Feast Ice Cream! (Unofficial to Feast Portland)

Feast Portland is almost here! Feast is almost here (September 19-22, 2013)! Feast Feast Feast!

A few unofficial Feast ice cream events are currently happening in Portland that you can catch. I thought I would point these out particularly because even though it’s mid-September, it is 90 degrees out. Whaaaa!!??

1. Ruby Jewel Scoops: Best of the Northwest Ice Cream Contest

From September 9 through 17 from noon to 11 pm at the two Ruby Jewel Scoops locations (3713 N Mississippi St and 428 SW 12th Ave) you can join in to cast your ballot for your favorite Northwest Ice Cream inspired ice cream flavor. All of these ice cream flavors celebrate local Northwest ingredients. You can try the four contending flavors, which include

  • Garden Tomato with Basil (seriously, it tastes just like a farmers market fresh caprese salad)
  • Hazelnut with Honey Bar
  • Chevre with Spiced Peach Jam
  • Espresso with Housemade Chocolate Covered Almond Brittle

Feast Ice Cream selection, Ruby Jewel Scoops Best of the Northwest Ice Cream Contest

The ingredients in the ice cream celebrate and support other local artisans, such as nuts from Freddy Guy Hazelnuts, honey bar from Beans and Bees, the chevre from Portland Creamery, peaches from Baird Family Peaches, and espresso from Nossa Familia Coffee Roasters.

As if eating the ice cream isn’t enough incentive, participating voters will be entered to win a ticket to the Feast Grand Bounty Tasting (which I previously wrote about here, in case you want to check it out) and three pints of ice cream.

Ruby Jewel will be present at the Widmer Brothers Sandwich Invitational at Directors Park on Thu Sept 19 6-9pm (which I previously blogged about here). The tickets just sold out to the Sandwich Invitational yesterday on the 12th, but you still have a chance to try out what Ruby might be offering at this event, which was $95 a ticket. Visit one of their two locations now, plus win a possible ticket to the Grand Tasting! The winner will be randomly selected on September 18, so get in there, taste and vote!

Feast Ice Cream selection, Ruby Jewel Scoops Best of the Northwest Ice Cream Contest, an ice scream sandwich to give me the strength to fill out this ballot Feast Ice Cream selection, Ruby Jewel Scoops Best of the Northwest Ice Cream Contest Post Box for your votes

2. Salt and Straw Guest Chef Collaboration Series #2

For the month of September, Salt and Straw is doing their Second Annual Guest Chef Series! They have five new limited edition ice creams made in collaboration with world-renowned chefs participating in Portland’s Feast Food Festival that are special just for this month. A portion of the proceeds from these flavors are donated to Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon.

Feast Ice Cream, Salt & Straw's September 2013 Guest Chef Collaboration Series with Loaded Baked Potato, a flavor collaboration  that includes the flavors of Loaded Baked Potato,  Sweet Corn, Waffle Cones & Caramel, Mint Leaves with Sea Urchin Meringues, Hawaiian PB&J, Coconut Milk with Cashew Brittle & Pandan

  • Loaded Baked Potato, a flavor collaboration with Michael Voltaggio that “on a playful note, where savory collides with sweet” is loaded with bacon chocolate crumbs, onion juice caramel, and white cheddar cookie dough.
  • Sweet Corn, Waffle Cones & Caramel, a flavor collaboration  with April Bloomfield that has sweet corn as the foundation and then folds in chocolate covered waffle cones, salted brown butter, and ribbons of vanilla caramel
  • Mint Leaves with Sea Urchin Meringues, a flavor collaboration  with Jenn Louis with west coast harvested sea urchin and fruity Italian pimente d’espelet that are utilized to make little meringues then folded into the steeped in mint leaves ice cream
  • Hawaiian PB&J, a flavor collaboration  with Gabe Rucker, which translates to toasted bark from a Heart of Palm tree, peanut butter crumbles, and caramelized pineapple jelly
  • Coconut Milk with Cashew Brittle & Pandan, a flavor collaboration  with Gregory Gourdet which results in a vegan ice cream built on a coconut ice cream foundation with spiced, candied, and compressed pineapples, hand-burned cilantro-pandan caramel, and crunchy brittle spiked with red Thai chilies.

