other pastries since they have more space at a brick and mortar location). If you are looking for banh mi sandiwiches in the downtown area, I’m not even sure there is anywhere else in the city proper as they are pho houses that I’ve seen.

Next was Sip, a cart offering organic vegan juices and smoothies. I confess I went back for their tastings of their green smoothie with kale, spinach, and some citrus fruits like apple or orange or lemon) twice. Their location at Division and Powell in the neighborhood of the People’s Food Coop isn’t an area I go to, but they plan to have a second mobile (actually mobile like driving around) in the summer and are also adding some food to their menu, so I hope to find them again. A lot of the food carts that people seem to fawn over involve pretty unhealthy food that is often rich and savory, but it doesn’t always have to be that way and it’s great to support food carts that are also tasty but even good for you.

Micro Mercantes were cutting up their jalapeno cheese, pork, and chicken tamales for tasters, and I doused my pork one liberally with my favorite green chili and enjoyed it quickly as I was trying to move through carts quickly before the rest of the line behind us caught up. Even though I linked to their official website, there isn’t much information on it, but it does communicate one tidbit many may not know: this cart is actually a coop for Latin women to help economically empower them through their tasty tamales. Their presence is at various farmer’s markets and their cheap $2.50 homemade tamales helps them establish a community via housing, healthcare clinics, a credit union, and community centers. I’m not sure which farmer’s markets they’ll be at this year (I know they are not at the ones downtown), but I know they are at the markets closer to OHSU, one at the Pearl, and several more on the east side of Portland. How can you not want to at least get one tamale knowing this every time you see them?

Moxie was on the ball with their platters of homemade granola with greek yogurt and raspberry rhubarb compote. With all the rich food the other carts were offering, this was an incredibly tasty break for the palate, and they had the most beautiful stop in terms of setting up a feel for who they are at their station at Eat Mobile, so no wonder they wonder they were awarded Best Style of Eat Mobile. They are located at North Mississippi and North Shaver and are very well known for their homemade take on brunch (and people appreciating them, as judged by waiting in long lines) 

PBJ’s Grilled was one that I saw on the list but had not heard of- and it turns out it is because they are still at the “coming soon” state. PBJ was a surprising discovery of taste for me with their offerings of various takes on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the same vein that grilled cheese has gone gourmet- and they did it very successfully. I’m not usually a fan of pbj sandwiches, but their offerings had me coming back for 3 of these (I just wasn’t satisfied tasting just one and not knowing what the other combination’s taste profiles would turn out to be- a cruel tease)! When they do open as an official food cart (they are opening April 26 at NW 23rd and Kearney Street), I think they will do well: they were even a runner-up for best tasting food at this Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival as voted by a panel of culinary professionals.

It took a while to understand their selections though: and their write-ups on the table were not very illuminating. The more you document on a big sign the less you will have to explain! And make it big so that by the time someone comes up they already can pick out what they want instead of processing under pressure. There’s the process manager in me thinking how I would set up a cart. Although I don’t think the tasting versions had all these ingredients, the regular offerings off their future menu include the “Good Morning” had blueberry jam, apple wood smoked bacon, 100% maple syrup, PBJ’s peanut butter, while the “Wildflower” had peach jam, wild flower honey, PBJ’s peanut butter, the “Pumpkin Pie” is a sweet dessert-ty concoction of pumpkin butter, Two Tarts caramel sauce, pie crust, PBJ’s peanut butter. I still prefered the “Spicy Thai” with orange marmalade, sriracha, fresh basil, curry, PBJ’s peanut butter and the “Betty” which will be Gruyere cheese, bread and butter pickles, white pepper, sea salt, PBJ’s peanut butter. I’m going to try to make it to their opening, we’ll see if I get caught on some work call or if I can continue my investigation.
PBJ's food cart at Eat Mobile 2010

