I give it 5 stars but overall the event was way too crowded. Food fests are always mayhem but this…read morewas the high level form. You have to just bump your way in sometime eat up some place and try to grab that noodle or whatever dish you are eyeing. I like organized chaos so I didn't mind being bumped a little. This was the place to be last week, 50 hand picked restaurants serving all kinds of goodies and there were drinks and sweets to sample. I skipped most of the sweets and went down to just trying the real food. Some vendors ran out almost right away and since line was long outside I got in the spot after 730pm. I know Dough pretty much ran out first I guess each donut is expensive and all but once I got near the shelves on their carts were completely empty. Of course, so much food to still sample such as Luke's lobster (shrimp roll that I had more than twice). Line was not that bad actually, Boomwich was there, I think Fletcher's BBQ I looked for and didn't see but Ofrenda had one of my favorites. (See my pic of the taco, had that at least three times). STELLA ARTOIS was the official sponsor of the event and they made sure you were not thirsty. I had the beer and the cidre , awesome indeed. I was loving the vibe of the drink isle itself, so many beers like Southern tier and Sixpoint (multiple variations). Upstairs there were more vendors and VIP which I didn't get into but still experience was amazing. Veggie egg rolls and sliders were passed around. I was here with Monica and we both got our eats on. I was so stuffed for the rest of the night. Definitely a highlight of the year so far was to attend this event. I can't wait to come back next year.

What an awesome Friday night date! We went to The Village Voice 10th Annual Choice Eats Tasting…read moreEvent with friends and it was a feast! It was an evening of well dressed people engaging in staggered gluttony and too-many-bites-to-count with over 50 restaurants represented. We made sure to have a light lunch, arrive early and choose wisely which bites we wanted to use for our stomach-retail. The Metropolitan Pavilion is perfect for so many tables. The space was spacious and clean. The plaques above each table distinguished each table and types of food they were serving. There was DJ playing 90s and 2000s songs. VIP lounge upstairs, and free whisky glasses for drinks. This year, Guinness and Stok coffee sponsored and served the best drinks. Guinness introduced a pale ale that was cold and refreshing and great break from the massive amounts of food. And the Guinness table had a tangy light red ale that was so unique! Stok coffee offered 3 flavors. The not-too-sweet cold brew offered slightly sweet smooth coffee that was perfect digestif to the multiple meals. Food: Most of the food was ok. The stand outs were: 1) Kailash Parbat's crispy corn basket. This was crunchy basket of buttercorn and beans; it was so delightfully different and offered so much contrast of textures that it really stood out in my mind. 2) Seared scallop- it was perfectly seared and although it was sitting out, it still maintained its perfect firm texture and sweet oceanic flavor. 3) Chocolate from Confectionery. This dark piece of chocolate was sweet, tart with chewy tart raspberry gel was one of my favorite desserts of the night. 4) Raclette from El Raclette. This was gooey melted semi-hard cow's milk cheese is roasted and scraped onto a plate of roasted potatoes, pickled pearl onions and cornichons. This was one of my absolute favorites! If you are a fan of melted cheese, you must try this dish! The cheese was gooey, roasted and had bits of crunchy caramelized rind. It was heavenly. I liked it so much that I waited twice in line. 5) The passion fruit ice cream- ohhh! I loved this! This was my other fav dessert! I loved the tartness of the ice cream and buttery creaminess. It was a wonderful time! Thanks to our friends for the invite!

I have been wanting to attend Village Voice Choice Eats for a long time, but was always put off by…read morethe high price of the tickets (I never seem to be fast enough to nab those $70 general admission tickets). For their first ever Brunch Eats event, GA tickets were $60 and who can turn down an all you can eat brunch at 8pm? After going to a few different food events I really have to say the Voice seems to know what they're doing, and I feel much more confident shelling out the money for Choice. The event was extremely well organized. They picked a great venue (the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum), which was always kept clean, had adequate bathroom accommodations, space for both vendors and attendees, containers to hold your food samples, plastic ware, and garbage cans. I know that sounds like it would be common sense but I can't tell you how often these simple things are over looked at festivals and events. They even seemed able to book the right amount of vendors in proportion to attendees, so lines moved quickly even if they looked long. And the vendors they chose were great! Ess-a-Bagel was there with delicious smoked salmon and whitefish spreads on their fresh bagels. There was a fantastic Cuban pork sandwich with a red mojo sauce that I've forgotten the vendor of. There was ceviche, poached eggs, BLT's, french toast, tons of donuts. My favorite vendor by far though was Nha Minh, who made Duck Eggs and Vietnamese Ham in a Crepe Pinwheel with a chili oil made with dried seafood. WOW. It sounds as amazing and multi-faceted as it was. The booze selection was also excellent. There was a large beer station, as well a one for mimosas, Bloody Mary's and other vodka based cocktails (Eddy's Vodka), and Rose (Angel Whispers!). There were also a ton of freebies being given out by Haagen Dazs, Bark Thins, Uber Eats, Frames Bowling Alley. They had a live jazz band playing- such a nice backdrop! Plus we got to explore the museum a bit, and go up on deck at night and see the beautiful skyline views. I had a great time, left full, a little tipsy, with a tote full of goodies. The quality of the vendors as well as the organization of the event itself (not to mention that it's all you can eat and drink for three hours), made this a really good value. I'll definitely be attending more Voice events :)

