Chicago Gourmet 2019 Recap: A Glutenous Timeline

Another year, another fabulous Chicago Gourmet. In the past I've come at this recap in a number of ways; giving you my best of, giving helpful tips of how to navigate the festival, demonstrating food trends based on the dishes being served, etc. This year, I figured I'd try something a little different and give you as much of a behind the scenes peek into what my day covering the biggest food festival of the year is really like. So, got your walking shoes on? Good, because it's pretty darn damp out here from all the rain. Let's go!

12:00 pm- The festival is officially open! While everyone else gets their barrings/heads for the Supreme Lobster tent, I spot the return of an old friend: the Four Corner's tent. In years past, they've been my go-to first stop because they are always ready and raring to go while other tents are still plating. This year they were featuring Carnitas Tacos and customizable mini margaritas from Federales.

12:15 pm- After wandering around for a bit and taking some atmosphere shots, I spotted Christina from Chritiques and we sauntered over to the Mariano's Tasting Pavilion to get our first loaded plates of the day. Best of the Tent: Brian Jupiter's (Ina Mae/Frontier) Smoked Boar Tacos and Michael Galen (Dusek's/Punch House) Spice Roasted Cauliflower with lemon tahini, walnut and pomegranate. This tent also showcased two odd, but fun brand features. Murray's Cheese handed out tiny curated cheese plates with tasting cards, while Fanny May had some of their signature chocolates. At least Fanny May's goodies I could shove in my bag for later, but I'm not gonna lie... the tiny cheese plate was an odd choice for an event like this.

12:30 pm- The decision was made between Christina and I to hit up the Keeping Up with the Konfections dessert tent while the line was short. Eli's Cheesecake really surprised me with their feature of a new product: tiny goat's milk cheese cake bites, called Cubies (because they're tiny cubes!) drizzled with honey. I would have eaten the entire bag if I hadn't been pacing myself!

12:45 pm- The US Foods tent was in full swing by this point, so we joined the growing line. The standout here was Giancarlo Valera's (Tanta) shrimp cebiche, a dish I'd actually had the opportunity to learn how to make a few weeks ago. Funnily enough, raw seafood dishes used to be an overwhelmingly common sight at Chicago Gourmet, but this was the only one I encountered this year!

1:00 pm- Christina and I bid our farewells as she headed off to meet some friends, and I popped over to the Thai Select tent. Wipavadee Iamsakul from Kinnaree Thai Kitchen served my favorite dish here: some skewered pork with a fresh salad on the side. The gals at Siam Rice Thai Cuisine were NOT kidding around when they said their Thai Basil Chicken was a LITTLE spicy, so I immediately headed off to some of the smaller tents in search of liquid refreshment.

1:15 pm- Fever Tree bottled mixers had some lovely, refreshing cocktails at their table. Absolute Vodka was featuring their new line, Absolute Juice, mixed with sparkling water. Sparkling cocktails seemed to be all over the place. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the country's obsession with White Claw this past summer...

1:30 pm Quick stop at Tao's tend to sample their Peking Duck Rolls was totally worth it. Then I headed over to the Gardens of the Galaxy Veggie tent, because the amount of heavy meat dishes I'd been given to far was already starting to wear me down. Sandy Chen (Koi/Le Sud/Club 77) had some adorable veggie sushi rolls with the different colored wrappings denoting different flavors.

1:45 pm- Started to hit a wall, so I grabbed cold brew from La Colombe's tent and headed to the Gordon Food Service tent for last round from the heavy hitters. God bless the volunteer working this tent who briefed everyone waiting in line on what dishes were inside with the detail of a fine dining server. After skirt steak, octopus, beef cheek, and smoked salmon mousse, It was the Jackfruit and Papaya Noodle Salad from Jonathan Meyer at Flora and Fauna that I found most delicious, if only because it wasn't meat or bread.

