Picnic food recos

My family's going to Ravinia this evening for my mom's birthday and it gave me the idea to add a Chicago picnic guide to my website.

Do you have recos for picnic food beyond KFC and lunchmeat sandwiches? I want to have a couple of different sections: restaurants that provide ready-to-go boxes, and delis that have ready-to-go boxes as well as a la carte items that you pack yourself.

My site's focused on downtown so I mainly want recos for that, but I LOVE Ravinia and do have a daytrip page for it, so recos are welcome.

Thanks!

Theresa

Theresa,

I assume you are baiting us, when your imagination is stilted at KFC and lunchmeat sandwiches....however, if I am wrong, please hand over the keys to your website immediately, selling advertising would simply be larceny.

Anywhoo...I am not sure if we did this before, but, of course, you can use the search function and type in Ravinia. FYI, there is also a Millenium Park Picinic request thread.

When you say downtown, do you mean the City or the loop. I know quite a few folks take the train up to Ravinia. However, my ideal might be to take the train from the Lawrence stop...about equal distance from Lincoln Square and Andersonville and not too far from Argyle.

I am not sure why, but when I think of Ravinia, I always picture Mediteranian foods. Maybe some cheese from the Cheese Stands Alone in LS, and then a bottle of wine and Med-foods from Middle East Bakery...olives, eggplant, pitas, hummous.

Thems my thoughts.

We're going to Ravinia tomorrow. I'll be getting fried chicken tonight from Hecky's in Evanston and chilling it for tomorrow. For good pasta salads, check out the just about anything from deli at Sunset Foods (Lake Forest, Highland Park, Northbrook). My absolute favorite, something that I've been getting for close to 20 years, is their Fettuccini with spinach and feta. Its tossed with a very light white wine vinegar and shallot/garlic sauce. The good thing about the Sunset Foods in Highland Park is that its relatively close to Ravinia so you can go up a few hours before a concert starts, do your shopping, and still find a choice place to plant yourself on the lawn.

Perfect evening for it, hope you have a fabulous time!!

Joel

My mom, brother and I took the Metra from Ogilvie and met my dad there. The hopeless romantic had the table set with roses, a balloon, and a necklace hanging from one of the flowers!!

He'd also stopped at Sunset Foods and picked up a farfalle/sun dried tomato/feta salad, cole slaw, and teriyaki chicken. The pasta salad was wonderful, the cole slaw was all mayo, and the chicken was dry. But dad couldn't get over the service! We're from Indianapolis and there's a grocery store chain called O'Malia's, where the service is fantastic. They take your groceries out to the car for you. If you ask where something is they walk you to the specific item. Etc. etc. Sunset reminded him of that.

I'll definitely recommend the fettucini w/ spinach and feta next time. That sounds Fantastic!!

And yes, my culinary tastes go beyond KFC : )

BTW - Mahler's 3rd - SUBLIME.

thelocaltourist wrote:BTW - Mahler's 3rd - SUBLIME.

Thanks for the note (hee hee) on the music.

Yeah, I figured anyone who can create a website could imagine something beyond KFC...now, let's go for the gold!

I traveled with the Dead, was once a Boy Scout, tent camp at least twice a year, backpacked a portion of the Appalachian Trail for over 5 months and spend many days outdoors...I have seen and enjoyed quite a few outdoor meals.

Ravinia holds its own perfect charms, that of rustic Class...a picnic with dignity, no crazy ants or crazy Aunts invited. Sounds like your Dad out did himself. Did you notice any eccentric items other folks were enjoying?

One of these days I am going to breakout my backpacker Whisperlight stove (basically a high power single burner that boils a quart of water in 1.5 minutes), find a way to tone it down a bit and then have a fondue picnic at Ravinia with a nice Guyere and tight Sav. Blanc so crisp it shatters when the fat lady sings.....

Oh my....my classic Ravinia experience was listening to B's 9th during a thunderstorm and trying to cram in under the lip...we had lawn seats