Meatopia 2010

I got VIP tickets to Meatopia last Sunday [July 11] which took place on Governor’s Island – just a short 5 minute ferry ride away! I was still a little boozy from the day before of champagne  :]…. but sooo hungry for meat!!! I was surprised that we could only have a certain amount of tastings… each tasting had to get checked off.. good thing some of the chefs just didn’t care about that –  come on, it’s all about the food :] So we got to try everything – even if we couldn’t we had 24 tastings between the two of us so it would’ve worked out either way.

Sea of Barbeque

1. Chris Hart / I-Que BBQ

Competition Style Pork Shoulder

SO SO SO tasty. The bbq sauce was soooo good, light but so full of flavor with a hint of sweet… the meat had some fat and crust to it… melt in your mouth. As soon as I turned around after a small bite, R ate it ALL :[ WAAAA…

Another sexy view of the pork.. sooooo freaking yum.

2. Charles Grund Jr. / Hill Country Barbecue Market

Pit Smoked Beef Brisket

Tender with a nice amount of fat… it was when I turned around to get some of this for us when R ate all the pork shoulder.. grr..grr…grr… hahahaha ;D But mmm, I love a good brisket… altho I like my brisket sliced thinner so it melts more

3. Eric Johnson / Mr Bobo’s Traveling BBQ Allstars!

Pecan Smoked Short Rib over Asian Slaw & Bourbon Infused Mashed Sweet Potato

Very good… I keep thinking the short rib is meatloaf… doesn’t it look meatloaf-y?!?!… I’m just weird. But this totally melted in my mouth and the sweet potato mash was soooo freaking good :] Sweet and silky. YUM.

4. Ed Wilson / Wilsons BBQ
Pulled Pork Shoulder, Slaw and Pickles
I think they were the only No-Shows.. I remember looking for #4 but there was just #3 and #5… booooo

5. Wildwood Barbecue
Pulled Pork Sliders

They told me that I was going to fall in love with this sandwich when I took a bite…. and yes it was great.

So much pulled pork I couldn’t get the top bun to bend over…. I think that too much bread overpowers good bbq anyways.. so I just ate it with the bottom bun. Loved the pickles :] Crunch crunch… it added a nice tang to it.

6. Sam Barbieri / Waterfront Ale House/Fuhgeddaboutit BBQ

House Cured and Smoked Brisket Pastrami, Stout Mustard, Pretzel Roll

This was SOOOOO good… I LOOOOOOOOVE pretzel bread – altho it was missing the big crystal salts on it, but it was just sooo good… delicious pastrami with amazing grainy full flavored mustard.

7. Joe Mizrahi / Smokin’ Joe’s True-Bleu Texas Barbecue

This line was soooo long but soooo worth it.

La Caja China Roasted Pigs

I bumped into the lovely Tina from The Wandering Eater at this stand :] She has awesome photos of the event and wrote a great entry about it too.

They had two roasted pigs for the event…
SOOOO freaking good… amazing chicharrones :]

I love pig skin, I love pig skin… crispy crunchy yummy pig skin… :D It was all over a nice corn/bean salsa :D

8. Ben Grossman & Craig Samuel / The Smoke Joint

Grilled Chicken Sausage

The one of two chickens at this whole event. I was surprised no one was serving wings – yet glad :] This was pretty tasty… a nice french baguette… a nice slaw, ended up just stealing all the sausage from the inside. Like I said before, too much bread masks all the flavor of the meat.

La Republica De Carne

9. Akhtar Nawab / La Esquina

Roasted Fudge Farms Pork Shoulder, Marinated with Leche Condensada, Eqazote, Ajo, Y Naranjas

This was one of my favorites of the day. Really really good.. and it was the first thing I realized I could get away with getting food without getting checked off for it [haha]

Cheater cheater, piggy eater. *points to self*

10. Sue Torres / Sueños Restaurant

Smoked Duck Taco, Canela Tortilla

I looked forward to this a lot – very very good :D I love duck – what an amazing bird. Succulent and flavorful. YUM.

11. Scott Smith / RUB BBQ


Barbacoa De Boreggo  (Mexican BBQ Lamb)

They also had other choices.. so I got the pork shoulder :] OBVIOUSLY.. they also had some “asian sausage”…

Sliced BBQ Pork Shoulder Sandwich

The slaw was a bit too sweet but the pork, tho very little of it, was good

Animal Town

12. Seamus Mullen / Boqueria
Whole Roasted Lamb

Photo Source: The Wandering Eater

My photo of their lamb is MIA – I just remember it being kinda freaky looking… hahahaha

13. Joey Campanaro / The Little Owl

He was super nice to take out a new rack for me to take pictures of :D And he talked me through the whole procedure of how they rubbed it down and cooked it…. to oh so yummy perfection.

Baron of Beef

On some greens and tasty foccaccia :D Finally… just the right amount of bread to meat. Devoured it – FAST.

