The Great GoogaMooga Festival

Overall, fun and delicious. The weather was perfect Friday and not bad Saturday even with the drizzle.
The best part was being able to eat «all over New York» with ease.
The worst part was the price of beer, especially is you were interested in the beer tents. $ 2 for a cup, then you had to pay for alcohol with GoogaMooga money (1:1 conversion). I think the best deal was the tasting size for $¾ and hoping they slightly over poured.

I know the 2012 festival was a total cluster but I was still really excited about the festival for 2013. I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit despite how overcast it was, and I was really glad we didn’t get cancelled like the 2^nd day.
My biggest gripe was that all the vendors had prepared rather large servings of their food at regular entrée prices. Because there were so many vendors it was difficult to taste as many as I wanted.
My second gripe would be there were a lot of the same types of food available (lots of fried chicken, plain pizzas, and burgers) so even if I wanted to sample a certain vendor, if they had a similar food on offer that I had already tasted, I was less inclined to wait to try another fried chicken.
My final gripe was the bizarre ticket system for beers/​wine. For the specific tents there were tickets, but at other beverage stations you could buy beer with cash. It was bizarre and seemed a bit pointless.
Now for what I loved: the atmosphere, the incredible number of vendors, and the great music lineup. If the weather had been better it would have been spectacular. While the lines were long, they moved incredibly fast. I never waited more than 10 minutes for anything, and with the music playing constantly i felt entertained.
My favorites were: Umami Burger (holycrapthatwasamazing), and Blue Ribbon fried chicken (all other fried chicken is apparently made wrong, this was SO good). I felt the dessert carts were a bit lacking. But that’s a minor complaint and really only because I have a mega sweet tooth.
I know there’s talk of not having it in 2014, but I really hope they can iron out the details because I would totally try and go again (but only on the free ticket, not VIP).

Googamooga to me was a fail this year. I am glad I did go, I would have sworn I missed something, well I did miss last year’s festival. I got there sat afternoon walked through the mud, ate some Roberta’s pizza, sort of had a good time but not really. There were many other food vendors here: Eataly, Pat LaFrieda, Wooly’s, Umani Burger, Third Rail Coffee (I wanted to try them), Tia Pol, Num Pang, .Wells, Melt Bakery, Baconland, Back Forty, Baked, Baohaus, Bromberg BROS, The Big Banana (seemed really small for 4 or 5 bucks), Hill Country BBQ market, Northern Spy Food, SeerSucker, Slankshack Jerky, Crif Dogs and 1 million other places.
I was told I should get the VIP and all that, but I was like it was okay, I didn’t really plan to stay all that long at the event but then the MUSIC part of the show was there. I saw a female rap group of 5 hit up some good songs early in the day. jasmine solano was one of the girls in the group and the only name i really recognized. I wanted to see Matt and Kim perform Saturday. They were amazing as always. I loved every minute of seeing them. Matt and Kim was a 5 star performance and it was great to see them perform in NEW YORK CITY, Brooklyn especially for free.
There was some great vibes on the other side small stages, they were doing some reggae music, Peas and Rice DJ set… Crowd was really into it. I hadn’t seen white people dancing this good to reggae in a while (serious). I was like wow, they must have just got back from a trip from Jamaica, some the guys and girls really knew how to dance. (Miss Lily Jerk Hut) area. I didn’t try the food there, but I will at the main spot one day. Miss Lily Triple Jerk Chicken. I don’t plan to go back and get all the overpriced food next year (if there is a next year). I am glad I won the ticket lottery though, I didn’t have to pay for all the other tickets fees or whatever, VIP or non-​VIP. I did love some of the Googamooga set designs or art pieces that were on display.
Sunday got rained out completely, you guys with tickets got shitted on. The weather was really bad the conditions really would have been unsafe.
–I probably would have had a better time if I got the tickets for friday and saw the YEAH YEAH YEAHS in concert.

So much good food, and all in one place. Oh, and there’s the music, too.
I was a little hesitant about the festival because of all the bad reviews from last year but I guess they shaped up because it ran solid. We went on Friday and the only time we waited on line was for security before entrance. After that, we barely waited even 5 mins for food and drink. The longest food line time was for Umami Burger’s Truffle Burger, which was WHOAMG! So effin’ delicious.
I liked that there’s a GoogaMooga app to pre-​plan the day but I didn’t really use it until AFTER to follow up and remember all the spots I patronized.
The drinks system was confusing, so one star off for that. But, other than that, everything was plentiful, even at closing time.
We ended up trying several Rieslings in the tent. I brought home a steak sandwich from Pat LaFrieda and half-​grilled lobster from The Lobster Place. Both vendors were pretty helpful with wrapping it up for me to go!
Food Highlights:
Käsekrainer Sauage Roll — DBGB
Fried Chicken Wings — Blue RIbbon
Pork Belly Tacos — Colicchio & Sons
Lobster Roll — Red Hook Lobster Pound
Pulled Pork — Fatty Cue
Truffle Burger — Umami Burger
Filet Mignon Sandwich — Pat LaFrieda
Grilled Half-​Lobster — The Lobster Place

