Garlic Festival - somewhat dissappointing

Having been to the Gilroy Garlic Festival years ago, I was looking forward to todays trip to Saugerties Garlic Festival in upstate NY. While not a complete washout - it was dissappointing.

The outstanding product to my mind was the Budda Pesto - excellent fresh pesto. and a few of the sauces and honeys were execellent too. But overall the 2.5 hour drive, tolls, gas, etc. where not really worth it - other than the get out of the city on a beautiful day factor (not to be negated).

I did try the garlic fudge that Rogue recommended, but I guess I just don't like fudge that much.

We once made chocolate covered garlic so it's the the combo factor - it was OK (the fudge) (as well as the chocolate covered garlic - blanch garlic repeatedly before coating with chocolate - it was for a theme party - chocolate garlic and champagne - some of lifes best luxuries)

[lisa13]

Ah this brings back memories.

A friend and I got talked into manning a snow cone booth at the saugerties garlic fest many years ago. The vendor actually made garlic syrup for the snow...only one person tried it all weekend. His feedback? "Nasty"

but he did finish the cone. makes you wonder.

[chowdom]

Too funny.

Ya know... the fudge I raved about was a bit soft and gooey this year... and very inconsistent. I bought a LOT of it... and some containers were just OK and others were way over the top... A good thing... I had one 1/2 lb container that had so much garlic that it was practically crunchy... and the fumes wafted all over... and another was totally without any garlic at all... bummer it was so inconsistent... it does improve if you let it sit out for a day... or so... we have been through a pound or two and it seems to get better with age.

[TBird]

this will be my second year attending the festival. i many a years in gilroy.

[RichK]

Did you realize that this posr is 5 years old?

[TBird]

yes

[laylag]

I didn't! Someone posted about going to the festival on tristate the other day and thought this was a new post on their experience. Not planning to attend this year but curious I just read it as if new. Thanks for pointing that out. I wonder how the 2007 garlic festival will be.

[TBird]

i'll let ya know on monday! :)

[phDuh]

I want to go every year, but my son's birthday is always around this time, and this is not the way he wants to celebrate (no matter how hard I try to convince him otherwise). But, soon, he'll be off to college, so I'll have to be content with eating lots of garlic in September...a passable substitute!!!

[sjean]

I went to the garlic festival with my boyrfriend. We drove for less than an hour and the festival was pretty disappointing. It was just a way to pass the time and if we weren't doing anything else in Riverhead, it would have felt like a wasted trip overall. The food booths were largely unimpressive, though the mashed potatoes with green garlic from the Atlantic was pretty tasty. With a "festival" billing, we expected a bit more variety and a bigger event.

[ChefJeffe]

which festival did you attened? Saugerties is a huge event.

[laylag]

Since sjean referenced Riverhead I'm assuming there was a festival somewhere out east on Long Island and she's referring to that not Saugerties.

[laylag]

So TBird - how was it?

[Scott_R]

I'm not Tbird, but I went on Saturday with a couple of friends and it was fun. Spent most of the afternoon there. Didn't get a chance to try the garlic ice cream--the lines for those stands were LONG.

[TBird]

we had a great time, but ultimately decided we didn't have to be in attendance next year. scott, we were there saturday too! i didn't see any ice cream.

we have been cooking with garlic every night since then. wheh! we still have tons left too. ughhhhhh

[ChefJeffe]

Still confused as to where to festival that you guys went to was.

[TBird]

i was in saugerties.

[chowdom]

We went last year (Saugerties), a crowded comercial mess.

[TBird]

yeah, we were there last year too. this year it was "worse". the fried pickle lady, who also was selling fried garlic, ran out of garlic. how does that happen?LOL

Overall, I thought the fair was terrific and well worth the 2.5 hour drive. Best experience was listening to the "soft" five piece dixieland band.

Blackened string beans, pesto sauce and the catfish sandwich were standouts. Alligator gumbo was terrible and the famed garlic fudge was totally bland.

I had never been to a Garlic Festival before (business schedule never coincided with Gilroy) so I have nothing to compare this to but we had a great time! We drove 5 hours and camped out for 2 nights to go and would do it again in a heartbeat. The garlic sausage and peppers were nothing special - but not bad. Pickles, jellies etc were a delight. We loved the raw garlic tastings; had some excellent pork barbeque; also garlic, chicken, and roasted red pepper wrap was very good. The spirit of the place was fun and we ate so much raw garlic that we were high. We came back with bags and bags of garlic, jellies, sauces, and garlic fudge. Maybe it is easier to have fun when you have no expectations.

This was the first year I went and while I am glad I went, I was also wondering if it had gone downhill based on the raving posts prior to the festival. I was a bit disappointed in the food court, I thought there would be some interesting and expiremental uses of garlic (like the garlic fudge which I liked). I had a garlic sausage and peppers which was pretty good but not new. I did fill up on all the samples and had a good time tasting all the sauces and dips.

