When I visited Portland for the first time last Labor Day, I remember kicking myself for not booking my trip a few weeks later. Leading up to my trip, I stumbled across a little food event that I was just dying to go to: Feast Portland.
Fast forward one year, and not only am I a Portland resident – I’m attending Feast this year! I’m ecstatic to be partnering with Feast as part of their blogger team, where I’ll be visiting a couple of events and snapping pictures all along the way. Here’s a sneak peek of the events I’m attending and what I’m most excited about at this phenomenal Pacific Northwest food festival.
Grand Tasting
Feast’s Grand Tasting is their penultimate event. It happens smack dab in the middle of downtown Portland in Pioneer Square on Friday and Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Alan Weiner Photography
While many events at Feast highlight the chefs you know and love from Portland and beyond, the Grand Tasting highlights the artisans behind some of your favorite meals. More than 80 vendors will be slinging chocolate, cheese, wine, baked goods (I seriously just named my four favorite food groups) and more!
Here are the artisans I’m most excited to sample:
Eliot’s Adult Nut Butters: Bacon & Braids could have easily been named Ponytails and Peanut Butter. Nut butter is one of my favorite indulgences. Even when I’m watching what I eat, I always leave room at the end of the day for a spoonful of peanut butter. Eliot’s crafts savory-flavored peanut, cashew, almond, and sunflower seed butter out of Portland’s Eliot neighborhood. Feel free to drool over their Instagram until you get the chance to try them in real life!
Rogue Creamery: Rogue has whipped up nationally recognized cheese out of Central Point, Oregon for over 80 years. As a cheddar fiend, I’m excited to sample their interesting varieties of cheddar. Lavendar and Stout cheddar? Yes, please. Peep their Instagram for ideas of how to use their dreamy blue and cheddar cheese in your kitchen!
Photo courtesy of Alan Weiner Photography
Sokol Blosser Winery: This won’t be my first time trying Sokol Blosser wine. I visited their stunning winery with some family visitors in July and fell in love with their wines. I’ve never been a fan of rosé – gasp, I know. I wanted to like it – because pink – but something about it has always reminded me of feet. Then I sampled their rosé at their tasting room and promptly purchased a few bottles. It was so good. I’m excited to pair their wines with some of the excellent cheese and chocolate at the Grand Tasting!
Saturday’s Grand Tasting is sold out, but there are still tickets available for Friday! At just $65, it’s one of the best deals of the weekend in my opinion. With many events going for over $100, the Grand Tasting will let you sample a wide variety of food, wine, and beer for a smaller price. It’s the perfect excuse to use some vacation time and cut your work week short. Click here to purchase tickets for Friday’s Grand Tasting.
Night Market
The Night Market at Feast Portland is the event I’m most excited about attending. I’ve always been a fan of night markets in every city lived in and visited. They always have great energy, and besides…you don’t have to worry about taking it easy like you do if you’re day drinking! This event is tucked under the bright Tilikum Crossing bridge (my favorite in the city!) in the up-and-coming Zidell Yards development.
If you aren’t too familiar with the South Waterfront area of Portland, like me, then you might not have heard of Zidell Yards. Safe to say in just a few years, this will be a place you’ll spend a lot of time in the summer. You can read more about that development here.
Rendering courtesy of Zidell Yards
For now, Zidell Yards is home to 2017’s Latin-themed Feast Portland Night Market. Twinkling lights will light up a buzzy few hours of Latin music, tapas, and – if I’m lucky, maybe a margarita, sangria or pisco sour.
Some of the chefs involved in this year’s Night Market include Elias Cairo of Olympia Provisions, Vitaly Paley, Dustin Koerner of Andina (my go-to Portland restaurant for out of town visitors), Mike Solomonov of Zahav in Philadelphia, and many more. Nineteen27 S’mores will also be whipping up artisan s’mores all night.
Photo courtesy of Alan Weiner Photography
Of course, you can’t have a night market without libations. Aria Gin, Bull Run Distillery, and many other local favorites will be mixing up the strong stuff. Blossom Brothers will be serving up something a little lighter with their wine spritzers, and Sokol Blosser, Piper Heidsieck Champagne, and many more local and foreign wineries will be bringing the wine. Plus, there will be plenty of beer. This is Portland, afterall.
In just a few days, I’ll be covering a few more events I’ll be attending at Feast Portland this year. I’m counting down the days, trying to figure out what to wear, and doing a little extra cardio leading up to this event. I can’t wait to eat and drink some of the best food and drink from Portland and around the country at Feast Portland.
Are you attending Feast this year? Shoot me a DM on Instagram if you’re attending. I’d love to meet some other foodies who will be there! 🙂
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