Stan H.
Yelp
My partner's birthday merited something special and on the north side of the river, which made Feast at 316 one of the more obvious choices. I'd been several times for business happy hours, but never dinner. That was in retrospect an oversight - but very glad to have made that discovery on a festive occasion.
If you don't know Feast, it's in a quaint little space just off Main Street in Camas, and feels like it's been there since the town was founded. That's not the case, but it's the vibe. Dark-ish, bricky, lots of wood, it would be right at home as a hidden speakeasy a hundred years ago.
The next thing to know - Feast leads with their whisk(e)y list. It's dauntingly large. It's delivered in the kind of binder that one typically associates with wine lists, and is best dealt with accordingly. They also have an impressive array of cocktails, which is where we started.
My partner - a Manhattan fan - selected Smoke on the Water. I went with Smoke Show, a very nice smoked Old Fashioned. The last time I was in, they smoked the drinks at the table - these were delivered pre-smoked but were no less delicious.
For starters, we had the Pub Roll - like a skinny Beef Wellington but with more punch. Pancetta, filet, ribeye, pork, Emmental, smoked ketchup. Man. The mind boggles. We added to that the Bone Marrow plate, which came with a bit of greens and some forest mushrooms, and bread. I don't think I've seen my partner that happy with a dish in a restaurant ever. Very much exceeded expectations.
There was some significant discussion about the main meal -- as good as the starters were, where to go? We eventually decided to split a 30oz Tomahawk, rare, and to add asparagus and smashed potatoes.
Now every steak eater knows that tomahawk is just ribeye with extra accessories, and I'm usually reluctant to pay for the inedible part of the show, but our server assured me that in this case, it was completely worth it.
Before getting to the main meal, a word about our server. She was simple spectacular. Very on point, never had to worry about being lost in the crowd, always seemed to be nearly telepathically connected to what we needed. And at the same time, she was invisible except when we were interacting with her. She provided the perfect level of service of a place at this price point.
But the steak.... Wow. It was incredibly good. The sear on the outside was perfect, slightly crunchy with out being burned. The inside was closer to red than pink which was as ordered, and the chimichurri which accompanied it was perfect balanced to the flavor of the meat. Perfectly marbled, thinly sliced table side, delivered on a sizzling platter... the show was great, and I wound up agreeing with our server that yes, this was a great value after all.
We had other plans for desert, it being a birthday and all, so we did not partake but saw several other tables receiving things which looked delightful. Given how good what we did consume was, I find it hard to believe that they'd be otherwise.
All in, we spent close to three hours on this meal. It was perfectly paced, absolutely delicious, and we felt very much like honored guests.
Feast at 316 is not in our heavy rotation but it absolutely had a pinnacle position for "occasions" -- be they special, or "just because".
Highest possible recommendation.