Last weekend I attended a food event hosted by the Major League Baseball called the MLB FoodFest thanks to the food selfie queen @eatwithnia (you should follow her, she’s the best).
And when I say we ate… I mean we ATE so many samples. 30 samples to be exact! If you've ever dreamed of visiting all 29 (with 1 in Canada) baseball stadiums and eating then this is the event for you.
The concept of this food fest is really cool. All 30 MLB stadiums have a signature food item that’s actually served at their stadium and this event puts whatever that food item is on display for everyone to try. The tickets range from $35-55 (with taxes and fees you’ll end up spending $40-65). You have 3 hours to try as many stadium items as humanly possible.
There were 2 ticket options: with beer/drinks or without. The cheaper ticket does not allow drinks but I would say its worth it. The venue served some really refreshing beers (and spiked seltzer) available (3 max) but don’t feel bad if you go for the cheaper option they have plenty of water and coca-cola all around for the taking.
Nia and I were on a mission to try food from all 30 stadiums and because we are dedicated women we did it! It personally took me 2 days to do this but I did it! I attended both days, different time slots (8pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday).
A few different people asked what my favorites were that night. This took me some time to think over but I was able to come up with (3) of my favorite samples from the weekend.
3 - Oakland Athletics : Brisket Nachos
The photo on the left is from an actual restaurant in Manhattan on 3rd Avenue called 
The pop up restaurant/parking lot was located downtown Manhattan at 
While waiting to get in everyone took photos with the staff members, the infamous man in a chicken costume, and we watched the official trailer a few times. In the trailer I noticed Gus says "come in and try our curly fries". I didn't think anything of it until one of the staff members announced there was no chicken being sold nor given out. My heart sunk. ?
I want to mention that I ALWAYS research every restaurant, event, pop up shop, grand opening, etc I attend. I search the internet for details and because of my "need to know" personality I always like to be prepared and know what to expect. But this time, because I saw so many tweets about it being so "cool" at SXSW I did not dive into finding out what to expect and wanted to be surprised. With that said, I was unaware that chicken would not actually get served at the pop up restaurant.The one time I do not research a pop up event this happens. I would not have gotten there so early if I knew this. On a positive note, they did however provide us with curly fries (and the fries were actually tasty). For free. 
I will say this was more of a pop up museum of the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant rather than a standard pop up restaurant. I can't front, I'm sad I did not get to try some chicken but it was kinda astounding seeing the replica of the set. It was like we were actually in the southwest and in this extremely nice and wholesome chicken joint that was really a front for drug money. It was pretty freaking awesome to have experienced it.
Here's what we had at 
The drive from Queens to Montreal was a long one so we called it a night (after dinner) and got a goodnights sleep. The next day, we woke up early to get some bagels. Before I headed to Montreal there was talk in my office of me trying "amazing" bagels on my trip. When I heard this from a co-worker I was a little taken aback by this statement because I'm a New Yorker. Born and raised in Brooklyn and in my opinion New York City produces the best bagels hands down. I know my previous statement is controversial but I did not expect to hear that bagels are one of the "must tries" foods in Montreal. And, because I love a challenge and I love to prove people wrong I woke up extra early (as instructed) and headed down to 
My first thoughts were (as I approached the store) "oh this is small". I was under the impression this is a sit down diner like how in New York City, you can grab a bagel, sit and have a cup of coffee. Nope. This place was a legit hand rolled bagel shop. It was spectacular to see this happening before my eyes. I had to let a few locals go ahead of me before I could decide on which bagels I wanted to try. But I ended up getting 4 different bagels and I will admit they were pretty good. Very warm, soft, not airy, not too chewy and not too crunchy but sort of the perfect bagel consistency. If you are reading this and plan on heading to Montreal I highly recommend stopping at St-Viateur Bagel shop and at the least watch the bagel making process, it's pretty great to see first hand. Luckily we did not live too far from here so we grabbed the 4 bagels and headed back to our flat to make coffee and enjoy our bagels.
After we stuffed our faces with yummy bagels we bundled up (because it was about 17degrees at the time) and headed to 
We also took some time to visit the 
As many of you travelers know, lots of walking, visiting shops, and site-seeing can make a person hungry.And oh boy did I continue to eat on this trip.Here are a few of my favorite food stops leading up to my big 5-course birthday dinner (more on that later).
We stopped for cappuccino's before heading to China Town. I will have to say it seems like any coffee shop you go to in Montreal, the people are friendly and the cappuccinos are divine.
We called it a night after an eventful day. Had a bit of whiskey and these unique dill pickle chips only sold in Canada by the fireplace.
The next day breakfast was a bit American at a cute boutique diner named 
Since this was now my actual birthday I got a chance to relax, and do a bit of shopping in our part of town. The supermarkets in Montreal and stocked very similar to what we have in the US but I feel like they cater to the healthier side of products more than the chemical based products. I also absolutely loved the fact that ducks and duck meat were readily available as you would see chicken or beer here in the US. I hardly see duck sold in a local Whole Foods or a Gristedes.Speaking of duck, I will now explain my birthday dinner. A dear co-worker who lives and works in Montreal was a huge help when I told her I would be spending time in Montreal. I asked her for a restaurant that would feed my foodie hunger but not break the bank. My co-worker recommended a wonderful restaurant that offered a 5-course dinner for around $54-55. When I looked up reviews on this place it became an absolute must! The restaurant is named 
I could not have asked for a better 30th birthday! I loved every single bite of my meal. Every single course :)The next day was one of our last days in Montreal and on the way out of this majestic city we stopped at 
After lunch we made our way to 
Thank you reader for joining me and taking a look back at one of the best foodie trips I've had to date.Leave a comment below if you have any questions about the dishes or locations mentioned above.
To my surprise, there were no detailed education sections or history lessons on ice cream. Instead of walking around reading or listening to a guide, your 5 senses were intrigued. You were given sweet treats in every room you entered, and the whole place was decked out in hip ice-cream themed art work. Which is quite refreshing. It's out of the norm when one thinks of a traditional museum visit.Ticket prices were about $18USD per person and the full experience lasts about 30-40 minutes. You are usually grouped in with several people and are instantly greeted with the flavor of the day ice cream. The two attractions that stood to me the most were "The Edible Balloons" and "The Sprinkles Pool".If you follow food trends, you'll know that this one of them. There are several Youtube of people enjoying edible balloons at dinner tables (mainly in Chicago) so when I saw them being made here I got really excited because this was one thing I could scratch off of my food bucket list. Unfortunately, this still remains on my list because I failed at eating the balloon. I tried twice and ended up with sticky glasses and sticky hands. One day I'll succeed, but it was fun watching and hearing everyone eat their balloons and talk to each other with the funny helium voice.
