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Portland Fruit Beer Fest 2012: A Preview

June 8, 2012 by Dave Leave a Comment

The second annual Portland Fruit Beer Fest (PFBF) returns to Burnside Brewing (NE Burnside & 7th) this Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10, 2012. Dave Knows contributor Mike Allen was invited to a recent media preview event, and filed the review below (he also took all the photos!). Enjoy the review, and find more from Mike at his blog Gangster of Food, and on Twitter @GangsterOfFood.

PFBF 2012 (Photo by Mike Allen)

Portland Fruit Beer Festival is up for its second iteration, and after lasts year’s unanticipated success they’ll be more prepared with 25 regular taps, 30 rotating four at a time, five times the staff, a stage, and more food than the inaugural year’s bash. Plus they’ll be closing 7th avenue to make more room for stumbling.

Among the offerings will be Burnside Brewing Company’s Red Light District, an imperial stout incorporating 44 pounds of chocolate and 400 pounds of strawberries. Four, with two zeros. I don’t know how much they brewed, but judging by the strawberry tang on the fore, mid, and after palate, it wasn’t a huge batch. It’s not sweet; at least the sugar doesn’t come through on the palate. No one could say what the final gravity was. The lack of sweetness is, at least in part, due to the massive dark cocoa bitterness and splintery tannins from the rum barrels it spent 5 weeks in. I would scarce have noticed the 10.2% alcohol, if this weren’t the first of six beers I was to taste.

Lompoc’s Bomb.com had a hard time standing up to the wall of cocoa coating my palate, even after a full glass of water. However, it had a slight though pleasant whiff of acetic acid, and a little funk in the mouth. By “funk in the mouth,” I mean the good kind, the kind that opens up your singing voice. The notes describe the fruit as cherry, which sounds right, but I wouldn’t think of it as cherry unless it had cherries on the label. Mostly, it’s pleasantly, subtly sour. It may actually be ass-kickingly sour, but it’s hard to tell after having had one’s ass kicked in the red light district.

Laurelwood will be bringing the truly punny Cascara Obscura to the fest. Cascara is the fruit from around the coffee bean, and it normally goes back on the ground, to fertilize the bushes. Fortunately, brewmaster Vasili Gletsos found a better use for it. The dark reddish ale’s toffee caramel nose was slight enough to engage even a confirmed philistine like me, and led to deeper pleasures. Toasted biscuits on the palate were enhanced by the tang of rose hips. Truly engaging without proselytizing.

Hopworks‘ What Up Apple-Weizen was a fermented blend of Cameo apples and Hefeweizen. Some marriages seem destined to win, and fail anyway.

PFBF 2012 previewWidmer returns with its Marionberry Hibiscus Gose, based on an authentic German Gose recipe. Gose is style of German sour with salt added which has struggled to exist in the 20th century. I remember Upright had one for a while, tasting attendees sniggered about some inside joke concerning the fate of that brew, but it was good. This Gose was also pretty good. The color is intense. The hibiscus makes the marionberry taste like a more sophisticated fruit than it really is, like a lingonberry, or an evergreen huckleberry. Otherwise it drinks light, the salt of the Gose style really adds to its thirst quenching qualities. A summer spectacular.

Upright’s entry into this mash-up is called the Levinator. It’s described as a barley based bock brewed with Bavarian weisse yeast. The pinot noir barrels that it did time in certainly lend it that elegant pinot vitality. The war of tart and bitter is something to think about. It is absolutely viscous with Oregon black currants. Fortunately, Oregon black currants are delicious.

The festival costs $20 to get in (free for non-drinkers, and open to all ages – sorry though, no pets!). This buys a glass and 12 tickets: each ticket buys four ounces of beer. The festival starts Saturday at 11:00 a.m. but, if you feel like spending a little extra, you can get in at 10 a.m. on Saturday for $25, same deal. There will be some special, limited quantity brews to try during that first hour including at least a keg of hard cider that will likely run out before the crowd rushes in. For more details, read Dave’s post about the fest here at Dave Know Portland, and visit PortlandFruitBeerFest.com.

Portland Seafood Company: A Preview

November 18, 2011 by Dave 4 Comments

Portland Seafood RestaurantPortland Seafood Company (9722 SE Washington) opened its doors a just few days ago in the old Newport Seafood Grill location at Mall 205. Dave Knows contributor Mike Allen was invited to a recent media preview event at the restaurant, and filed the review below (he also took all the photos!). Enjoy the review, and find more from Mike at his blog Gangster of Food, and on Twitter @GangsterOfFood.

Update 1/24/2012: A second Portland Seafood Company location has opened at 9585 SW Washington Square Rd IC, Portland, OR 97223.

