Big Bite Bacon Festival

BACON-​FESTIVAL need I say more? If you don’t get the VIP passes to go in before everybody else you’ll wait in line forever for a small taste. A little expensive but it makes a huge difference. It says unlimited tastings so be sure to ask for seconds and thirds after standing in line otherwise you’ll spend more time in line than eating.

Dog Haus served up the Porky Fig which is made with cheese-​stuffed sausage, wild arugula, whole grain mustard, fig-​onion-​bacon relish, almonds, and bacon fat toasted Hawaiian roll. The sausage was juicy and had a nice snap to it. The slightly bitter arugula, tangy mustard, and sweet relish were perfectly balanced and worked well with the savory sausage. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Kettle Brand Potato Chips served up Maple Bacon chips. It has a smoky sweet flavor, reminiscent of BBQ flavored potato chips. There was no bacon flavor per say but tasted great. Rating: ⁴⁄₅
Traditional Twist served up Peanut Butter Ball with Bacon. Reminiscent of a chocolate truffle but inside is creamy peanut butter with a salty, smoky bits of bacon. I love chocolate and peanut butter so I was in hog heaven. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
The Reef on the Water served up Pork Belly and Pineapple Bacon Fried Rice. The pork belly was scrumptious with tender pork surrounded by melt-​in-​your-​mouth fat layers. Rating: ⁵⁄₅. The Pineapple Bacon Fried Rice was interesting. It need a bigger bacon flavor push as it just fell into the background. The rice also needed more shoyu (soy sauce). Rating: 3.5÷5
OC Donut Bar served up their Maple Bacon Donut. The donut itself was fluffy and yeasty. The maple glaze was full of sweet maple flavor. The candied bacon on top sealed the deal with a sweet, salty, smoky flavor. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
The Waffle-​Oh! Truck served up their signature waffle with maple syrup and bacon bits. It was good but not very inventive. It would have been better with bacon inside of the batter and served with a maple whipped cream or maple cream cheese dip. Rating: ³⁄₅
Dia de los Puercos served up Hog Pocket Empanada which is peanut butter, grape jelly, and bacon inside an empanada topped with churro dust and la lechera. It was like a Latin turnover with the flavors that Elvis would love. Bacon love, thank you, thank you very much! Rating: 4.5÷5
West Grove Smokehouse served up Moink Balls Bacon Wrapped Meatballs and Pulled Pork. The meatballs would have been better if the bacon on the outside wasn’t burnt. They were on the grill too long and the meatballs inside were dry. Rating: ²⁄₅. The pulled pork was tender and the barbeque sauce had the right amount of sweet and smoky flavor. Rating: ⁴⁄₅
Fry Fry Food Truck served up Deep Fried Twinkies topped with bacon bits, powdered sugar, and chocolate drizzle. Deep fried Twinkies are always good, but this one could be a bit crispier on the outside for a textural balance. The bacon added a good smoky, salty element to the dish. Rating: ⁴⁄₅
Jodi Taffel aka Bacon Babe served up Dark Chocolate & Bacon Tart with Cinnamon Whiskey Buttercream (made with Farmer John® Applewood Bacon). This tart has everything you’re looking for — sweet, creamy, salty, and smoky flavors with soft, crispy, velvety, and crunchy textures all in one. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Whole Foods Market Long Beach served up Long Beach Cherry Bomb (meatball stuffed with jalapeño bacon gouda dip and topped with BBQ sauce) and Chipotle Cheddar Bacon Dip (bacon and cheddar cheese with chipotle adobo sauce and totopped with cilantro). The meatball had a good flavor and texture, but the barbeque sauce did not. I would put the barbeque sauce on the side next time. Rating: ³⁄₅. The Chipotle Cheddar Bacon dip was okay. It had a weird color and texture with the flavor of spray can cheese. Rating: 2.5÷5
The Prince and Pantry served up their Bacon Bar made with graham cracker, pretzel, corn flakes, potato chips, salted caramel sauce, chocolate, coconut, butterscotch, peanut butter, and bacon. It’s like a kitchen sink bar with sweet, salty, and smoky flavors and crunchy, velvety textures. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Richeeze Food Truck served up The Bacon Mac Sandwich. It is Richeeze mac and crispy smoked bacon atop a grilled sweet Hawaiian bun. It was a carb overload but had a good mac n’ cheese and bacon flavor. Rating: ⁴⁄₅
Much more was tasted but more pork meat based versus bacon based. Can’t wait to go again next year.