Before I do my 200^th review of the year I’d like to update my review of the infamous Googa Mooga! Infamous why? Because people either hate it or love it! Me? I love it. I’m a sucker for music festivals and this one is in my backyard.
Getting better Googa Mooga but you’re not quite there just yet. This time I’m giving the event a solid 4 instead of last year’s average of 3.5.
The first thing I want to do is discuss the people who bitch and moan about the festival. I see several complaints. 1) Lines and lack of cell phone service. None of that this year. Worst line I saw was for ten minutes, that truffle burger was well worth it. 2) The destruction of the neighborhood. I live nearby. I have no problem with the event. There are tons of other events that happen in Prospect Park every summer. This is the same complaint, that transplants who live in Williamsburg have after a concert at the Williamsburg Waterfront. Deal with it. «Oh no, I noticed some trash outside my brownstone one morning!» 3) Sunday’s cancellation. This is something I had an issue with because it was a rain or shine event. However it wasn’t their call in the end, it was the Parks Department. Despite being bummed and really annoyed, Googa Mooga did give full refunds to anyone who purchased Sunday VIP. They also will give anyone with drinks/​wine tickets a full refund if they send them in with a Sunday ticket. No one paid for Sunday GA tickets. No one. How can they give you money towards something that was free?
Now for my take on this year’s action. The kickoff concert cost me about $ 60 bucks which I thought was fine. The Flaming Lips and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are well worth that. Friday had some great weather which I really enjoyed. I took a trip over to the park and was on a nice head. We got in really quick, cell phone service was good. Found a nice spot near the front. Laid down some blankets and rocked out. Beer lines were quick. I loved the Friday. My only beef was, the Flaming Lips did not get to rock out with all the crazy extra shit they do because there was no one allowed near the stage. I understand it’s the VIP section, but there was no VIP on Friday. Let the Lips do what they do best. Get the crowd involved in some crazy trippy shit.
Saturday I purchased a VIP ticket and let me tell you, that was well worth it. In the end it cost around $ 90 bucks. So what would I get for $ 90 bucks? Well I had a different entrance which there was no line for whatsoever. I also got 5 cocktail tickets. Now this isn’t some shmuck pouring you a whiskey and coke. These are drinks from the best cocktail bars in the city. They know what they are doing. At these bars the drinks can go for around $ 15 dollars so five of them are pretty valuable. On Saturday it was drizzling all day. VIP had covered areas which came in handy. The seminars at the boat house is what really made the VIP ticket worth it. They had about 4 seminars cocktails. If you went to a seminar, each was about 30 minutes long and very informative, you’d get 3 additional cocktails. I somehow consumed 11 cocktails and four beers that day, yet still managed to get to the Barclays in time for the Killers concert afterwards. I must say my one beef I noticed from Saturday was that the security guards were dicks. I know that’s their job but they were more so than normal. The VIP standing right by the stage was awesome just like last year, especially when Matt and Kim came on. They have such great energy and keep you alive. After so much drinking on a cold day, I needed it.
The food was great again this year, but this time around there were no lines. Friday may have had less people. Saturday people may have been discouraged by the rain. Whatever the reason, there were less people. The only line that was even remotely bad was the Truffle Burger from Umani Burger, which was phenomenal. Well worth the ten minutes. I also loved the World’s best Mac and Cheese from Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. I also enjoyed the Crif Dog’s by the boat house. Smoked beef and pork dog with cream cheese drizzled with everything bagel seeds. Imagine if a well made hot dog and a bagel had sex. It was heavenly. I was planning to really pig out on Sunday but unfortunately, that did not work out.
So Googa Mooga, please come back next year. As you know there is always room for improvement. A) Get some nicer security guards. B) Enable people to go upfront on the Friday seeing how there is no VIP. It doesn’t take that long to set that up. Seriously, it’s not that hard. C) Sunday was not handled well. We need to be kept in the loop and not let hung out to dry… or wet in reference to that Sunday.
So if you never been to Googa Mooga, I’d highly recommend it. If you’ve been there and had a blast, keep coming through. If you don’t like your experiences so far, please stay away. I don’t need you and your negative attitude in my way of a truffle burger.

Yay!
This was the second year of this festival and my first time going. I’d heard a lot of poor reviews from last year’s festival: «lines were too long,» «too crowded,» «booths ran out of food,» but this year, the organizers definitely took that feedback into consideration and did a great job.
We didn’t wait more than 2 minutes in any line except for the Umami burger, which was so delicious, it was obvious why it was so popular.
The set up of the food stalls and music stages was nice and the beer tent was cool.
Though the weather was less than spectacular, we still managed to really enjoy ourselves and stuff ourselves silly. I definitely want to go back next year.