If you like sake, this event is legit. It is crowded, but with an event this size, lines are kind…read moreof unavoidable--especially at entry and the most popular food stations. That said, the sake selection is top-tier. You'll be able to try bottles you won't find anywhere else outside of this event. The quality and variety alone make it stand out. The participating restaurants also crush it. The food and appetizers are excellent and pair really well with the sake. Is it worth the price? If you know, you know. You can easily taste $150 worth of sake within the first 15 minutes. On top of that, the vibe is great--everyone seems to be having a genuinely good time.

A few days ago on April 10th, this fun event was hosted at the Metropolitan Pavilion again from…read more6:30 to 9:30 which was around $145 per person. The line as noted by the other person were quite long but once you got into the main room, the lines are fine outside of maybe one or two of the food stations with a couple of the sake areas being a bit more crowded but it's easy enough to get samples. To make sure you don't get drunk and you can sample many different types of sake, most of the sakes outside of the booths are in pipettes so you can sample things and they have some labels for many of the sake consisting of stars for gold (black) or silver (white) at sake awards with anything with a * not being currently imported. I found a couple sakes that I was a big fan of which as expected were the more full bodied richer sakes (my photos are the ones which I enjoy the most) with my favorite being probably the unique three year snow aged Hakkaisan 'Yukimuro Chozo - Snow aged' 3 Year Old Junmai Ginjo Genshu Sake and the Taiheizan "Tenko 40" Heavenly Grace Taiheizan "Tenko 40" Heavenly Grace. Anyway as Yelp is more food oriented as am I, here were the food options with my remarks (there were also 4/5 more food options last year apparently.) In short, the biggest line was for Yopparai, my favorite was from Towa and Mishik, and Cha-An was very quick to finish. There was also some station which had sakura mochis which were terrible so I'm almost happy I don't remember the name. BondST and Steak Hokkaido Scallop Tartare- Japanese cucumber, jalapeño, myoga, red vein sorrel, chili oil, yuzu oil, lime zest. Good quality scallop. Flavors were a bit light otherwise. Cha-An Teahouse Matcha Tiramisu or Hojicha Tiramisu (with both desserts infused with sake.) I tried the matcha which as expected was excellent. Barely sweetened. Sakagura Tako and Iburigakko Yogurt- Octopus and iburigakko with tobiko, fresh shichimi pepper, micro vegetables, sake espuma. Didn't try as tentacle allergy. Others liked it Sake no Hana Hamachi Crudo- Sliced yellowtail served with satsuma mandarin ponzu, scallion oil, micro shiso. Didn't get to try. Juban Buta Kimchee- pork belly with kimchee. Solid. Pork belly wasn't too overly fatty with a light kick. Rule of Thirds New England-style Kanikama Roll- Imitation king crab, celery, cucumber, potato bun. Fun idea with the potato bun but it needed something to make it less dry (I'd say kewpie would be perfect.) Towa Seasonal Ohitashi- Boiled spinach in sudachi-flavored soy sauce topped with shiitake mushrooms, snow crab and ikura. Outstanding/my favorite. Nice sweetness from the seafood with a nice citrusy soy which mixed well with the cold spinach. Yopparai- Yopparai Signature Oden- Traditional Japanese "soul food" of assorted fish cakes and vegetables simmered in a dashi broth. Very tasty broth/I could see why they were crowded. Good quality tofu skin pocket/inari in particular. Sen Sakana Ceviche Nikkei (Torched Salmon Ceviche-)yuzu leche de tigre, crispy Peruvian corn. Not spiced enough but good enough quality salmon. Alright. Hirohisa Aosa Seaweed and Wakame Soup. A bit too bland for my liking. Zuma Truffle Hamachi Tartare- Hamachi tartare with truffle mayo served on a miso brioche bun. OK. Truffle was a bit overpowering for the delicate fish. Mishik Sakura Honmaguro- Cherry wood chip-smoked bluefin tuna tataki, citrus ponzu, almond, mango. 2nd best of the night. Good quality fish and good pairing. Slurpeak Marco Polo Lasagna- Nicely spiced One Bite Shakshuka- Tasty also Sen Sag Harbor Uni Panna Cotta with Hokkaido Scallops- Panna cotta infused with uni topped with sweet Hokkaido scallops marinated in yuzu olive oil. This was available with black or red tobiko. Odd texture for the cold panna cotta with the chopped scallops. Not my favorite but unique at least. Sushi by Bou Holy Hotness Maki- OK. Nice chili oil Chopped Tuna- Good Wayla Karee Chicken Puffs- Potato, onion, sweet potato, white pepper, turmeric. Alright. Good texture. Filling was lacking in curry spice The food was overall good and it's hard to complain when I got around 4 glasses of good quality sake plus 13 different bites or so. I would likely go back next year unless the price goes up too much.