I will come back next year.
Only thing I did not like was the Bacon Bomb. Smelled funny.

Bacon, bacon everywhere!!!
From the moment you arrive in the parking lot there is the magical aroma that is Bacon-​fest!
This is the unicorn of events, I mean, there is bacon everywhere! From the entrance you were greeted with the deliciousness that is DogHaus and their most amazing bacon-​chili knockwurst, then, moving on, you taste buds were hijacked by wonderful delights such as; bacon tacos, bacon sauerkraut, bacon potato salad, bacon mac & cheese, bacon-​maple truffles, bacon-​maple waffles, maple-​bacon chips, I think you get the idea, but the kicker was the deep-​fried, bacon-​filled twinkie, yep, you read that correctly! PURE HEAVEN!!! And the kicker was the return of the most wonderful taco stand ever, Naugles!!! There were also several craft beers available but the one that stood out (and that I also stopped to purchase on the way home) was the Schofferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen, this stuff is gold!
This was my second Bacon-​fest and it was even better than the first! This time around there were twice the amount of vendors and an instead of 2 sessions there were 3! Great food, great staff & a fun time! I can’t wait for next year!

I went to the first session on Saturday and on first impression things were pretty well organized. I was pleased to see that the food and beverage items were available throughout the event which was a great change from the previous year. It was a pleasant if warm day and more shaded areas would have been nice.
The only thing for me that kept the event from getting 5 stars was the parking situation. The signage and directions for parking were lacking. The charge for parking seemed like a bit much and why would you collect the money from everyone when they are trying to leave. The bottleneck paying at the end caused was just dumb.

Bacon, bacon, bacon! A porkpalooza of one of my favorite thing in the world. Baconfest was one of those things of no matter how much I ate, I was pleased.
The variety of vendors seemed too much for my belly to handle, which was a great thing. The variety of alcohol vendors was great as well. I sampled what I could before I started having those clear the room in my belly or I’m exploding type burps. That’s when I knew I got my fill of the experience. I will be going next year :)

This event was amazing. We went to the first session on Saturday of the second annual this year. The variety was great. The lines were short. Great beer selections. Great crowd of people.
Only thing that didn’t get it five stars: the creativity of the bacon dishes was not too exciting and more shade would have been much appreciated as the heat got to an almost unbearable high on the asphalt.
Definitely plan to go again next year!

First time going this year with my wife, kids, and a friend. There was a LOT of food with good portions, very few long lines, great little play area for the kids with seating around, and the beer had some good selections.
In addition, the ability to wander over to the Queen Mary afterwards was a bonus.
The only real downsides was the parking over the grass/​dusty area some distance away, the weather which was really warm that day, and it would have been nice to have brought a blanket to sleep/​lay down after being stuffed with all of that bacon wrapped and infused food!
Overall, would definitely go again.

PigTastic!!! Amazing! Looks like they got it together for 2015 because the previous reviews were pretty bad and we had absolutely no problems. The food was delish and plenty of it and so many beer vendors, although some of those beers were gross. Slater 50/​50, Doghaus, some place from the marina hotel, so many I can’t remember, but the food was GREAT! Only downside, it was SUPER HOT! and there wasn’t enough shade. Not a good idea when you have people walking around on blacktops, drinking beers and stuff… Definitely going again next year! BACON FEST!!! Paid $ 50 for entrance (which is all you can eat tasting) and 10 3oz beer tastings… Totally worth it!

