Interesting reading the comments...

I attended on Saturday with a small group and one specifically designated eating partner. We sampled almost every non-sandwiched food item (i refuse to fill up on semi-stale bread products at these type of events!) and, for the most part, avoided the wine/beer/liquor stations (he doesn't drink, I didn't want to over-indulge). We did get in early on vendor passes so had a chance to look around before everything started and didn't have to wait on the long ticket line. Once inside, we ended up down at the south end at starting time so were able to get right in to Frontera when they opened. And good thing too because what they were offering (guac with a choice of a topping and a taco made from a sauce mix that they are selling retail) was pretty lame and there's no WAY I would've agreed to wait on line for it.

We were able to make pretty quick work of the two southernmost food tents--Gastropub and Seafood--before the masses started congregating. I'm sure this made a difference. We also had a nice group to keep company with while waiting on some of the longer lines such as for the Latin/Asian tent up on the hill. It was a pretty nice day and conversation was good, so the waits didn't seem all that painful, especially given that we'd managed to get a good start on filling our stomachs with the early tent visits.

My favorites for the day: Ria's crab bite; Courtright's coconut millk, shrimp and forbidden rice soup (at least I think that's what it was!); Socca's flank steak with cheese and bacon soup; NoMI's bacon ice cream cone (LOVED their serving schtick as well!); Aja's Kambocha squash soup; blue 13's pork belly; the Bristol's gougere beet sandwich (bread exception made for gougere!!); Mercadito's delicious pork taco with cabbage slaw and a few other things that I forget; Japonais' unagi over mochi (but a "meh" for the seared piece of wagyu accompanying it); Aria's potato pancake with salmon and roe; Grill on the Alley's crab and avocado gazpacho/ceviche martini; Hot Chocolate's hot chocolate with ice cream and donut and Edzo's nutella shake.

As you can see, we liked a lot of the things we tried. There were also a fair number that didn't work but that's par for the course at these things.

Boos to Old Town Social and Graham Elliott for running out of food WAY early. Not cool.

I was surprised that they didn't have inserts for the programs identifying the individual dishes and only the tiny signs by the food itself. However, it wasn't all that hard to pop up and look (or scope out what people were walking away with) so not a big deal for me.

Our group was impressed by the amount and quality of seating and tables available. That is always the irritating part of these things for me (GCM, I'm talking about you!!!!). It makes for a nice leisurely day if you can sit and hang a bit in between forages for goodies. Without that, you find yourself pushing to get done so that you can get out. We never felt that way.

And with all that booze--the people watching was PRICELESS.

I very much enjoyed the event and look forward to going back next year.

Chicago Gourmet has posted a message on Facebook addressing the criticisms of the event:

We also wanted to share a few facts that might help clarify the questions regarding attendance and food quantities:

There were more than 5,000 people in attendance each day, almost evenly balanced between the two days. Final attendance numbers are still being compiled, but this represents at least a 25% increase from 2009.

Expecting this attendance increase, we nearly doubled the amount of food available and beefed up staffing on all fronts.

Given this increase in food, we had 154,000 portions available in the four Tasting Pavilions and the two Dessert Pavilions alone -- working out to 15 tasting portions per person, per day. That does not include the food served in the sponsor tents (such as Frontera Foods, Labriola Baking Company, Gibsons, aria and eno, Phil Stefani's 437 Rush, etc.), the pig roast from Uncle Bub's (which served roughly 2,000 people per day) or the food from the 47 specialty food vendors in the foodspring.com Pavilion, a new addition to the festival this year.

There might have been 15 tasting portions per person per day available, but given the awful logistics/setup good luck actually eating that much.

Also, reading the reports, it sounds like Sunday was much worse than Saturday.

jesteinf wrote:There might have been 15 tasting portions per person per day available, but given the awful logistics/setup good luck actually eating that much.

Also, reading the reports, it sounds like Sunday was much worse than Saturday.

