Chicago Gourmet 9/26 - 9/28, 2008 [was Chefs Taste]

Do you love the Taste but wish you could sample some of the city’s more upscale fair? Sure there’s the gourmet tent located near the fountain, but that’s only like three places. Good news my food loving friends, soon you will have a “fancy pants” taste to indulge in. The City of Chicago and Illinois Restaurant Association will co-host “Chicago Gourmet,” billed as “a celebration of food & wine,” September 26-28 in Millennium Park.

The mayor apparently wants a gourmet version of the Taste, one that will show off Chicago as a world-class culinary destination. Don’t get me wrong, I love sampling Robinson’s Ribs, Harold’s Chicken, Ricobene’s and other street food favorites. But hey, our cuisine is more upscale than some of the country gives us credit for.

There’s a May 20th press conference, but until then details are pretty slim. Rumor has it that a number of big-name chefs are already on board. I’ll fill everyone in with all the details as soon as they become available.

Cool. Sounds like it could be fun. I'll look forward to finding out what gets planned.

New details are in! Beginning on Friday evening, September 26th, Chicago Gourmet will offer three days of activities featuring the cream of the crop in food and wine through a full slate of events in Millennium Park.

Tickets will be $150 per person and these lucky folks will be granted full access to the Great Lawn and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion to enjoy cooking demonstrations and premium wine tastings.

Cooking demonstrations will offer the chance to sit on-stage, up-close-and-personal, as celebrity chefs demonstrate their personal passion for great food.
More than 150 premium wineries from around the world will welcome attendees and discuss and share wine in the Grand Tasting Tents on the Great Lawn.

Beyond the general admission activities, Chicago Gourmet will also offer additional events including an Opening Night Gala, a Grand Cru tasting, a Family Pavilion, a World of Flavors tent produced by the Culinary Institute of America, and a series of individual seminars about today’s hottest gourmet food and wine topics. Tickets for each of these exclusive events will be limited and sold separately from the General Admission passes.

There are currently 25 chefs participating including Rick Bayless and Gail Gand. To view the full list of chefs and events, visit http://www.chicagogourmet.org/

This looks interesting, but there are only very sketchy details on what food (if any) will actually be served and the format of the event (sit down dinners, Taste of Chicago-like booths, etc.). All they talk about are cooking demos that you can watch, seminars on latin food and wine tastings. I'm very interested in reading more details when they become available.

Yeah, I was a little confused too. Do I have to pay for the general admission ticket and then buy some other ticket if I want to eat something? I mean, I'm all for drinking $150 worth of wine over the course of the day, but some food might also be helpful.

I'm sure there are many more details to come.

You can get more information here http://www.chicagogourmet.org and sign up to get email updates. It might help to answer some of the uncertainty and some of the questions about how it will work. It seems there will be food to sample but there will be special events that will be extra.

General admission to Chicago Gourmet includes the wine tastings and food samplings available from the exhibitors in the Grand Tasting tents and on the Great Lawn as well as access to the celebrity chef cooking demonstrations offered each day on the Jay Pritzker Pavilion stage. All Sales Are Final. No Refunds Or Exchanges. No Refunds Due To Inclement Weather. Attendees must be 21 years of age or older.


General Admission One-Day Access Pass
The One-Day Access Pass provides attendees with general admission to Chicago Gourmet on either Saturday 9/27 or Sunday 9/28.

Ticket Price - $150 per Person
Register by 6/30/2008 - $130 per Person
General Admission Weekend Access Pass
The Two-Day Access Pass provides attendees with general admission to Chicago Gourmet on both Saturday 9/27 and Sunday 9/28.

Ticket price - $250 per Person

BUY TICKETS NOW ONLINE >>
OR CALL 1-866-840-8822


Additional Events
Additional, not-to-be-missed events include an Opening Night Gala, a Grand Cru tasting exhibition area, a Family Pavilion, a World of Flavors tent produced by the Culinary Institute of America and a series of individual seminars about today’s hottest gourmet food and wine topics.

