After my first AWESOME experience at the Brainfood convention held by Spoon University, I decided to head out on another food adventure in Queens. I came across the Dessert Goals event on Facebook and my attention was immediately grabbed by the simple but pretty graphics that decorate the page. I perused the website and discovered that there were different ticket options: the early bird special, general admission, and VIP packages. Intrigued by the low price of the early tickets, I put my typing skills to the test (thank you to the Entertainment Committee who has prepared me for this) and fortunately, I copped some early bird tickets.
I received a few emails leading up to the day of the event. They suggested dressing up to the theme, “floral disco” (basically pastels, ‘70’s inspired and a bunch of sequins). One of the most intimidating things about going to a foodie festival is worrying about how amazing everyone else will look for the event. I didn’t want to look like I didn’t care or try when I just didn’t own too many clothes related to the theme. Granted, this was a food event and not a Fashion week show, I still predicted that the event would be populated with overly dressed instagrammers. So I felt super self conscious and worried the whole one and a half hour commute to Long Island City in my super simple pastel tee and light-washed mom jeans.
Upon arriving at the event, I was relieved to see most other attendees dressed in normal clothes firstly, and secondly, glad I arrived about fifteen minutes early. The line started getting VERY long VERY fast. While standing in line, we were actually checked in and given wristbands with little tags to redeem our free goodies. I think the pre-check in was a great idea considering the fact that a whole new set of people would have to enter for the second time shift as the other group left. We actually entered about ten minutes later, but left ten minutes later than printed as well.
Upon entering, we were greeted by representatives from Boxed Water and Bai. We gave them our “water” tag and redeemed some samples of their products. I had always found boxed water to be quite cool and boujee but never something I would buy myself so I approved! And of course we’re going to need some water to wash down all the sugar. Bai gave out normal drinks as well as a new carbonated drink that I had never seen before. Later on, I also redeemed some free candy, which was not very exciting because the candies were very basic, and my free toothpaste from quip, which I thought was adorable. Zico (coconut water) was also at the event giving out hot chocolate (which was perfect because it happened to be pretty chilly outside) made with their coconut water and a cinnamon stick to give it an extra umph. Next to it was the savory “Salt Bar”, where there were samples of chips to cleanse our pallets from all the sugar. Surprisingly, we also received a small bag in which there was a small packet of mix to make chocolate cake in a cup from Duncan Hines.
Looking around, I could tell the organizers, but also the vendors, put a lot of thought and effort into setting up a gorgeous booth and space for us. Many of the decorations, inside and out, stayed very true to the theme. There were silver candies being given out that gave a disco feel, outside was a pretty garden-like area to take pictures, and each vendor’s booth was very representative of their respective brands but in a very visionary way. Outside specifically, there was also a cute area set up with different backgrounds to take pictures in (they know that beautiful natural lighting is a must!). Not to mention the gorgeous view of Manhattan as well.
Back inside, I tried desserts from four of the booths and ended up buying from two. In total, twenty one vendors including Lady M,Tipsy Scoop (who I believe was also at Brainfood!), Aux Merveilleux de Fred, New Territoies, and Bonsai Kakigōri were at the festival. There were many well known dessert spots present, so I decided that I could skip those and try new brands. I tried desserts from Becky’s Bites, Supermoon Bakehouse, MOJO Mousse by Johan, and Petee’s Pie Co. Starting with Becky’s Bites, the dessert shop actually had a bunch of samples so I was able to try them before deciding to make a committed purchase. Becky’s was selling snack packs of cookie dippers and cream cheese dip -but with a twist. Each dip has a different theme or flavor like peanut butter and jelly flavored or smores and chill. I tried the gluten free “Cookie Monster” which came with mini cookie dippers and a blue cream cheese and little candy eyes to make it look like a pile of Cookie Monster. At first glance, I was extremely hesitant. It looked like a pile of blue frosting: sugary, thick and no depth of taste. As I grabbed a cookie and slid it across the dip, I realized I was going to be okay when it glided smoothly across the blue cream. I took a bite and the spread was a delicious; it was very sweet but had a light and creamy texture. It wasn’t like your average tub of ready made cream cheese frosting, there was a fresher cream flavor and the smoothest texture that the ready made could not compete with with its grainy sugar dust. Each pack was priced at four bucks, a bit pricey for the small pack so I decided to exercise some self control and save my money for something else. The second booth I tried Supermoon Bakehouse. Their booth was holo-mazing. It’s was constructed using their signature holographic boxes, all stacked on top of each other. I stole a bite of my friend’s pastry, the winter Ferraro rocher bi-color croissant, and it was pretty good! The pastry was very airy and had a familiar decadent hazelnut chocolate taste. If it were fresh out of the oven it definitely would have been even better. I really appreciated the look of the croissant, it had a striped pattern and was decorated with hazelnuts and a toasted dollop of marshmallow. For five and a half dollars, I also found this dessert to be a bit pricey, but overall still delicious.
