First event of the weekend: The sandwich invitational held in the plaza between the Moda Center and the aging Memorial Coliseum of my youth. Featuring 16 chefs from Boston to Austin to the Northwest.
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Rachel’s Ginger Beer (and founder Rachel Marshall) technically represented Seattle, but the Portland location opens in a few weeks.
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Rachel’s Ginger Beer (and founder Rachel Marshall) technically represented Seattle, but the Portland location opens in a few weeks.
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Tom Douglas may oversee 20 restaurants, but the man can still hustle when it comes time to assemble hundreds of tiny sandwiches.
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Tom Douglas may oversee 20 restaurants, but the man can still hustle when it comes time to assemble hundreds of tiny sandwiches.
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T-Doug is also unafraid to put anchovies in between slices of toasted pecan flax bread from Dahlia Bakery (plus charred eggplant, chanterelle, pepperonata, and zucchini pickles from Douglas’s Prosser farm.
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T-Doug is also unafraid to put anchovies in between slices of toasted pecan flax bread from Dahlia Bakery (plus charred eggplant, chanterelle, pepperonata, and zucchini pickles from Douglas’s Prosser farm.
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Ryan Fox and the crew from his Portland restaurant Nomad recreated the Filet-o-Fish. And it was glorious.
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Ryan Fox and the crew from his Portland restaurant Nomad recreated the Filet-o-Fish. And it was glorious.
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The judges’ winner in the Sandwich Invitational: A bulgogi club sandwich from Portland’s Kim Jong Grillin, the only truck in the competition.
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The judges’ winner in the Sandwich Invitational: A bulgogi club sandwich from Portland’s Kim Jong Grillin, the only truck in the competition.
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Also eligible for judging: Ice cream sandwiches from Portland’s Ruby Jewel; complete with choose-your-own sauce drizzle and toppings.
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Also eligible for judging: Ice cream sandwiches from Portland’s Ruby Jewel; complete with choose-your-own sauce drizzle and toppings.
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The Grand Bounty tasting is more about food vendors (aka cheese, baked goods, salt, condiments) than restaurants. Not to worry, there’s also lots of beer and wine.
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The Grand Bounty tasting is more about food vendors (aka cheese, baked goods, salt, condiments) than restaurants. Not to worry, there’s also lots of beer and wine.
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Up the stairs at the Grand Bounty tasting lies the Bon Appetit tent, the annual home to this can’t-leave-it-alone spread from Olympia Provisions.
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Up the stairs at the Grand Bounty tasting lies the Bon Appetit tent, the annual home to this can’t-leave-it-alone spread from Olympia Provisions.
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The Brunch Village morning blowout event gathered up roughly a dozen chefs, plus plenty of AM-appropriate beverages, for dishes like Toro Bravo’s fried chicken biscuit with pimento cheese.
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The Saturday night event, the night market, is a perennial favorite. This year Feast organizers switched things up from the previous Asian theme, asking chefs to prepare Latin American-inspired bites. One of the best of which was…
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Rachel Yang preps lardo tamales with pickled shrimp; the early word on her new Portland restaurant, Revelry, is very positive.
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Portland chef Jose Chesa’s “cono” of escabeche-style duck with avocado, orange, sweet potato, and crispy plaintain.
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Abraham Conlon and Adrienne Loe from Chicago staple Fat Rice made their spin on fios de ovos: Thai egg threads with fish sauce, maple, bacon, and chilies.
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Feast produces lots of collaborations and one-offs you won’t find anywhere else. Case in point: Erik Van Kley of Portland’s Taylor Railworks combined the Latin theme with his own culinary sensibilities. Which is how the world came to experience…arancini ranchero.
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Lovely Portland restaurant Smallwares put up congee with black bean sausage, honey, black vinegar, and scallions.
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Salt and Straw’s sweet corn copo with cilantro and marionberry. An unconventional combo, but man this worked.
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Lest you think all the dishes are savory: plum-almond “mac-croissants” from Little T Baker.
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Booze floats from the Tillamook van along the bank of the Willamette River.
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Oh, and maple apple glazed fritters from Portland’s alliterative Petunia’s Pies and Pastries.
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Crown Paella’s Scott Ketterman made a version with Dungness crab and fried calamari.
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The Saturday night event, the night market, is a perennial favorite. This year Feast organizers switched things up from the previous Asian theme, asking chefs to prepare Latin American-inspired bites. One of the best of which was…
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Washington state wine represent.
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Washington state wine represent.
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The Brunch Village morning blowout event gathered up roughly a dozen chefs, plus plenty of AM-appropriate beverages, for dishes like Toro Bravo’s fried chicken biscuit with pimento cheese.
34
Portland chef Jose Chesa’s “cono” of escabeche-style duck with avocado, orange, sweet potato, and crispy plaintain.
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Rachel Yang preps lardo tamales with pickled shrimp; the early word on her new Portland restaurant, Revelry, is very positive.
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Salt and Straw’s sweet corn copo with cilantro and marionberry. An unconventional combo, but man this worked.
37
Abraham Conlon and Adrienne Loe from Chicago staple Fat Rice made their spin on fios de ovos: Thai egg threads with fish sauce, maple, bacon, and chilies.
38
Booze floats from the Tillamook van along the bank of the Willamette River.
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Lovely Portland restaurant Smallwares put up congee with black bean sausage, honey, black vinegar, and scallions.
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Feast produces lots of collaborations and one-offs you won’t find anywhere else. Case in point: Erik Van Kley of Portland’s Taylor Railworks combined the Latin theme with his own culinary sensibilities. Which is how the world came to experience…arancini ranchero.
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Lest you think all the dishes are savory: plum-almond “mac-croissants” from Little T Baker.
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Crown Paella’s Scott Ketterman made a version with Dungness crab and fried calamari.
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Oh, and maple apple glazed fritters from Portland’s alliterative Petunia’s Pies and Pastries.
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First event of the weekend: The sandwich invitational held in the plaza between the Moda Center and the aging Memorial Coliseum of my youth. Featuring 16 chefs from Boston to Austin to the Northwest.
Another Feast has come and gone. It’s sometimes hard to describe what actually happens at this annual Portland food festival, wherein an estimated 75 percent of attendees come from the broader Northwest region (aka lots of Seattle folks making that trip). Here, in photos, is a sort of explanation of what exactly goes down at the five larger-scale events around town, with the exception of the meat-worshiping nighttime event, Smoked, wherein rain made for some soggy and decidedly non-aspirational photos. Thank you to associate art director Sara D’Eugenio for spending the weekend diligently photographing when everyone around her was knocking back wine and gorging themselves on high-concept tacos. And for not including any images of me judging the Thursday night sandwich invitational, because nobody looks photogenic after consuming 16 sandwiches. See you next year, Feast.
Allecia Vermillion has spent a decade at Seattle Met, arriving as food and drink editor, and expanding her role over the years. She served as the magazine’s editor in chief until moving into a newly created executive editor role in 2021.
She spearheads Seattle Met’s food and drink coverage and oversees home design content. Allecia’s writing has earned her multiple journalism awards and two James Beard Award nominations over the years. A native of Portland, Oregon, Allecia began her writing life as a newspaper reporter in the Chicago suburbs before making a grateful return to the Pacific Northwest. She has an English degree from Washington University (no, the one in St. Louis) and a masters in journalism from Northwestern University. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.
