Damn I hate this logo...
I grew up on The Bite of Seattle. I remember attending the very first Bite of Seattle as a kid back in 1982 when they held it at Greenlake – with only 25 restaurants. Some 27 years later, the Bite of Seattle is a pretty big deal, with over 60 restaurants serving up food for nearly a half million people over its three day run. It’s crowded, noisy, and damn delicious. And parking is still a complete fucking pain in the ass.
My first experience with The Bite of Oregon was four years ago. I was on a trip down here from Seattle in preparation for my big move to Portland (some move, I packed everything into the trunk of my car and sold the rest). Anyway, I thought it was a quaint little event. A little on the small side but it had heart. I actually thought at the time that I was attending the first or second “Bite” event in the city, that it was a new thing in Portland – only to find out later that it started just one year after Seattle’s event.
Bite of Oregon Food Enforcement Patrol. Obviously they're experts in their field.
As I count the number of local food vendors in attendance, I realized that there were actually fewer restaurants serving up food at the 2009 Bite of Oregon than there were in the 1982 Bite of Seattle. Major disappointment.
$5 to get in and walk across the dead, summer event burnout grassy wasteland of Tom McCall’s Waterfront Park (and it’s a few bucks more if you get there after 5pm on Friday) – and for what? The official Bite of Oregon website lists 24 “restaurants” (news flash, Boyd’s Coffee isn’t food) and…. that’s it. 24? For $5 or $8? Really?? What an embarrassing turnout when you consider that this is The Bite of Oregon, NOT the Bite of Portland. The name insinuates that the whole damn state is represented – yes, the very same state that foodies the world over are fawning over in droves – and you mean to tell me that we can only manage to get 24 goddamn restaurants to attend? What the hell are you charging for a booth?
Next up, a shit ton of local breweries and wineries are here, sure. Yippee. The Oregon Brewers Festival just ended and we are already inundated with wine events around here every year. I want food goddamnit. Where are all of these wicked good restaurants that the NYC food critics are just gushing over every other minute? Where’s the seafood our region is so well known for? Where’s fucking Burgerville? They don’t even bother to show up anymore.
The food I had was good, no doubt about that. I ended up with a bier sausage from Gustav’s (always makes for decent outdoor festfood) and a few other things, and it was all delicious, but the sheer lack of variety was staggering. Even the mainstays from years past weren’t here this year – Hot Lips Pizza, Burgerville, etc.
The Bite of Oregon needs some serious work or it just needs to be killed off entirely. It’s hardly fun anymore to drop $5 or $8 to walk around the waterfront just to see the same dozen or so restaurants you could see if you just walked down 3rd or 4th avenue. Whoever is organizing this event anymore needs to get their head examined. At this rate, we’ll be spending $10 at the gate next year to visit some shitty “green living” sponsor booths on our way to the fucking wine and beer garden.
Wine and beer aren’t food.
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Bummer! I was afraid of that.
Like I said…I wonder if it’s an economy thing, for everyone across the board. I’ve noticed less food at all the food & wine festivals I’ve attended. Could be higher booth/vender costs. Could be the time, energy, staff, and amount of food stuffs needed for food events.
I’m not sure but it would be worth looking into. I know that a few vendors I’ve talked to in the past have said that it’s a very expensive event to attend, and that’s always surprised me a little bit. There seems to be an underlying frustration with the organizers of the Bite, dating back at least as long as I’ve been here (only 4 years now, but still). Maybe whoever is putting it on needs to reorganize or turn it over to someone else. I’m thinking that the survival of the event is probably on the line here at some point. It was very, very dire.
Thanks for warning me about this situation before I paid to get in. I always enjoyed the Bite when they had lots of music including some big-name acts. They don’t anymore, and say the reason is that they want the food to be the focus (see today’s A&E). So where is the food???
I had the mistake of heading to the bite years ago when returning to Portland. I heard about how cool the Seattle one was, so I thought I’d check it out. Once I realized that it was the same crap for around the same prices I didn’t stay long. The only fest in Portland that doesn’t get it.
First: Actually Portland is great! But, the local Bite has seen better days. Granted, music is not food, but the music was a mainstay of The Bite in the past. Some great stuff, e.g., Patti Smith, Ralph Stanley, etc., and some interesting, though past their prime former Big Dogs, like Cheap Trick, Jefferson AirStar or whatever they were calling themselves by then. But, local only this year. It has always seemed to me that the local name restaurants thought it was uncool to be at The Bite, as they have never been there. Yes, the sponsors need to get after the restaurants to participate. Gotta admit, without the music hook, I am not even going this year. I am sure as heck not paying $8 to watch people cook!
Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, would be quite as cool as watching Jefferson Shitsaucer and its 80′s lead singer Mickey Mouse belt out “We Built This City” while sucking down a Triple Pepper Bacon Tillamook Cheese Wünderburger from Burgerville.
And I do mean that in the most sincerest of ways. You’re dead right.
Music could save Le Bite but they don’t even have that this year. They managed to get a couple of wicked carnival type performers but here’s a tip… buy a Burgerville Burger somewhere else (or maybe some KOI Fusion?) and walk around to the east side of the The Bite area and you can watch these guys for free. They’re the highlight of the whole damn thing.
I never quite got why they stopped bringing in big music acts. That was the only reason I went. I bought food there but only because I was there to see Death Cab or the Violent Femmes and The Decemberists. No music…no reason to pay $5.00 to have the privilege to pay for overpriced pork sandwiches, and no reason to pay $5.00 to have the privilege of buying $5.00 beers.
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