Sake Smackdown; Mission St. in PDX; KitchenCru Food Fair

In today's event-planning EaterWire, three no-RSVP necessary food events on this week's calendar:

NORTHEAST: In a competition pitting Japanese against Mexican flavors, chef David Gaspar de Alba of NE izakaya Yakuza will take on Oswaldo Bibiano and Autentica during a Momokawa sake pairing showdown, taking place at Yakuza, 6pm Thursday (August 4). Each chef will submit one dish to pair with a junmai ginjo, and the special dish will be available to diners at both restaurants for one night only.

POWELL'S ON BURNSIDE: San Francisco's Mission Street Food road-trips it up to Portland on Sunday, August 7, for a "celebration" of its first cookbook, the McSweeney's-published Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant. Authors Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz will visit Powell's for a talk open to the public; the Portland special guest star on the panel will be local empire builder Nate Tilden (of Olympic Provisions, Clyde Common, and Spirit of 77). The chat starts at 7:30pm.

OLD TOWN: On First Thursday (that's this Thursday, August 4) from 5-8pm, Old Town's KitchenCru is throwing its first-ever Artisan Food Fair, a pop-up retail space showcasing tastings and samples from 10 of its kitchen clients: Pieku, Tails & Trotters, Sterling Cookies, PDXBiryani, Sassafras Southern Kitchen, PopLOCO Snacks, NW Elixirs, BraziBites, and What's the Scoop? Ice Cream. In addition to samples, purveyors will have products available for purchase, and next-door-neighbor CorksCru will provide flights of wine for $5.