Announcing the Great American Food & Music Fest
For almost 20 years now I have dreamed about putting on the ultimate food and music festival, a celebration that would bring together food from seriously delicious spots around the country along with some of my favorite chefs and musicians.
Well, on June 13 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California (right across the street from Google headquarters), my dream is coming true.
Yup, that's when the inaugural Great American Food & Music Fest is taking place, from noon to 10 p.m. Tickets start at $35, which includes general admission to all the food and music areas and your first plate of food. Separate all-you-can-eat, VIP, and wine-tasting tickets are also available. All tickets can be purchased here.
Who and what is going to be there? So many serious purveyors, chefs, and musicians that I can hardly believe it, with more folks being confirmed every day. Bobby Flay will be hosting the whole shebang, and Guy Fieri will be there as well.
Here's a list of the purveyors. There's no way you could visit all these places—from all over the country—in one day, much less in 10 hours. So we're bringing them to you:
- Katz's Deli, pastrami sandwiches (New York)
- Pink's Hot Dogs, chili dogs (Los Angeles)
- Tony Luke's, cheesesteaks (Philadelphia)
- Barney Greengrass, bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese (New York)
- Southside Market & Barbecue (Elgin, Texas)
- Graeter's Ice Cream (Cincinnati)
- Anchor Bar, home of the original Buffalo chicken wings (Buffalo, New York)
- Junior's,cheesecake (Brooklyn)
- Zingerman's Deli, curating (ha ha) the ultimate bacon plate (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
The Bay Area is going to be well represented by its own Best of Bay Area food purveyor tent and an all-star team of chefs doing demos, including A 16's Nate Appleman, Boulevard's Nancy Oakes, and meat, pork and sausage master Bruce Aidells
For serious wine lovers we're putting together a tasting tent with American wines and appropriate and seriously delicious nibbles.
And we're just getting started. In the coming days we will be announcing more purveyors, chefs,food personalities, and musicians who I am just as excited about.
And how about the music: Little Feat, Marshall Crenshaw, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, for starters.
In the coming weeks we're going to be posting about a lot of the folks who are helping me to realize my dream. We hope we're going to see lots of serious eaters there. I can't wait.
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26 Comments:
It's like someone went into my mind, picked out some of my favorite places to eat, and made a festival about it. But why did it have to be all the way out in Cali!
pastry262 at 9:26PM on 04/07/09
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Katz's, Zingerman's, and JUNIOR'S CHEESECAKE?!? Anyone else love the bit in Still Life with Woodpecker about a Junior's cheesecake? If Tom Robbins says it has the power to make love stay, I'm in. On the other hand, Guy Fieri and Bobby freakin' Flay? I may have to reconsider.
Ravara at 11:02PM on 04/07/09
Wow, congrats Ed, I wish I could make it out there, sounds like one he'll of a party. Good luck and definitely keep us posted. Hopefully it will be a huge success and you will be able to organize one on the east coast soon after.
simon at 11:04PM on 04/07/09
Oh, wow. I had just been reading the Latin Thing review and getting really down about moving out of New York to Silicon Valley. No more - this looks awesome!
tangledgray at 12:14AM on 04/08/09
Michigan isn't just Zingerman's. And Zingerman's is far too expensive for what you get. I went there a few times and decided the countless mom-and-pop diners here are more worth my time and money. Sure, their breads are good but thankfully they ship those to stores in Toledo where I can buy them instead of my having to put up with the Ann Arbor nonsense just for the breads.
LunaPierCook at 4:06AM on 04/08/09
hopefully, they throw in some Chicago love down the road...
hookrilla at 11:02AM on 04/08/09
as a huge Lou Malnati's fan, I agree on the ORD love there Hookrilla. We will always find some omitted favorite. In the mean time, I might have to go to this one. At least I know (or so it appears) I can take the entire family and not have to hold my fingers in my ears or over my kid's eyes.
FoodieSteve at 11:37AM on 04/08/09
Hooray for Graeter's - so good!
CEBakes at 1:12PM on 04/08/09
YES! Since I live in San Jose I can make this. Wahoooooo!!!!
hkydiva at 2:56PM on 04/08/09
Wow! This is a veritable cornucopia of most the important American foods of the 6 most important states, covering everything from ice cream to hot dogs! Two delis? I'm in heaven. Um, what about anything Greek, Italian, Spanish, Belgian, French, Asian, South American, Mexican, or Caribbean? Surely, some of these things have made their way into American food? Pizza? Gyros? Barbecue (yes, there is one)? Nachos? Tacos? General "your name here"'s chicken?
Don Luis at 4:48PM on 04/08/09
Yes, if you are going to include Chicago, please please include the Italian Beef sandwich! I know people are all about Chicago pizza, but the Italian beef is near impossible to find outside of Chicago and doesn't travel well so my friends can never bring it back to California for me!
pumpernickel at 1:01PM on 04/16/09
Arrrghhhh! I bought plane tickets for June 15th to California! I can't believe this!
hungryhungryhippo at 10:43AM on 04/21/09
any word on how much individual food items will cost?
anitaepler at 11:14AM on 04/21/09
$5 for tasting-size portions of virtually everything. In the case of Pink's serious eaters will get a whole hot dog. Folks will not get a whole Katz's Pastrami Sandwich, because they would not have room for very much else.
