Baconfest Chicago 2011

My favorite event thus far in Chicago! It was such a treat to get a glimpse into the food of 60 different restaurants. Upon entering, I thought I’d try everything… well that just isn’t possible for me. So I’d suggest trying

Ok, this is going to sound very sad but I felt like I was among family. A huge group of gluttonous foodies who love bacon enough to want to feast on 50 plus dishes all centered around bacon. A group of people gutsy enough to try bacon fruit roll ups, bacon ice cream, bacon drumsticks, bacon soup, bacon drinks, etc., etc. I cannot think of a single item that was not excellent.
The event was very well put together and I CANNOT wait until next year for the family reunion.

Can’t wait until next year! But next year I will make notes on all the restaurants and have a plan on the sampling instead of just 3 straight hours of gluttony. You got 6 drink tickets to use for a smattering of wine, beer, vodka, whiskey etc. Some drinks were good like the whiskey sour, while others were not so good like the chocolate martini. They need a lounge area with lazy boys after this fest!

I had a blast at Baconfest this year. I had a ticket to go last year, but something came up that weekend and I ended up having to sell it. It was probably a bad move since I don’t even remember what it was that I had to cancel for. I was bummed out, but I made sure that I had tickets this year and that my schedule was clear. It actually snuck up on me – I didn’t remember when it was, so when a friend mentioned that it was coming up, I was pleasantly surprised.
The fest was a lot bigger than last year and was held at the UIC Forum. I had never been to the Forum, nor had anyone else that was going with me, so we didn’t really know what to expect. When we got there there was a huge line that grew longer every minute. Things weren’t looking too great. We went and checked in then stood in line for a few minutes until it started to move. It took us a few more minutes to get in the building and within minutes we were eating our first bacon dish. Super easy and efficient. I know people that didn’t attend this year because they thought it would be «too big». What a huge mistake.
There were over 50 restaurants that set up tables in the Forum’s main hall. They were lined up and guests could pick and choose what one’s they wanted to go to. I had high hopes and was expecting to sample most everything. That turned out to be a joke, but I did the best I could. We basically just went up and down every row and tried everything. There were rarely any lines for any specific table and everything moved quickly… perhaps too quickly. I could have used a little more down time between each tasting.
With SO many different tables and tastings, the food ranged from great to boring to weird to bad – pretty much what I was expecting. I started off strong but quickly tapered off. I think I missed out on a lot of good food because I just got way too full. A few booths ran out of food quickly too (I’m looking at you Atwood Café), so that was a small bummer. Next year I’m going to have to be more selective about what I want to eat. I’m simply not fat enough not to be.
The fest ended with me and my friends hitting up Paddy Long’s table. They cooked an entire pig. They were low when we got there, so they gave us the snout to much on. Ya, I took a bit out of a hairy, pigs nose. No one said this event was classy…
This Friday, at work, I tried my «bacon daddy» from David Burke’s table. As it turns out, bacon and caramel together on a stick isn’t all that great. But the fact that I know that now is the reason why Baconfest is so much fun.

