Leslieville Farmers’ Market’s Bacon Fest is back, and it’s happening this Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jonathan Ashbridge Park (a block west of Queen and Coxwell)! I had not only the good fortune to be able to catch last year’s Bacon Fest; I also got to be a judge. Here I am with the chef who made the third-place entry, Conrad Reiner from local bacon purveyor This Little Pig:
Bacon Fest is just a part of Leslieville Farmers’ Market, which is in its third year of providing the residents of Leslieville with great, fresh-from-the-farm food in the big green space of Jonathan Ashbridge Park. This year’s season runs every Sunday from May 26th through October 27th in the park with food aplenty and lots of entertainment, too.
Last year’s Bacon Fest, which I wrote up in this entry, featured entries from a number of local restaurants. They were all so bacon-licious that it was hard to pick a winner. We managed to pick one, and it was Le Papillon on the Park’s: a little-bit-of-every-taste buckwheat crepe stuffed with bacon, cheese, apple chunks and apple syrup, topped with mixed berries and powdered sugar:
Another favourite entry of mine was the combined work of area restaurants Mr. Spinners and Waffle Bar — a waffle, filled with bacon, topped with a fried egg and melted cheese. Because that wasn’t enough, it’s finished off with crumbled bacon:
Here’s This Little Pig’s entry — a simple crostini, but it showed off just how good their bacon is:
And for those of you who don’t eat meat, there’s something for you, too! Ying Ying foods was there, showcasing their soy bacon, and it was pretty good:
Bacon Fest 2013 will take place this Sunday, August 18th, along with everything else at Leslieville Farmers’ Market at Jonathan Ashbridge Park (a block west of Queen and Coxwell), from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.. The judges will sample the entries at noon, and the winners will be announced at 1. Not only with the entrants be feeding the judges, they’ll also be selling their dishes so you can get a nice breakfast, brunch, or lunch full of bacon-y goodness.