Ed Levine at 11:18AM on 04/21/09
I am considering making a road trip, but after the chaos I encountered at LA Weekly's Gold Standard event a few weeks ago, I am very wary. Similar idea of lots of favorite restaurant foods in one place. I ate a lot but it was also kind of a painful experience. :( How will you combat super long food lines?
Cookieeater at 5:01PM on 04/21/09
I wish I could go can't you do one in Seattle? You think that Anthony Bourdain would go?
pjracz10 at 4:09PM on 05/13/09
I wish I could go can't you do one in Seattle? You think that Anthony Bourdain would go?
pjracz10 at 4:10PM on 05/13/09
Oh dear god! It's heaven on earth!
cakespy at 6:09PM on 05/13/09
The funny thing is, if you live in Buffalo you know that Anchor Bar wings are not very good. Most local pizza places have better wings than theirs. But oh well, at least they make them the traditional way, many people think that all kinds of spices and flour is necessary. I will never understand why people flour their wings.
xwafflesx at 2:20PM on 05/14/09
Oh man, that sounds great. Thanks for the pointer!
sippey at 3:41PM on 06/05/09
In my opinion, The best place to go for a refund is to the promoter...or call your cc company and dispute the charge. People like Bobby Flay or Guy Fieri, have no control over a crummy event that their agent scored for them. I know of one promoter: Serious Eats.Com....ha. I really hope that they have the courtesy to address this issue and offer an apology either on this blog or somewhere that will reach out to the thousands of disappointed ticket holders and patrons.
NYCgirl at 2:28AM on 06/14/09
Checkout the comments here. Some people seem to be successful in getting refunds by contacting Live Nation or the Shoreline Amphitheatre. I've called, but either the lines were busy or the offices closed. I may not be able to get back the afternoon I wasted here, but hopefully I'll at least get a refund for the ticket.
out_of_pastrami at 3:31AM on 06/14/09
My husband and I attend this event in Mountain View yesterday. It was a disaster. There was no organization, and after only 1 and 1/2 hours of the gates being open, vendors had ran out of food. The lines for other vendors were so long it reminded me of waiting in line at Disneyland for the newest ride. There were so many people there that walking was difficult. Unfortunately, my husband I left empty stomachs after only 30 minutes of attendance. I am going to work hard at getting my refund.
unhappyeats at 3:22PM on 06/14/09
Ok, so I called Livenation and got my refund. I also emailed info@greatamericanfoodandmusicfest.com. This is the response I received:
Thank you so much for taking the time to write. I am so incredibly
sorry about what you went through.
We certainly had every intention of making everything perfect. The fact
is, the problems were not anyone's fault by ours. Not the building's,
not Live Nation. We wanted to keep lines down so we invested all this
money (upfront...not too smart) for the "cashless system" that would do
just that... according to the company that was running it. This company
had a resume that included NASCAR races (200,000 +) so when we heard
that every transaction could be made in 3-seconds or less, we were in.
We had them come in a week early and start testing...making sure
everything worked...then as we opened the doors, the system failed.
The Fest did have an emergency system in place and cash banks and credit
card machines were distributed prior to the show, but it took us nearly
45-minutes to switch over and by that point, we had very large lines.
Added to that, it was our first year and we had no way to really judge
attendance. We looked at "pre-sales" and doubled them thinking that was
safe...and we would be over. We were wrong...and very sorry.
It is important to us as producers for you to understand that we do care
and put years of hard work into this just to have one company take us
down.
If you would like a refund, it isn't the easiest process, but it does
work.
PLEASE SEND A PHOTOCOPY OF YOUR TICKETS BACK TO
Shoreline Amphitheatre
One Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
ATTN: BOX OFFICE REFUNDS
Again, we are all so sorry this happened...but at the same time are not
giving up. We will come back next year on our tour and will have
something special for those who were put out this year.
Thank you again for writing.
Jim
So I would try to call the ticket processor first. If that doesn't work then follow the instruction on sending the copies to Shoreline.
unhappyeats at 10:04PM on 06/14/09
I was there; I echo the comments below:
"It was a disaster. There was no organization, and after only 1 and 1/2 hours of the gates being open, vendors had ran out of food. "
I arrived after 3PM; was there until almost 8PM.
It was a train wreck the entire time.
If you are in another city where this event is scheduled to occur avoid it LIKE THE PLAGUE
Pasig17 at 2:31PM on 06/15/09
After reading posts about people getting refunds, I decided to call Live Nation to get mine. The number I called was 877-598-8497 which is their ticketing line. Once I got to an operator I asked for a refund but she told me my tickets were non-refundable unless the event was canceled. She said there was nothing she could do and the only other option was to speak to customer service. I agreed to that and got transferred.
I waited for maybe 5 mins on the phone before an agent picked up. I said that I wanted a refund for the Great American Food and Music Fest. She asked for my order number and then put me on hold for another 5 mins. Then she came back and said my CC would be refunded the $70 for 2 tickets and I would receive an email confirmation. There was no haggling or anything. So I am pretty happy.
avalon23 at 3:09PM on 06/15/09