Feast Portland 2014: Recap of the Sandwich Invitational

We were lucky enough to stuff ourselves silly at Feast's Sandwich Invitational last Thursday. (Big thank you to Doug for Katie's ticket and Feast for Kel's!) We also learned that "Yacht Rock" is a thing. So basically, it was a good night.

Of course at events like these, all the food is good. But since the Sandwich Invitational has the added fun of being a competition, we thought we'd share our rankings of the 14 sandwiches we tried.

#1 Marche's Moraccan Lamb Pockets

We're suckers for well-cooked lamb and Marche paired theirs beautifully with warm spices, harissa aioli and cilantro pesto. If we had room for seconds, we definitely would have gone back for another round of these.

#2 Kachka's Smoked Sprats

We are already big fans of Kachka and this open-faced sandwich with smoked sprats, egg, and sour cream on toast only reinforced our love for its unique Russian-inspired dishes. This sandwich also won the Judge's Choice award. Woot!

#3 Avec's Gyro

There is a turning point in the night where you're really full, but there is still 6 sandwiches to go and you're not slowing down. This crisis moment was made easier by Paul Kahan's "Return of the Gyro" with pork, eggplant, yogurt, "fun", fenugreek, and "flavor". We appreciated the description and the fresh herbs. 

#4 FT33's Fried Bologna and Pimento Cheese

Sometimes the simple ones are just so good. 

#5 Lardo's Pork Burger

This was the longest line of the night (challenged only by Salt and Straw) and the combo of pork, peaches, American cheese, and arugula was pretty delicious.

#6 Dustin Clark's Water Buffalo Short Rib Sandwich

This was our last sandwich of the night, aka it was at a major disadvantage because we were SO full, but it still ranks high on our list. The water buffalo short rib with sichuan picked cucumber sandwich was rich and mouth watering. We will definitely be hitting up Dustin's upcoming restaurant The Oddfellow Social.

#7 Nostrana's Smoked Lamb

Made with smoked lamb ham, crescenza (a soft Italian cheese), tomatoes, pepper cress, and onion relish on focaccia, this sandwich featured more traditional flavors and textures, but we appreciated some balance to the craziness that was happening at other stands.

#8 Empire State South's Pimento Grilled Cheese

Doug's love for Hugh Atcheson knows no bounds, but even he agreed with us that Hugh's pimento sandwich, though quite delicious in it's own right, was not quite as good as FT33's. 

#9 Salt and Straw's PBJ Sundae

Made of buttery bread topped with marionberry jam, vanilla custard ice cream, peanut butter whipped cream and homemade peanut butter Captain Crunch, this thing was good- but a major sugar bomb very much in danger of leaving you with a serious stomach ache. It was also a bit tame by Salt & Straw standards. That peanut butter whipped cream though...

#10  Bunk Sandwich's Duck & Foie Banh Mi

Far more flavorful than Chris Cosentino's meh take on foie banh mi (#13 below) plus the boys manning the station were having such a fun time that it made it hard not to enjoy this sandwich. 

#11 The Bent Brick's BBQ Goat Fry Bread

Ugh, the Bent Brick. They just keep making it SO hard to like them. They ran out of fry bread by the time we got there and while the meat was good... it really could have used some fry bread. Turns out they serve this, or something very similar, on their happy hour so we could have a second go at it...

#12 Broder's Gravlax on Rye

This was Doug's favorite dish but it just didn't do much for us.

#13 Cockscomb's Banh Mi

Doug and Katie loved Cosentino's beef tartare at last year's Night Market but felt iffy about their visit to his restaurant and as a group we felt even iffier about this not-so-noteworthy banh mi. Sad.

#14 Bar Avignon's Deconstructed Cubano

The best thing about a Cubano is all the flavors coming together in one delicious bite. When those ingredients are separated and you have to work to get them all in one bite... it just doesn't work.

Aside from the sandwiches, there was also plenty of beer from Widmer and wine from Columbia Crest Grand Estates, Erath, Hawks View Cellars, Northstar, and wine cocktails from Union Wine Company.

We may have also drank some straight vodka from Reyka Vodka. Apparently, when your stomach is unhappy from eating way too many sandwiches, it is more than fine to consume many different alcohols at once.

