Phantom Gourmet BBQ & Music Festival 2014

I guess they decided that the bit of sand they would spread out on the ground wasn't quite worthy of co-billing anymore, as the name of this event has changed to the Phantom Gourmet BBQ & Music Festival from the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party.  With this year's focus on as a music festival featuring Salt-N-Pepa on Friday night and The Mighty Mighty BossToneS on Saturday evening, tickets are offered at a variety of prices this year - $5 for Daytime tickets for admission in advance/$10 at the event (kids 6 and under free), $15 for the Salt-N-Pepa concert, and $32.50 for The Mighty Mighty BossToneS.

A benefit for the local worker-bees in the City of Boston, however, is free admission on Friday from noon till 4pm.  With the two year construction project underway at the Government Center MBTA station, the set up of the BBQ Festival was a bit turned around, which we unfortunately did not realize till we ran into a dead end, as they lacked both directional signage and staffers pointing the way.  The entrance this year is located at the Congress Street side of the plaza, across from the glass towers of the Boston Holocaust Memorial.  Though entrance was free, they had a bag check line that was more than a formality.  Water and other liquids were the target of their search as there was water available for sale within for $3 per pop in addition to the alcohol in their beer gardens and other additional chilled drinks.

With no idea as to how the six BBQ stars compare to one another, I just popped into a short line and waited nearly 20 minutes for my lunch.  Hey, and we were there on the early side!

With my bounty from Johnson's Hickory Smoked Bar-B Que in hand, we headed over to the relatively shady beer garden by the JFK Federal Building, where entrance was allowed even for those with no interest in a liquid lunch.

The meat in my one meat boneless rib sandwich ($5) was unexpectedly a molded meat patty, reminiscent of the old McDonald’s McRib in shape, though not in flavor.  It was actually pretty tasty.  The cole slaw it was advertised to come with was easily swapped out for potato salad, but it also arrived with unannounced soft, sweet baked beans - which my cashier informed me comes with everything.  I also got a side of your average one in the blue box looking creamy mac & cheese made with overcooked elbow pasta for $3.  Not a bad meal on the whole - could have been better, but could have been worse.

Phantom Gourmet BBQ & Music Festival
June 20-22, 2014
City Hall Plaza
Boston, MA

Pret A Manger Free Lunch - 101 Arch Street

On my way in to work, a girl was able to get me to take one of the cards she was offering with the magical words - "Would you like a free lunch?"

Well, turns out you didn't actually *need* the card, but it did the job and got me to venture out to 101 Arch Street for their pre-grand opening free lunch day.

Although we could see that the 101 Arch Street location was quite nice and large through the window as we waited in line, they kept things organized by letting a few people in at a time.

I selected my sandwich, was handed a soda, and offered a bag to drop them into, and off I went, to enjoy my lunch!

Spread the Happy!

Yesterday the Nutella Truck made a stop at Faneuil Hall - it's fifth and final stop in the Boston area before it heads onward on its 20 city tour across America.  Free sample packets of the luscious chocolate hazelnut spread were given out, and I had immediate gratification in the piece of waffle I ate with a generous smear of the stuff.  Yum!

Tour locations through October:
New York, New Jersey, Boston, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Greensboro, Atlanta, Charleston, Orlando, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, and New Orleans.