Did you know that many of the Yelp Elite are also porn stars? Food-porn stars, that is! The secret came out last night, as over 200 of P-Town's sexiest food fans came out to the Pearl District's newest and hottest gallery-style event space, Urban Studio, for a night of deviously sexy food-porn fun. Portland's Yelp Elite Squad submitted food-porn in both photo format and in real life in the form of sinfully sexy bourbon-based desserts for Yelp's first ever food-porn art party!
Yelpers and guests enjoyed mingling in a swanked-up gallery setting, sipping on amazing Orange Manhattans and a Mark n' Stormys, imbibing in Bear Flag wines, tossing back some delicious Ninkasi Oatis Oatmeal Stout, Believer Double-Red, and Total Domination IPA, and sampling some tasters of Tribeca Light pre-mixed cocktails! Add in a fantastically delicious pot of smoked-cheddar fondue from Urban Fondue (paired with hearth-baked bread), and some seriously sexy beats by DJ Saltfeend (Ed lover, to some) and it's no surprise that the party was hoppin' from the get-go!
Yelpers, both Elite and plus-ones, like Bob S., Scrantz L., Katrina W., Jason L., Joshua C., Connie C., and Jacob G. entered photos of amazingly savory, sweet, and sexy food into Yelp Portland's inaugural food-porn photo contest. With the entries hung on the wall and happily imbibing Yelpers voting away, it was not long before solid winners emerged victorious in each category. Katrina W's "Gnocchi" stole top honors in the savory category, while Jacob G's "Sausage" drove it home in the sexy group, and Scrantz L's "Roses with Rose Sorbet" was the sugar on top of the sweet entries. Needless to say, all of the entries were downright delectably sexy!

With so many Yelpers working so hard to provide visual and edible entertainment for the night's festivities, it goes without saying that the winners of the food-porn art contest and the bake-off walked off with some amazing prizes including Make Me Yelp hot-pants, wines from Bear Flag, beers from Ninkasi, bourbon from Maker's Mark, Happy Hour and Wine Country Guidebooks from Cindy Anderson, and more! But of course, the prize-winning was not restricted to those who worked for it, everyone was eligible to enter to win more awesome prizes like tickets to the upcoming Tegan and Sara show at the Keller, tickets to Junk2Funk fashion show, an awesome Tribeca Light prize pack, and a variety of mystery prizes! Let's just say that quite a few people walked away with some serious loot!
All and all, it was a swankalicious, food-pornographic evening to remember, and that's thanks in huge part to: Via from Urban Studio, Morgan from Ninkasi Brewing, Cody from Maker's Mark, Heather from Bear Flag Wines, Kerry from Tribeca Light, the awesome folks at Urban Fondue, the amazing bartenders and staff, Ed the DJ, Hilary B the photographer, Walt and Lisa, our awesome judges, Cindy Anderson, and of course, the people without whom this would never have been possible – the Portland Yelp Elite Squad, which reminds me on a daily basis that they are best damn Yelpers in the world.
Don't believe me? Just check the reviews and the photos!
I hope your 2009 Yelp Year was as great as mine, and I look forward to the 2010 Yelp Elite social season!
Until next time, SYOY!
–Don B.