The Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival held each year in mid-July in Grant Park (which is also home to the huge concert, Lollapalooza). This year, 36 restaurants participated, along with specialty pop-ups and different celebrity chefs each day. There's music, entertainment, activities for kids. I timed my drive to Colorado to coincide with this event, and today was our day to attend.
Admission to The Taste is free. To sample the food, however, you buy groups of tickets and then use the tickets to pay for food and drinks. (12 tix for $8) You can buy large plates of food (a meal) for 8 or 9 tickets, or a "taste" for 3-6 tickets. Generally, the vendors offered different samplings for the large and "taste" portions. We decided to go with the small plates, and in the three hours we walked around (interrupted by a 30 minute downpour), we sampled a fair amount of delicious food.
Sabor Latino- Steak Mini Jibarito (steak between fried plantain cakes)
Star of Siam- Potstickers (We did not have the pad thai, even though it looked great.)
Austrian Bakery- Mini Schnitzel Sandwich; Altwiener Appelstrudel (both amazing)
Carbon Live Fire Mexican Grill- Tequila-lime Marinated Grilled Chicken Breast Taco (like being in Mexico)
Dominick's Finer Foods- Watermelon slice to refresh our palates
Iyanze- Hibiscus Sorbet
Pazzo's- Chopped Salad on Romaine Hearts
The Smoke Daddy- Pulled Chicken Mini
Music Tent- soul/swing music. I needed a West Coast Swing partner!
Then, we had to decide how to spend our remaining tickets. Jen wanted another taco and a sweet. I wanted a sample of Eli's cheesecake. We were able to sample all three.
Carbon- see above
Eli's Cheesecake Company- a small sample of plain
Churro Factory- 4 mini churros
Though some natives of Chi-town groaned when we said we were going to The Taste, it was a great day. Definitely on the "Let's do this again" list.
http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/supporting_narrative/events___special_events/special_events/mose/taste_of_chicago.html/
