Great GoogaMooga 2013! Brooklyn, NY

My lovely friend Krishna won tickets for the Great GoogaMooga in Brooklyn and said to me…

How many glasses have we had? Too many.

Peggy, I couldn’t think of anyone who would enjoy it more than you.

So, I checked out airfare from LA to NYC and they were way too expensive. Now, normally, I would balk at spending miles when I still need to earn miles to make status, but a festival with gourmet food stalls and equally delicious indie bands in a setting with a high probability for humorous hipster people watching…how could I resists? I was able to book a one way there in first class on AA with pesky Avios miles and found a $398 fare back. It was a nice compromise to be able to still earn some miles on this trip. And besides, with Avios fuel surcharges on practically every destination except when flying AA, I figure it’s one of the best uses of my miles. 

It turned out to be a rainy weekend and it was a good thing she got Saturday tix instead of Sunday as Sunday became canceled due to the rain.

The day started off well enough with the breakfast drink of choice – champagne! Unfortunately, as with almost all the F&B options there, it was super expensive $4 tasting / $15 glass. Why do they give you such a large glass if they use barely an inch of it?? Ugh. Annoying.

Googa wine pours rival London bars. So, expensive!

The food and booze were all high quality and nothing really to complain about…but nothing much to remark on either.

Las Rocas winery was there with their garnacha red wine (which I love!). But you can also buy it at Whole Foods for around $13.99 a bottle…so, $8/glass seems a little crazy.
For the most part, you had to buy drink tickets to use for wine/beer purchases. Although, there were separate tents with limited beer/wine selections at which you could purchase booze with cash. Those tents only charged $6/glass for Las Rocas garnacha. A little standardization please?

The best of the food was the grilled oyster stand. 4 oysters for $10. They were grilled with a “salsa verde” which was basically a chimichuri sauce. The worst of the food was the smoked meat sandwich from Mile End (a regular on food blogs when they first opened). I seriously don’t know what the hype was about. They had been on my list of places to try ever since I read about them. But in comparison to real Montreal smoked meat shops? There really is no competition. The meat was overly lean and chewy…and worst of all, dry. And yet again, it was $10 for the sandwich.

Smoked Meat Sandwich from Mile End $10 (totally not worth it)

For anyone hitting up a food festival, the best strategy is to get a group together. That way, you get to try more things without getting full and without spending too much money each.

Lobster Roll from Red Hook $16

Rabbit & Snails Paella $10

First round picks – crawfish and creamy noodles for Christina $10

While everything was good and fresh, it just wasn’t worth the $10 price tag.

I ended the night with a $5 tiny cup of Big Gay Ice Cream – vanilla with bourbon caramel topping. And once again, not worth it…which is a shame as I’ve heard lots of good things about their soft serve ice cream. But this was not it. This was a hard ice cream with a grainy almost gritty topping texture.

What if gay people weren’t allowed to make ice cream!

All in all, a good time was had by all but would we spend $54/ticket + $80/booze + $140/food again? Probably not.

I feel like this pic says it all – friends, red wine and duck corn dogs!