Greer's OC

Get ready for two glorious pork-filled days when the Queen Mary welcomes back the annual Big Bite Bacon Fest on Aug 1-2 with non-stop bacon, beer and pork-inspired entertainment.

Local restaurants and chefs will offer sweet and savory samples of pork delicacies to show off their culinary skills. Festivalgoers can also enjoy their favorite pork cuisine with craft beer samples from multiple local brew houses.

You can look forward to tasking samples from the winner of the 2014 People’s Choice for Best Bacon Award, Bigmista’s BBQ, as well as chefs from favorite local hotspots including Red Leprechaun and Rajin Cajun Café.

Rick Garcia of Dia De Los Puercos created the Hog Pocket for BBBF and is back with his new associate chef, Chef Isaiah, 16, who has worked in his family restaurants for many years and is the youngest chef at BBBF.  He co-owns the FryFry Truck and will offer a sampling of bacon poutine style fries. Chef Bev Lazo was featured on Food Network's "Best Thing I've Ever Made" and for the Bacon Fest she's working on perfecting a Bacon Kim Chee fried rice and Bacon topped gazpacho.

Other star chefs participating include Ricardo Heredia, Winner of the World Bacon Title and World Food Championships, and Jodi Taffel, deemed “The Bacon Babe” will go toe to toe with the best bacon treats their kitchens can turn out. More bacon treats will come from Slater’s 50/50, Stuffin’it Burger Truck, Sweet Lou’s BBQ Truck, OC Donut Bar, Chunk N’ Chip, Twisted Sweets, Hula’s Hawaiian, and Whole Foods.

The Big Bite Bacon Fest will offer a choice of a daytime or evening tasting session on Saturday, Aug. 1 and one daytime tasting session on Sunday, Aug. 2. VIP bacon lovers will gain entry to the event one hour prior to all other guests, have access to the exclusive VIP bacon lounge, and receive a souvenir cup, beer caddy and opportunity to take a self-guided tour of the Queen Mary ship. Special Bacon Lovers packages are also available.

Tickets for the Big Bite Bacon Fest start at just $35 online for general admission. For more information about and to purchase tickets visit bigbiteevents.com.

The Queen Mary is located at 1126 Queens Highway in Long Beach.

​Big Bite Bacon Fest Giveaway

We are giving away a pair of general admission tickets to the Big Bite Bacon Fest. Simply leave a comment on our Facebook page. The tickets are good for three hours of bacon and pork nirvana with dozens of local restaurants, chefs and vendors providing tastes. Pork inspired entertainment from bands to lawn games including access aboard the majestic Queen Mary for self-guided tour.

Chef Rick Garcia and Chef Bev Lazo

For longtime fans of Chef Rick Garcia’s popular food truck, Dia De Los Puercos, which is currently on hiatus while he’s working on a project to be announced soon and especially for those who attended last year’s Del Mar Bacon Fest, you’ll remember his Hog Pocket that was a huge hit with bacon fans.

The Hog Pocket is back this year; it’s an empanada stuffed with peanut butter, grape jelly and bacon, then battered and fried, rolled in churro dust, with condensed milk and more bacon on top. Chef Garcia and his team that includes chef Isaiah who at 16 years old is one of the most impressive chefs—driven and motivated at such a young age—will be making 4,500 portions for the Bacon Fest.

Garcia credits his culinary education at Cordon Bleu in Pasadena as well as his 7 year experience as an executive chef at Hilton Hotels and other restaurant work for his love of learning all aspects of working in the kitchen and looks forward to watching chef Isaiah’s blossoming career. Isaiah works 12-hour days on his business, the FryFry Truck  and never complains. “He is a sponge, appreciative, respectful and goal oriented,” Garcia said. 

Garcia is thrilled to be participating in this year’s Big Bite Bacon Fest. He says that watching the reaction from people who taste his food is the most rewarding aspect. “People enjoying the food that I’ve created and giving feedback is so exciting to me, even if it’s constructive criticism,” Garcia said. “I can take it.”

“Bacon should be its own food group,” Garcia said. “It’s a universal product that can be used in so many different dishes—smoke it, slice it, wrap it, stuff it. I can’t wait to see all of the other interesting dishes that come out of the sessions.”

Chef Bev Lazo who is currently the executive chef at the Wine Lab at the Camp in Costa Mesa where she’s offering an extraordinary menu of tapas and small plates such The Vizzini, with toasted OC Baking Company bread, almond butter, apricot jam, and speck, served with kettle chips, and cornichons; and her version of the Cubano, the Panini Babaluwith roasted pork, jamon serrano, house made relish, wholegrain mustard, and camembert cheese on a buttery toasted baguette, served with kettle chips will also be a featured chef at the Big Bite Bacon Fest.

Her food is comforting, influenced by the Philippines and for the Big Bite Bacon Fest she’s preparing Bacon Kim Chee fried rice and Bacon topped gazpacho. It’s a Southeast Asian fusion dish with jasmine rice, scrambled eggs, Filipino soy sauce, and she’s even making her own smoked honey sriracha bacon that she will brine for ten days, and at the end she’ll add chicharrón.

She’s no stranger to competition as she was also a contestant on “Hell’s Kitchen” and says it’s all about having fun and tasting good foods. She credits her hands-on training at Long Beach City College’s culinary school where she learned every last detail of working in a kitchen.

 “I love bacon—it just goes great in all dishes, it’s comforting and the when it’s cooking the smell just hits you, “ Lazo said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing the great chefs and Bacon Mania, Chunk N’ Chip, Slater’s and tasting the foods.”

 You can look out for her Lazo, Garcia and Isaiah and taste their great bacon treats on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 1-2 at the Big Bite Bacon Fest.