Was not there a Taste of Chicago [2004] Thread Somewhere?

The vendor list and the items each vendor will be serving has been posted at:

http://tinyurl.com/yqggc

(The URL as copied out of IE's address field was five full lines long in the message field.)

Also plenty of maps and other info. I amused that one Chinese restaurant is honest enough to admit that they're serving "Crab" Rangoon (their quote marks).

Vendors flagged as "new" on the page include:

The Abbey Pub
3420 W. Grace St.

Atrium Restaurant & Bakery
525 W. Monroe St.

Chicago Joe's
2256 W. Irving Park Rd.

El Polo Loco
Opening soon in Chicago

Penang Malaysian Cuisine
2201 S. Wentworth Ave.

Popcorn Chicago
436 E. Grand Ave.

Stanley's Kitchen & Tap
1970 N. Lincoln Ave.

Taqueria Los Comales
3141 W. 26th St.

Tiparos Thai Cuisine
1540 N. Clark St.

Okay, they may not have Burger King this year, but surely this:

El Polo Loco
Opening soon in Chicago

is JUST as bad!

I like El Pollo Loco. They have good chicken freshly prepared. As someone said in their LA review, we need something like that in chicago.

i've gotta agree - i'd never heard of el pollo loco before i lived in las vegas. i's very chipolte-like, but i really enjoyed their "salsa bar".

ciao
sharon

We may need it in Chicago but if we don't have it yet, it seems to me it has no business being in "Taste of Chicago."

Mike G wrote:We may need it in Chicago but if we don't have it yet, it seems to me it has no business being in "Taste of Chicago."

I agree, but they're not only a vendor but also a sponsor -- so my guess is that they're doing it specifically for the noise level. (Getting mentioned at Petrillo nightly, etc.) This is the first I've ever heard of them, but I pasted in the listing directly from the Taste of Chicago Web page... so I'm going to assume that it's someone with the city who doesn't know how to spell "pollo" and not someone with the chain.

Hey all - this will be my first Taste of Chicago. Can you just tell me what it is like - what to expect, etc? Thanks!

Well, a couple of thoughts about the Taste.

There's a difference between the big night (July 3rd) and all the other days. On the other days it's not that crowded, when I worked downtown we'd come over, pay inflated prices to try, you know, African food or whatever, it was kind of fun. There are some good oldies acts and stuff like that usually scattered throughout the week, come out, hang out and listen to music, a relaxed time.

The July 3rd event is a zoo-- literally a crowd of over a million people, you have to expect to stake out a spot early in the day, to find yourself suddenly being carried in a direction you didn't mean to go by a crowd, to spend 3 hours making your way home that night unless you live within walking distance. It is a great experience being in a crowd that size, seeing downtown filled with wall-to-wall people, and after I did it twice I felt like I never ever needed to do it again....

As a food event it is a very mixed bag, and some would be harsher. Because of the crowds they only have vendors who can make 10,000 of something a day. Sometimes that means kind of interesting stuff, but it can also mean (I know this for a fact) that a few years ago, the Chinese vendor who assembly-line made egg rolls by the billions for United made them for the Taste, too. So you were literally paying inflated prices... for airline food. Now, I don't mean to say there's nothing good there, I'm just saying, you have to be a smart shopper-- you need to use some intelligence to scout out the more interesting and obscure vendors, and not wind up paying $5 in tickets for a reheated slice from a place that has a location in your neighborhood.

Hi Spa girl,

we live close enough to Grant Park that we can hear the tour boats shilling for passengers in the summer, but we have really given up on Taste of Chicago -- we just call it "Waste of Chicago" in fact. I understand that when it first got started it was supposed to be a venue for the really good, high-end, restaurants in town to let people sample a little of what they do, but now the focus is on more and more pizza places, or barbecued turkey leg places -- just the most boring kind of food, and so many stands doing exactly the same thing.

There *will* be a few "exotic" offerings (e.g. West African stewed goat) but you have to wade through big crowds to find them. It's probably better to seek out the actual restaurants and have the food prepared in an optimal setting, anyway.

If you go, though, try to go early in the day on a weekday, when the crowds will be smaller. The worst time to go (packed with approximately one million people) would be the evening of July 3, when Chicago does fireworks. (By the way, can ANYONE explain to me why the fireworks are on the 3rd??)