I didn’t go last year but damn, this year was an absolute blast. So maybe they improved and learned a few things?
Ticketing, parking, and getting in was all smooth from the get go. Check in was smooth, the line moved super quick, and we were inside within 5 minutes. If you were VIP you got one hour to hoard and taste all you wanted before general admission got into the gates and man, that was plenty. I was able to hit up 8 vendors and 8 beer spots and was feeling pretty full. I thought it would be absolute chaos by the time GA got in but nope! Lines were still short, vendors still had way too much food, and the beer was still flowing.
What I love is the staggered entrance. There are 3 sessions and you get about 5 hours per session which is more than enough time to eat, drink, digest, and go back for more.
VIP area had additional VIP vendors, drinks and refreshments, plenty of seating in the shade, and our own personal private bathroom unlike port-​o-​potties for everyone else which was awesome. You can go in and out as many times as you want and the bathroom was always clean plus we got unlimited drink pours with our VIP bracelet.
If you’re thinking about bacon fest for next year, you should definitely consider it. There was lots of great bacony goodness and it’s definitely improved. However, next year I might do session 2 in the evening.

Well, I don’t know how last year was but this year if you got there early it was Pork-​a-​riffic!
Whether you had the moinkballs (terrific), getting free coffee at the Illy truck, getting a maple donut at OCDonutbar, grabing free mape bacon chips from Kettle chips that tasted like BBQ, getting your craft beer on (Yay!), deep fried Twinkie from Fry Fry, Getting pork belly from The Reef, listening to the band there, trying the pig candy inside the bread from Big Mistas, trying bacon vodka with bloody mary, Eating Naugles for the first time (they will be at Fountain Valley). There were even some games for the kids to play, you can tour the Queen Mary for free (which we did because who can eat for 3 hours straight)?
So all and all, a great job! It was cool, lots of breeze on a beautiful day and plenty of seating. Having 3 different session I think helped and of course lots of advertisements for this event as one of the must go events for any bacon lover. Had a great time, thank you and now I have to drag my fat ass for a few miles to run this off!

First year going but must I say nothing similar to the reviews from last year. Lines were fast to get in and to get the food as well. No one ran out of food or beer and the activities for the kids made this event a perfect family affair. The staff was friendly and the food… well the food was AMAZING!!! Can’t wait for Baconfest 2016!!! Great job organizers

Bravo to the organizers of the 2015 Big Bite Bacon Fest.
Let’s just say last year was a learning experience.
This go-​around had more vendors, more activities and less lines to wait in.
We both ate and drank til our guts were bloated.
Will be back for the 3^rd.
Big thanks to Big Bite and The Queen Mary!

After reading all the reviews from last year, I was hesitant to purchase tickets for this event. However, I gave it a shot because 1. it’s bacon. 2. it’s bacon, 3. it’s bacon… and even if it was a bust, we could still at least check out The Queen Mary. It was great that ticket holders were invited to check her out before, during and after our sessions.
This was my first at Bacon Fest experience. I bought GA tickets for session 1 for my family and I. We could only be there for an hour because we had to be in Orange by 1:30. I know that info doesn’t seem relevant, but it is! lol Even though we couldn’t check out Queen Mary, we were able to have the full bacon fest experience that we wanted in an hour’s time.
At first, parking was a zoo. The front parking guy kept directing everyone into a parking lot that was full. We had to go out just to get back into parking. Once they opened another parking area, it was all good.
Upon arriving 15min early to the gates, we got our bracelets and stood in line. We were close to the front of the line so we were good, but i did notice the queue area wasn’t very big and many arrived early only to flow back into the ticket area. Once the Queen blew her 12pm horn, we entered this amazing event!
VERY organized event. Tons of food & beer vendors all with no lines!
The music was awesome. The band they had at Session 1 played popular music from every genre.
There were tons of seating areas and benches under trees. The VIP section seemed to be a fair sized area with shade and even some couches.
The had a really cool fun activities area on the lawn.
We zig-​zagged our way through the sample booths and tried every food vendor. They all had huge samples to really make an informed decision on our favorites! :) Everything was delicious, but I only took business cards from the Establishments that made the biggest impression on me :) I will definitely be hitting those spots in the near future when we make our way out to the LA area again.
It was such a great experience. We drove 4 hours (from Coachella n back) just to spend 1 hour at bacon fest, and i tell ya, it was well worth every minute! I was stuffed to the brim with pork!
Though… now that I think about it, one thing that may need some work is Communication — maybe even a map :\ I did find that no one (and I asked many staff members including the info booth) knew where the Unilocal table was… or if there even was one. That was a bummer — especially when there was a Unilocal check-​in goodie that popped up on my phone.
Anyhow, We’ll definitely be back again next year. I really liked that it was broken into different sessions because it gave us an opportunity to try everything without huge queues and it gave vendors an opportunity to regroup and prepare for the next wave of event goers.
AWESOME SAUCE JOB EVERYONE!
OH! I almost forgot to mention… The souvenir shirts — So cool, they did it on the spot and it was quick about it. May want to consider getting bigger sizes too. It was bacon fest. The largest men size they had was a 2xl — and the shirts seemed to run small.
Also, yall may want to consider putting Bacon Fest year on the shirts! :) Just like elite status’, we like to show off how long we’ve been part of the crew.