The lines were definitely longer on Sunday than Saturday, but anyone in attendance who didn't eat at least 15 things simply wasn't trying.

There were 4 tents, each with at 5-6 stations, all of which turned over halfway through the day (52 offerings according to the book). There were at least 9 additional tasting stations either stand-alone (Gibsons (3 items served), Aria, Eno, and Frontera) or mixed in with the beverages (Labriole, 437 Rush (had 3-4 items), Grill on the Alley, Bonsoiree, and the restaurant cooking in the Chateau St. Michelle booth--don't remember who it was). There were platters of meats and cheese at the ends of the beverage tables. There was a tent full of samples of boutique retail products (the salted caramel toasted marshmallows were fantastic!!)

Soooooo...taking out the retail and non-chef served items, and subtracting for a few booths that ran out of food unacceptably early, even trying HALF of what was available would give you 30+ tastes!!!

I agree the waits were long for some things (and re-working tent IV is a must) but it really didn't seem worse than any other event of this format. And you could actually sit down to enjoy the food and company which is definitely not the norm from my experience at these type of events unless you're a VIP. I guess I'm not understanding what was expected that wasn't delivered.

And after re-reading my post, I have to add that I DON'T work for any vendor or sponsor or have any other connection to the event I guess I just really enjoyed myself. And feel like a complete piglet since I was able to eat so much!

Did you pay for your ticket?

jesteinf wrote:Did you pay for your ticket?

That does make all the difference in the world. I didn't. I was Ms. Ingie's guest who won her tickets from WXRT. If I had paid full price, I might have pushed myself for the second round of tastings.

I heard people in line who felt they needed to drink to compensate for the price. For light to zero drinkers like myself, there was very little to drink. Lots of water, sure. Coffee, if you like it, yep. I don't like coffee. Some ice tea here and there, otherwise a flavorful non-alcoholic beverage was hard to find.

The focus of this event is heavily weighted for wine and spirits. The money I might have spent for a ticket, would be better spent for a Green City BBQ type event.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

jesteinf wrote:Did you pay for your ticket?

That does make all the difference in the world. I didn't. I was Ms. Ingie's guest who won her tickets from WXRT. If I had paid full price, I might have pushed myself for the second round of tastings.

I heard people in line who felt they needed to drink to compensate for the price. For light to zero drinkers like myself, there was very little to drink. Lots of water, sure. Coffee, if you like it, yep. I don't like coffee. Some ice tea here and there, otherwise a flavorful non-alcoholic beverage was hard to find.

The focus of this event is heavily weighted for wine and spirits. The money I might have spent for a ticket, would be better spent for a Green City BBQ type event.

Regards,

Completely agree with you and that's why I asked. I paid the Groupon price and was mildly irritated at the poor logistics. If I had paid full price, I probably would have been irate. IMO, the GCM BBQ is a much better bang for the buck.

I didn't pay for my ticket and I'm sure that was a factor in my level of enjoyment. I am fortunate to have a few industry friends who sometimes come through with comps to these things and, since I'm not in the market to buy them these days, I'm sure that I enjoy them more because of that.

I enjoyed GCM as well but felt that the logistics on this, while a bit challenging in places, weren't really that painful for me. I waited on plenty of lines at GCM too--and found the lack of seating and the comparatively short time frame at GCM to be considerably more problematic than the line logjams at either event. And even though I wasn't there specifically for the booze, I did taste a few things and drank a bunch of water and some coffee, both of which were plentiful, such that the lack of n/a beverages was not a factor for me (although I did con a can of coke from the Jim Beam booth for a friend who was in dire need )

I think with all of these types of outings there are a number of factors (the cause being supported, logistics, organization, vendor quality, location, etc.) that matter in varying degrees based on individual preferences. I can say that back when i used to pay for these types of things regularly (prior life before entrepreneurship and kids in private school!!), I would've enjoyed both GCM and GF on their merits as well-run events with a few " I wish they'd do this instead" caveats.

