Inside the Sandwich Invitational at Feast Portland 2013
Who are we?
Where are we?
We're still reeling from a night of fried bologna, duck confit, and porchetta...
Oh, right, we're in PORTLAND, OREGON, y'all, for a weekend of chef demos, food panels, and, of course, parties, all in the name of Feast Portland, the annual that is, at least officially, about "celebrating Oregon's bounty and the chefs and artisans who do some pretty amazing things with it" but often feels more like a delicious excuse to get some of the best food people in the country to come to one of the best food cities in the country for a long weekend of camaraderie and overindulgence.
And that porky stuff we mentioned was part of last night's kick-off event, the Sandwich Invitational, during which 15 chefs brought their 'wichy A-games in hopes of winning a year's worth of bragging rights. BA's Foodist, Andrew Knowlton, was a judge, a golden sandwich was the trophy, and very full and happy were the guests. Click through the photos above for the play-by-play.
1/17Husk chef Sean Brock took the lowbrow-genius route and made fried bologna sandwiches. (All photos by Matt Duckor)
2/17Brock's fried bologna sandwich.
3/17Lardo's porchetta sandwich topped with shaved truffles.
4/17Portland's The Country Cat served mini lamb burgers.
5/17The lamb gyro from The Woodsman Tavern.
6/17Stuart Brioza of State Bird Provisions in San Francisco, Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurant of 2012.
7/17State Bird Provisions' pancake sandwich combined the restaurant's signature sourdough-starter pancakes with pork belly.
8/17A sandwich of duck confit, cheddar-jalapeño sourdough waffle, maple mustard, and dill-pickled peach from Ox in PDX.
9/17Paul Qui of Austin's Qui restaurant.
10/17Qui's "Rabbit 7 Ways" sandwich.
11/17The "sloppy giuseppe" from Roman Candle, the new project from Hot 10 restaurant Ava Gene's, which consists of focaccia filled with meat sauce.
12/17We think it might be cheating to offer TWO sandwiches, but that's exactly what Roman Candle did. (We're not complaining, though: this one was a sweet gelato dessert sandwich.)
13/17Duff Goldman of Baltimore's Charm City Cakes.
14/17Legendary PDX sandwich shop Bunk served a Mexican torta of pork belly and fried eggs.
15/17The distingushed panel of judges including BA restaurant and drinks editor Andrew Knowlton, food writer Francis Lam, and Beast chef Naomi Pomeroy, who took home the golden sandwich last year.
16/17We're not sure how he does it, but Andrew Knowlton managed not only to eat all 15 sandwiches but to Instagram each as well.
17/17The evening's winning sandwich—smoked beef tongue with pasilla peppers from Portland's Laurelhurst Market.
