Great American Food & Music Debacle

One advantage of Ted’s job is that we sometimes get free tickets to local events. One such event was yesterday’s Great American Food & Music Festival, held in Mountain View. This was the first (perhaps last) year for this event. The idea was to take iconic dishes from around the country and bring them all to one venue, bring in some big names from the Food Network, and pair it up with some good music and make a day of it. Sounds good on paper, right?

Unfortunately, something fell apart in the execution. I’d be interested to read a newspaper account of what all actually went wrong, but one major thing was that they weren’t set up to take cash for food. (UPDATE: The official reports are just starting to come in…or should I say, the official apologies) They had some computerized wrist band system set up, where you could add money to your wrist band, and the vendors would simply scan it and deduct the price of the meal, and away you go. The festival started at noon, and we got there shortly after 2, and by then, the wrist band system had already crashed, and people were scrambling to figure out what to do. Never a good sign when you arrive for an event and there are hundreds of people in line working on getting their money back on their way out. I’ve also heard stories of stoves not working, food not arriving, vendors simply running out of food, vendors not being properly staffed for the event, booths not having the proper equipment to handle the volume of food they were serving, etc.

The one item I wanted to try was a Pink’s Chili Dog. I’m not a big fan of pastrami, so a Katz’s Pastrami Sandwich wasn’t important to me (good thing, because I heard they ran out of food twice); the cheese steak place wasn’t one I had ever heard of when I lived in Philly (it was Tony Luke’s), and I love a good chili dog. So Cherry and I decided to brave the long line and wait for our dogs. Ted, Eric, and Maya went in search of other things, and finally decided on the shortest line (Maya’s blood sugar was dropping), which was local ‘gourmet’ peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I didn’t try any, but they said they were yucky. (One comment I read online called it ‘spread that tasted vaguely like peanuts, with strawberry slime) But at least her blood sugar was back to normal, right? Eventually, they gave up and went to find our seats, while Cherry and I stayed in line waiting for our hot dogs. All I can say is that I am VERY glad I opted for my comfy MBT shoes, rather than the cute boots with a little heel I had been considering, because standing still like that for so long can be murder.

2 1/2 hours later, we finally got to the front of the line and ordered our hot dogs. We then found our way to our seats and ate, and I’ve gotta say, really good hot dogs. Really good chili. Very nice combo. I’m a fan. Worth 2 1/2 hours in line missing the lineup on stage? No, but good nonetheless.

We saw the SF Weekly burger cookoff, which was 4 local restaurants known for their burgers, competing for a trophy, judged by Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell from the Food Network, and two other judges I don’t know…I believe the guy whose idea this whole event was, and someone from SF Weekly. I don’t remember who the competitors were, but one was Burgermeister, and another was Pearl. Pearl won the competition, which was surprising, because whichever the fourth place in the competition was seemed to be the favorite from where I was sitting. After that, we saw Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, a group that we thoroughly enjoyed. They were great and had a ton of energy. Must have been hard to get up and perform in front of a stadium at least 3/4 empty, and to know that so many people had left angry, and that the people who were left were also kinda pissed off at having to wait so long for their food. But they pulled it off, and were great.

We left after BBVD, though Cherry and Eric stayed a bit longer, and said that Guy Fieri was entertaining and funny, and Bobby Flay was drinking semi-heavily (who can blame him after a day like he probably had, with his name all over this train wreck of an event?).

All in all, 1.5 thumbs down. I would have liked to sample a few more dishes at a food festival, and I would have liked to see more of the music and demos, which I missed by standing in line so long. .5 thumb up, because the chili dog was good, the people working the booth seemed to be keeping their cool (as were most of the people around us in line, actually), no wait at the bar or bathrooms, great music, and an overall fun time. If they dare to try this again, I hope they are able to better coordinate so people don’t gnaw off their own arms in desperation.