Pig Island

Last Saturday, we decided to check out Pig Island - a big porkfest (heh) on Governor's Island. We had been meaning to go over to Governor's Island all summer, but hadn't made it yet, so an $85 all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink (beer, wine & cider) porkfest seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We walked the lovely 1 mile walk over to Pier 6 to catch the free ferry to Governor's Island, only to see it pulling away as we walked up. No worries, though, it was scheduled to run every 20 min. However, we baked in the sun for 45 minutes before it finally came back and we boarded and got underway. Eek! Luckily, it was only a 5 min ride.

My immediate impression was that Governor's Island is a beautiful, peaceful little oasis in the middle of this gigantic, crazy city. You can rent kayaks and bikes there and just spend a leisurely day enjoying some amazing scenery.

From L to R: New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn

But we weren't there for that - we were there for the pig. So we followed the well-placed signs and the smell of smoked meats and found our spot. Now, I was a bit worried that this event was going to be a bit of a shitshow, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was mostly in the shade. It was not over-sold, as I'd feared. There were a lot of people, but it wasn't crowded and the lines weren't long (in general - more on that later). They didn't run out of beer, there was plenty of space for people to spread out and there were no lines for the port-o-potties. And there was delicious pork.

There were a couple of highlights of the day. First, I got to meet Dale Talde, who was a contestant on "Top Chef" season 4 and who has 2 restaurants here in Brooklyn. We went to his restaurant Talde for my birthday and had a great meal. He's recently opened a new place, Pork Slope, that I'm dying to go to. I've gotta say, too, that the 2 dishes his crew were serving up were absolutely my favorites of the day. I regret that I didn't take pictures of them. Chef Dale was friendly and gracious when I complimented his work, and he let me take this picture of him, even though he was obviously hot, exhausted, and probably tired of posing for pictures.

Chef Dale Talde

I should mention that Palo Santo was a close runner-up. Maybe so close that they were equally as delicious.

Another highlight was trying Beer, Bacon, Chocolate Fondue - even though we waited in line for about 30 minutes for it. This chef had combined various types of chocolate, some beer and copious amounts of bacon grease to make a fondue. He then dipped chunks of thick-cut fried bacon into the fondue. It sounds weird and gross, but it was amazing.

Beer Bacon Chocolate Fondue

The final highlight was when I walked up to one table that had a whole pig lying stretched out on the table. The woman serving, asked me, "Do you want to spank our pig on his butt? He's been a baaaad pig." How could I resist that?

Pig Butt

A couple of other items to note - I seriously contemplated how I could steal this & bring it home with me:

This girl clearly has no friends (even though she was with a boyfriend-type person and another couple) because they let her leave the house like this:

Strapless Body Suit + Lace Shorts

Is this supposed to be read as WHOLE PIG weiner or whole PIG WEINER? Either way, it was a delicious weiner.

All-in-all, it was a fabulous day and we will definitely attend this event next year. We would LOVE to have some of our friends come into town & join us!