Tickets for each of these events will be limited and sold separately. Attendees must purchase a General Admission Access Pass to purchase any of the additional tickets.

The full list of additional events will be announced shortly. For more information, check back with Chicago Gourmet soon or sign-up for our e-newsletter, ChicaGo Gourmet.

Bumping this thread back up. I just got an email from these folks again trying to sell me a ticket, saying that a 1-day general admission ticket will go from $130 now to $150 after June 30th. Anyone have any more detail on the format of the food and wine tastings?

I did Whiskey Fest this year which was about the same price for an evening and well worth every penny on the whiskey front (terrible hotel food buffet, but oh well, the whiskeys were great, numerous, and free-flowing), and something like this sounds really appealing. I did the Green City Market's Chefs' Summer BBQ last year which was also phenomenal and a great deal for the price. It's just the lack of details around this one that for some reason has me wishy-washy.

-Dan

dansch wrote: It's just the lack of details around this one that for some reason has me wishy-washy.

-Dan

You are not alone. Until I hear more about the food offerings and what format that will take, I probably won't spring for a ticket. I have no interest in the wine tastings, so if that's the main thrust of this event, I'm not going.

stevez wrote:

dansch wrote: It's just the lack of details around this one that for some reason has me wishy-washy.

-Dan

You are not alone. Until I hear more about the food offerings and what format that will take, I probably won't spring for a ticket. I have no interest in the wine tastings, so if that's the main thrust of this event, I'm not going.

I think the main thrust of the event is touting Chicago as a viable host of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

That said, I've heard from one participant that it will be set up very similarly to the annual Aspen/F&W Classic. Many if not all of the chefs who are listed as participants will be conducting demos, not running vending stalls as is done at Taste. The schedule of demos for Saturday and Sunday will be different, so those 2 days should be unique experiences (the chef I talked to told me that they'd just be doing a demo on one of the days). I'm guessing there will also be foodservice available but I have no idea of what those details are.

Still not enough info, IMO, to lay out that kind of cash for (speculative) tickets.

=R=

as more information trickles in:

"Whole Foods Market Family Village Tickets Now Available
A Terrific Way for Families to Enjoy Chicago Gourmet

The Whole Foods Market Family Village offers a terrific and affordable way for the whole family to enjoy the Chicago Gourmet experience. With special programming geared for families, the Family Village will be an alcohol-free area and will offer kid-friendly activities and live cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs, some paired with their own kids, throughout each day.

The Whole Foods Market Family Village will be offered on both Saturday, September 27th and Sunday, September 28th. Tickets are just $30 per adult and each adult may bring up to three children (under 12) for free. A separate general admission ticket to Chicago Gourmet is not required however adults must be accompanied by a child to enter and all Family Village attendees, adults and children alike, must have a ticket.

To purchase adult tickets and request complimentary child tickets, visit http://www.chicagogourmet.org or call 1-866-840-8822."

From opentable

Get 10% Off on General Admission — Just use the promo code: CG2008TEN

Sad to say but I'm pretty sure I've given up on this event. As much as I love fine dining and appreciate those in town who make it happen, this event just doesn't compel me. First: it's very expensive. Second: details about exactly what is going to take place and when seem particularly hard to come by. If I'm going to lay out this kind of cash, I want to know precisely what I'm buying into. Third: There are some glaring omissions on the list of participating chefs. In fact, some of those omissions have undermined the credibility and importance of the event. Fourth: Saturday and Sunday will offer completely unique line-ups. So, either I commit to attending -- and paying for -- the entire weekend or chose one of the days and miss out on half the event. And that doesn't even take into account the Friday night gala. Fifth: I'm not entirely sure because details are sketchy but it appears that a good portion of this event is not open to families, only adults. I can appreciate that but it makes it less of a good fit for me personally.

The fact that Open Table is now discounting tickets makes me feel like I'm not alone. This really feels like a haphazardly-thrown-together event, the primary purpose of which is to tout the city as a prospective host for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and I'll regret not attending.