It was that time of year again. It was the 8th Annual Taste of the Village. Which is a Food Event…read moreto help raise funds to remodel and maintain the Village. I was in attendance once again this year. There was unlimited beer from Brooklyn Lager and wine all over. Numerous restos and places in the Village were apart of this event: Alma 33 Amber Argo Tea Brooklyn Brewery Centro Vinoteca Citarella 8th Street Wine Cellar Fizzy Lizy Gizzi's Gusto Ristorante Jack Bistro Knickerbocker Bar & Grill La Palapa Cocina Mexicana Le Pain Quotidien Murray's North Square One If By Land Otto Enoteca Pizzeria Paumanok Wines Pellegrini ineyards Rabbit In The Moon Sushi Samba 7 Sushi Yawa The Lion The Nutbox Wolffer Estate Vineyard Great food such as Braised Veal, Lamb Sliders, Caviar Pie, Numerous Desserts, Sushi, Cheese and Soups. A very fun event for a good cause.

when my friend first told me that it was $50... I was like HECK NO. I'm a poor student trying to…read morespread $50 over a week. However... it was one of the best uses of $50 of my life. So many restaurants featured their dishes here. I won't go through and list all of them here, but as soon as I walked in, the first bite was a curried scallop and it was perfect. The night just continued with so much great food and we also got a lot of free stuff. Some foods weren't that great; however, there were like 30 different restaurants so if you don't like a few that's fine. I would definitely go again. Make sure you go when you are hungry, because you will be stuffed.

Came here to see Holy Ghost and New Order....not a bad venue. Standing room only but its a giant…read morespace. Its a "park"...an industrial park, so don't go looking for any shrubbery.

Great place to see a show. I was here for 2012 Mad Decent Block Party. The stage itself is pretty…read morebig. I had a great view right in the middle of the stage right near the first actual section. There is still a great deal of the stage you can see if you are in the second complete section. I agree this place is a huge open lot and not really a giant park. The day was great, venue was perfect but then this crazy storm hit and they shut the place down early. Look forward to come back here though. -The Mad Decent party itself was just that MAD DECENT. I did get a bit shocked that the damn storm came and ruined my chance to see MAJOR LAZER. Loved some of the food sponsors that were here as well, and Free Vitamin Water, how can you complain about that. By the time I got there, everyone was inside I guess, no hassles at the gate and no massive list that they had to search for every name.

This festival exemplifies the the insane craft beer scene exploding in the Us. 56 of the best IPAs…read moreavailable on the east coast. 3 food trucks which could have been better. Otherwise superb.

Revised review-…read more 5Boro fair removed the poster art that they purchased from an artist that stole Jeff Wood's Allman Brothers poster and replaced all the words with the beer festival information. Thank you. I raised my Yelp from 1 to 3 stars. I would have raised it more if the poster wasn't from the Beacon in NYC. They had to have seen the poster before, seeing this beer festival was in the 5boro's. Original post- They stole the art for their poster from Jeff Wood. http://zendragongallery.com/products/the-allman-brothers-band-2012-beacon

Best Beerfest I have truly ever been to and I go to fest allover USA! Great Beers and food all we…read morecould handle and beers we never tasted before........The band was great and lines were short so we had chance to taste everything!

OMG! What an insane upgrade to the last time I attended this pop-up event two years ago in SoHo. I…read morewas wowed by the amazing technology they are using now. When you check-in you will receive a magnet key. You and your group will be huddled into a room, lights will dim, place your magnet key on the scanner before you and voila. The magic begins. The Johnny Walker spokesperson (forgot his name) will guide you through a 30 minute whiskey tasting session which was really cool. Our names popped up on the huge digital table in front of us. It was very very cool. Props to the lighting/design person who put this together. As they describe the different flavors and aromas the lighting changes accordingly. Loved the unique concept. After the session is over, the real fun begins. They had four stations set up for different types of Johnny Walker whiskey (including Blue Label). We spent almost 3 hours there. The drinks were very strong and the finale was awesome!! The Blue Label tasting was hosted by the brand ambassador with a one-man orchestra. It was kinda funny and definitely something I've never experienced before. Amazing venue! Amazing Event! FYI, if you sign up for their mailing list on the website you will get emails for the events. Do your research! This is definitely something to attend and reservations fill up very fast.

Great event. If you enjoy JW but you've never been to their events, sign yourself up on their…read moremailing list and thank me later. You will not regret it. Johnny Walker stations, Passed h'or d'ouerves, tastings, a led musical tasting of the JW Blue along with historical tidbits and other goodies made the trek to 10th Avenue totally worth it. See you at the next event--- where they may unleash JW green. Cheers!