MJ Skegg

Aaron Barnett of St. Jack/La Moule at Smoked. Andrea Damewood Another Feast has come and gone, but we’d be remiss not to do a recap chat where we discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and burps of Portland’s fave food fest. Providing the summary is Mercury food writers MJ Skegg and Jackie Varriano.—eds. Jackie: So… Feast 2017. […]

The biggest question in the food world was answered last night: Who won the Feast Sandwich Invitational? This year sponsored by the Trailblazers (I don’t know what a Trailblazer looks like but there didn’t seem to be anyone there tall enough to make a basketball team, unfortunately), the inaugural Feast event of 2017 pitted 19 […]

Deep down inside Les Caves. I love subterranean bars. Not simply basement bars, but places that feel secret and illicit, hidden from the world. Les Caves, a “winery bar” buried beneath NE Alberta has the feel of something ancient and a little bit decadent. Or maybe that’s my tarnished view after spending too much time […]

Instants / Getty Images I like manifestoes. You don’t get too many of them these days, especially in the wine world. There was a Californian organization called “In Pursuit of Balance” that had their “manifesto of balance,” which basically concerned wines that had subtlety and grace—things generally not in abundance around Napa. But now, Oregon […]

Everyone knows that Spain has the best chefs (well, if we don’t count the French), and Portland gets a sprinkle of that culinary pixie dust this week with La Ruta Gastronomic Festival, a celebration of Spanish food and drink that features star chefs from Iberia along with a long list of local talents (essentially anyone […]

delectus / Getty Images Last year, Portland’s Teutonic Wine Company was behind “I ♥ Riesling,” an ambitious, all-day celebration of Oregon Riesling. They’ve scaled it down this year, but it’ll still be event worth checking out to get an understanding of a very misunderstood grape—the wide range of Riesling styles will be showcased, from bone […]