Outside Lands! Golden Gate Park's massive annual food, beer, wine, and chef spectacular with a few musical acts thrown in. Join us as we eat our way through this year's more than 100 food and drink booths. Check out our music coverage here.
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Lou Bustamante
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The bacon flight, from top to bottom: Benton’s Hickory Smoked Bacon (Madisonville, Tennessee), Wellshire Farms Peppered (Swedesboro, New Jersey), Vande Rose Farms Brown Sugar Cured (Iowa Falls, Iowa), Burger’s Smokehouse Applewood Smoked (California, Missouri), Fatted Calf Fruitwood Smoked (San Francisco)
BaconLand
I love bacon, and there was no question about where my first food stop would be when I got into Outside Lands: BaconLand. First,
heeding Dave McLean’s advice, I stopped by Beer Lands for a cup of Linden Street Brewing’s Burning Oak Black Lager ($8), that he rightfully suggested pairing with the flight. While BaconLand turned out to be merely a stall, the bacon flight ($10) turn out to be truth in advertising. It consists of five strips of bacon laced through two skewers, each slice from a different producer. There’s something satisfyingly silly about the presentation, making it hard not to smile while carrying one around.
The study in contrast was fascinating, with smoke, salt, and sweetness levels making each slice different. Benton’s was assertive with salt and smoke, yet the Wellshire Farms piece was mild, even with the black pepper rub. The slice from Vande Rose Farms was the sweetest of the bunch, while the Burger’s Smokehouse bacon almost had a dry country ham chew. Of the five, the slice from Fatted Calf was the best, with just the right amount of salt and smoke, great fat-to-meat ratio, and pieces that cooked up crisp and yet didn’t get chewy.
-Lou Bustamante