2:00 pm- Time to stop into the Choose Chicago media tent for a quick break. Unfortunately for me, the media tent had a table full of delicious looking food! I was in such a daze at that point (from all I'd eaten and drunk, but also because the humidity had drastically risen), so I don't seem to have made a note about what the food was or who made it... but I did take pictures. Because that's just muscle memory for me at this point. See pretty food, take pictures of it. Done.


2:30 pm- This is always the time I head to the mainstage to take in a few demos while the tasting tents change over for the afternoon session. Sarah Grueneberg and Fabio Viviani made for a delighful pair of pasta making Top Chefs, and it was a total thrill to get to see Masaharu Morimoto expertly butcher a 130 pound tuna like it was something he does every day. Actually, he probably does do that every day.

3:30 pm- Time to get back to eating! First stop was the hidden gem S Rosen's Sandwich tent, where Julius Russell (A Tale of Two Chefs) had the fanciest grilled cheese sandwich I've ever seen, packed with slow roasted short rib, truffle oil, and caramelized shallots.

3:45 pm- Back over to the Mariano's tent. This time, it was the Duck Fat Hot Dogs from Kevin Hickey (The Duck Inn) that caught my attention. Also catching my attention was my good friend Mihaela from Chicago Loves Panini, who tagged along with me for the final rounds of the festival.

4:00 pm- Another trip to the US Foods tent. Two things here had people talking; Brian Jupiter's Gator Sausage sandwich, which initiated many Chance the Snapper comments, and Carlos Gaytan's Chicken Mole Tacos. This was the first taste many of us had had of Carlos's food from his new restaurant Tzuco, a tribute to the cuisine of his home town.

4:15 pm- Last big tent of the day; a return to the Gordon Food Service pavillion, where the amazing volunteer lady was still giving detailed menu spiels to the waiting crowd. Though I was full, I was so happy to get a taste of the Pork Belly and pork shoulder with arugula slaw and grape must from Louie Alexakis at Avli Tavern, because he has always brought such stellar dishes in previous years.

4:30 pm- A few more walk abouts before the whole festival started to shut down resulted in an adorable souvenir mug from the Iichiko Sochu tent, a bite of a stellar Japanese egg salad sandwich topped with caviar from Guy Meikle at Heritage Restaurant and Caviar Bar, and some much needed Resilient juice from Natalie's Cold Pressed Juices.

And thus ended another stellar, ridiculous, glutinous, entertaining, and exhausting year at Chicago Gourmet! Check out my Facebook page for all the photographic proof of my hunger. Until next year!

Follow Me Around Chicago Gourmet 2018

I attended Chicago Gourmet free of charge as a member of the media. All opinions are my own.

So... Chicago Gourmet happened and I'm already sad that it's over. This year's theme was "Rock the Fork," which is kind of ironic, considering most of the dishes served there aren't meant to be eaten with forks (spoonables and finger foods are far more common and less complicated), but the addition of some random musical elements to the festival did help spice things up. The lines this year, though, were an ordeal, with most tents boasting more than a 20 minute wait for food. I'm not sure if this was due to more tickets being sold, or too many overly ambitious chefs taking too long to plate complicated dishes, but either way, it definitely effected the pace of the day and my stamina.

I am very specific about how I go through Chicago Gourmet, so I thought it might be fun to walk you through my usual strategies. A few general notes before I begin:
1) I ate far less this year then I normally do and left far earlier, due to my hubristic decision to attend a second large food festival later that evening
2) I drank far less then I usually do for that same reason, but my normal MO is to stick to ready to drink cocktails and steer clear of the wine tents
3) I attended the festival on Sunday only
4) I didn't eat a damn thing for 16 hours before the festival and nearly a whole day afterwards
5) The weather was far cooler and more comfortable this year than it was last year, but a rain shower in the middle of the day did threaten to ruin a few dishes, moods, and expensive shoes.
6) No, I did not hit the Supreme Lobster tent. I avoid it like the plague because the wait is usually twice as long as all the other tents, and when you're trying to cram tons of food into a few short hours, time is precious.