Amata

If you've never been, there's no reason not to go, and with the list of vendors and items they'll be selling on the page I linked to (and the maps that are linked from that page), you can plan your trip. I've never known it to not be crowded, although the crowds are definitely worse on the first couple of days, the 3rd, and at lunchtime, since it attracts a lot of people from nearby offices.

Just pick a nice day and be fully cognizant that this is a crowd, a very large crowd, full of happy people eating, and you're going to be one of them. There will always be someone between where you are and where you want to be, there will always be a long line at the vendor you most want to go to, there will always be a band you don't like playing too near wherever you are, but if it's a nice day and you're with friends and you're enjoying something you want to eat, you'll have a good time.

Thanks for the tips and info! It is sad to hear it isn't the gourmet event I had also heard about years ago. I am running the 5K on Sunday, June 27 so I'll stick around for festivities on that day probably. Thanks for the info and links - I'll be organized.

I agree with those who say that you should go at least once.

I think the best example of how low the Taste has sunk is exemplified by this year's offering from Home Run Inn: Low-carb pizza.

I second the advice not to go on July 3 -- it will be a literal crush of people, and idiots setting off firecrackers, based on my experience a couple of years ago.

If you go at off-peak times, you'll have a better experience. One advantage of seeking out the more interesting food is that it tends to have the shortest lines. Most people are mainly there for the beer, anyway.

IMO, festivals are generally not about food in any event. The preparation is done in lousy circumstances, and it is not ever their best food. The Ribfest(s) may be an exception, but you still have problems with them holding ribs like anywhere else.

I had this revelation after a mediocre evening of dining at the Breaux Bridge Crawfish festival, which I followed with a killer day serial-dining in Breaux Bridge and environs. Taste of Chicago may be worse than many food fests, but the situation is generally the same.

So go, but really do not go for fine, or even excellently-done street, food.

The curmudgeon

A few suggestions based on past years, including one for July 3rd if you really want to see the fireworks.

First - July 3rd - if you want to go, go to the SOUTH side of Grant Park, literally the softball fields south of the end of Taste (Balbo I think). Last year, I went there with a group of 20+ and we were not only able to find (easily) enough room to spread out, but people were even able to find enough room to juggle - in short we could miss out on most of the crowds, yet still see the fireworks.

General suggestions - BRING YOUR OWN DRINKS (water, soda). Beverage lines are really long, prices are quite inflated and buying drinks at the Taste will require you to buy significently more sets of tickets. Technically you can't bring alcohol to the Taste - so if you must drink beer at a street fair, just be forwarned about long lines and high prices.

In terms of food, my general policy is to look for foods that are enhanced, not diminished by being grilled or by sitting out for a long time (or like a frozen banana are just good on a hot summer's day). Barbeque - whether Korean or a Turkey leg or satay can be quite good and tasty. I do not, however expect the food to be relevatory.

In terms of time - if you can attend the Taste during the day in the middle of the week that is typically the least crowded time. Lunch time may get a small spike due to Loop workers stopping by for Lunch, but early afternoon during the week will typically be not too difficult to wander around and sample any items of interest.

If you can plan ahead, you may be able to buy tickets at local Dominicks at a small discount from the prices at the Taste itself.

In terms of the entertainment, I would recommend some of the bigger acts as they can, at times, be pretty good (and free) shows - but also don't miss some of the great street musicians that the Taste can attract, one year it was a street musician not any of the formal groups that was by far the best thing we heard while at the Taste.

Shannon

For the record, the ticket strips are on sale at Dominicks for teh rest of this week at $5.50. I believe that they are $6-7 at the event - and you wait in line.

We went to the Taste on Sunday after the 5K and we actually had a great time! It was getting more crowded by the minute when we left, but it was a neat festival and we ate lots of fun stuff. I purchased 4 ticket bundles from Dominicks last week, so we had 44 tickets to play with. I'll try to remember everything we tasted (not in order).