I ended up buying a shallot cabernet wine sauce which I thought was amazing. I know it's not garlic but shallots are in the garlic family :-).

Sorry it was dissapointing for you, but I'm also glad I didn't go from your description of things (and got to meet Haruki Murakami instead of going).

I was just curious about the pricing of things. Do all of the booths offer small free samples to inspire the purchase of large quantities or is it pay as you go...?

Thanks,
Frank

I agree that the festival wasn't as good as past years. Especially the hot food booths which were a big disappointment after some of the great ones there last year. The garlic fudge is as good as in the past, I don't like regular fudge or candy but love this stuff ... also everyone I turned on to it liked it... I bought several pounds ... but I guess it's a personal thing ... that pesto was really great, some of the best I ever had, particularly the garlic basil one.

I ate so much raw garlic of so many types that I got buzzed from it, add some major endorphin rushes from some habanero hot sauces and it helped improve a festival that was just ok. I did try almost every sample from every single booth and am totally garliced...

Interesting about the blanched chocolate covered garlic you mention, my friends and I were discussing just that at the festival and theorizing on how much it should be blanched to remove some but not all the bite of the garlic and what type of chocolate would go best. (Personally I don't like chocolate that much except for in latin style cocoa but I think garlic would improve it's flavor. LOL)

I love all the ingredients of pesto but usually hate the stuff as I find it too rich. This was rich but I loved it.

I think he blanched it about 3-4 times - it was mellower than roasted garlic but still had a garlic taste without the raw bite. Then coated it in good chocolate - probably dark belgium.

There were really not good hot food boothes - the best thing I tasted and saw were the cajun stringbeans and garlic mashed potatoes. The beans were very fresh - farmer's market quality and I really liked the cajun seasoning on them.

Even the demo food wasn't very good. Tryed some steak dish from the New World Cafe chef - meat tasted tough and old - yuck.

The fudge was fine - I just don't like fudge or white chocolate kind of stuff. Too sweet.

My favorite sauce was the raspberry chipote (BBQ?) sauce I forgot whose it was, but they had a bunch of other stuff that was pretty tasty too. Just not enough to justify a return visit.

There was a very good BBQ booth that had large chunks of pork and also brisquet on rolls. There was also a booth selling sauteed mushrooms which were pretty good, and a bakery booth selling eclairs and strawberry shortcake that were some of the best I've had.
Inside, that booth next to the fudge that sold all the different sauces, including the pesto, was amazing. There were some great jams and jellies using garlic and raspberries, with and without habenero. There were some other great condiment booths: mustards, dips, etc.

The only thing I would have liked to see more of was farm stand type vegetables. They were there, but very limited.

Overall, I was not disappointed. We got there early, left as it was getting ridicously crowded and had a great time sampling everything. My overall reaction is BEWARE THE GERMAN RED.
jake

I had the BBQ pork at about 4pm on saturday and it was so bad... dried out and tasteless with horrible sickly sweet and gooey sauces... that I actually threw it away.

that german red had a nice bite to it, didn't it?

There were several pulled pork stands. Most were generic, too sweet strings of meat. The one I'm talking about had virtually no sauce, just what it was roasted in. They had a choice of sauces to put on it. The pieces were not stringy or chopped, but chunks. It was very good.

I wish the fudge had had more garlic flavor. There was a garlic ice cream that was almost too garlicky, but I liked it anyway.

As I read these boards, I start to feel like the cockeyed optimist that no one on this planet who knows me would say I am. I try to like and enjoy as much food as possible. I feel like Homer Simpson giving his "worst review ever, 7 thumbs up." Certainly the festival was not everything I had hoped, but rarely is anything everything I hope for. For me, there was certainly enough to enjoy to warrant the two hour drive. Sometimes I think people forget that being a critical thinker is as much about acknowledging the positive as pointing out the negative. This is not directed at anyone in this thead, just something I've noticed over the time I've spent at chowhound.

Thanks for pushing the garlic festival.
jake

I am glad that Jake hit the point about criticism. I think that it has become too commonplace in today’s society for people to focus on the negative, perhaps even hoping to find all of the negatives in a sea full of positives. It is rare to get most people to agree on anything, but I am finding that more and more people want to disagree. Perhaps it is the attitude of the country as a whole, with a poor economy and many things just feeling unsettled that is contributing to this bout of negativity.

I look to Chowhound contributors as the best source for the pros and cons of restaurants and food. Lately, I have been finding more people posting negative criticism than in the past. Maybe it is because a number of establishments have become too complacent and inconsistent. Regardless, I prefer to read about the existing positives together with the negatives. This weekend’s Garlic Festival is a good case in point.

