From whole hog roasts to endless barbecued meats, craft beers, spirits, ciders and more, you don’t want to miss out on the incredible, all-inclusive one-day feast that is Pig Island!
Get your stretchy pants ready and head on over to Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden in Staten Island, New York this Saturday, September 10th, 2022 for a meat lovers dream slathered in BBQ sauce. You can still buy your tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/foodkarmanyc/608558
This is the 13th Pig Island event, which is the brainchild of Jimmy Carbone of Food Karma NYC. He hosts a number of other BBQ themed events throughout the year as well, including Rib King NYC, Brisket King NYC ®, and Sauce King NYC which I had the privilege to attend as a judge 2 years ago. I’m beyond excited to announce that I’ll be a judge once more at Pig Island NYC this weekend!
Jimmy was inspired to begin hosting farm to table events after working with his friend, the acclaimed food writer Josh Ozersky, who sadly passed in 2015. They hosted an event together called Meatopia on Governors Island with 30 chefs in 2010, the first iteration of its kind.
“Josh’s influence and encouragement is what lead to me creating the connections that made these events possible,” Jimmy reminisced. “Working with him pushed me to put together the first Brisket King. We joked about names [for future events], and Josh mused about ‘Pig Island,’ which was just the beginning.”
While the events tend to be pig-centric, there is no shortage of variety. There will even be a Vegan competitor from a plant-based BBQ joint in Manhattan, Pure Grit BBQ, and a vegetable grilling station from Jimmy’s own all-star team of Jimmy’s No. 43 utilizing vegetables provided by Snug Harbors own heritage farm.
Here’s a lineup of some of the incredible talent you can expect to see competing at the event:
- Bret Lunsford and the team from Blue Smoke
- Matt Fisher – Queens Custom Barbecue
- Mike Lapi – SUNY Cobleskill
- Cenobio Canalizo – Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue
- Don Rodrigo Duarte working with his own heritage farmers at Puro Cut Catering
- Joe Musngi – SmoKING of Meats (going for the 2022 trifecta, he won judges 1st place award already at both Brisket King NYC ®, and Rib King NYC)
- Chef Nick Bavaro – Friends of Firefighters
- Jimmy’s No. 43 All Star Team bringing back their vegetable grilling station
- Antonio Olive Jr. with an all-star team @opbbqrelief
- Pure Grit BBQ, Vegan BBQ!
- Harry Rosenblum’s Steak Club Launch
- Jase Franklin – Jase BBQ
- Pork Mafia Street Crew: Phil Wingo X Mario DiBiase doing a whole hog roast!
- Kimchi Smoke who won most creative Brisket at Brisket King, 2021
- Zabb Pu Tawn
- And many more!
There will be some new competitors getting ready to throw down, as well as some returning champs from previous events, including some who placed during last years Pig Island NYC.
And let’s not forget about all the other delicious and boozy vendors who will be in attendance:
- 20+ chefs serving a variety of dishes
- Snug Harbor’s Heritage Farm / Sea Island Forge vegetable grilling station
- Chef Joseph Settepani - Bruno's Bakery
- Craft beer from Six Point, Killsboro and Flagship
- Laphroiag, Maker’s Mark and Jim Beam spirits
- Additional RGNY wine and New York state spirits: Fort Hamilton Distillery, and Upstate Vodka (welcome cocktail), beer and cider – TBA
- Hot Sauce Alley featuring Sauce King NYC award winners like Coney Island Saucery, Rocket Fuel hot sauce, Bayou Gotham sauces, and Xilli salsa
- Heritage Hogs and local farmers
- And more, still!
While Jimmy Carbone has a passion for BBQ, good food and craft drinks, community is at the heart of everything he does.
Bringing together incredible talent offers new connections for food & beverage professionals, but it also creates an a great opportunity for local non-profit partners to fundraise and grow their community awareness, such as Friends of Firefighters who provides free mental health services to FDNY members past and present, consistently being a big part of these events.
“We provide support and connections in different ways.” Carbone shared, proudest of how his events have been able to support such wonderful causes. “I include our non-profit partners in our newsletters and make introductions, and feature them in our events which is as much theirs as it is ours, because that’s what it’s all about.”
You can buy general admission tickets for $65+, VIP tickets for $85+, or a VIP table for $850 which comes with 8 VIP tickets. Once again, you can purchase them here. You can buy tickets at the doors as well, but why wait and take a chance?!
If you’re as obsessed with BBQ as I am, and you like pig butts and you cannot lie, don’t miss out on the meatiest event of the year. Or suffer the FOMO!
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