I had no intentions of going to the festival because I had heard what a shit show it was last year. But when a good friend invited me to do the VIP with them, I decided what the hell, might as well.
The VIP ticket is worth the price tag ($ 80, I think?) because you get to hang out in the exclusive areas and enjoy 5 special cocktails from well-​known spots in the city. PDT, Maison Première, Booker & Dax and Nomad delivered on strong but fantastic cocktails throughout the day!
The food vendors did a great job at feeding us that day. By focusing on only serving one dish, the lines went by fast and I felt like quality was preserved on the plates we shared. Sure, $ 10 for a small plate is steep, but you’re at a festival — get over it.
While the weather was not on our side the Saturday we went, I felt like everything was handled and organized well. Getting to the VIP entrance was a bit of a trek but once we were in, I never felt like the lines were too long and the prices were somewhat reasonable given that it’s a food fest. I felt it was kept very clean with bins everywhere and volunteers picking up after the litter bugs.
Would I go again? Probably not. But I was glad to have been treated to the experience and done it once. It looks like they learned from their mistakes and made an attempt to make this year’s better. It’s the effort that counts, right? I feel awful for the Sunday peeps who lost out on it because of the rain, though — in England, that would never happen! Rain or shine, bitches!

We’ve all established that Sunday was a hot mess. This review is for Saturday, which in my opinion was glorious food heaven.
I was only there for the food, not the bands, and I liked/​loved pretty much everything I tried. I didn’t win any tickets in the raffle so I volunteered on Saturday morning to afternoon, then stayed the rest of the time with a few friends. The prices were definitely steep for some booths that served sliders or samples, but as volunteers we were each given $ 20 vouchers for food, so between the three of us we had $ 60 worth of free food. That allowed us to try so many things and only spend a little of our own money. Plus the longest I waited in line was five minutes, maybe even less.
Crawfish Monica — Crawfish tails and pasta with a spicy cream sauce. Pretty big portion in comparison to everything else, and definitely noteworthy. You can only find them in New Orleans so I knew I had to visit their booth.
Umami Burger — Their burger with truffle cheese and truffle glaze looked simple enough, but it was so moist, juicy and flavorful. To be honest, I don’t have a clue what the truffle parts taste like so I couldn’t distinguish them but this was my favorite thing of the day. I inhaled the burger so fast I had to snap a picture of someone else’s.
Vinegar Hill House — Decent fried soft-​shell crab sandwich. Juicier and with more meat than I’ve had at other places, but a little too salty for me.
The Lobster Place — They served half a split-​grilled lobster. The site says it was $ 15 but they were selling them for $ 10 which was a fantastic bargain. Really juicy lobster. The tail was just okay, but my favorite part’s always the claw.
Jeepney — We got a combo of corn and the chori slider (with beef and longganisa) for just $ 10. The slider was obviously small but packed with flavor. I loved the addition of pickled carrots and there was a nice amount of spice in the meat. The corn was pretty good, but that style always reminds me of Café Habana’s corn which just does it the best in my opinion.
Fatty Cue — Solid pulled pork sandwich (it came with chips, which I didn’t really care about), but my favorite part was actually the pickles. They had a great freshly sour taste and crunch. My friend didn’t like pickles, so more for me!
Baohaus — The Coffin Bao was a fried bao with fried chicken, chili condensed milk, crushed peanuts and Taiwanese red sugar. The presentation, which looked just like a casket, was really cute. Great combination of sweet and savory and I was sopping up that condensed milk at the bottom (I couldn’t taste the chili though). I wish there’d been more sauce because it was a little dry, but it was still good.
Robicelli’s — I’ve only ever tried their cupcakes before, but the Car Bomb Parfait (Guinness brownie, Bailey’s ricotta ganache, Jameson chocolate sauce, beer nut praline) was great. I don’t die over chocolate like a lot of people do, so my favorite part was actually the ganache, but it was a nice way to take a break from all the meat I’d been consuming.
Yes, the rain did dampen (har har har) our spirits a little, but it was light and would only come in random spurts so after a while we learned to ignore it. I have so many more places I want to try and will look for if they’re in the city, and I’m excited for next year’s which I’m sure will be even better when they take a look at things they could have improved upon.

*This review is for the time I actually spent there having a good time and not the monumental fail that was Sunday’s cancellation*
I was very impressed with how smoothly the opening concert and Saturday’s events went. The longest and only significant line-​wait was ten minutes for some cocktail tickets and there were event points at the festival where booths were barking at you to stop by so it was definitely easy to get some grub and drinks. The VIP cocktail tix were totally worth it considering the cost of each drink at their actual bars.
You are paying somewhat of a markup to try these dishes at the event but if you don’t trek out to these restaurants regularly (or ever) then it’s a great opportunity to get samplings. After trying the duck corn dog from James I definitely have their restaurant on my to-​duck list.
It’s really unfortunate that the rain/​lawn issue was never taken into account and holding a large festival that requires vendors to have TONS of supplies on hand with that little caveat makes me wonder why the hell they’d even have the event. If they do have it again I’m not sure I’d sign up.

