This year, I’m introducing a brand new category in the end of year posts.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly or follows me on social media will know that I fancy bacon way too much.  The point of this post is not just to highlight bacon in its regular use, but in a way that goes above and beyond.  Here, you will see the 3 items that best exemplify and most creatively use that element that we all love so much.

In this post, I’m going to do something that I rarely ever do, I’m going to actually count down the top bacon items that I had over the year.  The top bacon item is one that is out of the ordinary and shows gumption.  There are also some other bacon items that will be featured, but ineligible for reasons that I’ll explain in the post.

Salute to Bacon

Before we get going in this bacon endeavour, I’d like to salute the item that started my love of and devotion to bacon.  Léo Pizza was the first time I ever had bacon.  Since then, whenever I get the chance to have bacon, I recall my past and the decision is made quite easily.  I would love nothing more than to give out the bacon award to this piece of pizza, but it is something that gets done nearly every day and there is no more creativity to it.

Honorable Mentions

1.  Ruffles:  Sour Cream and Bacon

In mid-November, I made a random visit to the Couche Tard at Gare Centrale and I noticed something quite astonishing.  Growing up, bags of Ruffles were downed in the Lew household like they were going out of style.  Most times, bacon chips are great the first time around, but they get old quite fast.  I’ll admit it, there’s no difference here.  I really was happy to see that the Ruffles company finally got into the bacon game.  Unfortunately, it’s ineligible for the award because it is a consumer product and bacon chips are far too common these days.

2.  Bacon Chocolate Bar (Purchased from Briimstone Chocolates & Fudge)

Early in 2012, I heard the whispers of a bacon chocolate bar.  For people like me, it’s a combination of two of the greatest items known to humankind.  This particular chocolate bar has maple in it and was worth the 6 dollars I paid for it.  However, I can’t give the award to the chocolate bar because, once again, it’s consumer product and this blog isn’t about things I can buy in a store, no matter how awesome they may be.

THE LIST:

3rd Runner-Up - Bacon Potato Salad @ Griffintown Cafe

Originally, when I took my first bites of this potato salad, I had no idea that there was bacon in it, though I had that feeling in my gut.  I’m still relatively new to potato salad and 2012 was a year for me to have some for the first time.  If all potato salads were like this, you’d see a mass shortage of potatoes, be sure of that.

2nd Runner-Up - Bacon, Sea Salt & Fudge Milkshake @ Holy Chuck in Toronto

Much like the previous nominee, this was the first time that I ever had a milkshake in my entire life.  As a matter of fact, it is still the only milkshake I’ve ever consumed.  You may not think that the combination of bacon and fudge would work, but it really does.  Despite that, I still think that the idea might be a tad bit repulsive to some people.  I can remember the train ride home from Toronto, after having consumed all the food I had at Holy Chuck, feeling that the ideas were probably better in my dreams.

1st Runner-Up - Bacon Bullets @ JoBlo

If it wasn’t for a much stronger contender, this little gem of bacon goodness would’ve easily taken the award this year.  The Bacon Bullets at JoBlo were some of the most creative little bites I’ve ever seen in my 3+ years of doing the Burger Search.  The melding of jalapenos and cheese are already two things to die for, but rolling bacon over all that makes it epic.

Winner - Le Décadent @ La Mangeoire

Nutella, peanut butter and bacon walk into a bar.  That may be the start of a joke, but for me, it’s the beginning to the most epic sandwich I had all year.  The thing about it is that I’m surprised nobody thought of this much sooner.  The realistic thing of it is that during a normal breakfast, it’s feasible to have these three items in one sitting.  My only regret about this is that La Mangeoire is a food truck that doesn’t operate all year.

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There you have it, the first ever Mr. Lew’s Bacon Award goes to Le Décadent.  In 2013, I’m hoping to go out and see more insane bacon creations, so that the successor to Le Décadent will be just as awesome.  Tomorrow, in the last post before the main event, I’ll take a look my favorite Burger Search pictures from 2012.  Until then, here’s a picture of bacon, Lew style.

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