EVENT: Pigging Out, No Regrets -- Village Voice's Choice Eats 2016

[Photos by Conor Rose]

Village Voice's Choice Eats is the only event in the entire world where you can be a pig, but you really wish you were a cow. Three extra stomachs would have been real useful last Friday in a venue packed with over 50 restaurants to sample. Regardless, we conquered as much as we could, and stepped (rolled?) out of the Metropolitan Pavilion as more than just pigs - pigs stuffed with squid, carne asada, chicken wings, lamb, goat neck, chorizo, and all the other animals (and vegetables, and desserts) that exist in the universe.

With the utmost teamwork, we collectively sampled maybe half of the lineup, splitting between the gluten-less and gluten-full items. Tackling the taco side, of which plenty were in abundance, No. 7 Veggie's double decker broccoli taco surprisingly took our top taco spot despite its meatlessness with a hard shell, soft shell, black bean hummus, roasted-shredded-then-sauteed broccoli, feta cheese, and crispy shallots. For a much meatier experience, on the sandwich end, the two clear winners were Untamed Sandwiches' Bob Dominik (packed with spicy tomato braised meatballs, black garlic butter, whipped pecorino cheese, and soft herbs) and BOOMWICH's Reubenese (a pretzel brioche bun stuffed with smoked pastrami, fresh mozz, sauerkraut, and Chinese mustard). A close runner up was Genuine Superette's Baja Burger topped with cotija cheese, charred jalapeno mayo, and pickled jalapeno on a soft, buttery bun.

There were many other notable dishes - Mable's Smokehouse concocted every stoner's fantasy with their State Fair Frito Pie served straight from the Fritos bag, eaten with a fork. Fonda's pollo con mole blanco (slow-cooked chicken smothered in a white almond sauce with capers, olives, pickled jalapenos and a side of spicy poblano rice) was my other personal favorite and that dish alone is urging me to visit their spot. We were also into the Gander's spin on pork and beans - pressed bacon, molasses, baked lima beans, and mint. To round out the sweets, every bite ever consumed of Ample Hills' Salted Crack Caramel ice cream convinces anyone more and more of what must be its actual crack ingredient

Throughout the night, we couldn't stray from washing everything down with a little bit of, well, everything. Flying Dog's Bloodline Blood Orange IPA, Califia Farms' White Russians, Bird Dog's chocolate flavored whiskey - the list goes on and on with all that was happily churning away together with everything else we stuffed ourselves with. The end of the night got a bit blurry especially as we're both huge Herradura fans - the tequila didn't fail to impress us with both their margarita and paloma, so much so that we maaaybe each tried the paloma twice. Multiple bladders, and livers, probably would have been a good idea too.

Luckily, we've captured everything through photos. For more, scroll through, and for more information on Choice Eats, visit the official event website.