News of Post-Cochon Brawl Goes National; Bechard Responds

Deceptively classy image of Magic Garden, scene of the crime, courtesy drewish via Flickr

The Internets are lighting up with the (kinda hilarious) story about Thistle chef Eric Bechard and Cochon 555 co-founder Brady Lowe's post-event brawl outside a PDX strip club: New York's Grub Street has picked up the story (subtext: don't mess with locavores), as has Fark.com (which means more online proliferation is on its way).

And the latest update from story-breaker Kelly Clarke includes a comment straight from Bechard's post-lockup mouth:

“Brady and I never spoke. I had not talked to him at the [Cochon 555] event, at Davis Street or while we were at Magic Garden. What I’m assuming (and I’m speculating here) was what I had said to people at the event carried to him and he had an issue because he thought I was discrediting his event. It was blown out of proportion on his side. Everybody was drinking and I’m embarrassed about [what happened]?. I apologize to everyone involved?. I own a business here and I’m very Oregon-centric, maybe to a fault. I’m not going to withdraw any of my statements. The fact that an Iowa pig won the event was ironic since we were in a room of Oregon farmers.”

Oregon pride: represent.
· Cochon 555 [Official site]
· All Previous Thistle Coverage [Eater PDX]