Coffee and Tea Festival NYC

The NYC Hot Sauce Expo returns this weekend to heat up the borough once again with 50+ craft hot sauce makers. As always there is far more than the next hot sauce tasting to keep your burning tongue distracted. Aside from their marquee event, Guinness Book of Records Carolina Reaper Pepper Eating Contest, there will be more chihuahua’s under one roof than a Mexican cartoon kennel at the Chihuahua Beauty Pageant. Maybe the most off beat event at any food focused festival we’ve attended. We’re especially looking forward to finding out what the Volcanic Peppers Spicy Pizza of DOOM Challenge is and how we conquer it without killing ourselves. The event list deepens with everything from Hottest Ramen to Slaytanic Burrito contest to the prestigious Hot Sauce Hall of Fame inductions. We covered this back in 2016 and High River Sauces, the event sponsors, growth clearly has been massive, and inherently hot. With two full days of pepper craziness, prepare yourself. Fill your camelbak with some cold milk and pick up a jumbo loaf of Bimbo as you head to Greenpoint for the mouth burning mania. April 14th and 15th from 10am-6pm in Brooklyn.

There’s been a lot of breakfast for dinner this year and it’s only March. Building on the success of Choice Eats, the Village Voice peeps bring us Brunch Eats. As you’d expect, breakfast is prepared one evening by 20+ top restaurants and bakeries. Your ticket gets you a taste of all of them as well as breakfast cocktails and music. Note on the cocktails, since breakfast IS at dinner time, the 2 mimosa rule is lifted allowing you to indulge as if it was dinner time. Wait…it is dinner. If it’s anything like Choice Eats this will sell out. Snap your tickets up quick. May 11th from 8pm-10pm @ the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in NYC.

NYC Food Truck Fest promises a crazy line up of belly treats despite the out like a lion this month persists on roaring. Hosted by the largest curated market in New York, The Grand Bazaar NYC, they know a thing or two about bringing together amazing vendors, the trucks are so good we have to drop the list right here. Big D’s Grub Truck, Cousins Maine Lobster , Cupcake Carnivale, DUB Pies, The Empanada Sonata, Gorilla Cheese NYC, The Guac Spot, HAPA Food Truck, Los Viajeros Food Truck, Mac Truck, Meatoss Truck, Neapolitan Express, Saravana Bhavan NY, Stuf’d truck and Toum Food Truck will be prepped and ready to deliver tasty to your tongue all day. While you digest between truck visits there are over 80+ non-food vendors you can shop. Think antique and vintage dealers, artists, designers, craft-makers. We’re sure you’ll find a few goodies to stock up on in the massive indoor/outdoor sprawl. The good doesn’t end there. We dug a little deeper into this event and discovered the mission behind The Grand Bazaar and it only made us want to explore and buy more. The market profits benefit the 4,000 children in the neighboring four schools. It provides these kids with enrichment programs, books, supplies, teaching assistants, sports and chess programs. And, we love chess especially when there are sandwiches involved. This makes it eating you can be proud of. Hell, we’ll take it a step further and call it eating that makes a difference. Make a difference this weekend and stuff yo face like the great, kid loving, citizen you are. Sunday, March 25 at 10AM – 5:30 PM in NYC

No ideas what you’re doing in for the middle day of Memorial Day Weekend. Look no further. What’s more memorial than a hotdog show down with beer? That’s totally rhetorical. Frankly we’re not sure why you are even still reading this. Go get tickets. Now. Buy one for your friend who will inevitably call you Sunday morning, lost, asking what to do. You really are a deliberator. Fine. Craft Beer and Hot Dog Showdown tickets include unlimited eating of gourmet hot dog creations, voting rights, free entry to the food fest after party and guaranteed belly full of yummy. Sneak peek of the dogs on the tickets page. Sunday, May 29th from 12:00 to 4:30 in NYC.