=R=

HI,

Until just recently, I assumed this was a City of Chicago driven event. When I went to the Rick Bayless event recently, I bumped into the person I thought was the driving force behind the event. It was explained the Illinois Restaurant Association is behind this event.

I am also not convinced to part ways with my money for this event.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Until just recently, I assumed this was a City of Chicago driven event. When I went to the Rick Bayless event recently, I bumped into the person I thought was the driving force behind the event. It was explained the Illinois Restaurant Association is behind this event.

I am also not convinced to part ways with my money for this event.

Regards,

That's interesting, Cathy. A friend who is a participating chef explained to me that (at least) the first round of chefs whose participation was announced were actually invited directly by the Mayor's office. It was not a volunteer situation. If you weren't asked, you weren't in, or at least that's what I was told. Since then, they've added several more chefs and perhaps those additions were made in different fashion, and possibly by the IRA.

Either way, I'm just not 'getting this' yet.

=R=

Hi,

There are at least two potential scenarios here:

1) Maybe it began at the Mayor, then they backed out which is certainly not unheard of.

2) Or maybe they are keeping an arms length distance from something that may not be going as well as it should.

Success has many fathers and disaster has so few.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

There are at least two potential scenarios here:

1) Maybe it began at the Mayor, then they backed out which is certainly not unheard of.

2) Or maybe they are keeping an arms length distance from something that may not be going as well as it should.

Success has many fathers and disaster has so few.

Regards,

I got an(other) invitation for the gala in the mail yesterday. It was from the Mayor, so at least there is some sort of city involvement. I'm still not convinced, either and probably will not be attending.

I received an e-mail today -- touting the opening night Gala -- that opens with the following text:

e-mail invite wrote:Join Mayor Richard M. Daley, the Illinois Restaurant Association and the Chicago Gourmet Host Committee for Spectacular Opening Night Reception

So, I guess it's a collaboration of sorts.

FWIW, even though the e-mail goes on to say that tickets are limited, several discounts are offered, including the all-weekend pass for $250, an offer that was said to be expired (by tptb) months ago.

=R=

I can tell you that the organization and coordination of volunteers is practically non-existent. I faxed my release form in August, and have the completion receipt to prove it, but I (and a long, long list of other vols) received an email from the so-called coordinator telling us to fax our releases ASAP. I emailed her back immediately, asking for a mailing address, suggesting politely that they obviously were having some manner of problem with receipt of the faxes - and never heard anything back. To hell with it - especially since the vols are expected to pick up all of their own expenses, including parking. No good deed goes unpunished, I supposed.

(I also found it amateurish that the mailing list of recipients was sent to everyone - I don't know these people from Adam, and I don't like the idea of my email address being displayed to one and all. Lame.)

Well we just got "invited" to attend this event as bloggers. Our blog is fairly new and read mainly by our friends and clients, so I can only attribute this development to our participation in LTH. Again, I have to thank the board for having been found...

I am also not convinced to part ways with my money for this event.

Like many of you I too had serious reservations about spending this much money without a clear idea of what was going to happen and was ready to save my money and possible regret not going like ronnie...

Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and I'll regret not attending.

Now with the added bonus of being able to meet and interview some of the participating chefs and/or sommeliers I'm growing more interested. Some of the food and wine seminars sound interesting (although, as pointed out, cost more) including A Recipe of a Sustainable Menu, Molecular Gastronomy vs. Artisan Baking, Tasting the Best: American Cheese..., Wine Pairing in Chicago Neighborhoods, and Examination of Cool to Warm Climate Cabernet Sauvignon.

I promise to report back on my findings.

We went to this today, and it's still going on tomorrow.

From the standpoint of wines - you get to taste, oh, I'm guessing 400-500 wines from 100 vineyards, virtually no waiting, virtually unlimited tastes (the tickets say limit three tastes per wine, but there was no enforcement - but with that many wines, who would want more than three tastes anyway?). And they vary from cheap to uber-expensive. If you enjoy wines, this is an over-the-top experience.

