Where can you get bacon on EVERYTHING? Bacon Fest at Fraze Pavilion of course. I went, saw, tasted, and voted. Here are the results.
The 7th Annual Bacon Fest brought thousands to Fraze Pavilion to experience all the dishes local chefs can come up to star one of our favorite foods and they were not disappointed. Among the offerings were nachos, fries, empanadas, tacos, pizza, sundaes, grilled cheese, chocolate-covered bacon and more.
The judging is done blindly, not wearing blindfolds, but without announcing who submitted each item. Passersby often asked “where did you get that?”, to which we answered, “we don’t know”. That earned us a lot of funny looks until we explained that we were judges and not told which vendor the items came from.
Over the course of about 3 hours, our pool of four judges including WTUE’s John Bman Beaulieu tasted seventeen items. The judging started with loaded nachos and ended with a perfect bacon-topped brownie bite. Once the tasting was done, we awarded four “Bests” and the people chose one.
And the winners are:
Best Composed Bacon Dish – Rolling Indulgence (read more about the Food Network stars from Carvers) - Buttered BLT with Bacon Dressing - Served on a moist multigrain bread, loaded with bacon, a seasonal slice of tomato and lettuce. The presentation was perfect too.
Best Dessert – Sweet Umms Chocolatier - Sweet Potato Bacon Dream Cake was heavenly.
Most Creative – El Meson’s Cheesecake and Bacon Bombs - cheesecake balls covered in bacon topped with a sweet syrup.
Critics Choice – Amber Rose Applewood Smoked Bacon White Cheddar Mac-N-Cheese. Loaded with bacon and sharp white cheddar, the critics choice was unanimous.
Peoples Choice for Most Baconlicious – Rolling Indulgence – Whether it was the Buttered BLT with Bacon Dressing, the Maple Bacon Brownie, or both, the crew from Carvers were a hit!
For more on Rolling Indulgence, read this: Great Food Truck Race' Food Truck ‘Rolling Indulgence’ to debut at Bacon Fest
