2011 Green City Market Chef's BBQ, July 21

Details here. Tickets go on sale today via Brown Paper Tickets.

The chefs list hasn't been posted yet, but I'd say we're in good hands. LTH recaps from years past:

2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

The Green City Market Chef BBQ Benefit has become one of Chicago’s most anticipated events and has been dubbed the “True Taste of Chicago.” The support from the chef, culinary and restaurateur community is unparalleled and it is a testimony to Green City Market.

Nearly 100 of Chicago’s restaurants will be represented by their premiere chefs at the BBQ Benefit. The event highlights Green City Market farmers and producers. Chefs partner with these farmers and develop recipes that promote the bounty of fruits and vegetables currently available.

Proceeds from the event support Green City Market’s educational programs and outreach initiatives.
Ticketing Information:

Tickets are available NOW on brownpapertickets.com and at the Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays (at the Information Booth). Tickets will not be available at the BBQ!

One of the best summer events in Chicago, this grand picnic is held every July in picturesque Lincoln Park, with the fabulous Chicago skyline as a backdrop. This beautiful venue is ideal to showcase some of Chicago's finest chefs, the who's who of Chicago's culinary scene. All dishes served at the BBQ feature items offered from the bounty of the market with nearly 100 chefs/restaurants creating culinary magic. In addition to food, locally made beer, wine, hand-crafted cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages will be available.

Don't miss out on one of Chicago's most unique and tastiest events of the year. It doesn't get better than great food, drink, music, and the beauty of Lincoln Park on a summer evening in Chicago.
Ticket Prices:

Ages 12+: $100.00 (includes entry and all food/beverages)
Ages 12 and under: $25.00
VIP Tickets: $250.00* (Includes pre-event access at 4:30pm and exclusive cocktails from 4:30pm-5:30pm)
VIP Tables: $2,500* (The VIP Heirloom table is $2,500 and seats ten. VIP tables are not available online but can be purchased by calling the Green City Market office at 773.880.1266).

Rain or shine. All sales final. No refunds of exchanges. No dogs allowed.

Aaaaaand... I screwed up and put it in the wrong room. I'll go sit in the corner now.

Independent George wrote:Aaaaaand... I screwed up and put it in the wrong room. I'll go sit in the corner now.

Fixed!

As always, I'm really looking forward to this year's edition.

=R=

I always look forward to this event, but I've had lousy luck the last couple years. Last year, I couldn't attend due to an unexpected family emergency. The year before (when it still cost $50), it sold out before I could get tickets.

This year, though, is going to be awesome.

$250 ($150 extra) for VIP access . . . something I don't recall being offered in the past. And I'm not quite sure what this $150 gets you. You get "exclusive cocktails," and you get into the event an hour earlier (4:30, assuming you can make it there that early on a weekday). But does that mean the food will even be ready when you get VIP access at 4:30? To me, it's basically paying $150 to avoid waiting on line. I think I'll stick with peasant access.

I unfortunately can no longer make it and have two tickets at face value. DM me if you are interested.

Definitely going this year...just found out, in fact. No chefs have been announced yet? less than 3 weeks away....weird.

this is gonna be one hot event! i am beginning to question if this can even be enjoyable in 97 degree heat.

Bhickman wrote:Definitely going this year...just found out, in fact. No chefs have been announced yet? less than 3 weeks away....weird.

Sure they have. http://www.greencitymarket.org/calendar ... ipants.asp

abolt - It was incredibly hot last year as well and I personally found it a challenge but I'm not a high-90's lover. That said I love this event though this year have to pass but if I were going, I'd make a point of bringing a large bottle of water along - one thing I found last year was that the only water had been sitting out and so was quite hot itself and the beverages offered were all (or all I found) alcoholic which is great but in the severe heat I really needed something cool and non and it was no where to be found.

Well, I have two tix . . . the friend I was going with has bailed . . . and I'm seriously thinking of bailing or showing up late to avoid the line and staying only a while. It's looking to be a little too hot for my liking.

