- www.cochon555.com
- A victim of COCHON 555 in 2009.
COCHON 555 is a national tour that stops in 10 cities—in each one, five chefs battle for the title of “Prince or Princess of Porc” in a cook-off featuring five pigs and five wines. If Top Chef and Iron Chef had a pig-baby, this event would be it. It’s coming to Seattle this Sunday, at Bell Harbor Conference Center (tickets are a spendy $125).
But will people punch each other and go to jail like they did in Portland on Sunday night?
From the Portland Mercury‘s Blogtown:
Supposedly chef [Eric] Bechard (previously of Alberta Street Oyster Bar and Grill), attending the event as a guest and not a competitor, became angry after learning the pig used to win the competition was shipped in from Iowa. [The Willamette Week‘s Kelly] Clark’s sources claim that during an afterparty at the Davis Street Tavern, Bechard headbutted a winery sales manager before being kicked out of the restaurant. Witnesses then alleged he then became embroiled in a street tussle with [COCHON 555 organizer Brady] Lowe outside of a downtown strip club early on Monday morning where Portland police subdued the two men and arrested them.
Ostensibly, the whole ruckus stems from bitterness over that Iowa pig, but I’m guessing it has something to do with Cochon 555’s third five: the quintet of wineries offering tastes of their wares at the event. I imagine this is more about drunkenness and anger issues than about passion for local pork. Maybe it’s time for someone to seek help.
Drunkenness and anger issues aside, for punching each other over pigs, PDX and COCHON 555 are badass. I hope there are fisticuffs on Sunday in Seattle—I doubt it, but I hope.
i bet they had fun at the strip club though. as opposed to Seattle…
No, there probably won’t be fisticuffs, just outraged blog postings. We’re way too passive-aggressive to actually confront people here.
WHOA! Does The Stranger‘s style guide strictly forbid mention of PDX’s Willamette Week?
I ask because the Mercury‘s post is purely a (fully credited) reprise of the WW piece on the fracas.
Fully credited, as in:
(which explains who the “Clark” is whose “sources” claim things in the Slog excerpt.)
@3: I don’t read the Willamette Week’s blog—I do read the Merc’s, and Mr. Coleman did a nice job of summing up the insanity. I clarified the Clark reference and fixed the link to Blogtown so everyone can see for themselves that it links to the W.W. Thanks for caring!
Well Bethany perhaps you should read a little more and tip a little less! 😉 if us anon readers stop caring who will call the Stranger (although many of us just do so out of love) out on its mistakes…which seem to be increasing with the youth of its staff.
This Eric Bechard guy sounds like a world class douche. I thought the whole point of this event is to showcase heritage breeds from around the country. The pig excuse sounds pretty lame though. He was probably just pissed he wasn’t asked to be part of the event.
When they said pigs I thought they were talking about Portland women. Some portly ladies down there.
Bechard was chef for a while at Opal on Queen Anne. Too bad he went back to PDX; Seattle needs more angry headbutting chefs!