I was not very hopeful after the reading teh reviews from last year’s festival. But we had a great time here. I think the toughest part was navigating since we got at the 3 train stop but they provided the signage from F train stop.
It was easy to get in, we made sure we go early as these events start to get crowded post lunch time. We arrived here on saturday shortly after
they opened the doors at 11. The venue was huge and the vendors were spread across and there were a lot of staff which were there to help.
We tried the following vendors ;
* Red Hook El Olomega — Pupusas ($ 10)
* Back Forty — Lamb ($ 10)
* Momofuku Milk Bar — Pie ($ 5)
* Ice cream sandwich, forgot the name of the vendor :)
Really liked the pupusas, we had the pork ones. The crust was crispy and the meat was flavorful. Also liked the smoked lamb served over a pickled vegetable and grain salad, with spiced yogurt but they just served few tiny pieces of lamb for $ 10 bucks.
The pie was awesome, I could eat so many of them. Also our red velvet ice cream sandwich was yummy!
There were a lot of vendors and they were also serving beer, wine on the venue.
It started drizzling post 2 that is when we left and it was getting crowded.
They also some indie bands playing a lot of country and jazz music. Overall the festival was properly organized and was worth the trip to brooklyn.
FYI– The best time is to go early and leave by post lunch time.

GREAT googamooga, can’t you hear me talking to ya, just a ball of confusionnnn!
I didn’t know «great googamooga» was a Temptations lyric until Saturday night. Naming your foodie festival after a song about how the world is one giant fiasco is apparently too prophetic. After scoring free tickets this year, I immediately began reading up on the disaster that was Googa 2012. Someone told me that Saturday this year actually went smoothly with zero lines + perfect cell reception, and was overstaffed if anything… but the name came back to haunt them in the end. Lots of miffed hipsters (and vendors, holy cow!) yesterday.
It was a rainy, ugly Sunday. You know what would’ve made me happier? Northern Spy Food Co’s Egg Begley, Jr. sandwich, handed to me in a giant meadow where I’ve arrived with an unreasonable amount of cash to sample expensive goodies from 85 restaurants.
We walked over in the rain just past noon and saw a few people going in the opposite direction, muttering that they’d been waiting to get in for an hour and were giving up (doors were supposed to open at 11am). A few moments later, we started hearing that the whole day had been cancelled. Ahahaha — oh boy. What a shitshow.
Cue scene: A stream of hungry, wet, and annoyed Googa-​ers trudging from Nethermead while the Star Spangled Banner blares slowly and solemnly from the festival grounds.
It’s not the organizers’ faults that the Parks Dept. decided to shut them down (would’ve ruined the grass, I guess). Still, wasn’t there some sort of contingency for this? Tickets clearly said «rain or shine.» That means you, Superfly*, need to actually have forethought as to what you might do when it is drizzling and you’re on a big expensive lawn and the owners of the lawn do not want it muddy.
I thought the whole thing was hilarious, but probably only because my tickets were comped, and I wasn’t one of the poor food vendors who probably lost thousands of dollars from the cancellation. But even if everything had gone smoothly, the concept of GoogaMooga is still a little off. Unless you are a) a tourist with limited time here and want to eat 10 hyped-​about sandwiches in one day, or b) a huge fan of one of the music acts, why pay $ 80 admission to get in, just to pay [again] a regular price for food regularly available from these local vendors? If I want Kasadela’s delightful tebasaki wings for $ 8, I can go any day to their pretty little restaurant and devour it in peace.
*Same group that [successfully] organizes Bonnaroo. How. What.

This was the first year that I have attended the festival, but like many people I like to hear what others are saying about it before I go. (That’s why we’re all on Unilocal,right?) Those who had gone last year told me it was great, but reviews on the internet were scathing and said they were terribly unorganized.
I was at the park by 11 where there was already a line of maybe a 100 people, and they didn’t start letting people in until 11:20, but Googa Mooga 2013 was about as organized as you can be with over 200 vendors and 20 live music performances. I got these numbers off the package of the GoogaMooga trading cards (that sounds cheesy, but they were actually pretty cute) presented by Lexus, that were handed out throughout the park. Lexus seemed to be the main sponsor of the day; they also had their own tent where you could make animated .gifs of yourself and friends, charge your phone, play Jenga, or with an Etch-​a-​Sketch!
The only thing you actually had to pay for was all the gourmet food/​drinks (but I was lucky enough to score a $ 10 food voucher from spinning the wheel in the The Kick Back Lounge hosted by American Express! Did I mention there was a whole lounge, with games, and shade, and performances?)
I don’t remember all the beers I’ve tried, but for food I had the Pat LaFrieda filet mignon steak sandwich, which was divine, and prompted me to immediately google the restaurant it’s normally served in for future reference. No restaurant, but they do have a stand at Citifield, and I would seriously consider buying tickets to a game just to miss half of it waiting in line for that sandwich. (But then again, I don’t even like baseball.)

