Welcome to the third installment of Feast Portland 2015. If you missed them, you’ll certainly want to check out Feast Portland: September, 17th 2015 & Feast Portland: September, 18th 2015. If you think this post is overloaded with photos, wait until you get a load of THOSE posts. Day three was packed with just as much food, fun, and excitement as the previous two days and it certainly didn’t disappoint. First priority of the day was doughnuts. I mean… three previous two days worth of doughnuts weren’t enough. Obvs. Are you judging me right now? You’re judging me. You’re totally judging me! You know what? Unless you’ve had a BSD yourself you just wouldn’t understand. My quest was to try each of the flavors I considered ‘must have’ before the weekend was over and nothing was getting in my way. I mean, I had *tastes* of each.. I shared. The lineup for this morning was Meyer Lemon & Key Lime Curd, Lemon Poppy Buttermilk, and Blueberry Cake. Oh mercy me. The lemon curd? Magnifique. The lemon poppy? Probably my favorite if I had to choose. The blueberry? Delish! After grabbing the dough I popped into the the Feast Hospitality Lounge by Provenance Hotels at Sentinel for a quick look around. Rushed back to our hotel to get ready and grab Steve. 

Blue Star Doughnuts
3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
Every Day: 8am – 8pm or out

We got ready for the day and headed really quick to the Portland Farmers Market that we’d been recommended to go to. We had about an hour to kill before the Saturday Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting Presented By Alaska Airlines. Steve and I like to roll with the [packasmuchasyoucan into the shortesttimeaspossible] mindset. Mostly I like to roll that way. Mostly Steve is awesome at being supportive of my insanely chaotic requests! Anywhoo. The market. It was absolutely incredible. SO fresh. SO bright. SO alive. We first spotted Symple Foods Kombucha and went bonkers with excitement that the very first stand we saw was a KOMBUCHA stand! Way to go Portland Farmers Market, a pivotal piece in the #operationmovetoportland puzzle. Nailed it. 

Portland Farmers Market
Portland State University
SW Park & SW Montgomery
9:00 am (Nov-Feb) or 8:30 am (Mar-Oct) to 2:00 pm Saturdays

The produce was incredible. The flower arrangements were unbelievably gorgeous. The second we saw the curry stand Steve’s heart nearly stopped beating. Indian food at a Farmers Market? The #operationmovetoportland mission was well underway and thriving! So naturally, we stopped for a bite at the Portland Curry Co. where Steve ordered the breakfast samosas. I held out for some biscuits I’d heard much about. 

The only thing I regret is that we weren’t able to purchase any of the beautiful produce. It was everywhere (obvs)! If I had this market in my back pocket you’d better believe we’d be here on a weekly basis. Meal planning around these fresh ingredients would be killer awesome. Not to mention the Pine State Biscuits that is available. A cute friend of mine gave me two recommendations for visiting Portland: ketchup (which sadly I wasn’t able to find) and Pine State Biscuits. When I saw they were a vendor at the market it was a match made in heaven! Because I didn’t want to miss out, I ended up with The Reggie Deluxe. Honestly.. all the food!!! We hadn’t even been yet to the Feast event. Mercy! So what’s The Reggie Deluxe? A biscuit with fried chicken, bacon, cheese & egg topped with gravy.  My. My. My. It was DE-VINE! 

After the market we headed over to the Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting Presented By Alaska Airlines. It was just as delicious as the day before. The BEST part was getting to see Chef Jessica Hansen again from The Kitchen at Middleground Farms! If you remember, it’s her recipe I made for Red Wine Caramel with Goat Cheese Mousse that won me the trip back to Portland for this amazing adventure. Not only that, she was serving the very prize winning appetizer. Mega awesome. Super cool. It was just as scrumptious as the day I first tasted it {and couldn’t keep my grubby hands off of it… YUM!}.  Additionally, there was Ben & Jerry’s, AnniePies (serving the most adorable mini pies), Chipotle Mexican Grill serving their delicious bowl of yummy goodness, and USA Pears had a super cool pop-up restaurant featuring a bite-sized menu. So. Much. Food!

