I regret I can only bring you some example sights of the Feast 2016 Night Market, and not more like the sounds of the amazing Latin music that kept me dancing a little bit even in line (and the way they placed the DJ overhead in a little overhead bridge was very cool, especially loved the visual of watching the full moon rise behind her at one point during the night), the aromas of paella, the feel of trying to balance some of these messy bites and using multiple napkins because of juicy drippings down your arm but you can’t stop and won’t stop even though you’re already full.

Not counting beverages (a dozen wineries and additional dozen beverage partners who are distilleries, breweries and cideries) and other food sponsors, there were almost twenty participating chefs alone with dishes at booths – there’s just no way to have it all. But I invite you to purchase tickets for the 2017 Night Market next year when they go on sale and come over next year and try.

Bites from Chefs

1. Maylin Chavez from Olympia Oyster Bar (Portland, OR): Oysters on the half Shell with Agua Chile Rojo, Pickled Cactus Leaves, Avocado, and Micro Cilantro
   
2. Benjamin Gonzales from Nuestra Cocina (Portland, OR): Tacos de Cecina Adobada – Smoked marinated Snake River Farms pork loin with salsa verde
    
3. Scott Ketterman from Crown Paella (Portland, OR): Playa Paella with dungeness crab and fried calamari. You can tell that I am so desperately trying to rationalize throwing a paella party I am so in love with that huge pan…
   
4. Kelly Myers from Xico (Portland, OR): Totopos, a perfect balance of crisp vehicle and topping of chile de arbol salsa, topped with cotija cheese, crema, lime, cilantro and onion that you can also find on Xico’s happy hour menu.
       
5. Dustin Koerner from Andina (Portland, OR): Rillettes Anticuchera de Conejo, love the color highlight from the purple potato
   
6. Alex Barkley from Manolin (Seattle, WA): Watermelon, Albacore, Quinoa
   
7. Tony Maws from Craigie on Main (Cambridge, MA): Green Chile Chicken Wings, messy to eat but so good!
   
8. Paul Kahan from Dove’s Luncheonette (Chicago, IL): Pozole Rojo, a pork hominy stew with fried clams
   
9. Alvin Cailan from Eggslut (Los Angeles, CA): Chicharrónes de Harina with Snow Crab Ceviche
   
10. José Chesa from Chesa (Portland, OR) made Cono, an Escabeche style duck, avocado, orange-sweet potato, crispy plantain, pimenton-garlic salt in (duh) a cone
    
11. BJ Smith from Smokehouse Tavern (Portland, OR): Smoked Snake River Farms vaca frita and pickled alliums
    
12. Rene Ortiz from Launderette (Austin, TX): Chifa, well loved by me and most of the crowd for being so refreshing
    
13. Billy Schumaker from Taqueria Nueve (Portland, OR): Surtido de res, Oaxacan black bean puree, spiced Mexican crema, tostada
    
14. Erik Van Kley from Taylor Railworks (Portland, OR): Arancini Ranchero with delicious burrata inside whose creaminess was a perfect foil for that spicy ranchero sauce! You can find this delectable item also on the Taylor Railworks dinner menu.
    
15. Rodney Muirhead from Podnah’s Barbecue (Portland, OR): Snake River Farms Beef Rib Taco smothered in burn so good hatch chili cheese sauce was my favorite representive bite of Night market this year
    
16. Rick Gencarelli from Lardo (Portland, OR): Denver lamb ribs barbacoa. The line was too long and I got too tuckered out to try these, but I did visit to watch the magic of the always cheerful and energetic Rick who always brings crowd pleasing food
    
17. Jami Curl from QUIN (Portland, OR): Fresh and fruity spiced lime candy you can see them diligently rolling onto the stick all night
     
18. Feast PDX 2016 Night Market from Tyler Malek from Salt & Straw (Portland, OR): Sweet corn copo with lime zest shaved ice, Oregon sweet corn ice cream, cilantro kola syrup, more shaved ice, black raspberry sweetened condensed milk, and fresh candied marionberry especially. This was most surprising combination and dish for me of the night, with every  bite being different depending on which parts of the many layers made it on the spoon.
    

A Few Night Market Drinks

• La Vaquera Descarada cocktail featuring New Deal Distillery Cascadia d’Amore American Bitter Liqueur along with Portland 88 Vodka, Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut, The Bitter Housewife Grapefruit Bitters, demerara simply syrup and grapefruit twist, recipe by Sierra Kirk
  
• I kept going back over and over to the Goose Island booth with their 3 beer cocktails with flavor profiles of Smoke (La Senorita Ahumada with Goose Island’s Sofie Ale with Mezcal), Spice (Sofie Picante with Sofie Ale and Tequila and Jalapeno),, and Citrus (Sofie Gin Spritzer with Sofie Ale with Curacao Orange Peel, Citrus Gin, and Orange). They went with everything – and are also good if you mix any two of these cocktails together
  
• Ransom Spirits (probably currently most known for their gin) booth with a chance to taste a their new whiskey and their potent punch (with Old Tom Gin, Pinot Gris, citrus, sweet, Reverend Nat’s Tepache, and Fizz) was popular with many as I gingerly balanced my plate and the cup with whiskey and cup of punch after reaching the front of the line! Both were very easy to drink and too dangerous for me to return because I thought I might get myself into trouble…
  
• Jacobsen Salt put together a bite and a drink by partnering with Bull In China to offer the messiest bite of the night, Elote that you could wash down with Tijuana Thunder, a cocktail with Hornitas Tequila, Anchos Reyes Chile Liqueur, Peach, Lime, Rainier Tall Boys and Bee Local Honey Water with a Jacobsen’s Salt Habanero salt rim.
  

I made a call to focus more on food so that I could at least visit almost all the Chefs on the Feast PDX 2016 Night Market lineup, at the expense of not being able to also get to all the beverage and other sponsor booths. So there at least 20 more beverage possibilities I didn’t cover here…  Other glimpses I noticed are

• USA Pears was packing goodie bags of pears,
• Whole Foods offered a healthy fruit plate with salt, sugar, and chili dip,
• Milagro Tequila had options of Agua Frescas and Horchata to combine (or not) with their tequila tastings,
• Tillamook Dairy ice cream brought their Tillabar with DeGarde Brewing for beer floats,
• Talenti Gelato truck dishing scoops on cones of Caramel Cookie Crunch, Coconut Almond Chocolate, and Key Lime Pie…
• I think I saw Beau Carr of Ringside and Tom Douglas of the Tom Douglas restaurant empire in Seattle in cordoned areas for special members (I think Chase Bank and Alaska Air).
• And more that I missed I’m sure!
   

If you’re reading this wondering if attending one of these walk-around marquee events of Feast is worth it, I hope you can see from my example of all that Night Market can offer that it really is all that the name promises, truly a Feast and the atmosphere of a festive Night Market with quite a range of options to explore as a food traveler.  This is my second time attending the Feast night market – this year the theme was Latin, but you can also see my recap of Night Market from 2015 when the theme was Asian.

Disclosure: I was granted a Blogger Pass for Feast Portland 2016 for blog post and social media coverage but I am not otherwise being compensated. Even before I was given the Blogger Pass I already had tickets for some Feast events that I paid for myself.  I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.