Given how poorly planned out aspects of Googa Mooga was last year, I was a bit hesitant to give it another shot this year. That said, I did enjoy the food, and I figured that first-​year growing pains were going to be just that… so my friends and I signed up to come back out here for Sunday. I’m not a huge fan of the lotto system, but last year’s crowds were far too large, and something needed to be done to constrict crowd size.
Unfortunately, this year’s weather ended up being worse than last year. Whereas it was hot and muggy, but otherwise reasonable, this year was damp, rainy, and a bit chilly. Nevertheless, my fiancée and I showed up to the northeast entrance just around 11 AM and were towards the front of the line. As you may know by now, the event ended up getting entirely cancelled today — pretty pathetic for something that claimed to be on, rain or shine, and was even touting how fast the food lines were moving via Twitter — even before the official open. I feel bad for the security guards, because ultimately they are just hired locally, but whoever was responsible for providing information for the event is awful. There was no indication at all there would be any delays, and no details as to why we were waiting, how long of a wait it would be, and what realistic probability there was of something ever happening. We ended up calling it quits at 12:15 PM and walking around the entire park (thanks to Googa Mooga, you cannot walk through the center of Prospect Park) to go eat somewhere else with our friends. I really do feel bad for the vendors, who probably lost a ton of money because of the incompetence of the organizers, but I hope that for the sake of the community (which is less than happy about the treatment of the Nethermead), the vendors (who shouldn’t want to come back after losing their shirts), and everyone who likes to sample food, that this event is done for after this year. It was quite clear from the onset of the weekend that it was going to be a bit wet, but there apparently were no plans for the contingency that it might rain during spring. Fancy that.
There’s really nothing more to say about this. The organizers flat-​out suck, and they should be ashamed of how poor of a job they did on this. People were left standing on line for a couple of hours in real crappy weather, with no idea what was going on, just to find out that the event wouldn’t be open. Even if it comes back next year, I won’t bother signing up for tickets.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me — and shame on Googa Mooga.

i was skeptical at first especially since I went last year and on Saturday no less which, as you know, was festival hell. So when Googa came again this year, I refused to pay for tickets and well, was a tad annoyed when I didn’t get any for free. SO annoyed that I unsubscribed from their e-​mail blasts BUT after much disappointment, I was lucky enough to snag two invites from friends with extras for both days.
Tips/​Notable points.
— This year’s festival was expanded with games and more free seminars from sponsors so us cheap/​poor people could enjoy talks like dem VIP folks last year.
— Don’t bring your kids. This event may be family friendly but waddling toddlers around hundreds of drunk ²⁰⁄₃₀ somethings isn’t ever a good idea.
— Bring CASH. There are ATM’s but they charge a fee of $ 3.95. They must be out their damn minds.
— Don’t bother buying tickets, most likely you’ll get multiple last minute invites from friends with extras.
— Most food experiences is reasonably priced though I did see a $ 10 cup of mac and cheese which annoyed me because it was just Penne smothered in melted cheese and I could totally make that at home. $ 10 for just a cup? Come on!
— Lines moved quickly and there weren’t any crowds so this time, it was a nice experience but I also think the weather kept patrons at bay.
Overall it was a nice experience. The food was organized well and lines moved fast. My friend and I walked the entire fest and ate at multiple vendors within in 90 minutes. Definitely worth a 1 day visit. Not two.

I had a fun time at googamooga yesterday. After reading reviews of last year, I was scared it was going to be a mess but it wasn’t. I arrived at 10:30 to get on line and they let everyone in around 11:30. They also gave you wristbands for drinks while on line so that was an improvement from last year. Don’t forget to bring at least $ 40 cash, atms charge like 4 bucks.
Once inside, you are surrounded by dozens of tents from foodie places from all around BK or Manhattan. Each of them are serving 1 – 2 things max, so there aren’t lines which is really nice. The prices are a bit outrageous but I guess that’s how it is at festivals. My only complaint about the food selection was that I wish there was more diversity. About half of the tents were serving pork. You really don’t need that much pork at a food festival… there are plenty of other foods and cuisines they could have served instead of all that pork. Things I ate were:
a mushroom arepa $ 10
a margarita slice from south brooklyn pizza $ 5
a chocolate covered frozen banana $ 4
a pastrami sandwich $ 10
There are picnic benches and stands all around so there is plenty of room to sit and eat. There were also beverage tents: beers were $ 7-​$ 8, and other drinks were around that price too. I thought that was insanely overpriced so I didn’t get any.
Overall it was a nice few hours in the park, with good food and nice background music coming from the stage. Don’t think I’d return next year though. If anything, I will just get the list of food places serving at googamooga and just go to their actual locations instead…