From the standpoint of foods - you get to taste foods from 15-20 restaurants. Most were exceptional (and there are now at least four restaurants I'm dying to go to). Some lines were lengthy by mid-afternoon, but even with those, it was only maybe a 5 minute wait. There was no wait anywhere when we arrived at 11:30. Oh, and what they do is, four restaurants at a time have set times assigned for the "chef's tasting area" and those rotate every couple hours; the rest of the restaurants are intermixed with the wineries/distributors/importers around the outside edge of the great lawn, and the big tents and groups of booths in the middle are virtually all wineries/distributors/importers.

We thought it was GREAT. If this sounds good to you, they're open tomorrow...

Oh good, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the event.

We went to the Opening Night gala on Friday and it was not a good representation of what you describe. In fact, it was pretty lame (yes, I used the word lame). Very little wine (3 types), little food and not very inspired. If you dare, read more on our blog http://foodtalkwithfig.blogspot.com

We'll be going tomorrow and look forward to trying a plethora of wines and hopefully some interesting food. If anyone else is going to be there, PM me.

nsxtasy wrote:We went to this today, and it's still going on tomorrow.

From the standpoint of wines - you get to taste, oh, I'm guessing 400-500 wines from 100 vineyards, virtually no waiting, virtually unlimited tastes (the tickets say limit three tastes per wine, but there was no enforcement - but with that many wines, who would want more than three tastes anyway?). And they vary from cheap to uber-expensive. If you enjoy wines, this is an over-the-top experience.

From the standpoint of foods - you get to taste foods from 15-20 restaurants. Most were exceptional (and there are now at least four restaurants I'm dying to go to). Some lines were lengthy by mid-afternoon, but even with those, it was only maybe a 5 minute wait. There was no wait anywhere when we arrived at 11:30. Oh, and what they do is, four restaurants at a time have set times assigned for the "chef's tasting area" and those rotate every couple hours; the rest of the restaurants are intermixed with the wineries/distributors/importers around the outside edge of the great lawn, and the big tents and groups of booths in the middle are virtually all wineries/distributors/importers.

We thought it was GREAT. If this sounds good to you, they're open tomorrow...

See, if they had just explained how all of that was going to work (especially the food) I would have been more inclined to go.

jesteinf wrote:See, if they had just explained how all of that was going to work (especially the food) I would have been more inclined to go.

Agreed. In fact, I even declined some free tickets (for today and tomorrow) because I just had no idea what was really going to take place. Not a well-promoted event, IMO.

=R=

figmolly wrote:We went to the Opening Night gala on Friday and it was not a good representation of what you describe. In fact, it was pretty lame (yes, I used the word lame). Very little wine (3 types), little food and not very inspired. If you dare, read more on our blog http://foodtalkwithfig.blogspot.com

I overheard someone at the event saying that today was SO much better than yesterday, that last night there was very little food and what they had was not very good.

The food was almost buried in the wine - not that there was very little food, but rather, that there were so many booths with wine, the food didn't stand out much. But it was really very, very nice, for both food and wine.

Here's a more detailed description of what they had to offer.

Here are the food offerings that I remember (which is pretty much all of them, unless I missed something)...

Courtright's (in Willow Springs) had their own booth, serving samples of vanilla corn chowder. Excellent. Their new executive chef was there; he is just being introduced to the public, and was formerly at Le Bec Fin, the wonderful restaurant in Philadelphia.

La Sardine was represented in the booth for the Alliance Francaise de Chicago, serving very good small onion tarts.

Chaise Lounge (in Wicker Park) was serving delicious (and nice-sized!) crab cakes, as well as a nice salad of greens. This was one of my favorites!

The Peninsula had a booth, and Chef Duffy was there. They were serving a tiny tiny TINY amuse which combined tapioca and a shard of lime and a crunchy shell and I forget what else. Very good and a nice combination of flavors, but it was so small... Think of eating a food item about the size of a dime. Did I say it was tiny?

Pastoral (the cheese shops) had a booth, and one of their providers (a farm in Ohio) was represented there, serving cheese with dried fruit. Very good.

