Dos Equis Bazaar Noir

Coming off of the thrill of Comic Con and the Dos Equis most interesting dinner, I was pretty set that I had been to the best events of the year. I was mistaken. Bazaar Noir, a "night-long, 360 immersive discovery experience, which combines worldly oddities, unique live talent and ambitious culinary and cocktail creations that stimulate one’s eyes and taste buds alike" was presented by the folks at Dos Equis last Thursday. Curious, I decided to check it out, and Wow! This was quite an event!

Block 16 downtown served as the venue. I've never been to this establishment, but now I really want to return. We were greeted at the door by a woman with an accent, dressed in bellydancing attire, as bellydancers swirled around us.

 

We were led into a huge, open room, which hosted a movie screen playing an art video (I could watch that stuff for hours), a bar, and two gypsy peddling carts.

First things first, we were instructed to get a drink. Two amber Dos Equis were our cocktails for the evening, and we were later to find that we would really need these beers for the spicy food to come.

After a bit of sipping the beers, it was time to start the challenge. There were four challenges, three of which involved eating exotic foods provided by Miho Gastrotruck. The prize? A ticket to a secret show (that unfortunately did not allow photography -- you know that I kiss and tell!).

 

The challenge was to eat exotic dishes, and after each taste, a card was punched to allow access to the show after all challenges were finished. Check out the cool punch card!

The first challenge was kangaroo! I've been curius to try it for ages, and this was served as a Bánh mì sandwich, which is a Vietnamese sandwich served on French bread (yeah, the French owned Vietnam for awhile, hence awesome pastries and bread with amazing Vietnamese fillings).

 

How was it? Amazing, and probably the spiciest thing that I've ever eaten! My mouth was burning for a good 15 minutes after the last bite. The lighting was not great (ambiance, ambiance), but I'm guessing that the peppers on the sandwich were fiery Anaheims.

The next challenge was the most strange -- eating crickets! I had an inkling that this was coming, and I was excited/nervous for it, but determined to do it! The crickets were served on a spicy taco, with lots of guacamole and onions.

 

I made it two bites. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think that crickets are in my future culinary attempts. :)

The final food challenge was duck tongue! I love duck, and I've eaten beef tongue, so this was really a no-brainer for me. Served with a peanut sauce on a bed of lettuce, this was one bite, and quite a tasty one!

The final challenge was to pet a snake or a lizard. I am sooo deathly afraid of snakes (I think it's the tongue and eyes), that the best that I could do was stand beside them. My card was generously stamped anyway.

What an incredible event!!

Edited to add: A couple sneak peeks from the secret show!!! Bazaar Noir is coming to Phoenix, Austin, Houston, Miami, and Atlanta. Check it out!