For the last few, years, my first stop has been to the Four Corners Tavern Group tent, mostly because they usually have several fun presentations ready to go and I can get pictures of them before they are swarmed with people. This year, I discovered their usual spot was now occupied by the Godfrey Hotel, who were serving a spiced berry cocktail, avocado toast, herbed hummus, and chicken satay, along side branded freebies like sunglasses and mints. They also had a large plastic igloo, furnished as a private seating area/selfie station. Later in the day, they even brought in a snow machine, apparently.

Next, I headed for the Mariano's Tasting Pavilion. The tent's namesake had brought along a London Broil sandwich from their catering division, which was good, but seemed out of place next to it's gourmet neighbors. There was quite a bit of seafood at this tent: Cameron Grant from Osteria Langhe presented a shrimp and octopus stuffed pasta with puttanesca sauce, Chris Pandel with Swift and Sons brought along a chilled corn soup with king crab, and Ian Davis from Band of Bohemia had a smoked sturgeon caviar crepe. Weirdly, the thing I had to force myself not to finish (because I needed to save room) was the pork gyro from Jimmy Bannos Jr.'s newest venture, Piggy Smalls. I've never enjoyed a gyro more, but then again, I was still pretty hungry at that point in the day.

I then made the controversial decision to hit the Dessert Pavilion. I like to do this early in the day, because most people tend to hit up the sweets later, causing all kinds of traffic jams and long wait times. Samantha Gonzales from Blue Agave Tequila Bar was serving large chunks of tres leches cake, while Greg Reich from Terry's Toffee had four different flavors of of their signature sweets, chopped into tiny tasting pieces. Evan Sheridan from Free Rein had two very interesting desserts, but was sadly not behind the table when I came through, so I have no idea what they were. My notes say, "Some sort of flaky donut hole with candied orange, and a spiced pudding-like thing with sesame seeds." They were pretty tasty, in any case.

Back to savory things with the Hungry Like the Wolf tent (side note: only a few of the tents had these silly musical pun names, while other had sponsor names. I wish they all had the musical names). Here, Guy Meikle from Heritage Restaurant and Caviar Bar made his fellow tent occupants a little testy by holding up the front of the line with his expertly plated cauliflower and apple soup, garnished with a white fish roe and chicharon. Italian Village Restaurants handed out their chicken wings while they were still hot to those of us waiting. Blu57 Seafood started doing the same with their fried chicken salad. My standout from this tent was Sam Burman and MCA Catering with their pork rib with fennel pollen and lime. Louie Alexakis gave the attendees something sweet with a Greek dessert that consisted of crispy filo dough, spiced cheese, and pickled grapes. "Just mash up everything together," he told me with a wink.

After wandering around the lawn for a while, I ended up at one of the international tents, where chefs from foreign restaurants were presenting their hometown favorites. At the Mexico Tasting Pavilion, I got to sample a corn tostada with smoked crab, avocado mousse, and a paste made from 32 different peppers, which was made by Tomas Zertuche Diaz from Anita Li, a Nogalas style beef tartar with chili from Darren Walsh at Casa De Piedra, and a golden passion fruit tart from Fernanda Covarrubias with La Posteria, all restaurants in Guadalajara.

My last stop of the morning session was the US Foods tent. John Gatsos from Tavern on the Rush had a nice little short rib slider. Brian Jupiter from Frontier had brought along a crawfish elotes (which is actually a feature dish from his other restaurant, Ina Mae). Rick Gresh presented a pair of small bites from Ace Bouce: a mushroom and goat cheese dumpling and a mini barbacoa taco. Lastly, Juan Carlos Ascencio from Mercadito put forth a pork carnitas taco.