CRAZY right? INTRIGUED? I am! You can check out these flavors at Scoop shops at 3345 SE Division St, 2035 NE Alberta St, or 838 NW 23rd Ave. Salt and Straw is also one of the participants for the Oregon Grand Bounty Tasting on Fri and Sat 20/21 12:00pm – 5:00pm at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Tickets for this event ($60, all inclusive) are still available for the Friday Grand Tasting or Saturday Grand Tasting events!

Now don’t you want some ice cream?

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Counting down to Feast Portland: High Comfort at The Nines

This post is part of my series “Counting Down to Feast Portland” where I talk about events I plan to attend as part of this 4 day food and drink festival September 19-22, 2013. Disclaimer: I was granted a Bloggers Pass for Feast Portland 2013, and asked to help promote Feast but they did not require that I write this post and I am not otherwise being compensated.

Update – After attending the event, you can see my recap here of Day 3 of Feast

 

Previously: I highlighted the Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting food festival scheduled for Sept 20 and 21 and also wrote of my excitement for the Sandwich Invitational on Sept 19 and then had to go get a sandwich to recover after writing that post. I also highlighted a free Feast event, the Best Butcher Contest and Fishmonger Face off on Sept 21.

This next Feast event I am counting down with you to is my splurge birthday gift to myself this year. It’s a food festival event which highlights comfort food that is familiar and makes you feel happy, but elevates it to a decadent level that I would imagine world leaders and only the jetset millionaires might see in terms of ingredients and execution, and so this would be a chance to spoil yourself and get a glimpse of that richness. Not to mention, I can be totally be a (secret) fangirl and see all these incredible chefs.

High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland
Photo Credit: Feast Portland CopyrightAll rights reserved by Feast Portland

The event is called High Comfort at The Nines, presented by Portland Monthly Magazine.  Tickets are $175 and the event takes place as part of Feast Portland on Saturday, Sept 21st 6:00pm – 9:00pm at the Nines Hotel.

Last year at Feast 2012, this event was held at the Multnomah Athletic Club, and reading some of the food from the event convinced me this was worth the price tag, as I paid for this ticket out of my own funds (not part of my Bloggers Pass). In fact, the price this year is slightly less expensive than last year’s ticket price of $200. Update: as of Labor Day weekend, this event is now sold out!

Furthermore, don’t forget that the money is going to two incredible impressive causes, so it’s a gift not only to myself but supporting Feast’s fight against hunger. Last year, it was reported that nearly 9,000 attended the September food festival on September 20-23 2012, raising $46,000 so that $23,000 was donated to each of the Feast Portland charity partners: Share Our Strength and Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. You can feed yourself and others!

Examples of the offerings from last year’s High Comfort event included

  • pork skin spaghetti puttanesca from Chris Cosentino of Incanto;
  • squab pot pie with chanterelles and corn from Stephanie Pearl Kimmel of Marché (Eugene);
  • crispy Rocky Mountain oysters with coffee purée and pink shrimp Hollandaise from Dustin Clark of Wildwood;
  • nutella panini with espresso, bacon and banana from Hedy Goldsmith of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink;
  • foie gras cappuccinos from Philippe Boulot of Multnomah Atheletic Club;
  • a cereal of maple pork corn flakes, smoked berry marshmallows;
  • and toasted hazelnut milk from the Dentons of Ox;

Yeah you get the point.
High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland High Comfort Event from Feast Portland 2012, all right reserved by Feast Portland
Photo Credit: Feast Portland CopyrightAll rights reserved by Feast Portland

Description from the Feast website: What happens when comfort food gets pushed out of its comfort zone? What would grandmother’s food taste like if grandma had a Michelin star, an immersion circulator, and a pantry full of Iberian ham, foie gras, and candy bars? The answer: High Comfort, the most decadent culinary event around. Last year’s event saw meat cereal, caviar sandwiches, and a charcuterie hall of fame without rival. This year, some of the best chefs from the US and Canada are going to take it to the next level: Get ready to be fed silly with help from premier Oregon wines and their European counterparts. Don’t plan anything early the next day.

The Lineup

Here’s a video showing how it went at last year’s event.

For more, you can check out a slideshow from Serious Eats or part of the photo essay of the Feast festival from the Oregonian also.

Disclaimer: I was granted a Bloggers Pass for Feast Portland 2013, and asked to help promote Feast but they did not require that I write this post and I am not otherwise being compensated. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own, and I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences regardless of whether they were complimentary or not.

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