Baconfest 2014 | chicago foodie girl

4.28.2014

Baconfest 2014


Raise the bacon flag!

Baconfest: an ode to all things bacon. If it's wrapped in bacon, infused with bacon, smothered in bacon, or fried in bacon fat, it's most likely to be found at Baconfest. The event organizers describe it as "the greatest single culinary and cultural festival ever dedicated to Bacon and Bacon only." Basically, it's a veritable frenzy of salty, fatty porktastic pleasure. ;-)

For the sixth year in a row (my third!), thousands of pork lovin' peeps came out to enjoy one of the largest (and most awesome!) food festivals of the year. In our two hours of extreme bacon consumption, Diana and I encountered everything from black pepper bacon mac and cheese (Bub City) to candied bacon root beer floats (Mrs. Murphy & Sons). We inhaled bacon-inspired creations from some of our favorite restaurants (Mexique) and added some new favorites to our list (Firecakes). We even discovered a fantastic (and very potent) new chocolate bacon cocktail to wash it all down.

Of the fifty-something restaurants that participated in the afternoon session, we sampled bacon goodies from approximately twenty of them. We had big plans to hit up even more, but once the meat sweats set in, we decided it was time to put an end to the magic. As always, we had a fantastic time and we're already anticipating next year's meaty madness (of course, we need that year in between festivals in order to allow for time for our stomachs to completely settle and our cholesterol levels to return to normal). All hail bacon!

A few highlights from our two hours of porkinsanity...

 The aforementioned amazing maple glazed pineapple & bacon donuts from Firecakes (one of my favorites of the entire festival)

Porchetta and Nueske's bacon jam from The Chop Shop

Sweet potato maple Cajun bacon tartlets from Zed451

Smoked bacon crème brûlée from Mexique (another one of my top picks!)

Bacon & tomato cracker from Smallbar Division

Candied bacon root beer float from Mrs. Murphy & Sons

Lemongrass glazed bacon from Quince

Applewood smoked pork belly sliders from Wildfire

Beer & bacon sausage from Paddy Long's

Chocolate Belly Flop martini with Belaya Rus Vodka from Benny's Chop House

Bola de arroz frito con tocino from The Salsa Truck 

Balsamic glazed pork belly with parmesan polenta from Troquet River North (another favorite!)

BLT roll from Jellyfish

Vanilla bacon cupcakes with choice of syrups from Whole Foods Market

Full Baconfest 2014 menu here
Baconfest recaps: 2012, 2013

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4 comments

  1. OMG!! That looks amazing! I need to go to this festival!!!

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  2. That rice ball is making me salivate!

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  3. We just had our first BaconFest in Baltimore and by all accounts it was pretty lame. They'll have to check you guys out, because it all look so fantastic there!

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  4. @Alissa: Oh, that's a bummer! I didn't go to the first one here, but I know it was super small (maybe 10 restaurants) & didn't have many attendees. Six years in, there are hundreds of restaurants & thousands of attendees (and it's super awesome!) -- hopefully, Baltimore's will get better soon!

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