I attended Chicago Gourmet yesterday with my husband and a friend. We arrived just in time to see Ted Allen and Maggie Daley kick off the event with a quick demonstration of an alternative Shrimp Scampi. My friend summed up the first demonstration perfectly in one statement - "less talking, more doing." It was around this time that I also realized my camera battery was dead. We took exactly one photo (top) before it conked out. There is Ted Allen and Fabio from Top Chef! The other photo was taken on my friend's phone.
We left the Prizker Pavilion with the intention of getting back for another demonstration about 45 minutes later with Rick Bayless. However, we were wooed further away than expected by the promise of a Gastropub food station, which we never did find. We tried some good organic, sustainable and biodynamic wines from a Napa wine station. Overall, the sales reps and vinters at this event were overwhelmingly friendly and eager to talk wine with anyone who stopped by. There was so much going on that the lines were short and we never had to wait very long. This is far cry from many wine tastings I have attended. We also were able to quickly sample some food from Le Colonial, Sunda, and Red Light before making our way back to the Prizker Pavilion.
We rushed back to find the entire back of the stage was standing room only. We could hear Rick Bayless speaking, but couldn't see anything. This prompted Dan to go immediately to buy a copy of Rick's book "Mexican Everyday" prior to the book signing. It was lucky that he did, since the books sold out before the signing began. We did get our book signed and managed to get a quick photo on my friend's phone with Rick (and Marcus Samuelsson nearby), before wandering around to more food and wine stalls.
I have to say, the setup at this event was extremely impressive. The makeshift demonstration kitchen set up on stage in the pavilion looked great and the tasting tents were thoroughly considered - floral design, lounge-style and banquet seating, even a photo booth in the Jim Beam tent. Yes, there was liquor and beer, too! Three Floyd's, Blue Moon and Pilsner Urquell all had tents complete with small tasting glasses for you to keep. My husband sampled more than a few of the mini-cocktails, but we tried to stick with wine for the most part.
We also did sit through exactly one seminar - well, not the entire thing. We tried to attend a seminar on beer and food pairings, but it seemed more like a high school science class, with way too much time spent on molecular makeup of beer. My husband homebrews, so it wasn't so much the subject matter that was off-putting, but I couldn't see how it related to food and beer pairings. We ducked out after 45 minutes, hoping to sample a bit more food. We were unable to event get close to Rick Bayless' food stall, since the hordes of people and long lines were prohibitive.
Most of the food tents were taken down by that time, as it was nearing the end of the event. My one criticism of the event would be the same as the one I heard coming out of last year's event - it wasn't extremely food-heavy and I had some trouble navigating the event with the giant brochure provided. Some of the featured restaurant choices were a poor fit, such as Binnion's (Horseshoe Casino) complete with feathered showgirls standing near the stall. However, I know there was more food there hiding somewhere...I kept seeing people pass with interesting looking dishes and desserts that I never saw at a food stall.
It was a fun event and definitely exciting to see some of the celebrity chefs hanging around, but if I ever attended again, I would spend some more time with the brochure and try to plot out the day a bit better. It seemed like there were lots of interesting cooking demos and seminars going on and we just probably selected poorly. There were some great and pricey wines available for tasting (the Terlato Wines International tent was a highlight) and most of the food we tasted was also pretty good. My friend was even able to chat with the CEO of a vineyard she belongs to in Napa. The entire event is a bit of sensory overload, with all of the food, wine, giveaways, gimmicks, etc., but totally worth the price of my Groupon ticket. I only wish I could have attended both days.