14. Jonathan Waxman / Barbuto

Didn’t get to meet Jonathan – yes he’s the one from Top Chef Masters  :[ But got to eat some of his yummy chicken…

Grilled Marinated Chicken with Pickled Green Papaya

Of course I grabbed a leg :]

15. Philippe Massoud / Ilili Restaurant

Whole Charcoal Roasted Lamb Shawarma

16.  Franklin Becker / Abe & Arthur’s

Country Style Pork Ribs with Tomatillo Salsa

Really really good.. I liked them better than the other ribs (shh don’t tell) these had more fat on it and were a lot more tender…

17. Christopher Lee / Aureole

Marinated Skirt Steak

The carrot slaw was so good and the skirt steak just went down fast and yummily… had this after the Porterhouse skirt steak hoagie (see two restaurants down) which was tough and yeck but this was soo gooood.. why was there NO line?

18. Bobby Hellen / Resto

My beloved Resto and Mr. Genius, Bobby :]

He gave me a taste of the mutton on it’s own before getting me a nice big piece of sandwich…

MLT (Mutton, Lettuce & Tomato)

I was surprised that it wasn’t hot but it was really REALLY tender.. and not gamey at all.. very light taste. Once again I don’t care for sandwiches but I did eat some of the meat :] R had the rest

19. Michael Lomonaco / Porter House New York

Grilled Skirt Steak Hoagies, Chimichurri & Roasted Corn

Both R and I could NOT rip the meat apart or chew it up :[ Fail, tooooo tough. Sigh. And it was kind of gamey tasting to me :T Double Fail… I swallowed my bite, eventually.. R just spit his out. Such a long wait and it was pretty bad…

20. Patrick Connolly / Bobo

Grilled Bacon Sandwich, Pickled Green Tomatoes, Napa Cabbage

Mine

His

These were SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD… i just ditched the bread and ate the tomatillos and THICK delicious salty bacon on the inside. This thing was huge and sooooo worth the long wait. YUM!

21. Craig Koketsu / The Hurricane Club

Honey-Glazed Baby Back Ribs with Thai Basil & Mint

Yay for lotus root chip. These looked and smelled amazing. The taste was good – on the sweet side – but I was sad that they weren’t fatty and too tough for my taste. R ate them all and I just had some nibbles. I need my ribs fatty :]

22. Amanda Freitag / The Harrison

Char Grilled Lamb Chops

23. Bradley Day / China Grill

Too be honest I was already turned off by the words “China Grill” — bad chinese mall food came to mind….

Lamb Spare Ribs, Plum and Sesame Glaze

I was tricked and didn’t realize it was lamb… Too sweet for me.. too tough… and too lamby :P I’m always hesitant about the “asian fusion” stuff anyways.

24. Noah Bernamoff / Mile End

Montreal Smoked Meat

Really tasty. Simple and sweet :] Bread was eaten here.

25. Daniel Holzman & Michael Chewnow  / The Meatball Shop

Wood Grilled Bell and Evans Chicken, Mini Meatball Salad with White Beans and Watercress

They gave us meatballs but no utensils. BOOO… they were medicore. Oh man I totally forgot that these were chicken too. Ok so THREE chicken dishes…. they were a bit salty but just… they weren’t bad but obviously not memorable. Sigh. They’re no yakitori chicken meatballs ;D

Sponsers

Chipotle

I’ve only had Chipotle ONCE in my life and that was just a few months ago in Dcnver…

Doing a balancing act.. they’re so goofy…

And then she told me… “I think we should be facebook friends now…” and seemed sad when I just laughed and walked away….

Niman Ranch Beef Carne Asada Tacos

Tasty ;D Sometimes you just need a  nice simple taco.

High Plains Bison

Sliced BBQ Bison Filet Steak with Fresh Kimchee Salsa

…..and demonstrations from Top Chef contestant Andrew D’Ambrosi :]

A lot of Sixpoint Beer was consumed…

I’m a fan of their Signal and Sweet Action Cream Ale :]

VIP Tent

Elizabeth Kalin / Betty Brooklyn

Mini Short Rib Pies with Homemade Mustard

Robicelli’s Cupcakes

The chocolate cupcakes were really good :] The frosting was super creamy and the cake was yummy and chocolatey… loved the berry compote

Fizzy Lizzy

Nothing like coffee on a hot hot hot day at a bbq….. but I guess people were probably getting them iced at the Dallis Coffee stand :]

Joe’s Italian Ice

Packed with people. We were so glad we got there early – right when it started at 1130, because by 230 or so the lines were INSANE.

We ended the day chilling at the VIP tent and eating Ice Cream bought from The Bent Spoon…

Yep that’s candied maple bacon on top of that Maple Bacon Ice Cream – really really good ice cream!!!

The Philosophy was chocolate and beer.. rich, creamy and decadent – but my favorite was the Blue Apricot. So refreshing on a hot summers day and bursting with fruity flavor – nice balance of tang and sweetness.

… and drinking some Cascal Soda

Both were refreshing and tasty :]

Meatopia Swag Bags

Organic Valley coupons – which is great cuz we buy their eggs, milk, butter, etc :D … a year subscription to Zagat… tomato and pepper seeds… Pretzels… Frank’s Hot Sauce [not pictured] Chipotle gift card, a baster brush and some magazines.