By now, I was hitting my midday lull, so I grabbed a couple of cocktails from the Three Olives tent and headed for the Bon Appétit main stage to recoup with some cooking demos. I got there just as Stephanie Izard was finishing up a raucous musical number with Graham Elliot, a live band, and an entire choir. I have no idea what she cooked, but the crowd seemed excited about it. She was followed by the subdued duo of Andrew Zimmerman (Sepia/Proxi) and Erling Wu-Bower, who walked everyone through making some easy crudos. After that, Graham Elliot returned with his pal, Matthias Merges (or as I like to call him, Chef Wolverine) to make some sort of fish dish together. I skipped out for the afternoon tasting sessions just as Matthias handed Graham the head of the fish and told him to figure something out. Hopefully it ended well.

On my way out of the demos, I stopped into the seemingly forgotten Porter Road tent and grabbed a lamb bacon and curried corn dish from Devon Quinn at Eden and a Korean short rib with fermented turnip, pickled radish, puffed sushi rice, and bone marrow butterscotch from the evil genius that is Brian Fisher (representing Entente).

Another trip to the dessert pavilion resulted in possibly the longest wait of the day (I told you, hit this tent early in the day!). I managed to snag a panna cotta sugar cookie sandwich from Michael Meranda with Gelato D'oro, a tasty but soggy pumpkin spice waffle with bourbon caramel sauce from David Rodriguez at Whisk, and a bread pudding with peach and raspberry coulee from Martial Noguier at Bistronomic.

By this point, I only had time and room for one last stop. I picked the US Foods Pavilion once more, since it was the closest tent to the exit. I got an apple and chive spatzel with chicken, pork, and pickled mustard seeds from Eric Mansavge at Farmhouse. Michael Armstrong from TAO had a pretty standard chicken pad thai. Giancarlo Valera from Tanta presented a shrimp ceviche with green plantain chips, Caribbean pepper and Peruvian corn. Marcos Flores from Latinicity had a braised mole shortrib. And then there was a mystery entrant (which my notes say was Rick Gresh and Ace Bounce again, but I'm not sure that was the case) with a lobster and shrimp dumpling in a shiitake and ginger broth. See? Told ya there was no need to wait at the lobster tent!

And there you have it! Just about everything I ate at Chicago Gourmet 2018! Let me know if you went and if I majorly missed out on anything. Until 2019!

Festival Recap: Chicago Gourmet 2017

There is a reason that Brandy so eagerly anticipates the end of September every year, and it might not be what you think it is. "Most people count down the days until the beginning of fall so they can get their hands on a pumpkin spice latte," she muses, "But for me, it's all about the countdown to what I refer to as 'Foodie Christmas.'" Yes, the biggest food festival of the year has once again come and gone, and although this year's attendees had to deal with record heat, there was no putting a damper on the party. Chicago Gourmet was celebrating a decade of existence and did so with a bang, adding all sorts of new events leading up to the big weekend while theming everything on the idea of decadence (or Decade-ance... get it?).

Having attended seven out of the ten festivals, Brandy has developed a pretty good strategy for getting through the day in the most efficient way possible, which she would like to share with all of her readers so that they can more easily prepare for future festivals.

Rule Number One: Hit the ground running. Brandy always makes sure she hasn't eaten anything for at least twelve hours before the festival so that she can be sure she has enough room for all the deliciousness. Once in the gate, she immediately made a beeline for the Four Corners Tavern tent, which was serving a selection of dishes, desserts, and cocktails from their collection of restaurants (with an emphasis on their newest venture, Brickhouse Tavern, which recently opened just outside of Wrigley Field). This tent is always ready to go right as the festival opens, while others are still in prep mode. Brandy was able to quickly grab up some savory fry bread, a buffalo tuna cone, some boozy rainbow jello push pops, an adorable unicorn donut hole, and a Moscow Mule, all while others were still consulting their maps.

Rule Number Two: Eat on the go. Once she had a handful of goodies, it was time to find another tent to line up for. Veterans of the festival will often go straight for the Supreme Lobster tent, as it tends to accumulate the longest lines, but Brandy prefers to make her way around the perimeter of the festival first, as those tents tend to run low of food more quickly. Brandy headed for the Mariano's tasting pavilion, and just as she finished up her previous haul, she was ready to collect delicious items for her next round. The K-Pop Fun Time Wieners with "kim-cheeeeze" whiz from the Duck Inn were a definite favorite from this group.

