Sunset Enters the SEA/PDX Food Fight (Spoiler: We Win)
We might be reaching a critical smugness factor, or possibly damaging our hipster credentials, but we can't help but give kudos to Sunset Magazine for choosing Seattle over Portland for its regional Best Food Town competition.
Sunset might be better known as our favorite reading at the dentist’s office, but this issue’s got none other than Seattle Met/Edible Seattle contributor Jess Thomson making her 10 sharpest arguments in favor of Seattle’s food culture against writer/blogger Ivy Manning, batting for Portland. The competition results were close in most categories, but Seattle outscored Portland notably among Sunset’s “collective IQ” for our obsession factor (we “blog the pants off Portland”; now, there’s a visual) and our variety/diversity (where, Manning admits, Portland “still has a ways to go”).
Few of these places or people mentioned will be a huge surprise for locals, but the 20-slide show is worth a few clicks for the fun of Thompson and Manning’s friendly smack talk, as well as the final 7-spot recap celebration of why Seattle is king. A choice morsel from Thomson: “We’re not The New York Times’s Western mistress—Portland is—and for that reason, our chefs may just work a little harder.”
You can weigh in and comment on each individual category: star wattage, new ideas, great markets, obsession factor, booze/caffeine, crowd control, smug factor, variety/diversity. Or, you can send a link to the Eater Portland folks--all in good fun, of course.