I don't think I've ever waited 20 minutes in a line for food at the GCM BBQ (I skip Frontera), but that was the norm at the tasting tents on Sunday. Also at the GCM BBQ there's never any confusion regarding what you're actually in line for (again, another regular occurrance on Sunday).

For $150 or $160 per ticket, these sorts of logistical issues are unacceptable (as was checking people's bags on the way out but that's another story). As someone who does pay to go to these types of these events I expect more out of the organizers.

jesteinf wrote:I don't think I've ever waited 20 minutes in a line for food at the GCM BBQ (I skip Frontera), but that was the norm at the tasting tents on Sunday. Also at the GCM BBQ there's never any confusion regarding what you're actually in line for (again, another regular occurrance on Sunday).

For $150 or $160 per ticket, these sorts of logistical issues are unacceptable (as was checking people's bags on the way out but that's another story). As someone who does pay to go to these types of these events I expect more out of the organizers.

Which is totally understandable. I heard from a friend who went both days that the lines Sunday were definitely longer, the event ended an hour earlier and more vendors ran out of food. I didn't experience or hear about any bag checking on Saturday either. All are certainly areas for improvement. I had to laugh at the glass recall--who DOES that??

It seems the biggest complaint is of overcrowding--there were too many people to serve in a reasonable amount of time.

How many people actually paid full price for their admission?

Perhaps if we removed all those folks with vendor's passes, media badges and such it wouldn't be so frustrating for those of us who paid full price to get a plate of food.

Have a media/friends evening on Friday so all those folks can get their just desserts. Then open it up to the masses for the rest of the weekend.

Groupon should only be necessary if the promotions team doesn't do it's job or the organizers get greedy.

jesteinf wrote:I don't think I've ever waited 20 minutes in a line for food at the GCM BBQ (I skip Frontera), but that was the norm at the tasting tents on Sunday. Also at the GCM BBQ there's never any confusion regarding what you're actually in line for (again, another regular occurrance on Sunday).

For $150 or $160 per ticket, these sorts of logistical issues are unacceptable (as was checking people's bags on the way out but that's another story). As someone who does pay to go to these types of these events I expect more out of the organizers.

I was there on Saturday, and arrived before they opened the gates. The long lines - and 20+ minutes is WAY TOO LONG - were the norm at most of the food booths within an hour of the opening.

I didn't get bags checked when I left - I'm not sure what that reference is to.

The lines were the product of too many people, too few food booths, and the inability of some of the food booths to turn out a lot of servings of their food quickly. All of which need to be considered and corrected. If there were so many restaurants willing to participate that the food tents had four shifts (two on each of the two days), maybe they should consider a larger venue where they can have four times as many food tents and each restaurant can be there the entire time. That would cut down on lines (unless they then allowed four times as many people to buy tickets and/or gave out four times as many comped passes).

I paid for my ticket; I bought it several months in advance, to take advantage of the early bird discount. If they need to restrict attendance to cut down on crowding, I agree with bean that maybe they should cut down on the number of comped passes. But that's beside the point. To me, if they want to make this a marquee event, they need to plan it in a way that doesn't involve long lines. That's just unacceptable regardless of whether you paid for your ticket or not.

On the way out on Sunday, security was inspecting the inside of the tote bags that everyone had been given upon entering. Since this isn't the kind of event where I expected to be treated like a shoplifting suspect at Target I asked what they were looking for. Security told me bottles of wine, but I guess they were also taking people's tasting glasses. Very classy.