Oil and Vinegar (the shop in Old Orchard, Skokie, that sells you-know-what) had a booth with samples of their stuff.

Aria (in the Fairmont) had their own booth, serving shrimp dumplings that were wonderful, one of the top highlights! We chatted with the chef de cuisine, and decided to go there for my SO's next birthday (already made the res on opentable).

The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago / Cordon Bleu had a booth with a huge variety of things, including passed desserts (macaroons - my favorites! and truffles, etc) as well as savory items (salad with duck confit, foie gras cold terrine, etc).

Fox and Obel had a booth with a few of their products, including a very nice hors d'oeuvre of a crisp of their raisin pecan bread with a dollop of cheese and a slice of pear - I spread a bit of their quince paste on it; and a few other small items, which I forget. Of course, a small booth can't do justice to Fox and Obel, but...

Phil Stefano's 437 Rush served two different pastas, quite good.

A Mano's booth was giving out their homemade ice cream (choice of flavors was vanilla, olive oil, or espresso).

The chef's tasting booths rotate every couple hours according to a published schedule. There are four booths. While we were there (12:30-2:00), here's what they were serving: (1) Christophe David of NoMI was serving an absolutely divine dish of warm foie gras terrine over pine nut bostock. Bostock (don't worry, I had never heard the term either) is brioche soaked in tea, normally spread with almond cream; they substituted pine nuts for almonds and cut back a bit on the sweetness. And the size was ample, each one was a two-inch square, served on a tiny wooden tray. This was best in show in my book. And did I mention that you could go back as many times as you want? Not that I would do that more than once, of course. (2) Rick Moonen of RM Seafood (in Vegas) was serving some kind of fish ceviche (just okay). (3) Stephanie Izard of Top Chef and Scylla was serving a composed salad that included duck confit (okay). (4) Malika Ameen and Mohammed Islam of Aigre Doux were serving two kinds of cookies, a spiced chocolate chip cookie and a nut cookie (think round nut shortbread), both of which were good but Aigre Doux is capable of so much more, I feel that they missed an opportunity to show off their best stuff (e.g. no sticky toffee pudding!).

So those were the foods that they had. Not exactly a huge number - not like Taste of Chicago, for example - but the quality was definitely there. Also, those chef tasting areas were certainly a highlight, so if there are particular chef(s) whose food you would like to try (or just that you would like to meet), you could plan your visit so you're there at their times.

I really can't do justice to all the wine offerings - sorry! I'm really not much of a wine drinker. If you want to know the truth, I primarily drink dessert wines. However, I loved the ones I had there (an Illinois moscato, a Niagara ice wine, a British Columbia ice wine, and a wonderful vin santo). I didn't even bother much with champagnes or gewurztraminers, although they were there in abundance. Even for a non-wino like me, this was wonderful! But I should add, I've been to some of the best, grandest private wine tastings over the years, so I know what they're like, and this would not disappoint even the most avid wine connoisseur.

I did not pay the extra cost to do the grand cru tastings or the seminars; all of the above is what I got for the basic $130 advance / $150 late per-day registration fee. Not inexpensive, but I was very satisfied. And anyone who really enjoys wines would be even more satisfied!

Oh, and how it all works - when you enter, you receive a nice cloth tote bag (for your brochures), which contained a souvenir pin from the event, and you also received a very nice crystal wine glass, which you keep, and use for all your wine tastings during the event (booths had small dump pails and water bottles for them). Also a tag to wear proving your admission.

Also, I think the exposure from this event makes it a must to any high-end chef in the area. You can serve small portions of one of your best dishes to people who are interested enough in food that they paid $150 to attend, which ought to be your target market. Look, I'm now dying to go to several of these restaurants and will do so soon, I'm sure. And those who don't spend all day long on LTH (which probably excludes anyone who has read this far in my post ) are exactly the ones chefs need the exposure to. No, I'm not affiliated with this event in any way - it's just a tip to those in the biz, knowing how it works (and knowing how important word of mouth is).

