Monday, January 27, 2014

baconfest

Gucci Mane's Trap God is one of my favorite mixtapes and my favorite thing he's ever put out. It's consistent and not too long. Download it on datpiff if you're interested.

Baconfest judging was way more fun this year as the panel was less bro-ey and more friendly. Fun to hang with Thiemann. Fun to sip the delicious bourbon I brought and see that everyone loved it. I ate a tiny snack beforehand and then 36 courses with bacon and then obviously nothing else the rest of the day. I am so salt-bloated today. Most of the bacon was too salty. The scandal is there were many dishes that I loved, and also the non-traditional face bacon (which won), but I wasn't passionate about ANY of the plain bacons. A lot of them didn't come out warm or hot, which is key with bacon cuz when the fact congeals or it gets tough it loses its appeal. Don't tell anyone but I still like Oscar mayer traditional the best. I just do not like thick cut bacon. I want to see through my bacon.

I only guessed a couple of the chefs, but Thiemann guessed every goddamn one simply by their cooking. Impressive. The best dish went to a woman named Rachel something who is the chef at Revolution Wines! Incredible. I guess I will have to go there, although can I bring my own wine? The dish was bacon on a crostini with a white wine reduction with brie (it didn't have a strong brie taste), brussel spouts and trumpet mushrooms. More creative than the average dish by a mile and coherent despite the long list of ingredients.

Gnocchi from the guy at Lucca (I think) was delicious as well for the excellent gnocchi. I want to go there and order more gnocchi. He won best in show, and Thiemann thinks he's a super good chef. Who the fuck knew?

I also thought both of these dishes would have been better without the bacon! Ha!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the chef from Lucca fairly new? I went there several times, years ago, when it first opened, and was massively underwhelmed by everything I ordered, including the gnocchi.

DKK

beckler said...

He's gotta be! It's been open so long that he didn't even look old enough to have been there since the beginning. I'll ask Mike T. If so, I def want to go there.

BC said...

The Lucca chef is my neighbor's son and he is a super nice guy. Our kids go to the same school, and he does cooking demos for the kids. He's been there for years, though, since 2006 or so?

Anonymous said...

Ian's actually pretty old school, according to Pechal he helped open Esquire Grill, was a "beast on the line," etc. Ian's been at Lucca for at least 5 years. I think the thing with Lucca is that they do so much volume, they get knocked for quality control/inconsistency, a la that recent BAR review.

BTW, it was Matt Brown of Golden Bear (soon to be at 58 Degrees) who made the gnocchi.

Thanks for judging, the panel this year was the best! I personally enjoyed Travis' stuff from Grange, including yes that face bacon. Thanks again!

NM

beckler said...

Oh man, was it Lucca who got best in show with that red cabbage one? I may have eaten there once in last quite-a-few years but I may have not. I ate there quite a bit when it opened!

Anonymous said...

Who got the people's choice? Liv and I both voted for the one with the grits, but I was too stuffed to try the Revolution Wines one. There were a few I couldn't get to at all, Mulvaney's pork tacos were the last thing I could shove in because I am crazy about pickled onions I just had to make space.
I didn't eat again but I did wake up at 3am with my stomach growling. I ignored it.
gbomb

beckler said...

Zonca from The Dime! He didn't win any of the judge's choice. His dish was bacon ice cream with bacon brittle and bacon sauce and bacon whipped cream or some such. the brittle was too hard so you couldn't get a bite

I don't think he put the tacos on his platter of stuff that came out. he did have cold lamb bacon so if you like congealed lamb fat you would be in luck. I bet they it would probably be hella good if hot.