This was my second year volunteering at CG. I attended on Saturday and volunteered on Sunday. I agree with everyone who has said that the signage needed to be much better. I thought the waits were worse by a bit on Sunday, but did not think they were out of line (heyohh). Whereas waits fluctuated on Saturday, occasionally dropping off but mostly staying sizable, they were consistently long on Sunday. I also think they should keep their methods consistent--either make me wait in line for each vendor or one line for the whole tent--otherwise it's like the Sophie's Choice of food. It was hilarious that one of the consistently enormous lines was the Stella/Leffe/Hoegaarden tent, which I'm sure was due to the free glasses they had. Whether you paid $90 or $150, I would think that glass wouldn't be worth a half hour of your time, but swag is swag I guess. Point is, they should be able to anticipate where the biggest lines are and adjust accordingly.

I don't think they need to add more food or space, I really think they just need to reorganize things in a more efficient way and maybe cut down a smidge on attendance. Groupon lends some diversity to the attendees (mostly in age, style, income bracket and foodie-ness) and I think that's a good thing, though I don't think it should be at the expense of full-paying attendees or put them over capacity. So either cut down on the full price tickets you sell (that seems unlikely) or cut down on the reduced price tickets you release. As to the bag checks, I didn't see that on either day (and on Sunday was posted at an exit), but that's absurd and wrong.

Maybe it's just rosy retrospection, but I thought last years food was better. I did appreciate the addition of the specialty food vendors tent but wish it was not physically separated from the main grounds. I took some pics but because of the poor signage and self-imposed pressure to move quickly to the next destination, didn't get most of the details.


One of my favorites from Saturday, from Lockwood (obvi). The bun was perfect.


I thought the desserts for the most part were fantastic. Mini-macaron on the bottom.


Fried mochi w/ unagi mentioned upthread. I liked the beef, but I may have just been entranced with the flavor injection. I was disappointed by the Asian tent overall.


This scallop was really nicely cooked, not too busy, one of my favorites. From the Supreme Seafood tent--anybody remember who made this?


Butternut squash soup w/ Laughing Bird shrimp. I liked most of the soups and thought they were a great break from the meatmeatmeat everywhere else. I noticed an obvious shift from pork (and pork belly) last year to beef this year. Not that I'm complainin', just sayin'.


I just had to include this dud. Berkshire pork tenderloin with parsley bread crumbs and crispy capers. I've forgotten who made it but it was from the Allen Bros. tent, 2nd shift. I remember thinking, 'I hope that tastes better than it looks'. It didn't.

It would be nice if you were able to buy entrance for the food, the drinks, or both depending on your interests and budget. Maybe different color wristbands and separate the sections? I don't know if it's logistically possible, but it's a thought.

I went in and out a couple of times on Sunday and never had my bag checked. I didn't leave through the main entrance, maybe that made a difference.

jesteinf wrote:On the way out on Sunday, security was inspecting the inside of the tote bags that everyone had been given upon entering. Since this isn't the kind of event where I expected to be treated like a shoplifting suspect at Target I asked what they were looking for. Security told me bottles of wine, but I guess they were also taking people's tasting glasses. Very classy.

Thanks for the clarification.

I didn't experience this when I left mid-afternoon on Saturday. I thought the tasting glasses were complimentary. IIRC the ones at the first CG were crystal, whereas this year's were conventional glass - which probably makes more sense, so they are more durable and less fragile.

skess wrote:I thought the desserts for the most part were fantastic. Mini-macaron on the bottom.

I believe the bottom was simply a crunchy meringue, without any nut content.

I wonder if the glass removal was a result of overly-enthusiastic security guards who didn't know better. I assumed that vendors might give away extra bottles on Sunday at breakdown--as long as they weren't open I don't know why that would be a problem either. Strange...

I just had to include this dud. Berkshire pork tenderloin with parsley bread crumbs and crispy capers. I've forgotten who made it but it was from the Allen Bros. tent, 2nd shift. I remember thinking, 'I hope that tastes better than it looks'. It didn't.

I made the dish. Sorry you didn't enjoy it. I'm hoping we didn't forget some of the garnish that helped bring the dish together on your plate.

We did recieve good feedback on the dish http://tiny.cc/j8q7c

Patrick Sheerin
Executive Chef
The Signature Room at the 95th