35th Annual Taste of Chicago 2015

July 8, 2015

The biggest food festival in the whole wide world is happening now at Grant Park, Chicago!
This 5-day event will last from 8th-12th July 2015.
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday from 11am-9pm & Saturday and Sunday 10am-9pm.

Let me bring you through the event, through my eyes of what I have saw and through my taste buds, of what I have tasted.

Note: All the food I've tried are the samples- Usually under the "Taste of" on the menu- they come in much smaller portion.

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One of the entrances- securities, polices, bag checking.

First thing you do, buy tickets! They are 12 tickets for $8.50
Suggestion? Buy 3 to 4 dozens. They take cash, debit or credit cards.

1. Beat Kitchen

5 tickets     1.5 stars

First stall that I tried- happy me took a picture with my chicken empanada (it's like what they call curry puff back in Malaysia).

Very clean kitchen, worker photobombed picture. lol. 

Comment: Nothing special, not much taste to it. Comes in chicken, beef, chorizo and veggie. Friend ordered chorizo (pork sausage) and it tastes like mashed beans to me. I'm not sure if that is what pork sausage tastes like or they served the wrong one?  

2. Pure Leaf

Free tea :) 4 flavors: lemon, unsweetened, sweetened, extra sweetened. 

3. BJ's Market

5 tickets    2 stars

Mustard-fried catfish covered with honey mustard and buffalo sauce.

Comment: seems like they have fried the catfish and left it there for an hour or two. It was cold. Without the sauce, I guess it just taste ordinary fried stuff in my mouth. 

4. Eli's Cheesecake 

4 tickets    3 stars

Choose from original cheesecake or key lime cheesecake. Gotten key lime. 

Comment: tiny little cheesecake. Crust is good, cheesecake is rich. Couldn't really taste the key lime though. or my taste buds are covered with buffalo sauce

5. Lobster Corn Dog

11 tickets    3.5 stars

They say if you get to meet Graham Elliot, you are lucky enough. Here he is! :)

Comments: My friend had it around noon time, the corn dog was bigger than right now. Combination of the sauce, batter and inner stuffing (lobster) = PERFECTO! 

6. Carbon

3 stars

Steak taco 3 tickets

Chicken taco 2 tickets

I really like it. There are 3 sauces to choose from- mild, medium, hot. Both sauce on both of the tacos below are HOT SAUCE- and it's really hot. (for a person who can take spicy).

Comments: Tiny teeny taco which filled up 1% of my stomach space. But they are good, worth a try!

7. La Bomba

5 tickets   2.5 stars

1/2 size Jibarito 

Alcapurria (picture on the right)

Well, I have to ask the server what is alcapurria and jibarito. 

Alcapurria: pork stuffing covered with plantain - fried

Jibarito: Steak, cheese, lettuce, onions....etc in between plantains

 

Comments: The pork in the alcapurria is really spiced. Worth a try. The jibarito is just....so so.

8. Chicago Dog's House 

5 tickets 

I did not try this. I just can't. Present to you smoked alligator sausage. 80% alligator 20% pork. 

My friend said it tastes good and wanted me to try. (I've tried wild bat and rabbit meat when I was very young, and I can't do this kind of wild meat any more). 

Comment: Comes in Rattlesnake & Rabbit sausage as well. Try it and let me know what kind of meat it taste like. (Isn't it illegal to have alligator or rattlesnake? I don't know. Like aren't they endangered or something?) Anyway, the music they are playing at this stall got me *dancing* ;) good music choice.

9. La Mexicana

2 tickets    3.5 stars

Watermelon Mini Paleta

Comments: Ok, I could be biased for rating this 3.5 stars just because it's ice-cream/popsicle. But this ice pop really taste like watermelon to me, except frozen. With only 2 tickets and the size, I think it's worth it. I would definitely go back just to have another one. 

10. The Crave Bar

5 tickets   3.5 stars
Handcrafted Pretzel Ice-cream Bar- dark chocolate.

Saw this during Chicago Food Truck Fest almost 2 weeks ago but didn't get to try it. But here it is.



Comments: Comes in Decadence/Milk and Chocolate Madness as well. Though the presentation is really pathetic (it really look like the one on the right when we opened it), but the moment you bite and chew it, YUMMMmmmmmmm.....You can say I am biased again but I am definitely going back!

11. Iyanze- Bolat West African Flair 

4 tickets   2.75 stars

Caramelized Spicy Wings

Comments: Very sad two wings. It's funny and sad at the same time. Taste good, like wings. Perhaps can add little bit more spicy in it. 

12. Bobak's 

5 tickets   2.75 stars

Mini Bacon on a stick

Mini Maxwell Street Polish Sausage + grilled onions 

My friend reminded about the meaning of Bobak in Hokkien (one of Chinese dialect)- and it got me laughing. Bo-bak in Hokkien means = meatless. 

Comments: Bacon is chewy, definitely goes well with beer (I know my dad would love it). Polish sausage tastes like sausage! lol.  

Pepsi Lounge

Place to rest. air-conditioned/fan. 

In The Kitchen with Mariano's

Find the itinerary here. 

Street Performance

Mountain Dew

If they play the songs same as what they are playing

Hard at work. Flavors: Fruit punch, original, cherry, orange (If I'm not mistaken, hehe). 

Bud Light Stage

The Brazillionaires: good voice.

Dancer that caught my attention from far. lol.

Food Trucks

Reminds of me Food Truck Fest.

101 WKQX

Feel free to bring your own marker pen and scribble on this van.

Weezer!

Tickets SOLD OUT but get to watch it from the lawn. They finally appeared at 7pm. First song: My Name is Jonas! Woohoo.....they played Beverly Hills, Island in the Sun, Say It Ain't So...these are the one I remember.

Who's head is that blocking the band

Pictures for Pleasure Purpose (PPP)

Incorporated some edited photographs taken at the event. Enjoy. 

Sir, the turkey leg looks good. A bite por favor?

CHICAGO

Details, accessories, accessorized. A little do no harm, but too much of it will make you look too much! 

"If you love a flower, don't pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation." -Osho.

The last two lines, very deep, very deep.

Blame it on social media- we gotta share share share, instead of enjoying the moment. 

City lights, passers by.

Roads, less taken?

Nobody can see the end of the road, nobody knows what is going to happen; but we definitely know that death is something everyone would eventually get in their lives, we just don't know when. 

And I'm not gonna let that haunt me, for fear of death is when you are not enjoying life to the max.