Cochon 555

Pork on Pork. Who’s headed to the Grand Conchon at Aspen Food and Wine? We will see!
Excellent tasting of five great chefs in the city. Pork with each’s individual spin on it.

Cochon555 was pretty awesome! I had a great time! I love the concept of 5 pigs, 5 wines, and 5 chefs. And then everyone gets one vote and the winner then gets to go on to the grand Cochon in Aspen for their Food and Wine Festival in June!
My favorite dish was from chef Alex at the Vegabond. Spicy dishes The Ramen dish from Pubbelly was also amazing; I’m enjoying this ramen craze!
I also really enjoyed the mezcal and tequila stands; it was educational and delightful!
The reason I am giving this event 4 and not 5 stars is because I wasn’t too impressed with the desserts in the end, nor the the call Gin drink. As I have no problem paying $ 130 for a GA ticket, I don’t think it was completely worth $ 130.
I do plan to go back next year and I very much look forward to it!

holy lechon! prepare to be a gluttonous fool here, get here early, like right on time as certain dishes are gone fast and you may miss the most delicious plate in your life if its gone if you show up miami time. choose wisely as there is a lot to try and you don’t want to fill up on mediocre (even though that’s difficult to find at a quality event like this) it was located at the loews this year. lots and lots of delicious pork, vinos galore, dessert and boozy drinks. I was lucky enough to win these tix thru Unilocal miami (thanks cassie) but i could see myself payin for this event in the future. im still dreamin of some of the dishes i tried here months later

Cochon — I’d always wanted to attend this event, but it was never in the cards until yesterday, the 2014 edition. The concept here is simple — five local chefs with five pigs. A select group of judges get to vote on which chef gets to represent Miami at Grand Cochon in Aspen. The rest of us get to eat and drink without all that serious judging business… though for this event, the wisdom of the crowd and the opinion of the judges pretty much matched up.
The competitors were:
Aaron Brooks (Edge Steak & Bar)
Conor Hanlon (The Dutch)
Bradley Herron (Michael’s Genuine)
Dena Marino (MC Kitchen)
Jose Mendin (Pubbelly)
That’s a tough competition to be sure, but pre-​event, I had handicapped Aaron and Jose as the front-​runners. Let’s be real — first of all, chef Brooks cooks meat as well as anyone in town, has home field advantage, and has won this event before. Second, chef Mendin’s Pubbelly empire is a force to be reckoned with regarding all things porcine.
It didn’t start off so well for me. The welcome cocktail from Four Roses was godawful, tasting like straight-​up bourbon and Band-​Aids. Maybe if you were a hardcore bourbon junkie, you enjoyed this, but otherwise, it was way too strong and one-​dimensional. Same goes for «The Perfect Manhattan» I tried shortly thereafter, which was just as much of a joke; basically a glass full of whiskey and ice. Terrible… and here I was thinking that the cocktails were going to be great at this event. If you’re just going to pour bourbon, without putting any kind of thought or deft touch into your cocktails, do that and say you’re doing that.
The «Mojito Ale» courtesy of Edge fared much better, and then finally, when I tried one of the Michael’s Genuine punches, I’d hit the cocktail Nirvana I was looking for. This one was intensely herbal and somewhat bitter with tea flavors going on as well. I’m a big fan of putting tea and fresh herbs in cocktails, and this one hit all the right notes for me.
Goose Island was providing the beer, and Matilda & Sofie made for perfect pairings with the food, as those two typically do with many foods. Matilda in particular even crushed it with dessert. Still, I know that Miami’s own Gravity Brewlab had participated in this event last year, and it would have been nice to have had some funky local brews showcased as well. The chefs were all local; why can’t Cochon throw a bone to a local brewer as well? I know that Goose was the main presenting sponsor and likely paid a tidy sum for that privilege, but surely the two could have coexisted.
Food-​wise, my favorites were Pubbelly’s mofongo with chicharron powder, Edge’s ultra-​smoky baked beans, Edge’s macaron, and the Dutch’s bacon ice cream dish. Of course, Jose Mendin and Pubbelly took the competition, which probably came as a shock to no one in the crowd. Rounding out the evening was a cheese display from Rogue Creamery and Vermont Creamery… there’s always room for a little cheese course, especially when Rogue’s Smokey Blue enters the equation.
It’s the day after, and I’m still recovering from the debauchery. Fun event. A little crowded and possibly oversold, especially as the evening wore on. I like the Brickell Four Seasons, but this event could stand a little bit larger of a room.

