Food & Drink

Don’t Have Tickets to PDX’s Feast?

No worries--here are a few tastes worth making the trek anyway.

By Chelsea Lin September 13, 2016

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock these past five years, you’ve likely heard of Feast: Portland’s massive four-day food fest that gets food-nerds so worked up you’d think they’d just been to Woodstock. But unless you’ve bought tickets already, you’ve sadly missed the opportunity to check out 99 percent of the events—the fest is almost entirely sold out.

Don’t be sad! This year, to celebrate Feast’s fifth birthday, they’ve asked six artisans to produce special items—food finds that you can hunt down without attending ticketed events—inspired by Portland. Meaning you should still go to PDX this weekend, and check out these treats instead:

  • At Xocolatl de David, the chocolatier has collaborated with Elias Cairo of Olympia Provisions, Aaron Franklin of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, and Sqirl’s Jessica Kowslow from LA.
  • The magical candy wizards at QUIN are producing an Oregon cherry-flavored candy that sounds like a cross between a marshmallow and a mouthful of Pop Rocks.
  • Wiz Bang Bar, ice creamery Salt & Straw’s soft-serve-focused kid sister, will be serving the ultimate Oregon banana split through the end of September: bananas soaked in brown sugar and Portland-made rum from Eastside Distilling topped with swirls of soft serve, chocolate mousse, Oregon huckleberry sauce, and candied Freddy Guys hazelnuts.
  • Pok Pok Som has debuted a special Thai basil and Oregon strawberry drinking vinegar.
  • Pok Pok will also be partnering with Olympia Provisions to create a custom sausage: the Pok Pok Dog—topped with green papaya slaw and curry ketchup—is available at OP Wurst at Pine Street Market through the end of the month.
  • All Stumptown locations (except the Annex) will be pouring house-made cold brew soda.

Ten percent of sales (some of these are available online as well) will go to Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon.

While not an official #feastfab5 collab, we’ve got one more must-do for your upcoming Portland weekend, particularly for us Seattleites: Tom Douglas himself will be at Salt & Straw scooping ice cream with co-founder Kim Malek from 4 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16. The scoop shop has created perhaps its greatest achievement, a limited edition ice cream version of Douglas’ legendary triple coconut cream pie, with chunks of pie crust and swirls of custard and candied coconut. It’s one of the best things we’ve eaten all year.

If you did happen to score tickets, say hello to our local talent—chefs Alex Barkley (Manolin), Ericka Burke (Volunteer Park Café), Brian Clevenger (Vendemmia), Edouardo Jordan (Salare), and Rachel Yang (Trove, Joule, Revel) will be joining Douglas in representing Seattle at various events and dinners.

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