I was recently invited to takeover Travel Oregon‘s Instagram account while eating, drinking and exploring my way through Portland and the Greater Portland area. Being that it was my first time in Oregon, attending Feast Portland was the perfect way to get a sampling of the delicious epicurean treasures from Oregon’s finest chefs and restaurants. Here are a few highlights and favorite bites from the four days of feasting on Oregon’s bounty. 
I’ve been to four food festivals this year and I’ve picked up a few food festival “pro-moves.” First thing is to show up early to beat the crowds and to get there before the vendors run out of food. (It happens!) I also like to use teamwork for the long line situation. For example, I would wait in line for beer and have Brock go wait in line for Salt and Straw ice cream. We got to sample twice as many things at the Oregon Bounty Grand tasting on Friday (pictured above). Lastly, come hungry! 
The USA Pears Night Market was my favorite event of the bunch. I have a penchant for Asian night markets and the beautiful waterfront setting was spacious (aka no sardine feeling lines). Plus, the food and drinks were top notch. 
I had to have two servings of the seafood paella with squid ink from Crown Paella. They topped each plate with crispy calamari too. 
The Dungeness crab nachos with sesame chips, toasted crab pimento cheese, Dungeness crab pico de gallo, and habanero-cherry sauce from Ox were my favorite taste of the entire evening. It hit every note–salty, sweet, spicy and sour. Based on just this tiny sample from Chefs Greg and Gabrielle Denton, I’m making it a priority to dine at Ox next time I’m up in Portland. 
We capped off Feast festivities with the Tillamook Brunch Village, which included lots and lots of carbs (like the sticky buns below) and the most impressive Bloody Mary bar from the folks at Whole Foods PDX (above). 
If you like beautiful vineyards and baby animals ( really, who doesn’t?), stay tuned. I’ll be sharing more photos from my trip later this week.
Disclaimer: While all opinions are my own, I was provided a Media pass for Feast PDX. All photos in this post were taken with an iPhone5 or Sony RX100.
4 Comments
Erin
07 Oct 2014 12:10 am
What gorgeous photos you got! Really beautiful. And I’m so sad I missed that paella at Night Market!!! I didn’t even know about it!
julieleecooks
07 Oct 2014 04:10 am
Thanks Erin! At least you got those delicious crab nachos, most importantly. Loved your photos too.
Knifeista
07 Nov 2014 08:11 pm
I was looking for a kitchen blog with food festivals .This one is amazing.Good photography.
Anika Tulip
25 Apr 2016 02:04 pm
Amazing, this is just excessively heavenly and I haven’t ate yet so I’m authoritatively kicking the bucket right now. It would appear that so much fun!
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