3.5 stars…
I didn’t experience what could only be described as the Great Googa-​shit show of 2012 so I can’t compare but from all the complaints I read about, they really learned from all their mistakes. I could be wrong though as this year it was overcast and on and off again light drizzle the entire day so that probably kept a good portion of the crowd at home. I was disappointed I couldn’t sprawl out on a blanket and take in the sun on a nice Saturday afternoon but there’s always next year.
Here’s the deal with GoogaMooga. This year was a 3 day festival. It’s an indie music, food, and drink festival that combines dozens of musicians playing on two separate stages, over 70 food booths of some of the best food NYC has to offer, and nearly as many breweries and wineries. This year Friday was a $ 55 ticket due to the larger music lineup while Saturday and Sunday were free tickets that you got from a lottery that you signed up for online far in advance. All the food vendors choose one signature dish to offer and most of them are $ 10 (the range is $ 8 – 16 from what I could tell though). Desserts booths are cheaper and are $ 4 – 9, most are $ 5 though.
Even though the food was a tad pricey everything was delicious and there weren’t any lines for food this year. Some booths gave you more for your money but I tried sticking to booths were you couldn’t just go down to the brick and mortar location and get it any other day. That was tough as they’re all local people but here’s the best bets for food you can’t normally get (in case they come back next year):
Crawfish Monica: the only non NY food vendor (they’re from New Orleans), you get a heaping bowl of pasta and crawfish tails in a cream sauce with lots of spices ($ 10)
Bacon Land: Probably the least amount of food for the money but a real interesting experience as you get 7 half strips of bacon from all over the country, cooked to perfection and laid out on a mat showing where they’re from. This bacon sampling will set you back $ 12 though.
La Freida Meat Purveyors: Normally just a butcher based in NJ that supplies the beef to some of NYC’s best restaurants but they set up a booth here and serves one of the best deals. $ 10 gets you a filet mignon sandwich with Vermont monteray jack cheese and caramelized onions on a freshly baked roll. Other than one bite that had some connective tissue this was an amazing sandwich cooked perfectly and served to me with a smile.
Liddabit Sweets: these guys set up shop at different food venues but don’t yet have a truck or store. Their three offerings (all $ 5) were maple cotton candy, turtle caramel corn with candied pecans, and bourbon caramel corn with candied bacon (the real winner). This was one of the best dessert values around.
Pizza Moto: You can find these guys in lots of food events around the city but they don’t have an actual location, if you haven’t had the pizza from these guys you need to. Normally they have personal sized pizza for $ 10 but for this event they were selling large slices for $ 5. This wasn’t a good of a deal but it was still the least expensive savory item available.
The best value of the day (outside of La Freida) had to go to Dino BBQ, for $ 10 you got a giant pulled pork sandwich with a side of cole slaw and a side of bbq baked beans. I didn’t get this though as I was sticking to the places I couldn’t normally bike to any other day of the week. A couple of the more disappointing options were the Big Banana serving non-​big bananas (about 4 inches), frozen and pre dipped in dark chocolate and coated in salty peanuts or toasted coconut for $ 4. Also Max Brenner’s $ 9 chocolate fondue consisted of a little container of chocolate with 3 store bought looking marshmallows, a slightly thawed looking small strawberry, and a couple little crunchy cookies. One of my favorite desserts of the day came from Melt, their Morticia ice cream sandwich (sugar coated chocolate cookies with a chocolate rum ice cream) for $ 5 was phenomenal.
Moving onto the alcohol. Scattered throughout the food booths were beverage (water, soda, beer) booths. Beer at these booths are served in 12oz plastic cups and are $ 7 – 8. Bottles of water were $ 3. There was also one large covered tent for micro breweries and one for wineries. These worked a little different. You had to buy a plastic cup ($ 2) and tickets (as the tents only took this play GoogaMooga money, not real cash or credit). The beer and wine at the tents were $ 8 – 13, a real rip off. Just a small tasting was about $ 3.
There isn’t much to say about the music other than I think it was just far too loud, you could be a couple hundred yards away and still have to scream to hear someone you were talking to. This time around there were lots of counters to stand at, picnic tables in the shaded areas, and ATMs. Directions were also quite simple, and the day went smoothly.

This is Disney World for foodies and/​or hipsters.
I was skeptical about going as I heard it was an absolute mess for the first one last year, but I can assure you that this was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had, in terms of being able to gorge myself silly on some excellent food.
One of the major complaints about the first one was that the lines were insane. This year, there were practically no lines at all. The only line I had to wait on the whole time I was there was for the Truffle Burger at Umami Burger, which wasn’t even that long. And it was well worth the 5 – 10 minute wait. That thing was amazing and now I’m even more eagerly awaiting the upcoming Manhattan locations that are opening soon.
If you really want to get the most out of this, be prepared to spend A LOT of money and to eat A LOT of food. You should either plan not to eat anything the entire day and a half leading up to it, or run the Brooklyn Half Marathon right before it like I did to make room.
The prices are a little silly, but it’s fun to try so much good food in one place. Mostly everything is exactly $ 10, and everything is cash only, which makes for quick and easy transactions. That price is a little silly though for certain things like that Foie Gras Donut or the Whiskey Bread. By the way, unless you absolutely love foie gras, I would stay away from that thing. I took one bite and it overwhelmed and nauseated me so much I had to throw it out.
Aside from that though, everything else I ate was good to awesome. And I ate an insane amount of food:
— DuMont Burger: mini cheeseburger sliders ($ 10 for 2)
— Umami Burger: truffle burger ($ 10)
— Free Bread: Cashew Butter & Jam Sandwich ($ 6)
— Pork Slope: Porky Melt ($ 10)
— Do or Dine: Foie Gras Donut ($ 10)
— Liddabit Sweets: Turtle Caramel Corn ($ 5)
— Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Friend Chicken: Fried Chicken Wings ($ 10)
— Joseph Leonard: Fried Chicken Sandwich ($ 10)
— Robicelli’s: Car Bomb Parfait ($ 8)
— Gwynnett St.: Whiskey Bread ($ 10)
— The Big Banana: Salty Seanut Frozen Banana ($ 4)
— Baked: Brookster ($ 4)
— Northern Spy Food Co.: The Egg Beggley Jr. Sandwich ($ 10)
— La Newyorkina: Coco-​Choco Popsicle ($ 4)
Good god. Seeing it all in a list like that makes me realize what a problem I have. In my defense, I didn’t quite finish everything and I was sharing everything with my pregnant wife, so it’s not THAT bad. But yeah, still pretty beastly.
I would say the best savory things I ate were the Truffle Burger from Umami Burger and the Fried Chicken Sandwich from Joseph Leonard. The best sweet thing was easily the Car Bomb Parfait from Robicelli’s.
It was so good and there was so much more good stuff left to try that I will definitely be back tomorrow (we were sneaky enough to apply for a pair of tickets on different days and it worked). Can’t wait to try the rest of the stuff. And oh yeah, apparently there are a ton of music acts too. De La Soul should be good tomorrow.