Portland Seafood Company menu, with condiments (photo by Mike Allen)

Mall 205 is as reminiscent of the Oregon coast as 82nd Avenue is evocative of Paris’s Avenue des Champs Elysées. Still, an Arc de Triomphe couldn’t hurt the place. And while it would be an unwarranted hyperbole to describe The Portland Seafood Company as a Triumph, it certainly spruces the joint up a bit. After all, who hasn’t spent a trying Saturday attempting to whittle down their overly-ambitious “Honey do” list and, after a third run to Home Depot in a futile quest to procure exactly the right widget to repair the appliance/fixture/structure, thought, “You know what would be nice? A grip of oyster shooters, a bucket of fried clams and a Ninkasi, that’s what.” Precious few I’d imagine.

Oyster shooter at Portland Seafood Company (photo by Mike Allen)The atmosphere is a bit disjointed: faux granite and “distressed” wood surfaces under Edison bulbs and above tarnished steel bar stools, but comfy nonetheless. The service is professional, as friendly and unobtrusive as you might find at a place that serves monkfish and white asparagus and truffles, the bartender exceptionally friendly and engaged. The chef hit his mark, but we failed to dispatch the cornucopian repast.

We feasted on margarita shooters, Bloody Mary shooters, crab cocktails, oysters casino, oysters on the half shell, steamed clams, clam chowder, fried clams, crab boil, fried cod, po’ boy sliders, fried halibut, butter and garlic prawns and a whole fried rockfish served with a riot of Latin-inspired garnitures and tortillas. There was Tabasco, Old Bay and Heinz malt vinegar at the table. While I would describe nothing as a failure, the fried foods apparently hold “favorite son” status in the kitchen of Chef Brian Poor. The clams for example are East Coast Quahogs tenderized in much the same manner as a cube steak, dusted in semolina and fried. The menu claims “funyuns” as a side. Don’t be fooled like me, they just don’t want to sound too fancy by sayin’ frites á l’oignion. The fried Cod and Halibut, served as “Fish and Chips” are, truly, some of the best I’ve ever
had, even if the chips were frozen. The regular tartar sauce is perfectly tart. I cannot, however, find much nice to say about this bacon tartar sauce. The items that miss only do so in ways that snobby professional cooks and assorted gastronomic malingerers would notice anyway. Most of the fish is Pacific Northwest and considered sustainably harvested. The prices are quite reasonable; value driven is the phrase I believe they used.

Basket of seafood at Portland Seafood Company (Photo by Mike Allen)

I imagine the CEO of Restaurants Unlimited has a very short (nonexistent?) list of pipes needing unblocking, lighting to be wired, or retaining walls to be erected by him personally, which is all the more credit to his vision: a person with work to do cannot afford to burden their viscerals with the beef attack of Red Robin. On my next Home Depot run (or zombie stroll through the consumerist purgatory of Target) I think I’ll skip the Burgerville drive through and go to where the company is, at the very least, lubricated.

Guest Post: Cycling vs. Walking

November 6, 2009 by Dave 9 Comments

I once attempted to join the bicycling throngs, as I blogged about previously: In this bicycle friendly city, I’d rather walk. Writing that post reminded me of something I read, covering the same territory, by one of my favourite bloggers, XUP, up in Ottawa. The post originally appeared on her previous, now defunct, blog, Urban Pedestrian. I asked her if I might reproduce her post here, and she graciously consented.

XupScreenShotGuest post by XUP.

Now that I’ve been an urban cyclist for a couple of months, I gotta confess I’m not all that crazy about it. I like walking.

On a bike I just sit, pretty much immobile from the rump up. It’s not relaxing at all. You always have to be on the alert for bumps and dead critters in the road, other cyclists whizzing at or past you, pedestrians ambling mindlessly in front of you, cars resentfully trying to nudge you off the road.

Walking is meditative. You can amble mindlessly.

When you walk you can absorb your surroundings. Take in the day, the grass, the leaves, things going. On bike all you absorb are the bugs that fly up your nose and find their way down your windpipe whenever you inhale.

I feel like I’m not getting any exercise on a bike. I’m pedaling like mad, huffing my way up hills, feeling exhausted and sweaty, but not any fitter. After an equal amount of time walking I feel refreshed and feel like I’ve had a gentle head to toe workout. It might have something to do with breathing or not breathing properly given the hunched over cyclist posture. Breathing on a bike is tricky (see aforementioned bugs). Walking you can get into a nice breathing rhythm.

Biking is not comfortable. The seat’s annoying. The stance is unnatural. The helmet and requisite eye protection are confining and ridiculous looking And then there are the clothes. Long pants get caught in the chain unless you clamp them to your leg. You can’t wear a skirt. You pretty much need solid, tie-up shoes and unless it’s really hot, a windbreaker of some sort. So, if you’re riding to work you have to carry a huge bag of extra clothes and shoes. And where you do put this huge bag? And what becomes of your clothes crumpled up in this huge bag? And then what does this huge bag do to your balance on the bike?