A Review of Cochon 555 — Miami Edition
Posted on April 22, 2013
The EDGE Steak Bar Prevails at Cochon 555
If you are a swine lover, a bad Jew or just Cuban, you are going to feel like a jackass for missing Cochon 555 this past Sunday April 21^st. Cochon 555 returned to Miami a second year in its five year history at the Four Seasons in Brickell. The traveling tour gathers five chefs, five pigs, and five wineries at ten cities throughout the country promoting sustainable farming of heritage breed pigs. This gourmet exquisite tasting featured five of Miami’s most talented chefs in an epic pork cook off competition. Each chef had to prepare dishes using an entire 200 pound heritage-​pig from snout-​to-​tail. Both judges and attendees voted for their favorite. The competing chefs were: EDGE Steak & Bar Aaron Brooks, Timon Balloo from Sugarcane, Jeffrey McInnis from the gem Yardbird, David Thomas of the trendy SLS’s The Bazaar and Cesar Zapata of The Federal. Even if you’ve never been a fan of «the other white meat» with a line-​up like this, this would have been the place to try it.
The well-​deserving Chef Aaron Brooks of EDGE Steak & Bar destroyed the competition and took home the trophy. In addition, guests were treated to wines from five boutique family-​owned wineries including Elk Cove Vineyards, Bethel Heights, Hamacher, Montinore, and Alloro. As well as tastings from Vibrant Rioja, Anchor Brewing, Eminent Domaine, Crispin Cider and the delectable Kerrygold Cheese. Their Dubliner Cheese with Irishstout and Cashel Blue Cheese were both magnificent.
Its refreshing to attend a food competition where the judges have sophisticated palates that actually concur with our own. All five chefs had awesome food but only EDGE had zero misses. Everything they served was stupendous and earned first place by a mile. Besides the food being marvelous, they were fully stocked with a full sampling of all dishes the entire night. Other teams were incessantly missing dishes and racing to get them out, some never to be restocked, to our disappointment.
Since EDGE was beyond sensational we are going to highlight every glorious dish they graciously served up. They started with a head cheese pastelito. The pastry was the perfect balance of salty meat and sweetness. The highlight was a deliriously addictive kielbasa that was easily, the best dish of the night. The kielbasa was served on a skewer with a cube of pink lady apples, smoked maple syrup and mustard. A porchetta sandwich with shaved foot, pickles and habanero jelly was solid, as well. Next up, was a mix of clam & pork with roasted garlic, three chilis and coconut. The way all the tastes intertwined in a savory eye-​opening fashion was heavenly. There was a scrumptious smoked pork rib chili with blue cheese and fried tortillas. For dessert, an appetizing hot chocolate bacon brownie with chocolate ice cream and piggy crumbs. Kudos to Chef Aaron Brooks and his team. Flawless Victory!
We adore the Yardbird. It’s one of our favorite spots. We thought its addictive corn dog (cornmeal crusted head cheese pâté with adorable tiny tubes of pork rendered dijonnaise) was the second best dish of the night. The cheese and relish stuffed mortadella dog was quite tasty, as well. They were our second favorite pork outlet.
The Bazaar by far had the most inventive dishes but only two really stood out — The butifarra fabada (Spanish style sausage, cannellini beans and cilantro) and their oaxacan chocolate, smoked lard and salt chocolate bars. They were quite creative with the bourbon and bacon cotton candy and dragon’s breath pork rinds.
Sugarcane had a scrumptious dish with its sticky rice wrapped in lotus (char Sui loin, soy marinated bacon and homemade Chinese sausage). We unfortunately never got to try their Vietnamese bun with lemongrass and tea smoked pig butt, steamed pork meatball and chili pig ear but we hear it kicked major pig ass.
The Federal also had some great dishes with its Chicago hotdog (mortadella mousse, tomato jalapeño relish and spicy mustard) as well as their cracker jacks (lard popped popcorn, salty whiskey caramel, pork skin, peanuts, cocoa nibs and chiplote).
The fest was ridiculously fun. Phenomenal food, drinks and cool people all out for a great cause. Your sexy Shedonist was blowing nitrogen smoke with Deco Drive’s Louis Aguirre and Maria the Foodaholic. There was a piggy photo booth, a cocktail competition, a tartare bar manned by Todd Erickson of Haven Lounge (one of our favorite spots in Miami), a pig was butchered and auctioned off and even a game of «Pin the tail on the Piggy.» Chef Brooks will have a chance to compete against the nine other winners at the Cochon Championship in Aspen. We probably will not be able to make it there to show our support, but based on his stellar showing he has a great shot at taking home the golden pig.

Cochon 555, first year hopefully not my last. We were fortunate enough to get VIP tickets, we arrived right at 4pm. No long lines, no waiting, the doors opened and we were off. First table we saw in the foyer was Unilocal with the ever so lovely Jeny and George M. (The Yibbies), they were doing a great job meeting and greeting. The event was set up in a large banquet room which made it very easy to get around with no crowds.
The five chef’s had their own corners where they were cooking up a ton of food. Then they had tables of bourbon shaken and mixed right in front of you then you were given the cutest little mason jar filled with your cocktail. They had a few wine tables which I seemed to hit one in particular for several hours. They had Elk Cove Pinot Noir from Willamette, Oregon. A 97 point rated Pinot along with some single vineyard Pinot Noir’s, thank you for being at this event because I enjoyed sipping on your lovely wines.
Yes, there surely was a wide range of food, bacon strips in glasses on tables, bacon chocolate ice cream, bacon was everywhere it seemed! Even bacon cotton candy, say what? Crazy Every chef prepared different bites, oh my I tried pork in a sticky bun that was so good. Edge Steakhouse IMO had the best food. clams with pork, pork sandwiches, and brownies with bacon ice cream. Yes the chef from Edge won that evening and I was quite happy about that. The coolest part was not only were you able to sample every chef’s menu then you also got to vote for your favorite.
They had plenty of beer as well and other cocktails. No doubt there was plenty of food and drink and I really enjoyed being able to move around without being elbow to elbow. Great job on the venue, the food was so creative and delicious from all the chef’s and it was a very fun event. Coolest part was hanging out with our amazing Johnny T., the Yibbies and Will & Jax. Fun times were had.
Thank you so very much Johnny for the awesome hook up. We thoroughly enjoyed it.