I drove half an hour to get there and enjoyed myself immensely. This is an organized and very well-run festival. Perhaps, I did not enjoy it as much as last year but it was still a nice event to attend. Yes, the hot food booths were not as good as last year. They were closer in style to those at the county fairs which makes sense since the Garlic Festival has become a huge draw which usually means higher booth fees and more commercial foods being served. It may be a matter of been there, done that. But, there was some fine garlic soup, the previously mentioned mushrooms sautéed with garlic, and a good garlic chili. Learning about all of the different types of garlic and being able to taste them is good culinary education for us garlic lovers. And, the food samples were many and interesting and quite filling on their own.

All and all, we had a very nice time on a lovely early autumn day and I am looking forward to attending again next year.

Scott, some hounds liked the festival, and that doesn't make them clueless rubes. Others disliked it, and that doesn't make them mean detractors. Opinions here differ, and that's ideal....it gives readers-along a nice rich spectrum of viewpoints to consider.

The spirit of this site encourages people to differ in a friendly way...providing a healthy assortment of, in your words, "pros and cons."

I'm sorry you felt some reviews weren't positive enough. But you, Jake, and others have done a great job of balancing things with your own opinions, and that's really sufficient...it's not necessary to ALSO devalue opinions contrary to your own. You needn't be wrong for me to be right, nor vice versa. We're all just calling things as we see them. I happen disagree with you on this one, but I totally value your opinion, and am glad you posted it!

Please, let's focus on food topics and review chow rather than postings/posters. The way this site works best is if we all have our say and let others have their's, too.

ciao

I missed the ice cream, and I so wanted to try that!
the fudge I find just ok, too much of a preserved garlic taste and way too soft in texture. side note- the best fudge I've ever had was in the old village bakery in winston-salem, NC.
me and my husband shared one of those huge eclairs, pretty good - but why so huge? is that a lazy pastry chef?
we got jars of the garlic and pepper jelly, a wonderful garlic and mustard spread, and talking about fiery garlic, did anyone taste the ucrainian red? I got that, I had to cook something with it. and so I did last night, made some grilled chicken with garlic paste. oh boy, brushing my teeth after didn't do it, I had to chew on some gum to make the taste go away.
oh,and gary's pickles. while we were waiting in line several people asked for samples and he declined saying that he doesn't have time for samples. also, a very pregnant lady asked one of the servers for a pickle (it was given to her)and after she left gary came to the server and told her that because they are so busy she should't help people "on the side". his pickles might be good, but... I won't comment further.

Gary's pickles was one of the most crowded booths, but I managed to get a quart of them, 1/2 sour and 1/2, 1/2 sour ( if that makes sense), and they are almost gone. I wish I had gotten more. I also forgot to mention some great garlic caramel that we've been eating today.
jake

Sorry you folks were disappointed. I guess one thing I don't even bother much with is what I call the food court. I did see lots of people lined up for the beans.

There's so much food in the main area that the other things seem irrelevant. I still stick by my Old Chatham Sheepherding recommendation. I don't know where else one can eat that much of their cheese for free (if anywhere else), and the prices were considerably less than I've seen in the shops and markets. I had some knockout raspberry jelly, the wonderful pesto you mentioned, and enough garlic to fend off the plague.

I was delighted...but then I drove only a half hour.

TW--the string beans were actually from NewWorld Cafe...and they WERE terrific. You sure the old steak was from them? I don't remember their serving steak, and New World's meat quality is usually top-drawer. I was kinda surprised by your comments on that, though I agree on most everything else.

A bunch of jarred hot sauces and condiments, a zillion farmers selling identical bags/braids of garlic, ten zillion folksy tchotchke booths (having nothing to do with food), the usual generic cast of carny/festival hot food concessions (a couple perfunctorily fitting the theme by offering, like, garlic on their hot dogs, etc, but most of them not even that), and good string beans did not merit a ride from the city. Garlic fudge was nice, but could be mail-ordered. I love Old Chatham cheese, but I can get that in the city. Unfortunately, I missed the pesto.

If I lived up there, it'd have been a reasonably pleasant afternoon. I was expecting more of a Gilroy event, with interesting prepared food. Nyuh-uh. It's just an excuse to hold a generic fair, with farmers selling lots bulbs. Quite disappointing.

ciao

The steak was a food demo in the seated area - pavillion near the music (near the lousy generic food boothes). Yes, I later realized that the stringbeans and garlic mash were from the selling booth of New WOrld. They even had an offer in the 25cents program for a free portion at the restaurant all weekend long.

Have you ever eaten at the establishment itself? The menu looked interesting.

Yep, New World Cafe's real good. Recommended, but pricy.

[laylag]

Were the cajun stringbeans the blackened stringbeans from New World Cafe - if so, I love those things. Ooops, just read above that they were but the site won't let me delete the post so to quote Emily Littella - "never mind"

But let me take a moment to echo Jim's comment - go to New World - it was excellent and we actually didn't find it pricey - maybe that's because we deal with with too many unjustifably high priced mediocre restaurants here in Westchester. Just wish we had a Ric Orlando restaurant down here.