Chicago Gourmet 2011

Is anyone going to this?
http://gochicago.about.com/od/eventsfes ... ourmet.htm

Unless someone's going to give me free tickets, I'm going to pass this year.

I'm going this year on Saturday. We bought pre-sale tickets for $90 instead of the $150 they were later.

We had a great time at this two years ago; I hear last year was a nightmare though, and am hoping they have improved things.

Our rule has been go early and eat first, though.

lunanoir wrote:...I hear last year was a nightmare though...

What happened last year? (I'm working the event, so maybe I can help prevent disaster.)

Last year's event featured long lines, poorly laid out tents (so said long lines tended to cross or get mixed up with each other), and tons of people just looking to get wasted. Even at $90 I wasn't eager to spend my money on this again.

Hopefully for those going this year will be better.

jesteinf wrote:Last year's event featured long lines, poorly laid out tents (so said long lines tended to cross or get mixed up with each other), and tons of people just looking to get wasted.

Sounds like a wedding.
I hope this year is better too!

jesteinf wrote:Last year's event featured long lines, poorly laid out tents (so said long lines tended to cross or get mixed up with each other), and tons of people just looking to get wasted. Even at $90 I wasn't eager to spend my money on this again.

Hi,

This getting wasted was well represented by a Mother-daughter team I overheard, "I spent so much on these tickets, I am going to drink to get my money's worth. Let's skip the food." Mom had a look on her face of, " What the hell did I just get myself into?" As the daughter led her away confident she had her game plan settled.

I have alternative plans already: a tour of Maxwell Street following by WBEZ's event at Goose Island warehouse.

Regards,

We'll be there on Sunday. It's something to do once... my gut feeling is I probably won't do it again. Got tickets at a discount on the early purchase.

Pie Lady wrote:

lunanoir wrote:...I hear last year was a nightmare though...

What happened last year? (I'm working the event, so maybe I can help prevent disaster.)

What are u doin? I'm working it too!

I don't know exactly - something culinary. I hope it's inside or cool out cuz I'll be in a black jacket...

Anything recommended to bring, like folding chairs? A bottle of water or two?

Taokao wrote:Anything recommended to bring, like folding chairs? A bottle of water or two?

No way to know what this year holds but going off of last year, they had plenty of water available (and for what they charge, they should!!!) and tables were scattered all about and plentiful. What I would bring mostly is an eating buddy (or 4) who can spread the field and collect food to be shared amongst your group. There's a lot of great stuff but way too much to gather or eat alone in the time frame allotted.

Just got back from the Hamburger Hop kick-off event, very well run and very tasty! Big thanks to Eddie Lakin (Edzo's) for the free tickets compliments of a Facebook contest late this afternoon. The event was on the rooftop of the Harris Theatre and though it was pretty crowded at peak, we didn't have too much difficulty working our way around the 17(!) burger stations to try the samples until we could take no more. For the most part, people were willing to share space at the stand up tables and we always seemed to be able to find a place to sit outside of the tent to take a rest.

I think we managed 9 or 10 samples and they were all very good. Would have been a little better if they could have been slightly smaller (most were 1/4 cut, some half and at least one on a slider bun) as we didn't end up finishing most of them to maximize our tasting. Lots of little tasty "extras" around too including bags of pork rinds from the Gage and mini milkshakes from David Burke's. The fries (regular and sweet potato) that were being walked around were pretty lackluster but the bellinis and Green and Black Chocolate milkshakes were great. Palmer Place won the audience vote and Bandera won the judges vote.

I think the large quantity of Blue Moon and other drinks have clouded my memory about individual burgers though with the exception that I liked the beef at David Burke's the best. I'm normally not a big fan of burgers with lots of "stuff" on them, double-griddled with American and raw onions at Edzo's is my current favorite, but some of the combinations were great....lots of bacon everywhere too.

RobK wrote:Would have been a little better if they could have been slightly smaller (most were 1/4 cut, some half and at least one on a slider bun) as we didn't end up finishing most of them to maximize our tasting.

It seems the only way to make them smaller would be to use a smaller bun because I don't think they could have been cut any smaller.

Best Bite for me.........Arun's fish curry over sticky rice. I love thai food and this was killer. Curious to know what all your guys were?

I can't believe there was a Target booth with cheese on crackers with chutney and tortilla chips with guac or salsa.

Pie Lady wrote:I can't believe there was a Target booth with cheese on crackers with chutney and tortilla chips with guac or salsa.

Hilarious--same as last year!!!

Well, it was certainly a temple to excess.

Lines were not terrible (probably the rain helped).
Food was plentiful (too plentiful, by about 2:30PM we were starting to go "eh" at everything).
Drink was even more plentiful, but neither of us are big drinkers -- more soft drinks would have been nice (there were a couple mixer vendors with good ginger beer, but where's Goose Island's root beer for instance?)

