Last weekend, the big dogs of the food world came to play in Portland, and we were fortunate to be able to celebrate the plentiful produce and culinary creativity of our lovely region with them at Feast Portland. This food-focused festival, which took place in restaurants and event venues across town, was a smashing success, in our humble opinion. (And in the opinion of one not-so-local foodie, Adam Rapoport, editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit!)

Here in our hometown, local ingredients were celebrated with gusto: local wines and microbrews, of course, but also hazelnuts, berries, and pears. Widmer Brothers even flaunted the versatility of Oregon’s state fruit (ahem) with the official brew of the weekend, Krystal Pear, a filtered American-style wheat ale fermented with Northwest pears. It was delightful, natch.

Feast kicked off on Thursday night with the Sandwich Invitational. We were rooting for Chef Ethan Stowell’s decadent porchetta sandwich with Bosc pear mostarda, but were happy to see that local kitchen wizard Naomi Pomeroy of Beast took home the golden sandwich.

Luckily, Ethan shared his delicious sandwich recipe with us! This sandwich is seriously good—the thinly sliced porchetta provides the perfect savory foil to the sharp, slightly sweet pear spread. Click here for the delicious details.

The rest of the weekend was a mouthwatering blur—fresh pear sampling in Director Park (where we overheard classes on Pinot Noir, chocolate, and Thai street food); an expertly-soundtracked, raucous, and spicy food-filled Asian night market; and foie gras on top of, well, almost everything at High Comfort on Saturday night.

At the Grand Tasting in Pioneer Courthouse Square, our (in)famous Tattoo Pearlor, in which Feasters were inked with their choice of a pear icon (check ‘em all out here), was named “the ‘Keep Portland Weird’ thing of the weekend.’ We’ll take it!

We can’t wait until next year. But for now, we’re sticking to pears and Pepcid.