For the fourth year in a row, I have attended Baconfest. My plan of attack for 2015 was to walk up and down each aisle and try the dishes that looked appealing and didn't have a lot of bread. Bread is not your friend when you're trying to consume as many bacon dishes as you can. I don't completely rule out dishes with bread, but I definitely try to limit the ones that do have it.
Here's the bacon deliciousness that I had:
Bacaro
Bacon Parfait: Chocolate bacon bits, white chocolate bacon mousse, raspberry bacon crumble, and salted pistachios
This was a pretty good dish. All of the ingredients worked well together.
Beaver's Coffee & Donuts
Bacon Donut Truffles: Mini buttermilk bacon infused cake donuts covered in butterscotch chocolate bacon icing
I've heard that Beaver's donuts are good and it was definitely true in this case. I didn't even bother taking a bite, I just popped the whole donut in my mouth, with a nice creamy taste. Yum!
Celeste
Grilled Pork Belly: Pork belly with honey poached cranberries, roasted carrots, Anson Mills grits
Initially I was skeptical about grits being in this dish, but holy cow, it complemented the pork belly and cranberries very well. The sweet taste of the cranberries with the non-sweet grits. This was a very good dish.
David Burke's Primehouse
Bacon Tarte Flambe: Vidalia-braised applewood bacon, ramp soubise, black pepper hollandaise, crispy leeks, puff pastry
Hands-down, the bacon was good, but I wasn't a complete fan of the pastry.
Firefly Grill
Cauliflower Bacon Panna Cotta (with crispy bacon fat sage)
I wasn't sure how to attack this since I wasn't given a eating utensil. I wasn't sure about the cauliflower being part of this dish, but it worked well.
Flo & Santos
Bacon Whiskey River Lasagna: Bacon barrel-aged whiskey served with a bacon five-way lasagna (bacon pasta, bacon ricotta, bacon bits, bacon sauce and bacon)
I like lasagna so I was expecting this to be really good since this had bacon throughout, and this dish didn't disappoint.
Flo Cafe & Bar
Hatch Green Chile Bacon Quiche: Hatch green chile, scrambled eggs, aged sharp cheddar in a bacon bowl
This was a very good dish and the green chile added a nice kick to it. The heat from the green chile was tolerable.
Honey Butter Fried Chicken
Fried Chicken French Toast: Fried chicken, french toast, bacon honey butter and maple bourbon syrup
This was a good dish. The french toast was soft; however, the chicken was a little hard. The butter and syrup were really good which helped.
HUB 51
Braised Applewood Bacon Tacos (with jalapeno slaw, oaxaca cheese, and cilantro)
This was an okay dish. I felt like something was missing to make this a really good taco. I thought the tacos this restaurant had last year were far better.
Hutch
Meatballs + Porkbelly (carbonara style, grilled bread)
I inhaled this pretty quickly, most likely due to this being the first dish I had after being hungry for a couple of hours. The meatball wasn't dry and it had a good flavor. I could have eaten a whole tray of these.
Kaiser Tiger
Bacon S'mores: Roasted bacon marshmallows with chocolate bacon bark melted between graham crackers
This was very good. I could definitely taste the bacon in this dish.
Kama Indian Bistro
Tandoori Pork Belly Namaste: Braised pork belly, tamarind, jaggery, pickled spice BBQ glaze, charcoal tandoor smoked with bacon and rose jam
Initially I wasn't sure what to think of this dish just by its appearance, but this was probably one of the best dishes I had. All of the ingredients worked well together and it had a little heat to it too. I actually took my time eating this dish instead of inhaling it.
LOKaL
Bacon Lard Spread with Maple Crostini
This was so small and I popped it in my mouth that I don't know if I caught a taste of bacon or not.
Mindy's Hot Chocolate
Pig Liver & Bacon Mousse: Aerated pig liver and bacon with crostini
I wasn't sure what to think of this dish. The presentation was great; however, the aerated pig liver was something I wasn't quite prepared for. This dish was definitely different.
Osteria La Madia
Bacon Ravioli
Maybe a bacon meat sauce would have added something more to this dish. It was still good though.
Quince
When Pigs Fly: Chocolate bacon oreo, bacon pop rocks
This was so cute and good. None of the ingredients overpowered each other. I could have eaten a whole bunch of these like tic-tacs.
Red Butter
Ancho-Chile Candied Bacon Bhel Puri: Puffed rice salad with ancho chile candied bacon, potatoes, onions, cilantro, serrano pepper, mint chutney, tamarind chutney, lime and Indian spices
This was an interesting dish, but in a good way. This packed some heat.
Signature Room at the 95th
Pastrami Pork Belly with scotch bonnet slaw, scorched fruit, bacon focaccia roll
I pretty much ate the middle and didn't eat the roll (remember my rule about bread). The pastrami tasted really good.
Spacca Napoli
Involtini di Melanzane: Eggplant in a roll with smoked pancetta, fior di latte mozzarella, sage; oven roasted
Normally I'm not a fan of eggplant, but I tried this anyways. It was actually pretty good. This was a flavorful dish due to the sauce.
The Salsa Truck
Tamal de Tocino: Bacon tamale with chipotle bacon crema
This is another dish that falls into the "pop into my mouth like a tic-tac" category. I really liked the chipotle bacon crema; it was quite tasty.
Unite Urban Grill
Grilled Hanger Steak Wrapped in Bacon: Painted hills hanger steak, grilled and basted with house baste
This dish was good, but I think it would have been really good if the meat was a little more moist.
Untitled Supper Club
Bacon "Snickers" Bar: Applewood smoked bacon, bacon fat caramel, bourbon nougat, peanuts, milk chocolate, sea salt
If they sold this in the store, I would definitely buy it. I took my time eating this. This truly did taste like a snickers bar with bacon.
Whole Foods
Miniature Brownie with Bacon
This was really good. So good that this could be made at home. You can buy brownie bites from Sam's Club, put some type of icing on top with a nice piece of bacon. Voila!
Below are restaurants that had interesting dishes, but I passed on due the amount of bread the dish contained.
ZED451
Bacon Wrapped Bacon Dog: Crispy maple cajun bacon-wrapped bacon hot dog, served Chicago Style
The Radler
PB&J: Bacon peanut butter, bacon grape jam, bacon bread and bacon milk shot
No comments:
Post a Comment