Porktoberfest

It was 20 years ago now we first sampled Kansas City, Missouri (don’t be confused with Kansas Kansas) at a little roadside joint named LC’s. From the moment one of their burnt ends hit my tongue they were on my map for life. No doubt the barbecue mecca birthed a fest that marries both the BBQ favorite beverages to one crazy slow cooked meat festival. Touting the best bourbons and beers Missouri has to offer, the Pig and Swig is three hours of afternoon, stomach debouchery. While you indulge in your destruction you’ll have some feeding music compliments of the festival and local radio stations. Need some exercise between chow downs? Lawn games will also, appropriately, be on hand. I’d imagine later in the day that just turns into a bourbon-beer fueled slapstick comedy show. Fun all around. Saturday July 30th from 3-6pm in Kansas City, Missouri.

According to us, there are two plans of attack for the insane amount of java you will encounter at The New York Coffee Festival, an event as hyped up as its theme: 1. pace yourself, imbibe cautiously, and drink responsibly or 2. do nothing of the sort and guzzle as much of the unlimited joe as you can. We suggest option two, and with good reason. We’ve never seen an event lineup more worthy of our favorite bean than this annual NYC event. Also, in case you missed it (did you miss it?), we said unlimited coffee. With the best of the best baristas and vendors on site, they won’t be your average cups of joe, either. That extra buzz you get will be put to good use at the event’s packed roster of coffee demonstrations, coffee workshops (go ahead, try to make a better brew than that famous barista teaching you how to do it), coffee-inspired music and art, and, what we’re most excited about, Coffee Masters New York. This is where 16 baristas will go head-to-head in a caffeine-fueled competition with challenges including latte art, signature drink creation, and taste identification. In case you want to proactively ward off any post-festival shakes, there will be street food and martinis infused with, uh, coffee. We warned you that there’d be a lot of coffee, didn’t we? Good thing you’d already decided to go with that “guzzle unlimited joe” option. September 16-18 in NYC. 

Year two of the Harlem Eatup is set to blow year one out of the proverbial special sauce. Broken up into dinners, main stage and grand tasting events then sprinkled with names you love like Flay, Emeril and Waxman, there’s something for ever foodie style. Plus, your in Harlem USA (as they say). Historic, reborn and ground zero for so many cultural transformations, and now food, just being up on the 125th is exciting. Make a day and a night of it. Go hungry and with your party shoes on. You just might end up on stage at the Apollo. You know you have it in ya. May 18-22 in Harlem, NYC.

You know our BBQ history runs deep. This event is at the root of our ‘Que know how. On a rainy Saturday in 2002, I bumped into a guy named Danny while poking around 27th street. I asked him where all this barbecue came from and I quickly learned the far reaches of the expertise that was in front on me. Fourteen years later, Mr. Meyer and the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party is much more than a block, the crowd is far more than a few New Yorkers biting their way down a gramercy park street and a New York restauranteur with an idea to share the world of BBQ with his neighbors. So big in fact there’s some new options like fast pass and VIP that will get pork to your lips faster than you can snort at the crowd you just bypassed. June 11-12 from 11am to 6pm in NYC.