The morning and afternoon put us into a temporary food coma so we headed to do something that actually DIDN’T involve food. Can you believe it? One of Steve’s hobbies and interests is World War II history and while walking around we had passed the Oregon Historical Society. They happened to be exhibiting ‘World War II A World at War, A State Transformed’ while we were there. Can you believe it? Thank you Oregon Historical Society: #operationmovetoportland NAILED IT! While I certainly wouldn’t say that history is my strong suit, I was happy to oblige after dragging Steve here there and everywhere eating #allthefood. 

The Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland, OR 97205
(503) 222-1741
Mon-Sat 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Sun 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm

The next Feast event was Smoked!  So what was it all about? I couldn’t explain it better than the hosts themselves – so I’ll let them explain. “Don’t call it a cookout! The festival’s newest marquee event closes out the weekend with a sizzling celebration of animal, vegetable, fire, sea and forest. Featuring top masters of the flame from Portland and around the country, this event will stoke your appetite for everything flamed, grilled and free-ranged. Set to the tune of bold Northwest wines, classic cocktails and an epic view of the Fremont Bridge, Smoked! is ready to spark things up with live fire and some of the best bites of the weekend”. Does that not sound incredible? 

The Fields
1099 NW Overton St.
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 823-7529

Sadly we weren’t able to get Steve a ticket to this event as they had all sold out. So he was once again my superhero and waited outside (there was a playground he patiently waited at just out front) for me to pop in, snap a few pictures, and grab a few bites to eat. First of all the location. If ever there was a moment where my breath was taken away this was that moment. This. It was the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen.  The sky was the most alluring shade of blue. It drew me in to a world of wonder. I’m telling you. Look at it! The smell of smokers fired up wafting through the air was mouth watering. The buzz of people all around. The sounds of happiness. It was pure bliss. 

I ended up catching up for a second with Irvin, then meeting March of The P.Town Girls and Peter of LA Wonders. We walked the grounds, stood in lines, munched on tasty food and had an all-around good time. One of my favorite stands was that of Chef Nong Poonsukwattana. I found an article entitled: 

How Portland’s Thai Food Queen Turned a Cart from Craigslist into an Empire

and fell immediately in love with her even more! She served up Grilled Chicken Khao Man Gai with Thai Mushroom Salad and it was delectable! Between that and the Corn, Clam, Pork served by Chef Justin Woodward of Castagna Restaurant (PDX), the Smoked Ribeye, Beef Fat Poached Shrimp, Corn Salad, Pickled Fresno Peppers, Smoked Tomato Aioli from Chef Ben Bettinger (PDX), the Grilled Wagyu Skirt Steak, Wild Mushrooms, Carmellized Shallot Vinaigrette from Chef Gavin Kaysen (MN), the Smoked Snickers Bar w/Marionberries and Smoked Honey from Chef Tyler Malek (PDX), and the Smoky Twisted Turtle Bars from Chef Kyra Bussanich (PDX) I was in HEAVEN!

After spending a bit more time than expected I scurried out to meet Steve for us to grab dinner. That’s comical I know. But really I only had a few small bites.. I *tried* not to eat too much. We googled restaurant recommendations and discovered Piazza Italia was highly rated, so we headed there. Talk about a fun atmosphere. We literally ate on the sidewalk. Their outdoor seating is absolutely charming. Steve ordered the Lasagna and I ordered the La Burina (Rigatoni pasta with crumbled Italian salsiccia, green peas, mushrooms, red pepper flakes and cream). While mine was just OK, I REALLY wish I would have gone with the lasagna. It was incredible. Mine could have used just a touch more sauce.. it was a little dry. All in all, I’d totally go back there to eat.

Piazza Italia
1129 NW Johnson St.
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 478-0619 
Lunch seven days a week
11:30am to 3:00pm
Dinner Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
5:00pm to 9:30pm
Dinner Wednesday and Thursday
5:00pm to 10pm
Dinner Friday and Saturday
5:00pm to 11pm

Phew. Are you still with me? If so – congratulations. You deserve some sort of medal for making your way through all of the madness. I wasn’t joking when I said that I took the most insane amount of photos, and listen people – I’m not even sharing all of the photos with you. We headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night in anticipation of one more amazing morning and afternoon in Portland. Stay tuned for one more installment, the final day of the series.

A very special thank you to Feast Portland and Travel Oregon for providing travel and hotel accommodations as well as a blogger pass to the 2015 Feast Portland Event. Though flight, hotel and blogger pass were provided complimentary, I was not monetarily compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.