Disclosure: 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. I paid for my own ticket to the High Comfort event.

I was excited for this event, High Comfort at The Nines, presented by Portland Monthly Magazine.  Tickets were a splurge for me (but I plunged forward anyway- this as not covered by my Bloggers Pass) at $175 and were sold out by Labor Day weekend of September. The event of course took place as part of Feast Portland on Saturday, Sept 21st 6:00pm – 9:00pm at the Nines Hotel to help raise money for Feast Portland charity partners: Share Our Strength and Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon.

As I wrote about in my countdown post to this event previously, reviewing some of the level of creativity and quality of food from the Feast 2012 event convinced me this was worth the price tag. Now I return the favor to all of you out there wondering if you may want to attend High Comfort 2014 with the details of this year. Although I still wonder how to get the lifestyle that I loved to watch on Gossip Girl (how was there a fancy party every other episode, always with new dresses?), for a few hours on this evening, I loved that I was able to have an excuse to wear a long gown when it wasn’t a wedding and be fancy and glamorous.

I was so dedicated to trying to get to all the food stations that I totally do not have a single photo of myself or the dress that I trekked to get to this fabulous party (yes, I walked 1.3 miles from home to the Nines! Don’t worry- I took a Pacific Foods sponsored pedicab to the After Party, and then a taxi home because my feet were just killing me, so I couldn’t go on). But I went all out wearing a floor length gown, thanks to everyone who came up to compliment my multicolor dress and made me feel like Cinderella at some sort of food Oscars- the dress was by Muse Apparel.

And now, I present to you my High Comfort Recap.

All was well when I arrived as even before they put my Feast wristband on, they offered me a glass of champagne. Yes, let the VIP treatment, even if only for a few hours, start! The theme was that of a diner, starting with “The Peach Pit After Dark” which had more classic lounge music in a darkened, elegant setting with a few lights. You then would move down the hallway past Olympic Provisions, OSU’s Artisan Cheese Showcase, and Widmer Brothers Brewing to the Comfort Lounge which included Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Hendrick’s Gin, and two dessert station you’ll see at the end of this post.

Finally, there was a large ballroom which was the High Diner, where most of the chefs stations were, with a few wineries having stations on each side of the wall, and one large center area where four different wineries were pouring.

But for now, let’s admire the beautiful comfort food from my view! Especially, because my memory can only last me so long in remembering everything!

The Peach Pit After Dark

• Thomas McNaughton of flour + water (San Francisco, CA) – Fermented Grain Porridge with mushrooms, Red Hawk cheese and duck crackling. It probably doesn’t look like much to you, but I liked the textures and I thought this was a perfect representation of taking a comfort food to another level, but it still had its simple, and sincere, heart.
  
• Aaron Barnett of St. Jack (Portland, OR) – “Mom’s Spaghetti” wild boar, sweetbread and pig trotter bolognese. This was tasty but a pain to eat- too short to wrap around the Verterra fork like real spagetti, but couldn’t just scoop up like a tortellini or rotini.
  
• April Bloomfield of the Breslin Bar & Dining Room and The Spotted Pig (New York, NY)- Seafood Sausage. One of only 3 lines I stood in the entire evening for a chef’s station. This one almost went to the door of the Peach Pit!
  
• Jenn Louis of Lincoln Restaurant and Sunshine Tavern (Portland, OR) –  Lamb Tartare wtih salsa verde and cured egg yolk. My favorite bite of the Peach Pit, and among my top 3 for all of High Comfort. Maybe I did go back and get a second chip.
  
• Jason French of Ned Ludd (Portland, OR)- Creamed chipped smoked salmon, brioche soldiers
  

High Diner

• Justin Wills of Restaurant Beck (Depoe Bay, OR) – Water Buffalo Bratwurst
  
• Justin Woodward of Castagna (Portland, OR) – Smoked Black Cod Nasturtium Cream
  
• Tom Douglas repping from his Tom Douglas Restaurants empire, Tanaka San (Seattle, WA) – Dungeness Crab, Peanut and Pork Sausage with Kimchee Fried Rice. This was the second line I stood in during the evening, but Tom Douglas is the king of Seattle, and having already loved multiple of his restaurants I was speechless in his presence as he handed me my tasting portion.
  