The best taste of the day was the second thing I ate: masa cake with braised pork and a green mole from... uh, I forget. In fact, that's one of my big gripes: the program lists the chefs and the restos, but not what they're serving. It's hard to keep track.
Other high points: Edzo's Nutella shake (hadn't had a chance to get it in Evanston), Frontera which was serving things made with their new shelf-stable line of sauces (really! it had the slowest line in the place, though, due to customized guac). Green & Black's chocolate tasting....

The other gripe: the food is just too rich, too much beef, pork, cheese and unctuousness. The menus desperately need more acid and fruit. Ceviches were rich and creamy, seafood was served over curried panna cotta. More ethnic would help: aside from Mexican fare (all of which were served with avocado and not enough lime), the only thing there was Tony's 3 Chile Chicken (did not benefit from food-service portioning, but still tasty).

Would I do this again? Probably not. It's a lot of money, a lot more food than I should eat. Portions were reasonable -- the only oversized items were those not in the Chef's Tasting Pavilions, such as the roast pork and a couple other sandwiches... there's just more than's reasonable to eat.

JoelF wrote:The best taste of the day was the second thing I ate: masa cake with braised pork and a green mole from... uh, I forget. In fact, that's one of my big gripes: the program lists the chefs and the restos, but not what they're serving. It's hard to keep track.

That was from The Chopping Block. The mole had tomatillo and pumpkin in it. I loved the mole, but not so much the masa cake.

It is hard to keep track. I'm not sure the chefs plan their dishes far enough in advance for an accurate program to be printed.

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:It is hard to keep track. I'm not sure the chefs plan their dishes far enough in advance for an accurate program to be printed.

I think you're probably right: much of the food served had very seasonal-appropriate fare (pumpkin, corn, apple). But in this day of fast printing, 2000 business cards per table with the dish on one side, and the resto on the other would have been very useful. Or even better, a QR code at each station!

boudreaulicious wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:I can't believe there was a Target booth with cheese on crackers with chutney and tortilla chips with guac or salsa.

Hilarious--same as last year!!!

I was in the food prep tent on Saturday, then was "promoted" to working behind the guac demo in the Target tent on Sunday. Oh, how I wished I was working with...anyone else. I was originally told I'd be in the Bon Appetit tent. I don't know what happened to that.

People were in awe of the chips/salsa and chips/guac. I prepared both and stood there offering trays of samples tipsy passersby. People were shocked that the salsa came from Target. It seemed like some people were shocked Target sold food at all (although I'm not especially familiar with the stores selling produce). There were women who actually placed their hands to their breasts and gasped at our chips. Seriously? You guys paid $250 and you're blown away by chips and dip?

I'd been swiping 1oz samples of Green & Black Chocolate all day, but damned if I could find the ones I really wanted: mint, maya gold, peanut & sea salt, and hazelnut & currant.

JoelF wrote:Well, it was certainly a temple to excess.

Lines were not terrible (probably the rain helped).
Food was plentiful (too plentiful, by about 2:30PM we were starting to go "eh" at everything).
Drink was even more plentiful, but neither of us are big drinkers -- more soft drinks would have been nice (there were a couple mixer vendors with good ginger beer, but where's Goose Island's root beer for instance?)

The best taste of the day was the second thing I ate: masa cake with braised pork and a green mole from... uh, I forget. In fact, that's one of my big gripes: the program lists the chefs and the restos, but not what they're serving. It's hard to keep track.
Other high points: Edzo's Nutella shake (hadn't had a chance to get it in Evanston), Frontera which was serving things made with their new shelf-stable line of sauces (really! it had the slowest line in the place, though, due to customized guac). Green & Black's chocolate tasting....

The other gripe: the food is just too rich, too much beef, pork, cheese and unctuousness. The menus desperately need more acid and fruit. Ceviches were rich and creamy, seafood was served over curried panna cotta. More ethnic would help: aside from Mexican fare (all of which were served with avocado and not enough lime), the only thing there was Tony's 3 Chile Chicken (did not benefit from food-service portioning, but still tasty).

Would I do this again? Probably not. It's a lot of money, a lot more food than I should eat. Portions were reasonable -- the only oversized items were those not in the Chef's Tasting Pavilions, such as the roast pork and a couple other sandwiches... there's just more than's reasonable to eat.

I'd agree with you. Maybe it's us, but after going every year, it seems that they're settling into a dependable formula. The food isn't particularly challenging, although I will say that the filet sliders from Gibson's weren't bad, and waiting in line for mystery food isn't particularly appealing. They desparately need more than the latest version of pork cheeks and Frontera's sauce line to represent Chicago's dining scene (I'd have least liked to have Xoco and representation of one of Tony's newer Lao restaurants, if ethnic is limited to well-known geographies). It also seems like the non-wine alcohol has gotten into a liquid dessert rut. Even though my wife won a book on ice wine cooking at a drawing in the ice wine seminar, I think we're ready to skip it next year and go neighborhood restaurant touring rather than spend nearly $300 for an event like this.