LA BBQ Festival

They changed it up a bit with a AYCE entry pass good for 3 – 4 hours. It’s a pricey $ 60 ticket, even with an online code for the 10% discount. It’s only a good deal for a big eater, but i’d say it’s a nice summer experience.
There were a good 10 food vendors serving various dishes. Lots of pulled pork, great brisket, baby back ribs, plenty of bbq sauce. My favorite was BigMista’s pork candy, which was a very maple-​y coated thick cut bacon spiced like hotpepper jerky. It’s unlimited drinks, they had plenty of beer on tap. Also, water & soda. The same drink vendors served desserts, which included root beer floats, cupcakes (double chocolate, red velvet, & maplebacon), & banana cream pudding. They had a live band, plenty of seating.
Parked on lot for Santa monica pier, and the tents were set up literally in the parking lot.

OK, so it IS quite expensive for what you get (6 vendors, mostly from LA, all sort of in the 3-​star range) BUT, you’re gonna get a LOT of beer and some good music for the price, too.
I have never been to the previous BBQ Fests. This was my first time, and I have to say, they had to have improved upon prior years because this one was great.
The NJ booth beat everyone out for the best pulled BBQ pork, hands down (naturally) and the selection of beers was great: there was something for everyone.
The band, Petty Cash (Tom Petty/​Johnny Cash cover), couldn’t have been a better choice.
With individual tents for each group of people, it was neither too crowded nor too hot.
I will definitely be coming back next year!

So this past Saturday myself and 5 of my friends headed out to Santa Monica Pier for the 2^nd Annual BBQ festival. Since we heard bad reviews about the first year we where sorta hesitant. Once we dealt with all the traffic to get from Los Angeles to Santa Monica we had a really good time, we found parking very easily. actually the guy at the toll booth let us in free, so that was $ 10 bucks saved! It was also very easy to get our tickets at the will call area and in we went. First and most important thing to do was to get our Over 21 ID badges. Once that was taken care we started to walk around the festival to see all the different stations. Not to my surprise the longest line was for the alcohol station. Some 20mins or so we purchased drink tickets, it was very convenient to get our liquor of choice, no line waiting again we just had to go up to the half naked beer wenches and tell them what we wanted and we were served. I actually don’t like BBQ (ribs) which was basically all they had. I did find a Brisket station that was just right down delicious all for $ 10 which was the general cost for every station. Besides the brisket I had the most yummy mac & cheese that I’ve ever tasted and to top it off the best dutch apple cobbler made. I enjoyed hearing the Johnny Cash cover band Cash’D and the Beatles cover band that we just danced away too. My friends and I had a great time, the weather was perfect with just the right amount of sun with a cool breeze and as we walked to the car full and a little worn out we spoke on how much more fun it will be next year when we return.

So this is a review of the 2^nd Annual LA BBQ Festival which took place today at Santa Monica Beach. It was freakin amazing. I seriously am confused at the previous reviews since I went last year and it wasn’t that bad but this year was a definite improvement. The music and the food were rockin! The lines were not that long this year (5 – 10 minutes) and the crowd was veeeerrrryy attractive. Lots of good people watching. I discovered that I LOVE the Brazilian BBQ spot (Silvios) from Hermosa Beach and I grew up in Hermosa Beach. Had no idea it was that good. I will be heading over there in the near future for some of that bbq chicken churrasco which was to die for yummy. So maybe it is a good thing that some of the vendors are from L.A. because I will be cravin’ that chicken something fierce in the next few weeks. Yay, I can get it. What I can’t get is the amazing Kansas City Ribs from LC’s. Great sauce! This year they had A& W Root Beer floats which since I am not a big beer fan was a very good thing. My friends loved the Texas sausage but I’m not a sausage fan so I can’t testify. Smelled darn good though.
Overall my friends and I had a great time and are seriously considering going tomorrow. Should have planned to take Mom out for some Mother’s Day BBQ instead of Brunch. Hmmm, maybe I can still talk her into it… Or maybe have to settle for walking/​dragging her down to Silvio’s Bbq in Downtown Hermosa. Thank God I know its there now!

DON’T GO! Complete rip-​off. My boyfriend is from the midwest and loves bbq, so I bought a pair of tix to take him. The choices were limited to say the least. I stood in line for almost 30 min and that was the shortest line. I had to pay a ridiculous fee to get in (what the heck was I paying for? the music?) and the actual cost of food — which was not priced to offset the fee I paid to get it. And I agree with Nancy, what’s the point charging extra fees to taste local restaurants. My boyfriend was really disappointed and we took off right after getting our food. No tastings, no demonstrations, nothing.

i went last yr to the first annual BBQ fest. most poorly planned festival i have ever been/​heard/​seen in my life. i LOVE festivals. i LOVE bbq. i LOVE the beach. in theory, this should’ve been a shoo-​in.
NOPE.
first of all, the vendors were extremely limited (none were award winning) and half of them were from so cal which made me wonder, why the hell would i pay $ 10 for cover if i can drive down a mile and eat at the actual baby blues restaurant? and um, what the F is bristol farms doing there with chicken/​veggie kabobs. if you don’t LIVE/​LOVE/​EAT pork and beef, you shouldnt be going to a BBQ festival. stick to your tofu festivals and leave the pork consumption to us professionals.
second, there was ONE separate for drinks and RIDICULOUSLY long. SO long that we gave up and went to the pier and got my soda pop action going there.
third, the BBQ was mass produced and cold. i would’ve actually preferred if they had a microwave where we could nuke it for 60 seconds just to pretend like it was fresh off the grill
fourth, barely any seating/​shaded area and it was f’in SCORCHING. festival planning 101: rent TENTS, BENCHES, and TABLES.
before i EVER even consider going again, they need to fire the whole staff who planned that embarassing crap they call a BBQ festival last year and either hire me or someone who knows the BASICS of BBQ and FEASTING. BOO to people who ruin good ideas

Paid VIP 25 a piece and we made a weekend out of it LOL. We’re pretty hardcore, huh? This included a t-​shirt, coupons sorta like the Entertainment book and 2 days of eating BBQ for lunch on the beach was kinda cool but I thought it would be a bit bigger than it was. Only 6 or so BBQ restaurant choices were there with different sides, 2 dessert booths., and about 3 booths trying to sell vacation packages or whatever. Oh and they had live music. The drink vendor was BLOWING up. Huge ass line for drinks but as VIP we were able to cut in front; ] Don’t hate!
This was their 1^st annual and they’ll probably do it again because it was such a huge success. I’ll only go again if I find out there will be more interesting bbq related food samples/​more sauces/​crazy fun crafts booths.