[list][*]Ann Sather Cinnamon roll - nothing special (I saw someone order the duck here and it looked GREAT!)
Arya Bhavan Samosa - delicious samosa - one of the best items we tasted
BJ's Market Mustard fried catfish - good
Grizzly's Lodge Cajun alligator on a stick - fine
Kasia's Deli - Potato and spinach pierogi - good
Penang Malaysian Cuisine Fried banana with honey - good
Stanley's Kitchen Binyon's Turtle soup - the worst thing we tasted, nothing at all like turtle soup in New Orleans. It is pureed and smooth and you taste the beef stock and sherry but no turtle.
Volare Churro - very tasty
Robinson's #1 Ribs - nice smoked flavor but way too much sauce, not fabulous
Star of Siam Shrimp Pot Stickers - light on filling but nice flavor

We took a few bottles of water so we didn't buy any drinks. We had 1 coupon left at the end so we gave it to a family we passed on our way out. I think I forgot some things. Mostly we had taste portions which was a great way to try a lot of things. Anyhow, thanks for all the tips and info - we are glad we went!

I showed up to Taste of Chicago on Saturday morning.

Here is what I had this time:

BJ's Market Mustard fried catfish - good, not great.

Stanley's Kitchen Binyon's Turtle soup - the worst thing we tasted, nothing at all like turtle soup PERIOD. It is pureed and smooth and you taste the beef stock and sherry but no turtle. VERY POOR. (Sorry for taking your words) Their sweet potato pie was pretty decent for Chicago, but not as good as my cooks used to produce down south.

Vee-Vee's African Cuisine - Sauteed goat and fried plantain - also, this was pretty bad. the plantains were good, the stew was way too tough to be enjoyable.

Helen's Kitchen - Red beans and rice was pretty good.

El Pollo Loco - After the disappointments, I decided to try something that would be predictable. The chicken was really good. Generally get the wings at the restaurant but the breast meat was good and nicely marinated. the staff was absolutely clueless. Fortunately, one of the corporate guys started to take charge so that some customers were served.

I had a lot of fun I did not get the time to watch the chefs do their thing in the tents as we had a couple of other events down at Soldier Field later in the afternoon. And there were a few places that I missed.

A great chance to try a few places that I otherwise would not make it to.

Here's my report:

OK, I am gonna say, flat out, I love Taste of Chicago. I've been going for years, hell I've been going since I was getting into tussles at the Willie Dixon show when it was the (better) Chicagofest. So, I get to gripe a bit, which I will, but first let me report on what we had, and nearly all of it was good.

For those of you looking for the VI on where to eat, this post obviously does you no good. Sorry. I did 25 background investigations over the last ten days, hardly enough time to get all my postings done. Maybe some of this will help next year.

What we ate:

Samosa - Arya Bhavan - This is THE ethnic dish for the chowhounditas (except when Dad makes them get Samosa chaat at Sukhadia), and they pronounced this version as good as it gets. They ate it before I could even nibble.

Roti canai - Penang - The roti or pancake seemed a bit different than what you get in the shop. This was thick and flaky, like a really good scallion pancake instead of the airy and thin pancakes that I remember, but the portion of pancake also seemed bigger (at Penang, we always seemed to run out of pancake before the chicken curry). The curry here was deep and intense, reminding me of the stuff I love at the food court at Mitsuwa, that is to say probably from a box, but god I love that boxed curry.

Mustard Fried Catfish with 2 dipping sauces (hot and sweet mustard) - BJ's Market - Well, duh!

Toasted Ravioli - Tuscany - I know my peeves come in a sec., but toasted ravioli is a St. Lois thing. Do the Cardinals play at Wrigley. On the other hand, they tasted good, and the sauce was quite nice.

Cheese Pizza (thin) - Lou Malnati's - Hannah marveled at the fact that the cheese and tomato sauce were transposed.

Fried Chicken Wings - Harold's - There is no Harold's nearby, and when it has been ages since you had that dirty tasting bird, here really well fried too, well it really, really tastes good.

Jerk Chicken and rice and peas - VeeVee's - Not so hot. The jerk was dry and not so jerky, and the rice was dry and well not jerky either (and no dough bread, which is worth half the price anyways).

Cheesecake - Eli's Cheesecake - See Harold's above - When its ages between slices, it tastes really good.

