Taste of Chicago

One of the things that Laura and I were both looking forward to on our trip to Chicago was attending the Annual Taste of Chicago Food Festival. I think this is one of the biggest such festivals in the country, it lasts for 10 days! We have a local culinary festival here, but it is only for a weekend, so we knew we would be in for a treat! We decided to go on the Monday of our visit with the hope that it wouldn't be as crowded as a weekend day; and I think we chose right! While there were a lot of people milling around and sampling the food, we didn't have to wait in any lines to get food....score!

It got quite warm the afternoon that we were there, and while we did try a lot of stuff, we probably could have done better. Its just that when it is so warm outside, the thought of eating a giant turkey leg or fried catfish is just not as appealing. So to any Chicago natives that are reading this, I want to apologize in advance if we didn't hit all the spots that we should have!

Vienna Beef Hot Dogs - Chicago-style Hot Dog

Chicago is known for many things, but the Chicago-style hot dog may be one of its most notable contributions to popular culture. Laura and I both love hot dogs; last May we tried the New York City cart version, so we had to try the Chicago-style dog to make things fair. A Chicago-style dog, is an all-beef Vienna hot dog in a poppy seed bun, topped with yellow mustard, green relish, two tomato wedges, a pickle spear, two sport peppers (for some heat) and sprinkled with celery salt. We made it our mission to make the hot dog stand our first stop at the Taste, and it was a tasty start to our day. The combination of toppings are what really make this dog, and the actual hot dog had a nice flavor. We both really liked the poppy seed bun, it reminded us of this hot dog place our mom used to take us when we were kids.

Harry Caray's Restaurant - Homemade Potato Chips & Fried Dough

For those of you not familiar with Chicago sports history, Harry Caray was the beloved announcer for the Chicago Cubs. He has a couple of different restaurants in town and friends of ours from Chicago said we had to try out some of the goodies that they had to offer. We first tried the Homemade Potato Chips, which was the largest mound of potato chips that we had ever seen! They were cutting the chips right there in the booth and then frying them, so the were extremely fresh. They were very good, seasoned with just a bit of salt. We both felt that the serving was way too big for just two people, so ended up throwing about half of them away, which was sad, but we had to save some room!

The other must try item that we were told to get was the Fried Dough. Basically, it was just a giant piece of dough deep-fried and then dusted with powdered sugar. I tried a bite of it and thought that it just tasted plain, that there was nothing special to it; but Laura really liked it and ended up eating the whole thing herself. Which probably explains why she took a 3 hour nap once we got back to the hotel!

Lagniappe-Creole Cajun Joynt - Beingets

From some of my previous posts, you may know by now that we love beingets! So when we saw that one of the booths was serving them, we knew that we had to try their version. These were different than any other beinget that we had ever had, not in flavor, but in shape. We have only been exposed to beingets shaped like a ball, these were in a long, stick like shape. Nonetheless, they were delicious, some of the best I have had. I think the shape may be the main reason, since they were not as thick, they cooked more evenly and didn't have doughy centers like some versions. Laura loved these so much, she considered going back for more, but after the fried dough, she figured that she had had enough dough for the day.



Original Rainbow Cone - Rainbow Ice Cream

After eating all things heavy and fried, I was in need for something to help me beat the heat, so I decided to try out the Rainbow Ice Cream. When I read the description, it sounded very odd, but very good at the same time, so I decided to go for it and got the small taster cup. Basically, the Rainbow Ice Cream is a combination of chocolate, strawberry, palmer and pistachio ice creams with orange sherbet. I wasn't really sure what palmer was, but I knew that I liked the other flavors so it was worth a try. It was oddly tasty, and just what I needed to cool me down a bit.

Eli's Cheesecake - Chocolate Dipped Frozen Chocolate Chip Toffee Crunch Cheesecake

My family and friends know that I LOVE cheesecake, it is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and has been since I was a little kid. I just found out a few months ago that my birthday (July 30 - hint* hint*) is actually National Cheesecake Day...so I guess the stars were aligned on this one! Eli's is well known across the country for their cheesecake, and it calls Chicago home. My sister and I decided to get our own dipped cheesecakes, we figured it would be difficult to share something that came on a stick (but secretly I just didn't want to share!). This cheesecake was so rich and creamy, it was awesome! The chocolate on the outside was thick enough that it didn't fall off after taking a bite. We both really liked this, but then again, it would be quite difficult to find a cheesecake that I didn't like!

Kasia's Deli - Cheese Blintz with Raspberry Sauce

I was not sure if I had ever had a blintz before, but I knew what the concept was so I figured that this was the perfect opportunity to try one. The filling was very sweet and creamy, an the wrapper tasted like a crepe to me. I liked the blintz part, but I thought that the raspberry sauce was a bit too sweet.


Buona - Italian Beef Sandwich

Next to hot dogs, Chicago is probably most well known for Italian Beef sandwiches. I had never had a true Italian Beef sandwich before, but I like roast beef and all things beef so I figured I would like an Italian Beef. I thought the flavor of the beef was really good, and discovered that an Italian Beef is basically like a French Dip minus the cheese and the au jus. I liked the sandwich, but because I really like cheese, I think I prefer French Dips, but at least I can now say that I tried one!

Mazzone's Italian Ice - Blue Raspberry Italian Ice

Once we had finally had our share of the Taste and decided to leave, I had a few tickets left that I didn't want to go to waste, so as we were walking out, I decided to grab a taster of some Italian ice. This was very tasty and refreshing, and a nice way to end our afternoon. It turned my mouth blue, but it was worth it!

One last thing that we grabbed, but that I didn't get a picture of, was popcorn from Garrett Popcorn Shops. They have been popping corn since the 1950's and Chicagoans will line up all the way down the block in the dead of winter just to get some of their delicious popcorn. After getting a small sample at the Taste, I made sure that we stopped by the shop and got some to take home. Laura was not happy about dragging her suitcase around the streets of downtown Chicago for me to get my fix, but forgave me when I opened it up on the airplane to munch on while we watched the Sex and the City movie!

We had a great time at the Taste of Chicago, but after a full morning of sightseeing and then an afternoon of eating, we were ready to take a rest. But we were happy that we got to try so many different foods of Chicago without having to run all over town!