Portland, OR

Sunday my boyfriend gave me a challenge. Find something “outside-y” to do that day. The weekend before, we had checked out the Oregon Brewfest, so I had a clue as to what he was thinking. Other than a baseball game, I knew that anything that involved BBQ and beer would be a winner.

Power of County. The best thing about Bones and Brew during the hour I was there.

Rogue Brewery hosted a benefit BBQ for the Oregon Zoo this last Saturday and Sunday. Learning from the week before, Chris and I knew better than to show up the few hours before the event closes down (less chance for good beer). I don’t think that the Bones and Brew suffers that problem, and that is a good thing. However, having a lot of beer doesn’t necessarily make up for the food.

Let me start at the very beginning, and give a shout out to the extremely nice and pleasant women that ran the gate. One was wearing the cutest elephant earrings, and boy, was she sweet. There was a suggested donation of three dollars, that’s right, $3. While we were standing in line, two women came up behind us and inquired as to whether they had to pay just to come in and eat. It’s a benefit, ladies, of course you pay the suggested donation to enter the event, even if you are just coming in to eat, and sit at a table, and enjoy the entertainment. Jeez, where do these people come from? Not only that, but it is a SUGGESTED donation, so if you are really that cheap and lame, then yes, you can go in and eat.

Some people are so dumb. But I digress…

Upon entering, I saw that “Portland’s biggest backyard BBQ” — per the Rogue Brewery press release — which equates to three blocks, and half-blocks at that, was not quite what I expected. Not that I was expecting anything at all like the big Brewfest, but I did expect more food. There were I think three BBQ tents, with an ice cream stand and a shaved ice stand. The menus I checked out included the standard BBQ fare of chicken, pork, or beef sandwiches, ribs, cheddar fries, red beans and rice (the lone vegetarian option as far as I saw). I had read in the press release that there would be seafood, asian and vegetarian options. Other than the beans and rice, I didn’t see much for our non-carnivorous cousins, so I am glad that my friend, Danielle, was not able to join us. She is super picky about what meat she does eat, and even then she is pretty reluctant about it.

The press release also mentioned a farmer’s market. I saw a few booths for dog stuff, and then a wax candle stand (which featured some Rogue candles, how cute), and then oddly, an Indian food stand, but not anything to eat on premises, rather just jars of chutney and some roti in bags. No fresh veggies or stuff that I associate with a farmers’ market, but hey, it is a loosely defined term here, like most things in Portland.

So I had a pork sandwich from the My Brother’s stand. The reason we chose that stand over the others — the fifteen or so trophies that they had on display, oddly, in the middle of the street, about ten feet in front of the stand, but off to the side a bit. At first, when I walked in, I wasn’t sure why there was a table all by itself in the middle of the street with a bunch of trophies on it. Then we noticed the trophies had pigs and cows on them, and it dawned on us that the trophies were for fantastic BBQ. Which of course meant the bigger the disappointment when I tried the pork sandwich. It wasn’t bad, per se, just average. Chris got the ribs and they were better, but still nothing to write about. Oh, wait — I just did.

One impression that I left the Bones and Brew fest with was that of how these outdoor events are especially planned for dogs. I mean, I LOVE dogs, but having a gazillion of them in a two block radius, well, I am nervous around that many leashes.

Oh, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the best part of the Bones and Brew fest, other than the proceeds going to the Zoo (by the way, I am not a huge zoo fan, any zoo, not just the Oregon Zoo, but hey, if we have to have them, let’s keep them well-funded). There were some bands that were part of the festivities. I was only there for about an hour, actually, not even that long, and the band playing was Power of County. Funny thing is that I had spied a long-haired rocker type wearing a black leather vest the week before at the Brewfest. It had white letters on the back of the vest that said Power of County. Of course, the editor in me wondered if that were a typo, which would have been genius. And whoa, here was the same long-hair playing on the stage.

I didn’t want to like Power of County, but I have to say, they are pretty good. Kind of that seventies southern rock thing going on. I wanted to go up to them afterward and buy a CD, but I was feeling a little shy. Next time, gentleman.

All in all, I don’t see a reason to return next year. I did speak to a very nice guy sitting at the same table (oh, yeah, not enough tables, or maybe they should go with long tables rather than circles), and he said that in years past, the BBQ was more of a contest, so it was fun to try them all and vote for the winner. Also, he mentioned that the beer had been served as “tasters” before, but now, it’s all these lame maybe ten ounce paper cups for $4. I have to agree that the BBQ contest sounds like a fun idea, and a way to create a “theme” to the festival.

Oh, yeah, is it weird to anyone but me that a zoo benefit would focus on eating animal flesh? Is it to make us more like animals or does the Zoo discriminate against domesticated animals? Let them eat bones.

Portland, Rogue Brewery, Oregon zoo, BBQ, benefit, Oregon Brewfest, Power of County