Portland’s 2nd Annual Chefs Challenge

The menu.

Recently I attended the 2nd annual Chefs Challenge at Deschutes Brewery, a competition between 6 famous Portland chefs.  It was an evening of really interesting dishes, paired with very special beers.  A really fun event that I hope to attend every year.

Here are the chefs:

Kurt Spak, Alba Osteria

Ben Dyer, Laurelhurst Market / Ate-Oh-Ate

Adam Higgs, Acadia

Jeff Usinowicz, Deschutes Brewery Portland Pub

Scott Shampine, Davis Street Tavern

Dave Anderson, Genoa

So here is my evening in pictures…

This was the beer maker guy for Deschutes, he detailed each beer for each course. Can't remember his name

The beers were so special they came in special glasses.

Look at 'em all!

This is Chef Jeff Usinowicz from Deschutes, he makes consistently great food, I'm a big fan.

It's the wining dish... Cotechino sausage with braised lentils and blood orange zabaione from David Anderson of Genoa. I didn't eat it, but it looked quite good.

The end of the event, the winner David Anderson in the middle and the owner of Deschutes on the right. Great event, great night.

Tasting Deschutes

Several weeks ago a dear friend of mine emailed me and essentially said “hey loser, stop doing all that silly stuff you’re doing, and go try out the local brews!” They were correct of course,  I should have made it priority one!  Well now I have.

I decided to start with Deschutes Brewery and Public House in downtown Portland.  (The main brewery is located in Bend on the Deschutes river)

The 1st imbibed beer was the Obsidian Stout, and no joke, it was the best stout I’ve ever had.  Sorry Guinness.  Smooth, no bitterness or aftertaste, extremely flavorful, I miss it already.  I did buy it in a bottle recently, and as expected it wasn’t as good as it was on draft, but still quite tasty.

Obsidian Stout

Next up was the Green Lakes Organic Beer, and it was very good too.  A tasty lighter ale, what I usually go for nowadays.  Man, I’m getting thirsty writing this, too bad it’s 8:45am right now 😦

Green Lakes Organic Ale

And as for the quality of the food, I would say that it was better than anything you’d expect from a brewpub.  I ordered the pretzel/cheese sauce appetizer and the falafel sandwich, both very good.  I didn’t include pictures because they looked as you would expect them to, it’s hard to “pretty-up” falafel.  Besides, I’d rather show beer!

To summarize, I’m glad my friend kicked me in the arse and got me to Deschutes, can’t wait to go back.