F’s favorite and his People’s Choice vote was Asaase Ital Palace, African-Carribean food that is vegan/vegetarian: I had to admit their “fish” did taste like fish. I only had a shared bite of Fat Kitty Falafel, where they were already behind in the first 20 minutes as they struggled to produce their freshly fried falafel in time to meet the crowd. But, their falafel deserves the buzz it gets. Addy’s Sandwich Bar was trying to offer 5 different types of tastings, which was quite ambitious… for what at the opening was a one woman operation. The “line caught Oregon tuna with capers, red onion, cornichon and house mayo” was good, as was the rich “country pate with dijon and cornichons) and the “duck confit with cranberry relish”. This cart is located at SW 10th and Alder, not far from the trolley line and in company of other great carts such as Nong’s Kao Man Gai, Eurodish, Zita’s Pitas, Altengartz and Savor- a very strong cart pod. I have them on my wishlist to try their consistently well reviewed ham, gruyere, and butter sandwich, which did not make the tasting menu at Eat Mobile.
Addy's Sandwich Bar at Eat MobileAddy's Sandwich Bar at Eat Mobile

After 2 weeks of pizza for lunch as leftovers, I didn’t have the heart to try Pyro Pizza, but I heard lots of rave reviews and as evidenced by the long lines every time I went by after that, they did very well. My foodie friends couldn’t say enough good things about their pizza with caramelized torpedo onions with gorgonzola and parmigiano-reggiano cheeses and pistachios. They are normally located at SE 12th and Hawthorne, neighbors to Potato Champion and Whiffies. I’m kicking myself a little for getting out of line after these foodie friends had come to be raving about Soup Cycle, which I had skipped since they can actually deliver if I wished it. I ended up getting 2 tastings of Soup Cycle that evening anyway- when I went back to drop off my glassy stone for my favorite cart (that’s how they tallied votes for the People’s Choice Award), Soup Cycle had no line, while Pyro Pizza still was 20 people in the weeds. Well, the cauliflower apple gruyere soup was still delicious both times I had it, so I don’t regret that! And I’m sure that SE 12th and Hawthorne cart will still be visited by me: now I’ll just have 3 carts that I’m aiming for, not just two.

My vote at the Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival went to Nuevo Mexico for their stuffed sopapillas (fried sweet dough that is then stuffed) and their green chili chicken stew. Both were on fire with flavor! And, I appreciated their large signage and line of preppers in their area… so I guess I was also awarding them my appreciation of a good setup. The first food picture is a look at the green chili chicken stew on the left, and on the right is the ground beef and green chili sopapilla decked out with cheese and tomatoes and beans. My choice was the carne adovada, with pork and red chili: messy but worth it, and the sopapilla was the perfect sponge for all the chili and sauce from the carne. Thank you Nuevo Mexico for bringing sopapillas to Portland (at Mississippi and Skidmore).
Nuevo Mexico food cartNuevo Mexico stuffed sopapillas Nuevo Mexico stuffed sopapillas

I kept glancing to my right at the equally long line (Pyro Pizza, Taqueria Los Gorditos, and Nuevo Mexico were all right next to each other), which was Taqueria Los Gorditos, offering Mexican vegetarian and vegan.. I wanted to run off with the giant guacamole of Taqueria Los Gorditos: I was surprised they actually let everyone help themselves to the guacamole portion, so they must have had lots ready to keep filling that pestle up! I was curious bout the blue corn beverage but didn’t try- their lines were long mainly because you had to wait for each person to guacamole-themselves up. All three still boasted the same long lines of patient people a couple hours later- but were not out of food, unlike others I had skipped then/went back later but were out, like Bombay Chaat House, Mono Malo, and Sawasdee Thai.

The Carne adovada is when my hands started getting super messy, but the People’s Pig is what sealed it. A long line that wrapped around chairs and tables hinted at what was to come: a piggy looked on as people line up for The People’s Pig offering of cuban pulled pork taco as a taster. I put down the extra $6 to get the porcetta from the People Pig… which I then carefully wrapped, put into my purse, and into tupperware to enjoy the next day!
People's Pig food cartPeople's Pig food cartPeople's Pig food cart

I was getting pretty full at this point, but still had room for Flavourspot which was just next door to People’s Pig at the Eat Mobile. Flavourspot proclaims themselves the home of the dutch taco, aka this mix of savory and sweet with the waffle wrapping cheese and maple sausage. With 3 locations across the city and also scoring runner up for the People’s Choice Award, they are proof that waffle sandwiches are a winning combination of flavor
Flavourspot cheese and maple sausage Dutch Taco