Rule Number Three: Know who your friends are. The beginning of the day is the most important part, because it sets the pace for everything else. If one fills up too quickly, they'll be sluggish for the rest of the day, but if one goes too slowly, they risk being too full by the time the second session comes around. Brandy likes to review the locations of restaurants she knows she loves and plan her stops accordingly so as to waste as little time as possible. Honey Butter Fried Chicken is always going to be a great option, so she headed in the direction of their tent and got the bonus of a delicious hot dog from Bar Lupo, topped with bolognese, giardiniera, and ricotta, as well as a braised short rib slider with tomato jam and truffle aioli from Pearl Brasserie.

Rule Number Four: If you don't love it, don't finish it. Pacing is key, especially when some of the restaurants seem to be trying to out do each other with portion sizes. Brandy spotted Marchesa serving a mini bowl of steamed mussels, which on first glance seemed like a lot of food, but was actually a manageable size once one had removed all the meat from the shells. She greatly admired the bravery of serving mussels at an event such as this one, where the temptation is to present a perfect one bite dish.

Rule Number Five: Take breaks and stay hydrated. There are plenty of oases to be found outside of the more obvious seating areas. 8 Hospitality offered some bar tables and chairs along with cocktails and a truffle and pheasant pie. Counter Culture Coffee had created a pop up cafe, where they were offering everything from cups of cold brew to shots of espresso to give attendees a much needed boost of energy. Thermador had set up a comfy lounge area, offering people pieces of bacon dipped in either chocolate or caramel as a quick snack. Patron had the most impressive spot, right in the middle of the festival, where bartenders were slinging a variety of tequila cocktails.

Rule Number Six: Wait to get sweets until you're almost full. With most of the dishes at Chicago Gourmet being savory, a sweet treat can make quite a difference to one's overwhelmed palate. After sampling a slightly sweet braised beef brisket with sweet potato puree, pickled slaw, and apple jam from Promontory, Brandy found herself craving things with even more sweetness, so she headed to the desserts pavilion. There she found Bittersweet Pastry shop serving up butterscotch brownies, Bang Bang Pie handing out cups of fresh blueberry crisp, and Beacon Tavern presenting a beautiful hazelnut and chocolate layered cake.

Rule Number Seven: Hit the demos before you hit the wall. As Brandy does most years, she headed to the main stage demos while the tents transitioned from the first to the second sessions. Comfortably seated, she watched as Stephanie Izard and Sarah Grueneberg teamed up to make dumplings and pasta (with some assistance from Billy Dec), followed by Art Smith and Lorena Garcia exuding their sass and charm with some Southern/Latin fusion food.

Rule Number Eight: Find the most creative and refreshing dishes to finish out the day with. The second session can be the most challenging part of the day as fatigue sets in and the alcohol starts to seep into the blood stream, but finding new and exciting things can help keep the mind sharp. Brandy really loved her visit to the vegetarian themed tent, where Filini was serving up a gnocci with butternut squash and brown sage butter and Baptiste and Bottle offered a delicata squash with escarole, apple mostarda, and a chili seed romesco. Across the lawn, there was a fried sweetbread from Osteria Langhe, something one wouldn't normally expect to see at such an event, but a welcome surprise. Stings (Brandy's newly discovered go to for ramen) presented a wonderfully refreshing cucumber salad, which was a blessing of a palate cleanser after a day of snacking of such rich fair.

It certainly was a celebration of decadence at this year's Chicago Gourmet, but with her game plan at the ready, Brandy once again survived a long but exuberant day of food and drink. "It's a good thing they only do this once a year," she sighed as she headed out of the park, "I don't know if I could survive doing this even six months apart."

Don't forget, lots more pictures from the festival are available for browsing on our Facebook page!

The writers of this blog were given free admission to this event in order to facilitate the writing of this post.