And speaking of balance, biking is a lot more dangerous than walking. There’s the whole sharing the road thing, the speed thing and the dependence on your machine functioning correctly thing. Braking when you need it to for instance. And, hey – I found out the brakes don’t work if the tires are too cold or even the slightest bit damp. So that cuts out cycling for a lot of the days of the year. Walking you can do any time.

And finally, pedestrians are a lot friendlier than cyclists. Pedestrians will stop and chat or say hi or at least smile and nod as they pass you. Cyclists are singularly focused on pumping their grotesquely muscular thighs up and down, up and down, up and down. If you try to engage them in conversation at a stoplight they avert their eyes and back off like you’re some lunatic.

I’m looking forward to when it’s too dark and/or cold in the mornings to take the bike.

Read more of XUP’s fine work at her current blog: XUP.

Entertaining, silly, endearing and creepy: A Juggling Extravaganza to remember

October 4, 2007 by Dave 1 Comment

Presenting a guest post by Lesley:

Saturday night, after a couple of cocktails, I, along with two friends, attended the 15th annual Juggling and Vaudeville Extravaganza at Benson High School. I’ll be honest: I don’t have much of a base from which to write a comprehensive review about a juggling show. I was not at the 1st-14th annual Extravaganzas and have probably seen a total of 13-20 street jugglers in my lifetime.

Saturday night, then, was a big night for me. I increased my juggler sightings by at least 75%, AND was thoroughly entertained. Both local and international jugglers and stuntmen took the stage. Performers ranged from the polished Cirque Du Soleil alum, Pat McGuire, to the creepy cowboy who danced around stage to techno music with a whip.

In between those acts was quite a bit of silliness. Some surreal: like the three man acrobatic juggling troop, “Dead Bugs on a Windshield”, who dressed in costumes made for young children, created human structures without dropping a pin, and made me feel as though I was very very high; and, my personal favorite, the mesmerizing and endearing large bodied, long armed, small headed clown who simply bounced a giant red balloon around the stage.

There were also some international acts: German juggler, Luke Wilson, skillfully juggled pins, lots of them, so many of them I couldn’t count, and a Norwegian woman bounce-juggled several pink and white balls. I also couldn’t keep track of all the balls she juggled, unfortunately, because a lot of them rolled off the stage.

The vaudeville acts mainly consisted of comedic stunts. One performer threw plungers at a volunteer who was holding a square glass plate and wearing a giant athletic cup (engineered to sporadically squirt a fountain of water); comedian, Charlie Brown, did some fancy stuff with top hats, while making dead-pan, Stephen Wright-like comments; and that aforementioned whip man whipped a piece of toilet paper right out of a volunteer’s hand without leaving a mark. He also chanted, “kill the doggy” while threatening to whip a balloon animal to death. Creep.

Most of the acts were entertaining; some were quite impressive, some quite funny. Those that I would use other, less positive, descriptors were at least short. Besides the acts:

I had a prime seat: not only did I get to sit in the middle of two great friends, each whispering sweet sarcasms in my ear, but I was also just two seats away from a couple of high school boys who continuously made obnoxious comments that I was just buzzed enough to thoroughly enjoy. My friend gagged and complained of their B.O., but I was just too happy to notice.

In conclusion: Viva La Juggling Extravaganza! It kicked the Polish fest’s ass by a long shot [Ed: not possible; Polish fest rocked!  See previous post].

Piwo, pierogis, and Polka

October 4, 2007 by Dave Leave a Comment

Presenting a guest post by Brent:

That’s right, last weekend was the 14th annual Polish Festival, and what a damn good time it was! This was the first year that I’ve marched on over the Failing Street Pedestrian Bridge to arguably the best festival in Portland and the largest Polish festival on the West Coast. The Polish fest packed the perfect amount of people, food, and beer, with some fantastic entertainment to keep everyone amped.

While gabbing with friends, I sampled some delicious sweet cheese pierogis and drank copious amounts of Black Boss Porter (not for the weak at 9.4% abv). Yum Yum!

Everyone was extremely friendly and extremely Polish, which was a pleasant surprise. No sorority girls and frat boys jibber-jabbering in the beer line, just lots of happy Poles speaking their native tongue. I couldn’t enjoy the atmosphere more.

I thought the entertainment was also top notch, with a couple very talented Polish folk dance groups from British Columbia (Polonez from Vancouver and Polskie Orly from Kelowna). Saturday evening ended with Polonus Band laying down the beat. Dubbed the “best Polish band in the Northwest,” Polonus was a site to behold, and so was the crowd. Since the passing of Nirvana, it’s rare to see teenagers get this excited about a band. But, with everyone having such a marvelous time, I wasn’t surprised.

I’m sure next year’s 15th anniversary will really make everyone yell “Na Zdrowie!” See you there.

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