So today is the day I’v been looking forward to. I’ve been going around to everybody, brazenly asserting that Amstel Light Meatopia, sponsored by Whole Foods Market, called Meatopia by the world, was the most ambitious food event ever. I don’t blame America for being skeptical; last year’s picnic was a breezy good time, but was run well, but it was a first time event, put on by two well-meaning boobs in myself and Jimmy Carbone. We had a nice day, everybody took the boat over, and the chefs made great food. It was hot and fun and had a kind of bucolic informality to it. But why is it now $85?

There are some easy answers, all of which bear repeating. We moved the event to a place you can get to without a two hour combined wait. We hired the top event producers in the country to run it with military precision. I brought in twice the number of chefs, for the same amount of guests, and had them cook twice as meat; and we are paying the chefs $1000 each, not a fortune, but a gesture of respect for what they do and who they are, from the bZ Grill gyro guys in Astoria, to the likes of April Bloomfield or Floyd Cardoz or Michael White.  They’re all great cooks, and they deserve recognition of the non-bullshit kind.

But the real answer, the only answer, to why Amstel Light Meatopia, presented by Whole Foods Market, will live up to the hype is its menu. Eater announced it today.  Here’s the link:

http://eater.com/archives/2011/06/27/heres-the-menu-and-lineup-for-meatopia-2011.php

But maybe sit down first!

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Josh Ozersky