I’ve been drooling over this twist on a Reuben from Stone Soup PDX: turkey confit with house made sauerkraut, Swiss, and Thousand Island dressing on dark rye bread. It’s a two-handed sandwich, and it’s all the tastier knowing that it’s being made to help people who are at risk of homelessness to learn life and career skills. Stone Soup is a new lunchtime-only non-profit spot at 306 NW Broadway, open from 11 am to 2 pm weekdays.

Tickets for Feast (Thurs Sept 12-Sun Sept 15), the citywide celebration of our ever-growing food culture, are on sale. Lots of events are already sold out, but some very good stuff (including a vegetable-focused evening with Michael Solomonov of Philadelphia’s famed Zahav, Josh McFadden of Ava Gene’s, and others) is still up for grabs. Get them before it’s too late.

My personal favorite single-day event, Wild About Game, is set for Sun Oct 6 at the Mt. Hood Resort in Welches. Run by high-end meat purveyor Nicky USA, it’s a day of friendly Seattle vs. Portland cooking competitions, bites of foie gras, and lots of great mingling. It always sells out. I’m a judge this year, in case you want to send bribes in advance!

Chef Patrick McKee is one of the city’s more under-the-radar cooks in town, but don’t sleep on Estes, his family-focused Italian pop-up at Dame on NE Killingsworth. Estes is changing hours, becoming Dame’s in-house restaurant from Wednesday to Sunday nights. Don’t miss his family recipe for veal, pork and beef spaghetti and meatballs, no-nonsense Cacio e Pepe, and handmade toothsome cavatelli with a peppery rabbit ragù. Wash it down with a mineral orange wine from Dame’s killer natural wine list.

Freeland Spirits, the women-owned distillery in Slabtown, just turned one! They made huge strides in just a year and celebrated with the release of a canned gin and rosé tonic. They blend their copper pot-distilled gin, laced with juniper and 13 other botanicals, together with crisp rosé tonic from Portland Syrups. You don’t get one of their beautiful blue teardrop shaped bottles, but you do get some fine mobile sippin’.