Pig Island

Pig Island 2015 was super fun. We bought our tickets through a deal site, and it ended up being $ 60, which is a phenomenal deal for unlimited food plates, Sixpoint beers, and whiskey/​gin/​vodka samples.
The entire concept of Pig Island is pretty cool. They provide restaurants/​vendors with a whole pig and their task is to come up with 1,000 portions of something with it.
The only thing that sucked was trying to get in. You had to go all the way around the Ikea parking lot, with hired security telling you that you weren’t at the entrance yet. But once you got in, it was food and booze galore. Pork as far as the eye could see.
The lines weren’t bad. Only a few had long lines, including Ends Meats, who my friends know from their charcuterie club. We had all sorts of awesome and inventive pork dishes. I drank way too much that day, so I can’t call out any specific ones, but trust me, they were there!
All told, it was a great venue, lasted a lot longer than anyone had reason to be eating/​drinking, and met some cool people. And also, some not so cool people. But that’s a story for a different time…

I had an amazing time at Pig Island, all thanks to winning tickets in a contest by Unilocal (thanks guys!). We got there around an hour in, but lines were still extremely reasonable and the party was still popping until close.
The highlights:
+ So many incredible and diverse pork options. I ate until the point of pain without repeating a single dish and then had to spend an hour in Ikea walking it off (no complaints there).
+ Pork Belly s’mores (NOM)
+ Great live music
+ Large open venue space with plenty of room for all the attendees
+ Very manageable lines
+ Staff was incredibly helpful and pleasant
The lows:
+ Water. Please, more water for attendees. There were plenty of full-​sized alcoholic options at the bar and samples of non-​alcoholic drinks around the event, but no water. We eventually found out that some of the bar areas had tiny water bottles for the chefs/​crews, but we had to barter our firstborn children to get them.
+ I know this is ridiculous to say at a pig festival, but 1 or 2 more stands with non-​pig related items or sweet treats would have been nice. I love pig as much as the next guy, but I wanted something different every once in a while to cleanse and refresh my palate.
Overall, great event! Would definitely return next year to see how Pig Island evolves (and eat until I have another pig belly).

We really enjoyed our time at pig island. We got there early, got parking right away in the lot, and spent almost the entire 5 hours nibbling, hanging out on the grass in great weather, playing heads up with friends, etc.
The only criticism is that after so much meat you want something sweet and the desserts were slim to none. I believe I counted 3: teeny «s’mores» — which had a really long line because there was one guy toasting each marshmallow by hand before dipping it in chocolate and placing it on a small cookie, a chocolate chip cookie on the side of a pork dish, and some pretzels near the entrance to the event.
Besides that, the food was fabulous and I really enjoyed the vegetarian vendor serving salads (although that line was by far the longest every time I would pass by).

This was 100 times better than last year. Much smaller crowd, not sure if people stayed away because of the issues in 2014 but tickets were still available right before they opened up. Though it helped that the weather cooperated, the setup itself was way better. Beer and cider was everywhere you looked and as someone else stated, never waited in line more than a couple of minutes.
The food was just as amazing as last year, with returning vendors and a few new ones. There were short lines at most stands and I’m sorry to say that I was too full to get to try every single one of them. This seems to be one of those events that I will be at every year and I’m already counting the days to the next one.
I didn’t see a Unilocal table though… what’s up with that?

So, we hit this event again and had a great time! Once again, made sure were were one of the first to arrive and pretty much had the first half hour to ourselves. Nothing like some booze and pork for breakfast. Winning!
Unlimited pork, pig, piggy, BBQ, beer, cider, and whiskey! Happy Happy!
They must have heeded the advice and opinions of last year’s event participants because it was definitely not as crowded.
Seems like more beer and cider stands were set up throughout and I never waited more than a few seconds to grab a beer. Some good cider options on hand too. This year’s event featured whiskey, along with a large wine booth set up on the grassy area. So easy to get a good buzz on.
So many terrific vendors showcasing their BBQ and pork products. Lots to choose from. Some lines were long for the popular booths but moved at a decent pace. Some were easy just to walk up to and feast away!
We also lucked out with a cloudy day and it was much cooler out. Partied hard and then took the free water taxi back to Manhattan.
Another wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon and close out the Summer season as I waddled home with a food and booze baby.

I was really looking forward to this event after having very much enjoyed the 2012 event at Governor’s Island. The 2014 event was so disappointing in so many ways.
Nobody can be blamed for the 100 degree weather that day, but not being able to get a beer at the very few stands that served it should have been very easily avoided. Particularly at the extremely high price-​point for entry. Does anyone really want to spend over an hour standing in a line, just to get a beer, while having paid an $ 80 entry fee? The location, which feels like an extension of the Ikea parking lot also leaves much to be desired. The food was good, but there just seemed to be too many people at the event, making it difficult to enjoy.
I hope the organizers pull something better together this year. While I love good BBQ, I will not be attending again.

We took the ferry. It was an epic line but we were at Pig Island in less than 8 minutes.
Tons of pig stands. The pig options ranged from Hawaiian wrapped in seaweed to Thai sliders and classic pulled pork BBQ.
They even had key lime tarts from Steve’s.
Only problem was there were not enough beverage options and it was almost 100 degrees.
Maybe next year they will balance out by adding more beverages to the mix.
They could also have chosen a better band.
Wait to go back to the city was 45 min. We survived. Barely. Will be back. Hopefully with a few tweaks it will be better next year.