The seventh annual Chicago Gourmet festival, aka the biggest and most spectacular culinary event of the year, took place in Millennium Park the last weekend of September. As you may recall, last year was my first time attending the festival - the moment Chicago Gourmet 2013 came to a close, I was already eagerly anticipating the next round. After a single day of rubbing elbows with celebrity chefs, stuffing myself with gourmet food, and drinking myself into a bit of a stupor (really, it was impossible not to!), Chicago Gourmet quickly took on the number one foodie festival place in my heart.
As with last year, a little over twelve thousand attendees swarmed the park over a course of three days in over to sample food, wine, and spirits from some of the country's best chefs, breweries, vintners, and spirit producers. After our foray into culinary heaven last year, Diana and I learned that one day just wasn't enough time to get through everything we wanted to, so we made the bold choice to go for a full two days. While the weekend was utterly exhausting, it was also exhilarating and completely fabulous! Not only did we have enough time to hit up all of the food and drink vendors, but we also had the chance to attend several chef demonstrations and book signings without feeling like we had to rush through anything. We even decided to make a full girls weekend of it by staying at a nearby hotel... of course, that meant we didn't have to worry about transportation and could drink to our little hearts' content. ;-)
Here's a bit of what we did/ate/drank during our two days of fabulous foodie fun...
We kicked off the first day with The Mexican Takeover (a Top Chef quickfire-esque demo) with Chef Rick Bayless and Chef Carlos Gaytan