The list of restaurants participating in the BBQ is finally out, and it is quite impressive. http://www.greencitymarket.org/calendar ... ipants.asp

Cinnamon Girl wrote:The list of restaurants participating in the BBQ is finally out, and it is quite impressive. http://www.greencitymarket.org/calendar ... ipants.asp

LOL! Great minds think alike...Steve posted the same link earlier this morning.

stevez wrote:Sure they have. http://www.greencitymarket.org/calendar ... ipants.asp

I know people are concerned about the weather and rightly so. My wife is mildly freaking out about it, even though the event is still 3 days away. I plan on bringing several bottles of water and maybe even a small, rolling cooler to keep them from getting too warm. I hate to say it but I'll probably even limit my alcohol intake this time around.

=R=

If anyone is interested in 2 tickets (for $160 or best offer), please let me know.

I'm also feaking out a bit over the weather. I've got a small cooler which I'll be filling with ice and a few water bottles, plus a couple steel thermos bottles.

The bigger question is, with all of us guzzling all this water, will there be enough porta-potties for everyone?

http://www.greencitycocktails.com/
A nice preview of the cocktails that will be available tomorrow. Same collection of base spirits as last year, from Wirtz Beverage.
--Rich

I'm not going to have fun (or be at all hungry) if tomorrow is as hot as today, so I'd like to sell my ticket. It was $104. I'll sell it for $85. Buyer would have to be willing to meet my friends tomorrow at 4:45-5pm at GCM with cash. Please PM me if you're interested.

SOLD

I am gonna try and be a trooper about this , but I would like to know how was getting in last year? I went the year before and remember having to wait in a corral to get in. I really don't want to be waiting in the sun for 30 minutes or more. Thanks!

abolt wrote:I am gonna try and be a trooper about this , but I would like to know how was getting in last year? I went the year before and remember having to wait in a corral to get in. I really don't want to be waiting in the sun for 30 minutes or more. Thanks!

My experience last year was that once the gates opened, the line moved fairly fast. The operation of getting people was nevertheless quite inefficient, but was a vast improvement over 2009.

I'm trying to see tomorrow's anticipated heat in a positive light. We can eat whatever we want, and then just sweat it right off!

abolt wrote:I am gonna try and be a trooper about this , but I would like to know how was getting in last year? I went the year before and remember having to wait in a corral to get in. I really don't want to be waiting in the sun for 30 minutes or more. Thanks!

People do line up in sort of a pen area before the gates open and then there is a mad rush to get in. If you want to avoid that, come 30 - 45 minutes after the gates open and the line will be completely gone. You don't have to worry about anyone running out of food that soon, if at all.

Interesting evening...aside from the obvious challenges, GCM put on a nice event and improved on things from last year. VERY spacious set up--and, for the most part, they were smart about locating those who were grilling either well-spaced away from one another or in groups on the outer ring of the site. Made for an easy flow of traffic and minimized the heat effect (not to say that it wasn't hot--VERY hot).

As for the food, not sure how far in advance they planned the menus (I didn't notice any change-ups from what was printed in the book) but there seemed to be a slightly lighter touch this year (or maybe I was just more focused on seeking out those options). There were still a LOT of sausages--even a sausage "alley" on the south end of the circuit--I guess I just don't get why everyone wants to do that (I counted 15 different sausage entries!!). I'm sure it's a way to do something creative and easy to serve but they must realize that, at a point, you're just annoyed to see yet another one.

Anyway...what I wish I'd tried that I didn't/couldn't: Big Jones' pozole with Glaceed cherries and goat cheese fritter, Dirk's Mediterranean Trout burgers with arugula and tzatziki, Green Zebra's compressed melon salad with Halloumi cheese and everything from Lula. I just plain ran out of the energy to eat anything else. Definitely a heat-related disability.

What I loved: Atwood Cafe's lamb sausage with cherry mint puree (they forced it on me but I'm glad they did!!); Branch 27's Chorizo with tomato salsa and corn salad and, especially, their delicious Michelada; Inovasi's Ameri-Thai pork belly with mint-cabbage-leek coleslaw; Marion Street Cheese Market's pulled goat shoulder over grit cakes with pickled Tropea onions and goat milk queso blanco; North Pond's Beef Bologna with Apricot jam and arugula on herbed foccacia; the Paul Kahan collection's Beef and Blood sausage tacos with farmer cheese and tomatillo salsa in made-on-site tortillas and, my last and possibly favorite bite, Bistronomic's English Pea Veloute with Goat Cheese and Truffle Oil.

Considering that the only sausages that I ate were in my top tastes, I'm sure I would've loved some of the others but I was careful not to violate two critical rules of consumption--no bread and no items larger than a couple of bites--and that eliminated all of the others, along with a number of other meat items.