It's also recommended that you go to Kask afterward for a few more rounds. At least that's what we did...

Until next year! Cheers!

Portland Happy Hour Update: The Bent Brick

Any new venture usually has trial periods and lessons learned of what does and doesn't work. That means that the happy hours we blog about change and evolve as the restaurant receives feedback and brainstorms new concepts. These can be changes we feel are good and bad. Luckily, the recent change at The Bent Brick is a good one! (We think).

Katie tried The Bent Brick in early August and wasn't impressed by their happy hour. You can read her full post here. We returned with their PR team and tried their regular menu which we both enjoyed, though that didn't change Katie's initial conclusion that their HH isn't that great and doesn't represent what their menu offers.

Thanks to Eat Beat's round up of top food news, we got an update that "The Bent Brick has launched a new happy hour chef's choice trio special every day from 5 to 6:30 pm. In addition to $5 glasses of wine, $3 beers, and $5 cocktails, the $25 chef's choice special will feature three modern small plates from chef Will Preisch. The happy hour menu is still home to several $3 bar snacks, like smoked salmon poofs and pickle or ham plates."

Here are some pictures from our last visit and with these changes we will likely give it another try!

 country ham, honey mustard ($5)

 cod poofs ($5)

 padron poppers ($5)

 green and romano bean salad ($10) liked the addition of plums!

 prosciutto wrapped romaine and fried pickles

 custard with crab

 pork belly and loin ($23)

 candies ($2.50 each)

Portland Happy Hour: The Bent Brick

One perk of working within walking distance of our apartment: I'm home by 5:15pm at the latest. In theory, that should mean I get to make it to all kinds of end-at-6pm happy hours. But since everybody else doesn't have the same commute, it's pretty rare these days that I do get to partake in an early happy hour.
I know, so sad right? But don't feel bad for me for too long because two weeks ago Doug got off work early (yay!) and tasked me with figuring out what happy hour to go to (the pressure!).

Unfortunately I chose wrong.

What: The Bent Brick
Where: 1639 NW Marshall St 
When: HH 5-6:30pm Everyday
Honeys Heart: ???

I've heard good things about The Bent Brick- at least I thought I had. Now I can't quite remember where, so maybe I haven't? Regardless, their $3 happy hour snack menu and $5 cocktails seemed like a good choice.

My first mistake might have been veering off the happy hour drink menu as regularly priced cocktails are a little up there. I decided to go for one of the least expensive: Stay Cool Out There ($8), made with vodka, house elderflower liqueur, strawberry syrup, and "sparkles" (aka some bubbly).

This was good because it reminded me of a sparkling rosé somehow, but that also made me a little mad because if I wanted a sparkling rosé I would have ordered one.

Doug stuck to the hh menu and ordered a Moscow Mule ($5), which he described as "sub-par" and "the most pedestrian Moscow mule I've ever had." Yikes. Can't say I disagreed.

Another downfall: half of our snack of choice, Smoked Cod Poofs with Malt-Garlic Dip ($3), were stale. Like feel like you're going to break your teeth when you bite into them stale. Not good.

And the final strike: the place was completely empty. That's ok in some restaurants, but at The Bent Brick, Doug and I just felt awkward. It was as if we had arrived way too early to the party.

One more thing. They have a great little patio, but on the day we were there, a bright sunny day, there was only one picnic table sitting smack dab in the middle of the patio. There was definitely room for more seating. Awkward again.

I don't think we'll be back any time soon.

UPDATE 8/30: Following the posting of this review, we were contacted by the PR folks representing The Bent Brick asking if we would give them another shot. We agreed and were treated to a lovely meal. Kel loved the Green and Romano Bean Salad ($10) and my favorite dish was definitely the Pork Belly and Loin ($23) served with country ham gnocchi. However, my initial review was of Bent Brick's happy hour, not their dinner menu, and as the happy hour menu does not accurately reflect the restaurant's focus on fresh, local ingredients, I stand by my initial assertion that this is not a happy hour I will return to if the happy hour menu remains the same. If I ever feel like splurging on dinner in my neighborhood, Bent Brick will be on my radar. Cheers!