Prepare Yourself For The NJ Mac and Cheese Festival

There are few foods better than mac and cheese. The cheap boxed variety was a staple of my college diet (every one in a while I would splurge on the fancy Velveeta creamy kind), and since then my palate has refined to appreciate actual homemade mac&cheese. It's a perfect side for meatloaf, burgers, hot dogs - pretty much anything.

Obviously, I'm stoked for the Hoboken Mac & Cheese Festival!

Tickets go on sale today (January 22) at noon, and will set you back $25. There are two sessions to choose from on March 23rd: noon-2 or 3-5pm, both at Our Lady of Grace Church on Willow Avenue in Hoboken.

Right now a dozen restaurants will be bringing their dishes to sample, and more could be added:

• Tony Boloney’s
  featuring their "Heart Attack" (buffalo chicken mac n cheese w/ smoked bacon and homemade buttermilk ranch) & "Ay Dios Mio-Mac!" (cheesy mac n‘ cheese pie topped w/ chipotle-house-sauce & cilantro)
• The Shepherd & the Knucklehead
  featuring their house-made Bacon Mac & Cheese
• Pilsener Haus
  featuring their Käsespätzle (house-made spätzle with gruyere cheese, carmalized onions, & bacon)
• Texas Arizona
  featuring a variety of their colossal rigatoni macs (Classic, Portobello, Grilled Chicken, Shrimp, & Chorizo)
• Union Hall
  featuring their Cacio E Pepe Mac & Cheese Bites
• The Brass Rail
  featuring their Lobster Mac & Cheese with truffle butter
• The Ainsworth
  featuring their Mac & Cheese Fries
  
• Sauced
  featuring their infamous Mac & Cheese
• Pizza Republic
  featuring their 3 most popular options (BBQ Pulled Pork, Buffalo Chicken, Bacon Classic)
• Black Bear
  featuring their Original Mac & Cheese and Buffalo Mac & Cheese
• House of 'Que
  featuring a custom BBQ-inspired Mac & Cheese creation
• Madd Hatter
  featuring a variety of their "Macky Cheese" (Classic, Buffalo Chicken, Blackened Steak)

Your ticket gets you a sample from every restaurant, and there is a beer & wine garden (plus the option to access the Open Bar).

A portion of event proceeds will benefit Party With Purpose, a 100% volunteer based, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded on the concept of producing great events to raise money for children’s charities and bring the community together in the process.

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