What’s new at FeastPDX 2015

Food festival co-founder Mike Thelin talks Smoked!

By Seattle Mag June 22, 2015

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We know why you go to Feast Portland every September. Because as a Pacific Northwesterner you know the kind of wildly exciting culinary adventures that are percolating in Portland, and how they converge with national celebrity chefs, stimulating panel discussions and epic collaborative dinners at the four-day food and drink festival.

This year, FeastPDX takes place from September 17 to 20 and there are a few new features to be discovered. Sorry, the first-time “London is a City in Oregon” dinner with the U.K.’s Ollie Dabbous of Dabbous Restaurant has already sold out. But, there is still time for the other new, hot ticket: Saturday night’s closing marquee event, Smoked!

According to Feast Portland co-founder Mike Thelin, Smoked! evolved from High Comfort, an indoor ode to elevated comfort food. But Smoked! will be outdoors at a bigger venue – The Fields Neighborhood Park in the North Pearl District, with its stunning views of their Fremont Bridge – and will showcase everything grilled, smoked and free-ranged alongside the best Washington and Oregon wines. The larger capacity (1,500 people) will also reduce the price of the event from $175 to $135 a person, Thelin says.

Smoked! is billed as a “sizzling celebration of animal, vegetable, fire, sea and forest” and features 23 high-profile chefs from San Francisco (Chris Cosentino, Cockscomb) to New York (Elizabeth Falkner of Falk Yeah Productions) and everywhere in between. From the Rose City itself, you’ll recognize Tyler Malek of Salt & Straw, Andy Ricker of Pok Pok, Justin Woodward of Castagna Restaurant and Lake Oswego’s Kyra Bussanich of Kyra’s Bake Shop, among others.

This year, Thelin is most excited about Feast’s interesting mix of chefs, he says. He thinks Portland’s creative and individual spirit is the driving force behind Feast’s meteoric rise and success in four short years. As he told me over the phone:

“Since the beginning, we’ve really tried to say, ‘How can we put on a festival that really reflects what is going on in the United States – that is, an absolute food revolution – and who are those agents of change? They are people like Franklin BBQ in Austin, where people wait in line for four hours. Or Egg Slut in Los Angeles. We’re not afraid to put a food cart chef next to a Michelin-starred chef and see what happens.”

Especially over an open flame.

Get your tickets now people, before they sell out.

 

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