The 4th Annual Steamie Awards Have Dropped

Bing Mi’s delicious jianbing, one of 22 winners in the 4th Annual Steamie Award.

Have you heard of the Steamie Awards? I only became aware of them this year, so if you feel a bit of FOMO about it, you’re not alone. Bill Oakley, the mastermind behind the Steamies, published the awards on Monday, December 6, over on his Instagram account. He also did some Instagram Stories on each winner, and I hope he treats them like he did in 2020 and puts together a highlight reel for 2021.

Bill Oakley, who has gained a lot of respect for his reviews of fast food and snacks, has become one of my favorite Instagrammers this year. It’s kind of funny because I don’t really eat fast food from national chains, but I live with someone who does. In fact, the last McDonald’s hamburger (it was a Quarter Pounder with cheese) I ate was in 1986 (which, unfortunately, dates me), after which I became a vegetarian for 13 years. Anyway, these days I enjoy looking into that fast food world through his eyes. His reviews are very entertaining—and informative.

Here’s his Instagram post with the winners.

As you can see, this is not a list of items from national fast food chains, but highlights of his favorite eats this past year at local PDX spots. There are a lot of things on this list I’d like to try myself, though I can say with confidence that the jianbing from Bing Mi is stellar. As for the others, I’d especially like to try the tavern-style pizza from Bridge City Pizza and the KJG Dog from Kim Jong Grillin’. And I know where my favorite fried pickles used to be, so it would be fun to see if the ones from Summit Shack stand up to my memory of those pickles. And I’m always down for a tinga taco, so Taqueria Los Puñales is on my radar for sure.

With age it gets easier to admit embarrassing things, and one of the details about Bill Oakley that I missed this year was his involvement with The Simpsons. As a Simpsons fan, I mean… what the heckin’ heck? At least I know better now.

Bill was the showrunner for season 8 of The Simpsons, which features one of my favorite episodes, “Treehouse of Horror VII,” and in particular, “Citizen Kang.” An old friend of mine and I loved how the animated Bob Dole (who is actually an alien in disguise) says the name, “BOB DOLE.” We would randomly say it to each other, resulting in peals of laughter. Bob Dole died this week, of course, so he’s been on my mind.

There are things in this video that seem closer to real than they did in 1996.

Thanks to Bill for giving us so much great content of all sorts over the years, and for doing these Steamie Awards, now four years in a row. Just more evidence of the excellent eats you can find in this town.