The first dessert I did pay for was a hazelnut mousse from MOJO. I’m a hypocrite because I just complained about a $5.50 croissant, but I split a small cup of mousse that cost a whopping five dollars with my friend. Unfortunately, MOJO ran out of their special matcha flavored mousse but I was not let down by the hazelnut. The mouse also came with a choice of different toppings like raspberries, blackberries and different crumbly toppings. We added some raspberries and the crumbles and they handed us a gold spoon. If Nutella could be lighter, creamier, whipped mousse, this was it. The fruity and acidic fruit and the crunchy, hazelnutty crumbs paired great with lightly sweet mousse. Lastly, the most delicious dessert to grace my tongue. Petee’s Pie Co.’s booth was not very crowded or even loud aesthetically. I’m not really even sure what drew me to their booth specifically. Many of the vendors there were very flashy or were from shops I had already heard about due to their unique desserts. Pie has never really been my go-to dessert, so I guess I wanted to take a chance and see if they could change my mind. And boy did they deliver. There was a choice between a few flavors, but the special to Dessert Goals flavors were the chocolate and the lemon meringue pies. The lemon pie was so beautiful, sprinkled with tiny, colorful flowers giving the otherwise plain white pie a mystical life. The chocolate pie had shards of chocolate colored in cold on top. I decided to continue my chocolate streak and purchase a piece of pie for seven dollars. When you think about it, you can almost buy lunch at Asia with that money, so I was really hoping I would not be let down. Let me tell you, it was love at first bite. I had never loved a pie or possibly any dessert quite like this one. I wasn’t expecting very much from the three-layer slice. How could a crust, and a layer of chocolate and a layer of cream melt in my mouth and stun my taste buds the way it did? Evaluating layer by layer, the crust was flaky and buttery, with each layer of it separating as the bite got deeper. The chocolate portion was one of the smoothest and richest milk chocolate fillings I had ever tasted. And finally, the whipped cream on top was done just the way I like it, fluffy as a cloud and subtly sweet. Just a cool cloud partnered with the effortlessly crispy crust to compliment the chocolate center.
All in all, this was another great convention. I was really impressed by how smooth the event ran considering it was the first day and the sheer numbers of people in attendance. Although there was only one and a half hours allocated to spend at the convention, it was just the right amount of time to see and do everything offered. The variety in vendors was also great. There were desserts ranging from shaved ice to salt water taffy to cake pops. Honestly, I consider myself more into savory foods than sweet, but this event had me questioning myself. I do wish I took pictures with the backgrounds outside, but it was so cold and I noticed them after finishing most of my desserts. After leaving the event, my new goal was to save money to come back for more sweets next year!
Pro Tip: Go to Dessert Goals.
Cost- $$
I purchased an early bird ticket which cost less than $15. Although I guess I did pay money to get into a convention to spend more money, the convention did give out a bunch of samples (feeling cool with my boxed water) and the desserts being sold had a price averaged between $3-$15. Personally, I’m broke, but I still managed to try a few things and spent under $15. Bringing a friend to split desserts with is a must!
4/5
Location-
It’s in Brooklyn, definitely not the worst commute and directions were simple. I only had to walk a straight line after getting off the E train. The only annoying part of the trip was the PATH, which sucks on weekends if you’re trying to get to World Trade Center.
Convenience rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 5/5
I was so worried I would get to the convention and regret the time and money spent. There are a bunch of over hyped places and events that I have heard complaints about, but this definitely wasn’t one of them! Although many vendors there were very well known and finding one of their locations would be easy, they also sold special flavors just for this event specifically! It was also awesome how they made the desserts smaller and the price proportional to that.
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