No I'm not the Phantom

But I did attend the Phantom Gourmet food festival today. It was fun I got to hand out mints and when they were gone I was passing out Purple Phantom Beads. Its was fun despite the fact that the dyed beads were coming off in my hands and my arm looked purple at the end of it. Quite a number of characters came in, worked and attended the event. I know wearing purple was encouraged but alas my wardrobe is deficient in that particular color spectrum. However the people in attendance did not have that problem. I saw feathers, ties, shirts, orchid necklaces, and one guy in particular went as far as to show me his purple boxers. Now the beads are free but that gentlemen earned a handful LOL. Anyways after all the mints and beads were gone we were able to enjoy the festivities. My roomate and I actually were able to get in on alot of the booths and even a bar on Lansdowne.

First Yummies was wet up right next to us at the entrance. They were giving away free Candy Necklaces and Purple Vanilla Salt Water Taffy. As a bonus I was able to meet up with an old college friend on mine that I hadn't seen in years. Turns out his fiance's family owns Yummies and as it turns out he also lives in Brighton. Who Knew!

Next was the slightly disappointing Emma's Pub & Pizza. This guys has commercials like used car salesmen. His prices are cheap and now I know why. His offering to the festival were his teriyaki like meatballs. The only thing original may have been the sauce since the Meatballs screamed store bought and not homemade. Oh well didn't expect much didn't get much.

Next up was individual bags of Dale and Thomas Popcorn, which was excellent as always in Movie theater butter flavor. I really did not even take time to savor I was so hungry. You can get their popcorn all over now but I first saw it in Whole Foods.

We skipped over Not Your Average Joes (Chicken Satay) and b.good (baked French Fries) lines were to long and like I said we were starved. We stopped at Wholly Cannoli's booth which was outstanding, not sure what they called it, but it was the best part of a cannoli dipped in caramel, then dipped again in chocolate and finally rolled into peanuts. It was incredible so when ever you get yourself out to Worcester be sure to stop by. It also helped that the guys running the booth were cute.

Finz out of Salem and now recently Dedham offered up some chowder, which I did not partake but I did indulge in their Buffalo Calamari, which was also surprising excellent. Not only was the Calamari perfectly cooked, it was not greasy, it was crunchy and equally surprising was there decision to not use the typical buffalo wing sauce which can be quite overpowering. I don't know what it was but it provided a nice spice with very little heat. An Outstanding dish, and worth getting at the restaurant.

Palumbo's Kettle Korn was good and provided a nice little bag which was handy for consumption later on in the day. They are available for parties and festivals.

The Loft's Lobster Macaroni and Cheese sounded nice and extravagant but I am hoping the need to create close to 20k samples effected the final product cause it was disappointing. The cheese sauce was curdled and the Lobster was not even flavorful. Like I said I hope the product in the restaurant is better because this would have been Phantom Flawed.

The Suasage Guy was too crowded to get near but having already sampled his goods before I was not to disappointed. Kowloon had wings which looked divine but I was starting to be selective at this point, and the line did not justify one wing.

Beantown Cupcakes offered up an awesome Red Velvet Cupcake. The Sunset Grill's Jambalaya was good and only strengthened my desire to got there sometime. Its mammoth selection of beers intrigues me.

I skipped over Beard Papa although good I also have tried them before and really have some not so nice memories associated with them at the moment.

One of the best booth's was Carl's steaks subs. It was long but well worth it. Even though it was a small portion, I will go on record proclaiming them as the best Steak and Cheese I have ever eaten. I seriously mean that. They have a location in Waltham and I will be going there sometime. The steak was tender moist cheesy, and the bread was soft and chewy. Just plain perfect.

Wicked Whoopie was there and gave out little mini whoopies which did not disappoint. I have sent them out as gifts before.

We waited in line for a freshly grilled Hamburger from Fuddruckers, while good it lacked the creativity you get from going to the restaurant and using the topping bar.

Finally the last thing we actually sampled was at Kane's Donuts. It was there signature coffee roll. MSN called them one of the 10 best donut shops and with what I sampled I'm not going to argue. Nice fluffly roll made with cinnamon, topped with what appeared to be a cinnamon icing and finished off with Cinnamon Sugar. I could feel my teethe screaming with every bite but it was so good.

There were plenty more places that were there but we were stuffed at that point. I could not even think of standing in line for Sal's Pizza (you know home of the 3lb pizza), Black Cow, Firefly's and Trani just to name a few. We stopped into the Rocket Bar for a beer and the day was complete. So next year when you see tickets go on sale I recommend you check it out because it was Phantastic.

And no I did not see the Phantom but I did see an Andleman.

Enjoy the links and I'll talk to you later.