Over the weekend, we attended the first day of The Infatuation’s EEEEEATSCON New York, presented by Chase Sapphire.
Last year, Lucas and I attended the food festival and had a great time. This year, the whole family came along thanks to an invite from Chase (the event’s main sponsor.)EEEEEATSCON is “A food experience built in the spirit of a music festival, but with restaurants as the headliners.” At the event, food from around NYC is offered as well as some shops from around the country.
Besides the food, there are talks, lots of giveaways and a variety of experiences.
Adults are the primary audience for EEEEEATSCON but it’s also an excellent family-friendly event. Here’s some details about our time.
Chase Sapphire Lounge:With Chase being the main sponsor, those holding a Chase Sapphire card can get access to the Sapphire Lounge. Inside you can get a free drink and try out some complimentary snacks. There’s also ample seating to relax away from the crowds.
This was definitely a nice benefit if you’re a Sapphire cardholder.
Giveaways:
There were a variety of booths offering fun giveaways.
Chase and Zelle had the game shown above where you could win sunglasses, water bottles, a paddle game and more. In addition, all participants were given a delicious sugar cookie from Best Damn Cookies.LaCroix Water offered free cans of their sparkling water as well as a video motion booth. You could also grab some swag like hats, phone pop-its, bags and more. This was a favorite of my kids!
Other giveaways:
MLB Life may’ve been the most generous giving away metal water bottles, blankets, ’47 Brand beanies, Columbia Rain Jackets (we just missed out), baseball cards, Yankees tix and copies of the game 2023 MLB The Show.
Infatuation had a spin the wheel game where you could win prizes like bags, socks, water bottles and more. My little guy Theo had a lot of fun spinning the wheel!
Coca Cola had a truck at the event where you could grab complimentary mini cans of Coke or Coke Zero. My 11 year-old Lucas hit up the truck a bunch of times!
Speakers:We attended a couple of talks which were pretty interesting.
The first one was with the founders of Infatuation. We learned a lot about the site and it’s founding. Sarah Jessica Parker drew a big crowd. She spoke about some of her fav NYC dining spots, where she likes to eat when she travels and a bagel shop in NYC that she’d love to try. (Here’s looking at you Utopia Bagels!)
The Food:
It was tough to decide where to eat and what to skip. We tried out six stands plus some snacks in the Sapphire Lounge. Everything we tried was really good, here are some of the highlights.Burns Original BBQ came to the fest from Houston. Their BBQ Brisket was delicious as was their potato salad and BBQ sauce.
If we find ourselves in Houston, I’ll be sure to look up Burns as I’d like to try more of their excellent barbecue.We’re big fans of Brooklyn’s Wizard Hat Pizza so we had to see how their pizza would be at a festival. All I can say is wow, their pizza is unbelievable pizza. I can’t wait to order from them again soon.
If you’re in NYC and haven’t given Wizard Hat a try, I highly recommend that you do!We had Philly’s 1-900-Ice-Cream on our last visit to the city. We were all glad to see they’d be at EEEEEATSCON!
It was tough to decide what to order so I got some help from Lucas. He chose the Graham Cracker Soft Serve for us. The flavor was incredible and it might be topped by the unbelievable texture. Considering all four of us loved this ice cream, it might just be our family favorite from the festival.I’ve been wanting to give NYC English bistro Lord’s a try and I’m glad we did at EEEEEATSCON.
They offered two items and I wish we had ordered both. We decided to give the Curried Lamb Scotch Egg a taste and it didn’t disappoint.
For those who aren’t familiar with this dish, a Scotch Egg is a deep fried soft-boiled egg wrapped in curry lamb. This bizarre sounding item was pretty unique and just awesome with great texture and flavor.
Other stands we tried:
Best Damn Cookies makes one of the best chocolate chip cookies out there. I wish we went back for another but we were just too full. Kim and Lucas also loved their Black Diamond Truffle Banana Bread, a special for the NY fest.
Hawksmoor NY has been on my list to try for some time. We ended up ordering both of their items. The Steak Frites were very tasty and the Peanut Butter Louis may have been even better.
Final Thoughts:
Despite some crummy (rainy) weather, EEEEEATSCON NY was still a great time.
The event had so many tasty food offerings that I would’ve liked to have gone back for a second day. The experiences and giveaways were a ton of fun for everyone and the kids had a blast throughout the day.
If you haven’t experienced EEEEEATSCON, I highly recommend that you check it out in the future.
The Infatuation’s EEEEEATSCON New York, presented by Chase Sapphire took place at Forest Hills Stadium in Forest Hills, NY.