Even though I plan on spending a month in Europe this summer, I felt this was going to be the highlight of my summer. I simply could not wait to try a bite from all restaurants I have been wanting to go to. Instead of planning weekends of running all over the city, I could accomplish so much food exploration in one trip. Unfortunately, this did not to turn out to be a food festival, it was a line festival.
As much as I loved the atmosphere, I really did not get much (or basically nothing) out of being there. I stood for an hour on line for overpriced beer so I could get as drunk as I could to make waiting for food easier. What was a really good chicken sandwich from Jean Georges did not make up for my disappointment for waiting for another 30 minute line. Wooly’s Ice helped and that $ 8 Burger King quality burger really annoyed me as I ate it walking away from the park.
In the end, it was a free ticket and it was an experience to see that many people willing to show up for a food based festival. While I wasted by entire afternoon, I really do hope they do this right next time. Hell, I’d be willing to pay a reasonable price for entry tickets instead of having 40,000 show up and crowd the lines.
PS:
1. It was horribly stupid to have beer and water on the same hour long line. It seems really dangerous to not have a reliable water supply for 40,000 people on a warm summer day. I’m surprised no one got dehydrated and passed out or something.
2. I met so many strangers that were by themselves. Not because they were loners with no friends, there was NO PHONE SERVICE! Waiting on line would have been much more reasonable had I had my friends there, but they were stranded in the «line festival» without any way to contact me. This the 21^st century, how could they overlook this issue?
3. The solution is easy. Invite less people and have more vendors. That simple. This would also help the issue of the vendors quickly running out of food and closing down.

Deep down, I knew this was going to be one huge mess.
How does a festival where «food as music» as the central concept work exactly? It doesn’t. Most vendors at The Great GoogaMooga ran out of food by early afternoon (the hours on Saturday were 11a-​9p — so much for dinner!), and the lines were frustratingly long. When food did emerge, there were physical fights. I literally saw one guy trapped in a head-​lock by some dude, while said dude had his girlfriend repeatedly punch said guy in the head at the Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken Party. Still, best fried chicken fight I’ve seen in a while, so at least we had that goin’ for us…
Entry into Prospect Park with our free general admission tickets was suspiciously swift. And then we realized that the long, snaking line just beyond the gates was where you had to go to get your drink on. No, they don’t serve booze at the end of this line. It’s just to get a wristband that says you’re over 21. Why couldn’t they just check IDs at the door? It’s this type of logistical question that had most Moogers scratching their heads at most of the festival’s organizational decisions.
Seeing series of never-​ending lines before us everywhere, it was looking like one long miserable day of waiting. We somehow sweet-​talked our way into getting ExtraMooga wrist-​bands, an all-​inclusive VIP package that gets you exclusive access to sections of the festival beyond the GA masses. This is a $ 250 value. Each. Excitement here was at a high, knowing not only would we would avoid fighting through the hordes of people out in the Nethermead section of the park, but we’d enjoy the land of ExtraMooga, where everything was paid for with a flash of our new wrist-​band.
This VIP area was certainly more spacious, with a handful of picnic tables and air-​conditioned bathroom trailers. We went over to the wine and beer station to celebrate our successes thus far, but they were only serving wine. No big deal — we got a round of rosé. Then we got in line for the Tertulia tent, only to see people coming back with a spoonful of rice on their plate. Turns out it was paella, but I can’t really comment on it because they ran out just as we were approaching the booth. With word that Umami Burger was out of sliders, and the Colicchio & Friends tent literally unattended the entire time we were there, there was a point where the ExtraGoogs had zero food. The Tasting Tent claimed to have more in a half-​hour, so we split up — one half of the group stayed in line for the food, while my half went to scout out alcohol. We found a cocktail kiosk serving Hendricks gin concoctions, only to be told that liquor could not be consumed in the same area as the food due to some weird, NYC park law. We downed our drinks, but by the time we went back to the Tasting Tent, our friends had moved on after scoring a bit of food, presumably looking for us. With so much damn cell phone activity, you couldn’t get a text or call out either, so a reunion never happened. We got back in line for some sustenance. What was the first thing we actually ate at GoogaMooga? Corn salsa.
We tried to find beer, but they were only serving one type of cider. Then we were subjected to the savagery of the fried chicken fight. Then we were given a Momofuku corn cookie, which may have been the most substantial thing we ate all day.
I felt absolutely awful for people who legitimately spent $ 250 for this crap. With little to no food left in the ExtraGooga sector, it was disheartening to find out that the VIP wrist-​band didn’t cover costs for anything out in the Nethermead. Again, if people are paying $ 250 for corn salsa, fried chicken (OK, this one was admittedly delicious), a corn cookie (OK, this one, too — but not at this ridiculous price), and whatever one type of booze a tent had at any given time, please don’t continue to charge them outside of the VIP section. Granted, I don’t have much ground to stand on given I was somehow gifted with ExtraGooga status, but if I had thrown down that kind of money for this paltry service in return, I’d be surely drafting my letter for a refund.
Not only was it hard to find food at a supposed food festival, but it was also kinda boring. Every new person we met had some complaint about the day — I couldn’t find many people who were truly enjoying themselves. The one entertainment highlight was Anthony Bourdain, possibly hammered, but also hilarious, fielding questions from the crowd, including an inquiry on how to cook a unicorn. That’s as good as it got, people.
My experience at GoogaMooga was a free one, and wonderful weather in Prospect Park is always appreciated. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have certain expectations unfulfilled. Ultimately, we opted out on The Roots performance and the silent disco because we were starving. If my day begins with promises of a food festival served with music on the side, it shouldn’t end with an indifferent attitude towards the entertainment and a sit-​down dinner elsewhere.