As for the drinks--favorites were the frozen bourbon pop from David Burke, the Prosecco and blueberry syrup flavored sno cone and Matty Eggleston's Rhubarb cocktail.

Congrats to GCM for pulling this off--I'm sure there were plenty of no-shows but that just made things a bit more bearable for the rest of us!

Lamb seemed to be the theme of the night - it felt like every other table had a lamb, sausage, or lamb sausage. Not that I'm complaining - my two favorite dishes of the night were the honey lacquered lamb bacon from 676, and the incredibly rich & fatty lamb ribs with root beer BBQ sauce from Kendall College. My brother really loved the blood sausage tacos from the Paul Kahan empire, but, tucked away in the corner as it was, I was completely stuffed by the time we found it. In fact, the combination of the heat and the ridiculous amounts of food had left me utterly drained by the end of the night. Still, it was definitely worth braving the heat & humidity, as we had a great time.

I, too, had a great time at what is probably my favorite annual eating event. It's almost painful to read that items you skipped that were favorites of others on the board. But, even being disciplined, which means I would throw away anything that was mediocre after just one bite, you just run out of gas.

Some of my favorites:
Publican's beef and blood sausage taco (they made the tortillas on site)
Smoque's pastrami - on rye with a mustard slaw. (Not served at the restaurant.)
Hot Chocolate's ice creams and sorbets (went back twice) - brown butter honey ice cream!
Zealous' pork cheek sandwich, like a pulled pork sandwich but with cheek.
Girl and the Goat: some goat concoction and I can't recall enough to describe.

I'll be back next year,
Jonah

The pastrami from Smoque was killer, as was the taco from the Kahan empire. I also enjoyed the sausage from Franks n Dawgs (second consecutive year they've done an outstanding job), the Thai sausage from Wave, and too many other things to name. I thought an underrated offering was the arctic char from GT Fish and Oyster...nice and oily. I love reading other people's favorites, especially when they're things I didn't even get to try. Just shows how strong this event has become, and I think that this year was probably the strongest in terms of overall quality.

Also, the new more spread out layout was absolutely perfect. I hope they keep it for next year.

I thought this was the best incarnation so far. As Josh posted above, the larger space made for a far more relaxed and comfortable experience than in previous years, in spite of the challenging weather conditions. I think the organizers deserve a ton of credit for stepping up the way they did to make sure that everyone was safe, comfortable and properly hydrated.

Yeah, there was a bunch of sausage but I love sausage and it was fun to see all the different takes on it. That said, I understand that an effort will be made next year to allow participating chefs to know what everyone else is making in advance of the event (a "live" roster for them to use). Until now, chefs have essentially planned their dishes in a vaccuum, which can lead to duplications, redundancies, etc.

So much of what I ate was great but as usual, I maxxed out early and didn't get my second wind until just before the event ended. So, there were a bunch of things I didn't even get to try. Below are a few random shots from the event. Some of my favorites are shown here and some I never even got shots of. A few favorites that I never got shots of: the awesome, fiery stuffed jalapenos from Nightwood, the lamb ribs from Old Town Social and the pork belly from Quince . . .


Derek Kassebaum of North Shore Distillery



Chef Paul Fehribach of Big Jones preps



Hello, friend
Rhapsody's whole pig



Chef Patrick Sheerin of The Signature Room



Chef Justin Large of Big Star works the grill



Beef and Blood Sausage Taco from Publican/Big Star/avec/Blackbird



Spicy Elk Sausage, organic roll, market giardiniera, house-made mustard from The Gage/Henri



Rob Levitt of Butcher & Larder with an expecting Allie at the left of frame



House-made Brat from NoMi Kitchen



The Southerner: pork sausage, corn bread, cherry-bourbon bbq sauce, scallions from Franks 'n' Dawgs



Grilled Ciabatta with marinated zucchini, mint and market cheeses from Coco Pazzo (iirc)



Marinated Tri-Tip, Fritzel's onion bun, summertime tomato relish from Hot Chocolate



Beer-poached weisswurst with fennel salad and berry-lager house mustard from Goose Island Clybourn Brewpub



King Wings, spicy cherry glaze, huckleberry blue cheese sauce from Perennial Virant