Frozen banana - Aunt Diana's - I have a thing against frozen bananas, just do not like the flavor. In fact, as I told the chowhounditas, fresh bananas, banana flavor or banana flavored things (like banana cake) and frozen bananas all taste different. I'm really only keen on the middle. The Condiment Queen ate it.

Corn - one of the corn roasters - No elote

Curry fries - Abbey Pub - Really diligent readers of Vital Information will know that I carry around only a few great taste memories of my year in Cardiff, Wales. One of them is curry fries. Thick, double cooked, fresh potatoes with that slightly off taste that anyone who's been in a chip shop knows, covered with a sauce of commercial curry (see Penang above), and usually eaten with a tiny wooden fork. And, of course, these were so far from that, it made me rue every nostalgic thought in my body.

Cheezeburger - Billy Goat Tavern - Count me generally as a lover of these things, but it would have been better if it was hotter.

Bread steak sammy - Ricobene's - The best deal of the show. The taste portion of pretty darn fresh breaded steak was about as big as a regular portion. And you think that was a good deal, well they comped one of the kidz a portion of fries for helping them shanghai a runaway ketchup bottle. These were awesome fries too.

Pretty good score, huh? Here's the thing. I know I could have had nearly all of the stuff in better versions if I shopped around town. Hell, if I hung around the bar long enough at the Berghoff, ReneG would pop in with jerk 11 times better. But this was all in one day, one night actually. It was all over the world. Maybe a lot of fried stuff and too much curry, but I like fried stuff. I love curry. I'm back next year.

Now, my annual gripe. It can so easily be better, no? All the city needs to do is grab 1/2 the vendors at Maxwell Street. Something like the fresh made churros, well people would be thronging for that. It was cool that Penang was there, as Singapore has maybe the number one street food culture in the world. Why cannot Taste of Chicago borrow from all these street foods. Why cannot the Thai places make papaya salad or any of the other things commonly found on every street there. For RST, why could not Tuscany sell tripe sammy's? And a real eloterio, that would be cool...

Great report, it made me wish I had gone. (and that is saying a lot!)

Re: curry chips, I too have an unnatural love for these, they being one of the tastes of my near forgotten youth in Ireland. Irish Oak on Clark jsut S of Wrigley has a decent curry chip. I find the best way to enjoy them is when they give you a little bowl of the sauce, then you can stack the chips along the inside edge of the bowl and thus get the optimal curry sauce per chip ratio.

[OT] I'm waiting to hear about a job offer from a place in Lisle, maybe one of those background investigations was for me [/OT]

I don't think I've ever met a person who doesn't like curry fries. But unfortunately, the Abbey Pub, Taste of Chicago or no, makes really horrible food. I normally wouldn't point this out, but I just returned from a show there (fantastic show, incidentally) and was again reminded just how bad the food is. Not even passable bar food. It's a shame. Chief O'Neill's just down the street serves stuff many, many times better, including their curry fries.

Is Chief O'Neil's still doing curry fries? I was surprised to not see them on the menu last time I was there.

We didn't get to Taste this year, but did make it to Taste of Detroit last Saturday -- aka the Comerica TasteFest, held in midtown on the old GM corporate campus ("New Center"). As expensive as Chicago, nowhere as delicious. Nine tickets for $5, and "taste" portions averaged 8 tickets, entree portions (usually the same as the "taste" with a piece of bread or other accompaniment) averaged 10-12 tickets, and soft drinks were SEVEN TICKETS!! 50+ vendors serving old standards; the most interesting food we could find were jerk dishes at the sole Jamaican vendor. Lots of BBQ; good turkey drumsticks for 12 tickets, very mediocre ribs at most vendors. Something that actually made me homesick for Grant Park!
>>Brent

I'd never heard of them until this discussion. But this morning my walking buddy mentioned that her vegetarian son, who's in London for the summer, and has finally found a cheap comfort food. I popped in with "let me guess. Curry fries?" And I was right. Thanks LTH, for making me look like such a genius.

Marquee wrote:Is Chief O'Neil's still doing curry fries? I was surprised to not see them on the menu last time I was there.

Gosh, I don't know, it's been several months since I've been. I hope so. I know that the last time or two I was there they had ceased to offer the gratis Irish brown bread that was absolutely fantastic. Maybe they've knocked off another classic. What's next, no Guinness-Cheddar soup?