I’ve eaten so much bacon, I can’t breath… and I regret nothing! My favorite were the «moink balls» (bacon wraped, seasoned meat balls), I also loved the bacon cotton candy and the peanut butter bacon balls.
If you love bacon and beer, this is an event not to miss!

Bacon Fest was so much better this year! No long lines, no one vendor ran out of food and all the eats tasted yum.
Going through the gates feels like you’re going to Hog Heaven.
Great balance in the offerings from sweet to savory to the down right finger licking good!
Wide variety of food and spirits this year. Top notch breweries with top notch beers.
If Big Bite Bacon Fest keeps up the selection and being a really good organized event next year, I will most definitely be back.

Business owners on Unilocal could learn a thing or two from QM of the Queen Mary. They realize the event did not go off well in 2014 but plan on using the reviews to make lots of changes for next year’s event. If it’s anything like the change I saw done to Chill (also held at the Queen Mary) in 2014 we’re in for a treat. I look forward to being able to attend this event in 2015 and see how the changes hopefully improve the event. As I said in my original review this event has a ton of great potential and many great vendors. Stayed tuned for a new review from me after this bacon yummy-​ness take 2!

Hmm. Was I the only one with a happy experience, even with the slight rain/​drizzle? We got the VIP Dinner option and the extra hour really helped to speed the tastings along. I do wish the portions were a bit bigger, and the advertisment on the website said over 50 different vendors and we counted maybe 25 max? Some of the vendors had great food and the others were left with much to be desired. Bacon BLT jello style? with bread? blech, sorry. But that candied bacon was THE MOST DELICIOUS THING EVER.
Would I do this again? Maybe, maybe not. they have to have 2 days for this event, and definitely more vendors. and more time for VIP. Maybe 2 hours instead of 1 hour?

I am so glad I paid for the VIP lunch & got there early.
I had none of the bad experiences that others here have complained about (with the exception of the bar not being open at 11. The bartender said it was not supposed to be open until noon, but I set him straight & was served :)).
We got there a few minutes until 11, and they opened the gate at 11:03. We went in & were able to walk up to most booths with no line for the next 30 – 40 minutes. There were a few with short lines, but we never waited more than 5 minutes for the first hour. There were very short lines for beer also.
When the GA people got there, the lines got very long. We were full & happy by 1:30, left & checked out the Queen Mary.
For those that were unable to get to everything, I have posted pics of what we had. The best thing, IMO, was the bacon pop tart & the empanada with peanut butter, jelly & bacon was 2^nd.
I would attend this event again, but only with a VIP ticket. I’m hoping the organizers will use this year as a learning experience, & that next year will be even better.

A big disappointment for the VIP dinner, not worth the money just to stand in line after line no less than 30 minutes, up to an hour. Many of the vendors did not stay for the dinner session. Many of the beer vendors ran out early, and «BACON», more bacon was available, and of better quality at the BBQ event heald at the Queen Mary park earlier in the year.
As people who try to support the QM at any event, I can say THIS event was not up the standard one would expect to be held there. The Queen Mary was only a sponsor, but I hope they seriously consider there position next time the event rolls around.
I would have rather spent my money on board instead of painfully being held in line after line.