Big Bite Bacon Fest at the Queen Mary, Long Beach

Big Bite Bacon Fest at the Queen Mary, Long Beach

The Big Bite Bacon Fest made its Long Beach debut last weekend. With the majestic Queen Mary looming in the background, hungry bacon fans sampled unlimited “bites” of pork and bacon dishes from local restaurants, bakeries and food trucks. I attended the VIP morning session, which started at 11:00 AM. I arrived promptly at 11:00 and was met with short lines for the various food and beer vendors.

Photo by Bacontoday.com.

We hit Slater’s 50/50’s booth first and sampled a big portion of their signature burger. The moist patty is made with ground bacon and the burger is topped with cheese, bacon and a fried egg. It’s served on a brioche bun and was one of the highlights of the festival.

Slater’s 50/50 Burger. Photo by Bacontoday.com.

My favorite item had to be the Mango Bacon Coconut Macaroon made by the Queen Mary Tearoom. It had a hint of mango flavor and was deliciously sweet and chewy. I was not expecting these flavors to work so well together and was pleasantly surprised by the result.

Mango Bacon Macaroon from Queen Mary Tearoom. Photo by Bacontoday.com

Another standout was the Bacon-Wrapped Meatball from Meat, Inc. The succulent meatball was generously wrapped in bacon and coated with a tangy BBQ sauce. Despite giving me a hard time for asking if the meatballs contained any dairy, the Meat, Inc. guys had plenty of food to go around although a batch of chocolate-covered bacon had apparently failed. Bummer!

Bacon-Wrapped Meatball from Meat, Inc. Photo by Bacontoday.com

Bacon-Wrapped Meatball from Meat, Inc. Photo by Bacontoday.com

The lines moved quickly and requests for dairy-free samples for my lactose-intolerant partner-in-bacon-crime were graciously accommodated. For the longer lines, we split up and requested two samples each. The aroma coming from the huge vat of bacon grease that was used to fry the chicharrones (pork rinds) sent me straight to hog heaven. Big Bubba’s Bad BBQ served up this dish along with a pulled pork taco.

Pork Rinds by Big Bubba’s Bad BBQ. Photo by Bacontoday.com

Pork Taco by Big Bubba’s Bad BBQ. Photo by Bacontoday.com

The food truck Dia de los Puercos also offered up some tasty bacon goodies including a creamed corn dish with cheese, bacon and cojita cheese sprinkled on top. Also, they served a bacon-wrapped hot dog.

Creamed Corn by Dia de los Puercos. Photo by Bacontoday.com.

Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog by Dia de los Puercos. Photo by Bacontoday.com.

After an hour of tasting, we settled in the VIP section with a sample of Deschutes Brewery’s Twilight Summer Lager. When the GA peeps arrived, the lines got pretty long, but we were stuffed anyway and decided to visit the Queen Mary. Admission to the Queen Mary was included with our festival ticket—a huge perk! We took the opportunity to walk around the beautiful Art Deco ocean liner.

Deschutes Brewery Twilight Summer Lager. Photo by Bacontoday.com

Big Bite Bacon Fest Beer Sample list. Photo by Bacontoday.com

No new food festival is without its problems, and apparently some food and beer vendors ran out of samples for the afternoon session, but hopefully Big Bite Events will have all these kinks worked out for next year. I will plan on being there at 11:00 AM sharp for next year’s morning VIP session!

Other items that I sampled included:

Bacon Pop Tart made with bacon jam from The Prince and Pantry.

Maple Bacon Pop-Tart by The Prince & Pantry. Photo by Bacontoday.com

You really can’t go wrong with a Bacon Sundae from Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor.

Bacon Sundae by Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor. Photo by Bacontoday.com

Candied Bacon Slushie from Whole Foods tasted much better than it looked. Made with butter, bacon fat, brown sugar and bacon, it was a cool, welcome bite on a hot, humid day.

Candied Bacon Slushie from Whole Foods. Photo by Bacontoday.com

Maple Bacon Bar from Orange County’s Donut Bar ran out quickly, but I did manage to get a photo:

Maple Bacon Bar by OC’s Donut Bar. Photo by Bacontoday.com

See ya next year, Long Beach!

Photo by Bacontoday.com

Photo by Bacontoday.com

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