Smoked NY-style Pastrami, maple slaw, dark rye bread from Smoque BBQ and Ina's



Chef Chris Pandel and partner John Ross of The Bristol cooking their cheeseburgers



Granola, yogurt, chamomile, fruit and arugula from Sprout



Grilled Wisconsin Ivory Arctic Char, sweet corn polenta, roasted pepper vinaigrette from GT Fish & Oyster



Buffalo Chicken Sausage, Blue Paradise cheese, vegetable 'crudite' salad from Sepia



Grilled Thai Pork Sausage and onion salad from Wave



Al Pastor Sausage, corn puree, charred sweet corn & chili relish, cilantro sprouts from The Bedford



House-cured Capicola, raw vegetable salad from Vie

=R=

The whole piggy was from Rhapsody.

We had a GREAT time at the BBQ as guests. I loved so much of the things I tried, but as I look back realize I missed a lot of good stuff too.

figmolly wrote:The whole piggy was from Rhapsody.

We had a GREAT time at the BBQ as guests. I loved so much of the things I tried, but as I look back realize I missed a lot of good stuff too.

I know what you mean. The hot weather really affected my appetite, and not in a good way. Between the stuff I know I wanted to taste but just couldn't find the stomach room and the stuff I just plain missed, I could have gone back the next night and not repeated one thing. Still, this event remains one of the true highlights of summer for me.

figmolly wrote:The whole piggy was from Rhapsody.

Thanks. I made the correction above.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:That said, I understand that an effort will be made next year to allow participating chefs to know what everyone else is making in advance of the event (a "live" roster for them to use). Until now, chefs have essentially planned their dishes in a vaccuum, which can lead to duplications, redundancies, etc.

I would love in future years to get a preview copy of the chef listings with their dishes. Not sure why they couldn't distribute or make available for download a PDF even on the day of. There are just too many good things I did not get a chance to try but that I would have tried had I had a chance to peruse the listing ahead of time at my leisure (rather than on my feet in 100 degree heat index).

That minor quibble or request aside, I thought the event was great as well and the heat was not as overwhelming as I had feared. I think the sausage complaints probably had to do with the fact that what seemed like the entire south side of the event was brats or sausages of some sort, and if you headed straight for, or were hanging out by, the cocktail station or the chill-out tent, that's what you were seeing.

In terms of food, most of my favorites have largely been listed/described above. I will say the mint ice cream from Hot Chocolate (which is all they had left when I hit them up) was really delicious. In terms of drinks, was really happy to see both Three Floyds (although I selfishly wish they had served something more interesting/rare than Robert the Bruce, but perhaps that was deliberately paired with their food offering, which I did not try) and Finch's joining Goose in serving beers; I wish Half Acre had been there as well. I thought most of the cocktails (I had one and tried a few others of friends/my wife) seemed a bit watered down -- could be suboptimal alcohol choices/proportions or mixing (most seemed to be premixed in big Igloo water/drink thermoses) or perhaps ice melting quite quickly in the heat. May look to play around with some of the recipes over the remainder of the summer and tweak them to taste.

This was my first visit. It was hot, and I'd already spent the afternoon on a Wendella boat for our annual summer outing with the interns (note for the future--love the big Wendella boats with the air-conditioned lower cabin!). By the time I was done I was so exhausted that I went home and slept for 10 hours. I found the Wirtz herbal (and non-alcoholic) iced tea near the end and it really saved the day. But boyohboyohboy, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

There were too many favorites, but in addition to ones already mentioned, I loved the skirt steak, pork belly, and wonderful grilled summer succotash from Benny's chophouse; Dirk's trout burger with the pickled red onions (lots of places did great things with various pickles); Green Zebra's compressed melon salad with holloumi cheese; Leopold's smoked trout with roasted beet and horseradish salad; and the magnificent gazpacho from the Peninsula.
The best gazpacho ever by yooperann, on Flickr
I don't think I had a bite of sausage all evening, though I too certainly noticed how much there was, and only one bite of pork belly, which seemed to be the other theme. Plenty without it. My companion ate vegetarian, and she too, didn't feel like she missed a thing.

Next year, I'll come as prepared that this smart woman.
Well-prepared at the Green City Market BBQ by yooperann, on Flickr

I was impressed by the incredible work done by the chefs and their staffs under extremely oppressive conditions. And very grateful!

For a moment, the best job at the Green City Market BBQ by yooperann, on Flickr