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!

Cochon555 Returns to Chicago to Celebrate 10 Years of Piggy Goodness

Photo courtesy of Grand Cochon

As summer ends, the onslaught of heavy hitting food festivals begins. This year, I am making room in my schedule and my stomach for the final stop of the Cochon555 2018 tour. On Sunday September 30th, 11 chefs from the all over the US and Canada will converge on City Winery with their best pork themed dishes in hopes of becoming the North American King or Queen of Pork.

Photo courtesy of Grand Cochon

The showdown, which was first held in Atlanta 10 years ago, brings together winners from every stop along the Cochon555 tour so far this year, including Chicago's own Chef Cory Morris (Boleo). A few years ago when I attended one of the semi-finals, Cory Morris presented one of the most spectacular sweet and savory bites I have ever had in the form of the Bacon Fat PB&J shaped like a little pig face. At first, I thought it was too cute to eat. Then I ate it. Then I tried to eat several more before being hustled along by the crowd. So needless to say, my money's on the home town boy.

The event highlights nose-to-tail cooking by giving every chef a whole heritage hog to do whatever they wish with. It also highlights just how special these heritage pig breeds are, and even helps to preserve them by raising funds for Piggy Bank, an organization that is dedicated to bringing several breeds back from the brink of extinction.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased HERE. Hope to see you there for the biggest piggiest party of the year!

Step Up Shine and Dine 2018 Recap

Shine and Dine is one of those events I look forward to every single year. Not just because of the stellar food and fun pop up events, but also because it gives me a chance to give back to an important organization like Step Up Women's Network, which works with young girls to open doors for their future. Every year, I am floored by the extraordinary stories of the girls who have been helped by this mentorship program. This year's event was as inspiring as ever.

Attendees getting touchups at Ulta's Beauty Bar

Chef Christine Cikowski of Honey Butter Fried Chicken curated the tasting portion, enlisting more then 25 different restaurants, food services, and beverage companies to bring along their best offerings. Some of my personal favorites were the smoked cauliflower with elote cream presented by the Chef Matt Jergens at The Gwen, and the corn and beef empanadas from Chef Devon Quinn at Eden. The crowd favorite (as evidenced by the perpetual line in front of their table) was definitely Wow Bao, who brought along a variety of their signature steamed buns. This year's program separated the dessert service out to after the main event, which was a nice change of pace. I especially enjoyed Chef Sandra Holl's (Floriole) take on a pavlova with lemon and blueberry, and the uniquely flavored chocolate bars from Chef Meg Galus from Boka Restaurants.

Aside from the the spectacular array of food, it was positively heartwarming to watch a community of men and women come together to celebrate and raise funds for girls of the future. Step Up alumna English Henderson was the special honoree of the night, and her speech, along with that of Chairman Jessica McLaughlin and Step Up CEO Jenni Luke, helped to gear up the crowd for the main portion of the fundraising, securing over $400,000 for another year's worth of programs.

English Henderson, this year' alumna honoree (photo courtesy of Step Up)

Step Up CEO Jenni Luke (photo courtesy of Step Up)

I am always so filled with joy and motivation after an evening with all those amazing girls and women. If you couldn't make it this year, it's never to late to contribute. Make sure to stop by Step Up's website and help another generation of girls connect with the resources to help them succeed.

Henderson