![\"pig-candy\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/pig-candy.png\")
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While not exactly photogenic, Bigmista\u2019s Barbecue’s \u201cPig Candy\u201d was probably the most worthwhile aspect of Bacon Fest. Photos by Asia Morris.<\/em><\/p>\n The Big Bite Bacon Fest, the first of many, apparently, was anything but the advertised \u201cFood and Entertainment Experience of Epic PORK-portions!\u201d<\/p>\n Hey Big Bite, I think you need to look up the definition of \u201cepic,\u201d because unless you meant epically disappointing, then you\u2019re way off base.<\/p>\n Those who bought VIP tickets, giving up a whopping $55 to $65\u2014depending on if they\u2019d purchased access to beer samples\u2014received a \u201cSwine Swag Bag,\u201d among other items, that read \u201cGet Porked,\u201d in plain white letters across the front. \u201cGet Porked,\u201d seemed to be the slogan for the day as bacon biters wondered if they\u2019d been ripped off<\/a> or if such an unsatisfying event was commonplace for Big Bite Events<\/a>. \u201cGet Porked,\u201d you say? More like get screwed.<\/p>\n Quit looking at me with that cute face, pig. You know what you did.<\/em><\/p>\n Big Bite boasted an all-you-can-eat opportunity to try over 40 bacon- and pork-infused dishes and over 40 craft beers. There were maybe ten restaurant tents serving samples with a decent amount of bacon; the remaining fifteen or so vendors served desserts, craft beer or had run out of food before the majority of ticket-holders were even allowed into the event.<\/p>\n Attendees were seen splitting up and running\u2014yes, running\u2014from vendor to vendor in a team effort to try the fifteen-or-so different food offerings before the vendors ran out of samples. The Big Bite Bacon Fest turned into The Amazing Race (for gluttons) as consumers tried to get their money\u2019s worth of food and beer\u2014and I don\u2019t blame them.<\/p>\n The incredibly long line behind the Dia de los Puercos food truck.<\/em><\/p>\n While the term \u201cunlimited\u201d will certainly attract many ticket-buyers, \u201cunlimited\u201d in this case actually meant waiting in line for 30 minutes for a single quarter-sized morsel. Now how many quarter-sized morsels can a general-admission ticket holder consume before their allotted two-and-a-half hours runs out? For those following along at home, that\u2019s five samples. Unless you\u2019ve brought your crew of hungry hippos, you\u2019re going to have to go to lunch afterward, and that\u2019s after you\u2019ve paid for parking, and for any beverage other than a beer.<\/p>\n My plus-one and I tried to stock up on beer before they ran out.<\/em><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you, but if I\u2019ve paid anywhere from $35 to $65 for an event dishonestly hyped to satisfy my taste buds and fill my hungry stomach, I shouldn\u2019t have to madly scramble my way through hundreds of people to feel like the day has been worth my time and money. Big Bite should have seriously considered making it a lot easier for guests to get their full fill as well as screened for the quality of samples before serving anything like Beachwood\u2019s limp lettuce bowls or Farrell\u2019s less-than-spectacular pistachio ice cream, mixed with hard-to-chew, halfway-frozen bits of bacon.<\/p>\n The Beachwood server, a tiny woman with a bleached pixie cut, bobbed her head and the rest of her body to Ja Rule\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Real\u201d while handing out baconless \u201cBLT Cups.\u201d Yes, baconless<\/em> BLT Cups. While Miss Pixie certainly had that feel-good party vibe about her, I don\u2019t know anyone in their right mind who would pay such a hefty sum for access to a tiny bowl of soggy lettuce, runny tomato, and a pathetic little sliver of toast to top it off. Beachwood, normally I\u2019m a pretty big fan of your affordable beers and BBQ Chicken Nachos, but I was sorely disappointed to find out you\u2019d run out of bacon. Really? Who on earth would consider a BLT Cup to be categorized under \u201call the best bacon and pork foods in Long Beach,\u201d Big Bite? That\u2019s really the best you have to offer?<\/p>\n The \u201cPork-Tastic Entertainment\u201d featured The Hawkline Monster, an apparently \u201cupcoming local Long Beach band,\u201d according to the event site, who played John Mayer, Bob Marley and Sting covers for most of the dinner session. The band has a new album out of original tracks that are actually pretty interesting, but I\u2019m guessing the organizers thought they\u2019d better make sure the music genre was pleasing to the lowest common denominator, or at least those still super down with \u201cVultures.\u201d<\/p>\n Way to show Long Beach what you really think of its apparently uncultured foodies, Big Bite.<\/p>\n Speaking of cheesy entertainment, were the bikini-clad hardcore women of the Legends Football League’s Las Vegas Sin supposed to make us feel good about such a gluttonous consumption of pig fat? I don’t think so. <\/p>\n The Red Leprechaun’s North Carolina \u201cEastern Style\u201d Pulled Pork on Brioche, one of the more delicious and satisfying samples at the fest.<\/em><\/p>\n Despite the almost-total disparity of Bacon Fest, there were a few food items worth mentioning so that those who (wisely) did not attend can still get their hands on some mouthwatering bacon and pork inspired items.<\/p>\n Bigmista\u2019s Barbecue’s \u201cPig Candy,\u201d a thick slice of maple bacon, cayenne, brown sugar and their Perfect Pork Rub, was absolutely mind-blowing. The combination of a salty, yet maple-soaked, smoky-flavored piece of pig was radical.<\/p>\n Last but not least, we have our local Red Leprechaun\u2019s North Carolina \u201cEastern Style\u201d Pulled Pork on Brioche, a slow-cooked pulled pork in a tangy East Carolina BBQ sauce with garlic aioli and a warm slaw. As one of the more filling samples at the fest, I cannot forget how incredibly happy such a little piece of sandwich made me feel. One bite and I was hooked.<\/p>\n This was the first Big Bite Bacon Fest in Long Beach and I hope for the sake of the city and Big Bite Events that the next one is just a little bit better.<\/p>\n According to the press release sent out the day after, Mark Enter, “Chief Bacon Officer” at Big Bite Events, said, \u201cWe are already planning on on how we can make the 2nd annual Big Bite Bacon Fest bigger and with even more bacon!\u201d<\/p>\n Well… You better start planning because it might be a good idea to prepare enough food for the guests of both the Lunch and Dinner sessions, it would be a good idea not<\/em> to advertise anything you can’t deliver, and maybe, just maybe the event organizers could follow through with a little more care and consideration for its beach-side bacon-loving foodies.<\/p>\n Above, left: Dia De Los Puercos\u2019 Mexico-rn was worth the 30 minute wait.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Big Bite Bacon Fest at The Queen Mary, the first of many, apparently, was anything but the advertised \u201cFood and Entertainment Experience of Epic PORK-portions!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":68558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1119],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-big-bite-bacon-fest","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3293"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3293"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"bacon-fest-pig\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bacon-fest-pig.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"bacon-fest-line\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bacon-fest-line.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"bacon-fest-beer\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bacon-fest-beer.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"bacon-fest-brioche\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bacon-fest-brioche.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"bacon-popcorn\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bacon-popcorn.png\")
Dia De Los Puercos\u2019 Mexico-rn, a cup of cob corn mixed with butter, bacon mayo and topped with chili and cotija was to-die-for. The sweet hint of the corn combined with the almost-overpowering lime flavored chili and mellow bacon mayo had my mouth watering and my stomach growling for more.<\/p>\n