4th Chicago Turkish Festival

Visits to the dentist are never fun and the one I had today right at lunch time was no exception. When I finally emerged with freshly cleaned choppers, it was pushing 2 o'clock and I was hungry. I wandered forlornly through the cool drizzle for a bit, wishing I was back in the country where I was a few days ago, where I could swing by a certain deli and get some very fine grub from their little Imbiß window... Oh well... I wandered not too far and then espied in the distance tents in the Daley Plaza... «Mirage...», I muttered to myself, dismissing quickly the fleeting thought that maybe the folks from Plauen had come hither a little early this year, to save me from my despair... Clearly, it was not the Germans with their Glühwein and Würste amd Bratkartoffeln and mighty Bier, but it was something interesting... something good... something almost German (Central Powers of WWI, anyway)... it was!:

4th Chicago Turkish Festival
Wed. 13th - Sat. 16th September, Daley Plaza

Für weitere Auskünfte:
http://www.chicagoturkishfestival.com/

There's a coffee stand ($2 for an okay Turkish coffee, $1 for a packaged piece of baklava, which I didn't try), and there are quite a few arts and crafts stalls, some of which have some very nice stuff. One stall sells packaged foods and another has been set-up by the olive oil boutique on Michigan Ave. On the north side of the plaza, there are three places serving hot food:

• 1) Turquoise: As I walked by, I caught a whiff of lamb roasting and ordered a kebab. Quite good and the rice was nice as well. A little expensive, perhaps, at $6, but what can one do under such circumstances...
Stall:

Kebab:


• 2) Cousins: The kebab would have been enough at noon but at 2:20 I was in need of a little more, so I got a 'lah macun' from Cousins. It would have been much better under better serving circumstances (pizzas don't fare well in warming trays on cold, rainy days). Still, at $3, I won't complain. But when I go back on Friday, insha'allah, I will order the kofta, which looked especially tasty and was the one thing being cooked fresh when I was there.
Stall:

Lah macun:

Kofta on the griddle:


• 3) Istanbul Market: I didn't get anything from here today but from what I could see, they seemed to be the Döner kebab specialists. The platters looked good, so too the meat on the spit.


The last day of the festival is Saturday, 16 Sept.

Viel Spaß,*
Antonius

*Besprechung der Dönerlage in Deutschland folgt.

Thanks for the reminder, Antonius. The ethnic mini-festivals in Daley plaza are one of the nicer aspects of working in the loop. I'll be checking this one out on Thursday for lunch.

Best,
Michael

I happened to be there Wed. as well, though just after the cooked food stalls had closed up It definitely was a fun thing, and I got some of the packaged goods (mmmmm halvah!)

Amata, Lucantonius and I made a group trip to the Turkish Festival yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and had a great time. On the food front, we tried two of the things that looked really good to me last Wednesday and, indeed, they were quite tasty, namely the kofte from Cousins...



... and the döner sandwich from Istanbul Market (sorry, the pictures didn't come out well)...

Un wi hebbt ok en kola drunken mit en plattdüütsche naam (orr so klinkt dat)...



We did some shopping at the various stalls as well, getting a very handsome piece of calligraphic art and some spiffy little coffee cups, which were put into service as soon as we got home...



There was a stage with musical and dance performances, which added to the festive atmosphere. All in all, a very nice event and I look forward to stopping by next year.

Antonius

We really enjoyed our visit to the Turkish festival yesterday, and the kofta from Cousins was one of the better festival foods I've had.

Did anyone try the ice cream at the Turkish festival? The line was so long yesterday that we passed on it completely, but I see now in the festival's brochure that they apparently had a special Turkish ice cream made from orchid root and goat's milk. I wish I had known that when we were there yesterday! Well, something to seek out at next year's festival...