New York's biggest restaurant-as-concert-lineup event is back this weekend, and two of the city's most talked-about kitchens are joining forces for the occasion. Golden Hof and East Village favorite Bánh Anh Em have created two special sandwiches for EEEEEATSCON, combining Bánh Anh Em's bread with proteins from Golden Hof's Korean-inspired menu.
EEEEATSCON is a two-day festival featuring restaurants from New York City's five boroughs and beyond, built around the idea of treating restaurants like music festival headliners rather than food-truck vendors, according to Spectrum News NY1. The 2026 edition is scheduled for Pier 76 at Hudson River Park on October 3 and 4, according to the Chase Media Center. This year's lineup features more than 25 vendors, including Ceres Pizza serving slices of its $40 plain pie, century-old Brooklyn deli Defonte's, and contemporary Indian restaurant Adda, per the same source.
A Bánh Mì Champion Joins the Party
Bánh Anh Em brings serious credentials to Pier 76. The East Village spot's O.G. Bánh Mì was ranked the top sandwich in New York City by Time Out in August, a reputation built on baguettes the restaurant bakes in-house daily, according to Time Out. That same bread now anchors the collaborative sandwiches the restaurant created with Golden Hof specifically for this year's festival.
Golden Hof is the Midtown expansion of chef Sam Yoo, whose Chinatown restaurant Golden Diner opened in 2019 and is known for its viral honey butter pancakes. Yoo opened the 200-seat Korean pub concept near Rockefeller Center in February 2025, growing from a tiny diner counter into a much larger footprint, as reported by Forbes. Golden Hof is known for Korean-inspired savory snacks, making it a natural pairing with Bánh Anh Em's sandwich-focused menu for the festival mashup.
Why Tickets Require a Chase Card
Getting into EEEEEATSCON isn't as simple as buying a ticket online. For the 2026 event, admission is restricted exclusively to Chase credit and debit cardholders, who must enter a card customer service phone number as an access code to purchase the $25 passes, according to Danny the Deal Guru.
The Infatuation is the digital food guide behind EEEEEATSCON.
More Than a Tasting Menu
What sets EEEEEATSCON apart from a standard food festival is its format. Full-size menu offerings are paired with live musical performances, comedy sets, and Q&A panels featuring food critics, treating the dining lineup with the same production values as a concert bill, according to NYC Tourism + Conventions.
Arden Shore, editor-in-chief of The Infatuation, joined NY1's Mornings on 1 to discuss the festival and its featured restaurants ahead of this weekend's event. The segment comes as organizers look to build on last year's turnout, when festivalgoers packed the Pier 76 grounds in October 2025 for the event's debut at the Hudson River Park location, Spectrum News NY1 reports.
For many New Yorkers, the festival taps into habits they already have — consulting friends, social media, and review sites before deciding where to spend money on restaurant meals, according to the same NY1 segment. EEEEEATSCON simply compresses dozens of those decisions into a single weekend on the water.