• Philippe Boulot of the Multnomah Athletic Club (Portland, OR)- Dartois of sweetbread, foie gras and lobster
  
• Jason Stoller Smith of Timberline Lodge (Portland, OR)- baked potato fram, smoked pork cheeks, truffled yougurt powder. I could have had a whole bowl of these.
  
• Renee Erickson of The Whale Wins (Seattle, WA)- Herring Rillette, Preserved Peppers in oil, Rye Toast
  
• Vitaly Paley of Imperial and Paley’s Place (Portland, OR) – “Steak and Eggs” Smoked Elk Tongue, Duck Egg Yolk, Crispy Potatoes. Winner of best plating of the dish of all of High Comfort, don’t you think?
  
• Matt Christianson of Urban Farmer (Portland, OR)- Oregon Elk, Offal Aioli, Semolina Pita, Pickled Vegetables snuggled in the “grass”… I would give them award for best booth presentation.
  
• Stephanie Izard of The Girl and The Goat (Chicago, IL)- Goat Chilli with Pizza Poufs. I only secretly squeed as she presented me with my sample.
  
• Andrew Carmellini of The Dutch (New York, NY) – Foie Gras Hot Dogs
  
• Erik Van Kley of Little Bird (Portland, OR) – Lamb Belly BLT
  
• Michael Voltaggio of ink (Los Angeles, CA)- Pho. The longest line of all the chef specials being offered, because they were plating to order, first with a container of just the radish noodles, then Michael himself slicing and personally serving your beef, and then a cutie delicately but deftly garnishing and finishing the plating with a pair of chopsticks! Totally worth the wait. Maybe I had two bowls of these. I mean seriously, here is my attempt to capture the experience to share with you. Look at that meat. Everything was good- even just the broth I would have been so happy with by itself, it was so flavorful.

Somehow, I missed Michael Lightner from Atera’s dish, who did a country fried beef. Sad. I wish the maps (which I scanned after someone discarded and left it behind, they were laminated but never saw where they came from) had actually been helpful in listing who was where: even Eat Mobile seems to be able to get that together.

Comfort Lounge

for Dessert too!

• Tyler Malek of Salt & Straw (Portland, OR) – Raspberry Dipped Cone of Oregon Black Raspberries and Smoked Ham ice cream
• Kristen Murray of Maurice (Portland, OR) – Oregon Berry & Sweet corn Pavlova, Jacobsen Sea Salt Honey Popcorn Candy

The one criticism I have was that there was absolutely no place to put down anything you were holding, and jugging a glass of champagne or wine and/or your food sample and possibly a utensil needed to eat with, and in my case a phone to boot, was a nightmare. I saw many others in cocktail attire basically left to sit in the hallways, trying to find a wall space.

This was a surprise to me logistically because I have been to many Portland Monthly sponsored events which have always been a great experience and have included seating (usually tables that also have their magazines fanned on them), even if they were holding it in a paved parking lot or empty art gallery loft. Well, I did like that when I first entered, there was a chalkboard with the twitter handle and hashtags- that seemed a familiar touch from Portland Monthly’s event planner, thanks!

I also don’t know what I was thinking in using this event to break in/learn the camera on my new phone (a Samsung Galaxy 4). This might be if you are a regular reader, why my photo thumbnails (as usuals, you can click on them to see a larger version) are more narrow than from my usual point and shoot camera. I learned the Samsung cameraphone lets me choose where to auto focus with a tap… except at this event, that means I needed a finger to tap that focus spot while holding everything else too! I kept going back and forth from the rooms with the stations to the hallway to eat in order to get the lighting you see. I can’t wait to see some of professional camera pictures and will update this post with links to the inevitable slideshows as I discover them, so come back and visit this post again in a week!

• Eater: Comfort Food Goes Upscale
• Zagat Coverage of High Comfort

Disclosure: 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 ticket to this High Comfort event was paid from my own pocket. 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. 

Also check out my recap of Day 1 Sandwich Invitational and Day 2 Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting