Taste of Chicago

I know some people have mixed feelings about Taste of Chicago, but I'd like to know what's good down there and what should be passed by..

Post on here after your feeding frenzies? Here's the list of the menus.. http://www.suntimes.com/special_section ... rants.html

I'm particularly interested in the Grill on the Alley (new this year!), Arya Bhavan, and B.J.'s Market and Bakery..

Looking forward to working my way through!!!

BJ's market has a very lovely mustard fried catfish that I think translates well to Taste (and blues fest - we had it there too).

I like it with plenty of hot sauce and mustard sauce. It's a very generous portion.

kafein wrote:BJ's market has a very lovely mustard fried catfish that I think translates well to Taste (and blues fest - we had it there too).

I like it with plenty of hot sauce and mustard sauce. It's a very generous portion.

That's what I've got my eye on.. Yum!!

I personally have little desire to attend ToC, but since I am going to be in Chicago over the weekend, with some free time on Sunday, my wife would like to attend. I know its going to be hot and I know I'm not able to walk long distances. Any suggestions on where to park close by or where to park and take a short cab ride to the location.

These 3 sound like something I may try:

-Maze kabob @ Pars Cove Persian Cuisine (2)
-Cheese fries (Cajun) @ A Natural Harvest (55)
-Eli's turtle cheesecake (special 25th birthday edition) @ Eli's (18)

Also this is wierd item that i dont think will taste good:
-Alligator pizza @ Reggio's Pizza (50)

I always contend that there is only one must-eat at the Taste: the turkey leg at Helen's (booth 26).

RE: ELI'S
the slice was still semi-frozen by the time it got to my mouth.

RE: Helen's turkey leg
insufficient supply/poor logistics caused 20 min wait in smothering Friday nite heat. i walked away w/ no turkey leg because the refilling guy always ran out of turkey leg by the time he reached my server. ridiculous.

forced to attend this particular "Taste" due to 3 visiting Californians who didn't know any better. my 3rd and last time to this disaster.

went at noon last Friday for the turkey leg and there was no waiting.

I had a surprisingly pleasant experience at Taste yesterday. FWIW, you can read about it and see some pictures here.

Regarding the turkey legs, while we were there yesterday, I saw a couple of dudes hustling an overloaded dolly right through the center of Taste down Columbus Drive. On that dolly were dozens of boxes labelled "Pre-cooked Turkey Legs." Given that, the delay mentioned upthread is especially disappointing.

=R=

Excellent photo/report, Ron

I spoke to a restaurateur who was one of the Gourmet tent purveyors. She said that Taste attendance is way down and her restaurant lost a lot of money on food that didn't sell.

I suppose the heat and the shooting nearby played the predominant roles in discouraging Taste goer.

Then, again, maybe it is the consistently tiresome TOC choices year after year that make people say, "I'd just rather stay home." I'm certainly in that camp. I'm starting to hear that opinion from non-foodie friends where taste is concerned.

All you have to do is to look at the menus ... can't they come up with anything different??

I will be there ... more of an excuse to take off Sunday/

I'll admit I was surprised that my ToC experience was so enjoyable. And it had been years since I'd last attended -- for many of the reasons alluded to in this thread. But then again, my expectations were very low. In the end, we treated it more like a day in the park (with some food) than a "strictly food" opportunity. Combine that with the glorious weather (it really was incredibly pleasant in the shade) and the near-complete lack of lines and our day went far better than I ever expected it would. The only lines we saw were folks who wanted autographs from members of the 1985 Chicago Bears team.

I do think that ToC provides a genuine "taste" of Chicago, it's just not a truly representative or very interesting one. For someone who lives in town and has the proper food context, the event itself can be fun and some of the food can be enjoyable. But for the visitors who come into town thinking they're going to experience the true essence of the Chicago food scene by attending ToC . . . well, I foresee only 2 possible outcomes: blissful ignorance or disappointment.

=R=

For me it was strictly the heat -- this is the first time I've ever just blown off the blues festival, the country music festival, and the Taste, due entirely to the weather. (Though the two festivals did have lackluster lineups, especially compared to some of the neighborhood street fairs. For my odd preferences, anyway.)

Ronnie, I think you did it the right way by going during the day and during the week. It's a whole different animal then than on the million-people-crowd nights, and when I worked nearby I always popped over during the work day for a little overpriced but at least different food, a little music, and a little escape from the office.

The problem with the Taste for food choices is just that committing to the number of days and quantities is a mammoth undertaking which lets out a lot of mom and pops and favors a lot of caterers/institutional food providers who have the skills to produce in quantity, hence so many vendors who none of us have ever heard of. I've observed before that I knew that one of the Chinese food vendors was the same restaurant (actually Filipino, and now gone) that cranked out egg rolls for United, so you were quite literally getting not LTH or Lao Sze Chuan but airline food when you went for Chinese food at the Taste. But combine only medium expectations with some smart shopping and you can make a fun time out of it.

Now, my question is, are there any street fairs that anyone knows of that do a significantly better job at spotlighting food from one section of town and really showing off the better restaurants in that area?

ronnie_suburban wrote:I'll admit I was surprised that my ToC experience was so enjoyable. And it had been years since I'd last attended -- for many of the reasons alluded to in this thread. But then again, my expectations were very low. In the end, we treated it more like a day in the park (with some food) than a "strictly food" opportunity. Combine that with the glorious weather (it really was incredibly pleasant in the shade) and the near-complete lack of lines and our day went far better than I ever expected it would. The only lines we saw were folks who wanted autographs from members of the 1985 Chicago Bears team.

I do think that ToC provides a genuine "taste" of Chicago, it's just not a truly representative or very interesting one. For someone who lives in town and has the proper food context, the event itself can be fun and some of the food can be enjoyable. But for the visitors who come into town thinking they're going to experience the true essence of the Chicago food scene by attending ToC . . . well, I foresee only 2 possible outcomes: blissful ignorance or disappointment.

=R=

I generally agree with that sentiment, having been there on Tuesday. Still, I think Will is on to something too.

A couple of things:

Some of the best things I had came from non-Chicago restaurants. Grill on the Alley had a very nice chicken-lime salad and Palm, the gourmet of the day place had a well done "Gigi" salad.

While I am firmly in the like Taste camp for reasons enumerated, I still think they can do so much better. Not so much in the restaurants there, but in the style of food. Why cannot the places cook to order ala Maxwell Street, why is it so hard to come close to what is there weekly? Also, as I have noted, there is STRONG cultures of street food in Thailand, China, etc., why cannot these restaurants serve that kinda food at TOC.

Carry on

Vital Information wrote: Why cannot the places cook to order ala Maxwell Street, why is it so hard to come close to what is there weekly? Also, as I have noted, there is STRONG cultures of street food in Thailand, China, etc., why cannot these restaurants serve that kinda food at TOC.
Carry on

A number of years ago, I was approached by a friend (or should I call him an investor) who wanted me to have a food booth at the VP Fair in St. Louis, which is a four day festival that is about half the size of the Taste of Chicago and only run four days.

Since he offered to put up all the capital and we would split the profits equally, I was mildly interested and asked the city of St. Louis for a vendor package.

I read the package and determined that the logistics were going to be a real nightmare. Basically, all food had to be at the site before 8am and you needed proper electricity, refrigeration, etc. Also, you had to give the organizers a sizable kickback of the revenues for the entertainment. After long discussions with the partner, we decided that if we developed a great product AND had great weather AND got a good location AND found good people to man the booth, we **MIGHT** break even. And I was not ready to give up all my vacation time to not make money.

I doubt that most of the small vendors would have the resources to run a booth for two weeks with that much increased volume and all the logistical issues that are involved in Grants Park.

That is my two cents worth.

Ron, great photos.

I'll keep in mind your recommendations (especially the oxtails) when I go this weekend.

I went to the Taste this year - I know, kinda like gluttony suicide with the crowds - but nonetheless, it was bearable.

I was able to taste a few "must haves":
- BBQ turkey leg from Helen's, with their side of red beans and rice
- Ulta sweet roasted buttered corn from Dominick's Fresh Market stand
- BBQ rib sandwich (boneless) from Franco's Ristorante - not really a must have though....
- Toasted ravioli from Tuscany's - not really a must have though....


One year, I did the taste a little differently. I packed a mini cooler with drinks and packed a basket with paper plates, plastic utensils, wet naps and napkins.

Friends and I split up and went to pretty much every booth and grabbed the taste portion offered. We met up with all our food and had a picnic with the taste portions alone. This worked well with a handful of friends and on a day where the Taste wasn't too overly crowded....like early on a weekday when they first open up. It was great on a small budget too.

Since then, I try to make a list of the places/food I want to try out before going rather than wandering aimlessly throwing my tix to whatever booth comes along.

Surprisingly, as monotonous as the Taste can be, I still enjoy going. Somehow, summer isn't complete without battling through the hunger crazed crowds of the Taste

Ronnie Suburban, what an excellent report on the Taste you posted at egullet! The photos and the comments were very nicely done. We really got a great sense of being there. You seem to have found all the really interesting things to eat. What a lot of work putting that report together muct have been. Very very nice job. THANK YOU! --Joy

My experiences are as follows:

1) Breaded Steak Sandwich from Ricobene's

It reminded me of something from a grade school cafeteria. Tasteless mystery meat covered with a flavorless sauce. One bite and into the garbage.

2) Mustard catfish from BJ's Market

I made the mistake of getting there at opening so I had catfish that was out of the fryer a good 10 minutes and was cold. Otherwise, the flavor was pretty good.

3) Jamaican Red Beans & Rice with Plantain from Jamaica Jerk

This place should be banned from future events. I was there 10 minutes after opening and they claimed that they were out of greens. WRONG! they were not ready. Their red beans and rice was warmed up from the night before as they were dry and almost inedible. A really bad taste.

4) Mutton Biryani from Zam Zam Restaurant.

Needed more meat but the flavors were really good. This is going to be one place that I am actually going to locate and eat at. A real delight.

5) Samosa from Arya Bhavan.

Very spicy and pretty good although the outside was as hard as a rock. Some interesting flavors. I thought that the heat of this dish overwhelmed a lot of the people who tried it.

The hummus from one of the restaurants were pretty good. And the Eli's Cheesecake that I had was starting to deteriorate from the heat.

I suppose it's time to bump up the Taste of Chicago threads, especially since they're virtually impossible to search for ("taste" and "chicago" being common words in many threads). Here's one and links to a couple of others:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=596
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4341
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=68360#68360

Are we posting on this year's plans? Last year I had the best gazpacho there, but I would imagine they won't be there again...I always get the mozzarella garlic bread from the Polo Cafe...heavenly big calories!!

Are all of the food vendors there all the time, or are some only there for one day?

The food vendors are required to be there every day of the 10 fest. There are select vendors that are there one day a piece that occupy a booth near Buckingham Fountain. These are usually more upscale places or a showcase for a particular chef.

Yeah that one day thing was where I got that really unbelieveable gazpacho. It had watermelon in it...yummy!!

Chicago Tribune article for Taste of Chicago 2006

Lagniappe is one of the new vendors??

After avoiding the Taste for the last 5 years, my luck ran out. I have to be there with "friends" on Monday for the fireworks.... sigh...

CrazyC wrote:After avoiding the Taste for the last 5 years, my luck ran out. I have to be there with "friends" on Monday for the fireworks.... sigh...

inevitably i always end up there at least once... they usually have pretty good free concerts, and i worka cross the street... so its sometimes hard to pretend to be too cool..

anyway, this year i actually planned ahead to avoid being completely ripped off, by buying my tickets at dominicks ahead of time... you can buy them through today (6/29) only ... they're $1.50 cheaper per strip... which somehow makes it seem like a better deal... (actually, so that makes a beer $4ish i guess..which isn't that unusual)

Who put the bump in the thread-ee-edd-ee-edd...

Tribune's blog is already talkin'Taste of Chicago, so since that combination of words is impossible to search for here, I thought I'd bump relevant threads, starting with this one and linking to:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=596
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3209
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4234
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4341
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=68360#68360
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=12724