There are a few events during the course of every year in which 15-20 top Chicago chefs prepare taste size portions of a single dish, often to raise money for charity, and also they usually have a dozen different wines available for tasting. Those events typically cost $100 per person, and from the moment they open, they are jam packed with wall-to-wall people. Compared with those events, this one had WAY more room to handle the number of people, and almost all the booths did a great job of handling the people, serving food and wine quickly enough that even when we left around 2:00, you wouldn't have had to wait more than 5 minutes or so for anything. And comparing the ability to sample several HUNDRED wines, versus a dozen... did I mention that they had a lot of wine?

One thing we hated was that the Monroe garage had jacked up their price for the weekend to $25. Grrr!!! Next time we'll take the el.

It was rather warm and most of the time was spent out in the sun. I understand that tomorrow should be slightly cooler. I assume you can get tickets at the door - if this sounds like something you would enjoy, go!!!

Oh, one more note (for next year)... I realized that buying the tickets in advance is a real risk, in terms of the weather. If it were pouring rain, this would not be so pleasant. Granted, most of the booths were inside tents, either individual tents or group tents, but still... So the weather is a risk you can avoid if you get tickets at the door, one you can't if you buy your tickets months in advance to take advantage of the price discount.

RAB and I were lucky enough to be offered two complimentary tickets to today's CG. We really didn't know what to expect, but given the glorious weather, looked forward to another lovely day outside. We mainly wandered around - - we didn't have a game plan going in, and thus saw only a few demos.

The big question preceding GC seemed to be whether it’s worth the $150 price tag. If you're an oenophile, perhaps. But, if food is your focus, your money is probably better-spent elsewhere (unless you're really interested in chef demos, of which there seemed to be several). Unless we dive much deeper into the wine hobby by next year, I don't think we're likely to repeat at the current price point. (Unless the price for us next year is as free as it was this year; in which case, we’re there.)

On the plus side:
> Wine was extremely plentiful, as nsxtasy mentioned. It would take hours to visit all of the wine booths.
> It wasn't crowded. No lines for wines. Plenty of green space.
> Some, but not a ton, of good food.

The minuses:
> Not enough food. This wasn't a gourmet version of the Taste of Chicago. If I didn't enjoy wine, I don't think I would have enjoyed myself, especially if I'd shelled out the entrance fee. Okay, so I didn't leave hungry (or sober). But, I would have liked a larger variety of food, instead of going back for a second taste of something I'd already sampled.
> Little shade or seating. They had a huge expanse of green and they could have put up tents and set up more chairs and tables. You could go sit in the pavilion, but shade was limited.

The tickets looked like this, and were worn on a lanyard around one’s neck:



In any event, it was a beautiful day and we're glad we went.


Below, please find additional details about the day. I hope they will be useful to anyone contemplating attending tomorrow or next year (should there be a second annual GC).

CHEF'S TASTING

As nsxtasy mentioned, there were four tasting locations, which rotated three times during the day - - 12 chefs in all. We tried most of them. What follows is what I pretty clearly remember, both good and bad. Please note that there weren't food descriptions posted, so what's below is my take and is likely not 100% accurate.

Stephanie Izard was there with Valerie Bolon. Stephanie could not have been more lovely - - amazing to see that success doesn't seem to have gone to her head. She's still looking for a location for her new restaurant, and hopes to open next year. Valerie continues to be a caterer and personal chef. Their dish was a highlight of the day. The funny thing was that Stephanie kept apologizing, saying that preparing for today was just like Top Chef because she'd thought she wasn't appearing until Sunday, and thus had to throw something together quickly. What they threw together was a flavorful duck confit with grapes, served with shaved fennel, basil, and pistachio vinaigrette, with cubes of toasted bread. Not beautiful, but very delicious.



Another tasty dish was Michael Kornick's skewered rock shrimp on curry aioli with cold carrot soup. The cold shrimp seemed to be poached and were tender, delicate, and delicious. The soup was also quite good and paired well with the notes in the curry aioli.