I forgot to capture the photos of Whiffies, but their bbq beef with mozzarella was pretty good- and since Nuevo Mexico’s sopapillas are a bit harder for me to get to location-wise, Whiffies is a fine substitute of fried goodness sponging up flavor, just in fried pie instead. They won the People’s Choice Award for Eat Mobile 2010. Rather then selecting one of their sweet versions of pie (like the peanut butter with chocolate chips I tried), go for fruity frozen ice-pop like offerings of Oregon Ice Works (they are working with Whiffies but will be opening their own cart soon). Their raspberry was so chunky with raspberry I had to chew it, while the lemon was like a perfect summer tart lemonade. Although I appreciate the audacity and coolness of Fifty Licks‘ offerings of hand made ice cream in flavors that include Tahitian Vanilla, Stumptown Coffee, Maple Bacon (all three of these are winning combinations!) and Red Bull Cola, I can’t help but prefer the fruity ice more as a cool clean refresher that doesn’t have the cream of Fifty Licks. I don’t want to think about how many calories I’m having…

Potato Champion‘s poutine was as good as I was expecting: and considering I’ve had my eye on this cart ever since I moved here and still haven’t made it over, my expectations were pretty high. I’ll be visiting that cart pod this year, it’s my goal!
Potato Champion, poutine

Top honors for best tasting food as judged by the culinary panel this year at the Eat Mobile food cart festival went to Garden State, offering Sicilian street snacks. I’ve heard only good things about this cart, but their location in Sellwood is inconvenient for me to get to by public transit even as they are being raved about even on a segment of Good Morning America. They also have a new Mississipi location. Garden State’s taste offering of grilled alaskan cod with vinaigrette (along with lettuce and orange slices) on a slice of baguette was a pretty healthy offering and showcased their ability to put together a clean taste profile, even as a cart (though I wasn’t sure what was the Sicilian snack part of it)

I wrapped up the last bosnian cheese pita (sirnica) that Ziba’s Pita had before they were out, then tasting seconds at Soup Cycle and Sip (which I’ve sworn I will now have to patronize twice more this summer to make up for it), and also a taste of the grilled cheese turkey, Tillamook cheddar, and truffle oil at Savor Soup House (The Grilled Cheese Grill was supposed to be at Eat Mobile but had to drop out because of an illness: I guess I’ll still have to plan on visiting their school bus), and a few blocks away, a beer at Green Dragon. There were many other carts I didn’t try- some because I’ve been to them before, others because I know I can easily get to the cart myself on my own time- but it wonderful to see so many options at this festival. It would be great to see this continue to grow. The $7 per person for all the tastings is a steal, honestly, but even if they moved to a ticketing system like Taste of Chicago does (so you can decide for yourself how many tickets to spend at each cart to get a choice of different samplings or a full size portion: in some cases if everyone wanted to taste it made sense to put tickets together to get a full size everyone could enjoy then just individual bites), I’d have no problem coming back, no hesitation, and it was even for a good cause. And, that would also make it more fair for places like PBJ where no one just wanted one little taster.

And next time, consider our groups’ two browsing strategies. I came in with a must-try list of carts, often based on what I hadn’t had before and also based on how difficult it would be for me to get to, car-less and relying only on public transit and based on their hours of operation. The second strategy was to divide up and grab samples for friends so instead of waiting in all lines, you wait in half of them- generally with the men being sent to scout for the shorter lines to bring goodies back while the ladies chatted in the longer lines patiently nesting :X Being stuffed almost like its Foodcartthanksgiving FTW.

This coming weekend we have some Chicago friends and a birthday at Rogue/Green Dragon, so I am pretty excited to get some more friend and food time in before my work project takes me on the road for two weeks again.

More on the awards and a few more pictures of Eat Mobile 2010 can be found at The Examiner’s coverage, and much better photos by ExtraMSG on Flickr. Hey, I was eating.

 

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