Friends and I had the greatest misfortune of attending the «Great» Googa Mooga that felt more like the Great Eff You Festival on 5÷19÷12. The entire experience was horrendous, I think the people who organized this thing are incompetent and greedy S*Bs who do not appreciate the meaning of words like «capacity» and «operational logistics».
Upon entering the festival we stood in a 20 minutes line to get ID’s checked, we were a bit annoyed with standing in the line, but as we learned that was only the beginning of the nightmare. After the ID’s line we stood in another line for 1.5 hrs to buy a glass and drink tickets so we could order beer and wine in the tasting tents. Most of the businesses were cash only, except for Beverages tents that had a poor selection of beer and an hour long lines. Some people stood in the glass/​tickets line for hours and had no idea it was cash only until they got to the booth. There were no signs indicating that you needed to BUY plastic glasses in order to get served. The whole thing was very poorly organized. Everyone hated it.
It took us about 2.5 hours to get a beer. We were completely sober and hungry for 3 hours at a food and drinks festival.
The beer was very expensive, after you paid $ 2 for an 8oz glass, you could have the distinct pleasure of standing in another line to pay $ 20 – 24 for a pint of beer (except you got only 8oz at a time). And that after FOUR lines to get a drink: ticket check in line, ID check in line, glass/​booze tickets line and only then the line where you could purchase beer or wine.
Water was only available in the Beverage tents that had 1 hour lines. None of the food tents sold water, as far as I could tell; it was hot and you could not get a freaking drink unless you were willing to stay in a line to a restaurant tent and pay $ 5 – 6 for lemonade. I am pretty sure not providing adequate access to drinking water is against some kind of law.
People were dehydrated and tired, no one was enjoying themselves, a girl in line behind me talked about rationing water she brought with her. It was insane.
The food lines were obscene, on average it was 45min to an hour to get a tiny $ 6 – 15 sandwich. Each restaurant sold ONE item, so if you were hungry or wanted to try other things you spent 3 – 4 hours that day waiting in food lines. After being kept thirsty and hungry for hours we just kept on going to the restaurant that had the shortest line, not the restaurant that we actually would want to try. Around 5pm restaurants started running out of food. The organizers also run out of drink tickets, the beer tent closed down for 5 minutes. Horrible planning and even worse execution. Shame on everyone who was involved in this festival (namely Anthony Bourdain, David Rockwell, Tom Colicchio, Garrett Oliver, Paul Grieco, Eddie Huang and several others).
My feet are killing me, I’ve spent a total of about 30 minutes relaxing on my picnic blanket, the rest of the time was wasted standing in lines for hours on end to get food and drinks. I feel like I survived a great physical ordeal and that tomorrow I will need to pace myself just to be able to come to my senses and rest from this s**tshow before the week starts. Never again would I attend anything put together by these people.
Also there was supposed to be some kind of credit-​based wi-​fi system that failed around noon. Oops, you invited a few thousand people over and did not test the system? WTF!
My favorite part was a sign on the beer tent that read: «Card and Glass can be purchased at beer tent box office, cash or credit cards accepted, refunds available.» NO ONE, not the people selling beer, nor volunteers knew the location of this mystical beer tent box office, I scouted the entire perimeter, the box office simply did not exist; and the booths that sold glasses only took cash and there were absolutely no refunds on unused drink tickets. We, probably, ended up spending about $ 200 for the two of us and we were stuck there from 1 – 7:30pm, because friends wanted to see the Roots. It’s just such a freaking rip-​off. Not worth it, not even if it was free.
The only positives were that restaurant selection was good (Joseph Leonard — never got to try because lines were too big, Spotted Pig — never got to try for the same reason, MWells ($ 14 foie gras sandwich), DBGB and something Lobster were well priced and actually enjoyable. Wooden tables were a nice touch and there were a lot of portable toilets that weren’t too busy, which is understandable because no one could get a freaking drink.
Also Holy Ghost was a pretty good band.
We were so starved that upon leaving at 8:30pm we promptly found a place to eat in Park Slope.
TLDR; A complete fail and disappointment. Googa Mooga is where happiness goes to die.