Rick Bayless' dish was a miss -- steak and bean chili. The beans were quite spicy, and very good, but the chunks of steak were inexcusably tough.


Rock, winner of Hell's Kitchen Season 3, delivered a pretty mediocre dish - - crab meat mac and cheese. As RAB rightly noted, this confirmed our perception that the chefs on Top Chef are in another league than those on Hell's Kitchen. Stephanie's thrown-together duck confit demonstrated why she earned the title of Top Chef. Rock’s macaroni reminded us why we don’t watch HK. Visiting Rock's booth turned out to be worth it after all, though, despite the dry and tasteless dish. RAB took the opportunity to so scold Rock ("What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you see there's a line? Why aren't you moving any faster?") ala Gordon Ramsey and earned a big smile and chuckle from the chef. (RAB wisely decided not to attempt an English accent.)


Jose Garces from Mercat a la Planxa featured one of the prettier dishes - - chorizo tortilla, saffron aioli, and a variety of deliciously vinegary, truffle-y mushrooms. While the tortilla was tasty, for me, the mushrooms were the highlight of the dish. They screamed Spain to me, something you’d get in a tapas bar in San Sebastian. Wow.


Mindy Segal from Hot Chocolate served a cold hot chocolate. Not a revelation, but definitely tasty for those of us who pretty much like anything that involves unadulterated chocolate. RAB said it tasted like high-quality chocolate milk, but still just chocolate milk. Hard to believe this is the best she could do.


The Nomi team surprised us with an amazing, but simple foie gras dish, which nsxtasy described. RAB and I quickly found a delicious Sauternes to pair with the dish. It was perfect. Yes, we too went back for seconds.

Rick Moonen from RM Seafood in Vegas offered a well-executed, delicious, pineapple/rum arctic char ceviche. I’m a sucker for ceviche, and this hit the spot.

The Aigre Doux team was sampling two house-made cookies. Not memorable, I’m afraid. I completely agree with nsxtasy that Aigre Doux could have and should have done better.

FOOD BOOTHS

Interspersed among the outdoor wine booths, there were several food options. Stefani’s had rigatoni bolognese and chicken mezzalunas. Fox and Obel had a ton of food, but only had napkins to put it on, so that was the deal – wait in line for 10 minutes to pile what you can on a napkin or graze the line (maybe that’s why the line moved so slowly). Available items were: mozzarella, tomato, and cured meat skewers; three sea salts; variety of olives; Valrhona chocolate; salami; fig squares; and a few other things. More than I could fit on a single napkin or would want to eat at the same time. Chris from the newly-opened Bristol was serving panzanella with great ripe tomatoes. He seemed like a really nice guy and super-enthused about opening his new spot. Aria had a mediocre crab-shrimp mousse in a sweet and sour sauce; I didn’t go back for seconds. The Peninsula hotel was featuring local, organic potatoes, and served a baked, tiny fingerling potato with crème fraiche and bacon bits, and a potato chip with caviar and crème fraiche. These were simple, but excellent (and gone before we made it back for seconds). There were a handful of other memorable tastes, including espresso and olive oil gelatos from A Mano, some great Wisconsin cheeses, and a solid mini crabcake from Chaise Lounge.

NON-WINE ALCOHOL

There were alcoholic beverages other than traditional wine.

The folks from Goose Island offered the only beer at the event. They were pouring Matilda and Harvest Ale. We found them both to be good, but not great.


If memory serves, there were at least three booths sampling sake. There were also liquors being poured, including St. Germaine, a rather scrumptious elderberry liquor. A Watermellon-chili margarita was also interesting and tasty.

DEMOS

We started our day at the Viking Culinary Stage with Takashi Yagihashi, Paul Bartolotta (Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare), and Rick Moonen (RM Seafood at Mandalay Place). The Mayor and his wife joined in. They were both good sports. CBS reporter Vince Gerasole was the MC. Takashi stole the show, both with his one-liners, and by demoing the filleting of a snapper.

Takashi: “Mayor will demonstrate how filet other half of fish.”
Mayor Daley: [stunned silence]
Takashi: “Mayor maybe need practice more.”

The other two chefs cooked simple fish dishes. The fillet demo was the most educational component. No samples. We didn't attend any other demos at the Viking Culinary Stage. I generally don't enjoy demos where I'm neither learning nor sampling - - this was more Hollywood than technique.


We happened upon the Chicago Sister Cities booth twice. It's what it sounds like - - demos by chefs from Chicago's sister cities.


Tom Brodi from Canoe in Toronto made a ground bison meat dish. The meat was tasty, but wrapped in what seemed to be a soggy puff pastry. He called it a tortilla, but it was more like a soggy empanada. Canadian tortilla maybe? Not bad, but a bit off.


We also visited the booth when they were sampling food cooked by Mpume Dhlomo from Africa Meet Europe in Durban, South Africa. Medium-rare ostrich with way-too-salty tomato pesto sauce. Scraped clean of sauce, the ostrich was terrific.

I'd sure like to know how everyone except me was able to get complimentary tickets to this event.

REB wrote:> Not enough food. This wasn't a gourmet version of the Taste of Chicago. If I didn't enjoy wine, I don't think I would have enjoyed myself, especially if I'd shelled out the entrance fee. Okay, so I didn't leave hungry (or sober). But, I would have liked a larger variety of food, instead of going back for a second taste of something I'd already sampled.

I agree. That's why I listed the food items, so you can decide for yourself if that's enough for you. I was satisfied because of the quality of what they had - it WAS good - but I would have preferred more choices.

I wish they had taken the 15-20 chefs and foods in the rotating schedule for the chef's tasting area, and had them (heck, even half of them) at booths for the entire duration of the event. It seems like they're promoting all of their names as part of this event, but if you're there early Saturday and a chef is only there late on Sunday, it doesn't help you.

Also, I suspect they didn't get as many people as they had hoped (otherwise, why would they be pushing all those free tickets?). I would suggest to them that they lower the price from $150 to $100. That's still enough to prevent it from becoming a Taste of Chicago madhouse, but still attract many more people than they had. Of course, more people would mean that they would need more food, more booths, etc.

nsxtasy wrote:I'd sure like to know how everyone except me was able to get complimentary tickets to this event.

Mine were offered to me by one of the particating chefs. Unfortunately, participants were not given their tickets until Wednesday of this week, so it was very short notice. I may have taken advantage of the offer if I'd had a little more lead time.

It sounds like it was a good event with some serious potential to be great. I really appreciate the reports, which provided more salient information than those actually responsible for the event -- and ticket sales -- did.

=R=

I spent all day at the Sunday-version of Chicago Gourmet, and I might post more about it later. In a nutshell, probably not enough food but definitely a lot of wine. Weather was cooler than yesterday, so it was pretty pleasant being out, though the grass was a tad muddy in spots.

Anyway, I wanted to share that before the Top Chef cooking demonstration (Stephanie Izard and Dale Levitski), Vince Gerasole from CBS 2 was asking Chicago food trivia questions in exchange for a Viking immersion blender.

One of the questions was what does "LTH" stand for in Chicago food website LTHForum's name? I yelled out "Little Three Happiness," but not quite as loudly as several others since I didn't get the blender (I don't really need another one... but it turns out those suckers are $120!) Definitely quite a few site readers were in attendance.

nsxtasy wrote:I'd sure like to know how everyone except me was able to get complimentary tickets to this event.


Also, I suspect they didn't get as many people as they had hoped (otherwise, why would they be pushing all those free tickets?). I would suggest to them that they lower the price from $150 to $100. That's still enough to prevent it from becoming a Taste of Chicago madhouse, but still attract many more people than they had. Of course, more people would mean that they would need more food, more booths, etc.

When I was there Saturday afternoon, they told me admission for one day was $100 when i approached the ticket tent. That is beyond my budget.

However, the Wired tent next door was well worth the effort and had some very futuristic exhibits.