Some people look forward to Thanksgiving dinner, but not I. BACON FEST has cometh! I was super excited for Bacon Fest, like a kid waiting for Christmas to open presents. This was actually the first year I was able to get tickets before they sold out. I’m so glad I bought me some tickets. I’m a bacon enthusiast. I’ve even tried bacon gumballs… yah pretty nasty. But the food at the event didn’t disappoint.
Showed up around noon, paid $ 8 for parking, and went inside to check in. We got a gift tote and a bunch of other goodies, including some «I love bacon» stickers and water bottle. After that, we waited a bit in this long snakey line outside, but once the start time rolled around, we were quickly inside. Walking in I could smell the tasty bacon… instant baconer.
We started at Girl & The Goat and worked our way down the aisles. I made a $ 5 bet that I could eat at least half of each tasting portion from each restaurant. Of course I failed, I mean some of the dishes were so good I just had to finish it all. Halfway through the aisles, I was definitely no longer hungry. I felt like Fat Bastard from Austin Powers. The last 4 or 6 items I had just eaten was a bacon blur. Many of the portions were very generous and well worth the entry fee. Well before my bacon blackout, the dish I remember enjoying the most was the Kick Ass BLT from 694 Wine & Spirits. Man was that some awesome bacon! That bacon in that sandwich was crucial… thick cut and just perfect. Definitely my favorite BLT ever. The Banana & Bacon’s Foster from Black Dog Gelato was also really good. There were a lot of bacon/​pork belly dishes I really enjoyed… remember bacon blackout. I remember some tasty thick cut pork belly dishes. The event started winding down around 2:30 and by then, a good number of booths had run out or were serving alternate dishes. But it was okay, by that time I felt like obese Homer Simpson (that was a good episode). I remember walking out, I passed by Longman & Eagle, who were serving half of a hot dog or polish. It wasn’t what was on the menu, but it looked really good. I stood there debating if I should try it, but soon decided that would just be stupid.
I showed up starving and left way too stuffed, but really enjoyed the food. The event overall was very well organized and planned out, compared to other food & wine fests I’ve been to. I rarely had to wait in a line to try a dish and was able to easily get a few dishes at a time, before going over to the standing tables to eat. I think I only waited in line for Girl & The Goat and for some bacon drumstick ice cream from iNG. I hope next year they’ll have more garbage cans in between tables, but the cleanup service was pretty good. Oh and the water situation, that was a disaster. There really wasn’t anywhere to get a drink, other than using your drink coupons for liquor or getting ice water from the water jugs. The jugs that kept running out of water.
Overall, had an awesome time at Bacon Fest 2011 and will definitely buy tickets next year. I’m also happy I found a sweet white elephant gift from one of the bacon item vendors!

This is the story of Bacon, gluttony, decadence and a famous chef nearly filing for a restraining order on yours truly. Let’s start at the beggining.
Baconfest really upped the ante this year. It was twice the size of last years event with twice the exhibitors. I consider myself a big guy with a big appitite, and there was no way I could have sampled everything without exploding. There were BLT’s, bacon burgers, bacon chocolate, Bacon Bao, and just about anything else you could think of that included bacon. By the time we got to the last row of restaurants, I was in dire need of a nap. Physically, I could not eat any more. It was the meat sweats and a food coma all wrapped up into one.
Out of all the things I sampled, one thing stood out above all else. It stood out by a wide margin. It was the bacon, blue cheese soup from the Girl & the Goat. The soup was so good that I went back three times. Not only did I got back three times, I could not compliment the chef enough. Little did I know that the Chef was Stephanie Izard of Top Chef fame. Not only have I never watched Top chef, I had no idea who she was. In my mind, she was just a wonderful chef who made the best soup known to mankind. I guess my enthusiasm got the best of me. I may have scared the poor woman. Stephanie, if you read this, I apologize for scaring you. No restraining order needed:)
Once again the people who run baconfest put together one of the best eating events known to mankind. I’m going to need a month at the gym to work off all the bacon I ate, but it was totally worth it.

Baconfest was epic! This event was so well put together, so well planned and seemed to go so seamlessly. The event sold out in 15 minutes or something super fast like that. I think they sold the perfect amount of tickets. There were tons of people but no one was intrusive, lines were usually just 5 or 6 people long and went fast for the most part. Everyone was happy and in a great mood, usually you experience some rude people in similar events but not at Baconfest! Everyone was just peachy and happy! As far as the planning, they had an excellent map with restaurant names, what dish they were serving, as well as all vendors selling items. It was really so well planned! Major props to the planners of this festival of swine!
Parking was $ 8 which was lame but I lived through it. Doors opened right at 12:30 and although there was a huge line outside to get in, it went pretty quickly. Everyone got a fun Baconfest tote, Love Peace Bacon sticker & water bottle, plus some drink coupons. Five drink tickets in total, I just couldn’t use them but I would imagine others who did got a little tipsy with that many drinks! :) If you donated some canned goods to The Greater Chicago Food Depository you go some free raffle tickets so you better believe I brought a big bag of items! Donating items plus you get entered in the raffle? It doesn’t get better then that!
Once we got in, we headed straight to Girl & the Goat as it said Stephanie Izard herself would be there. I’m a huge Top Chef fan and there she was serving the masses. I snapped a picture of her doing her thing… but she was taking pictures with fans, too. When I went there she was being filmed so I had to skip out on the fan photo. She served a soup in a cup which she called «bread pudding», it was tasty and nice & easy to eat! Always a plus at these types of events. We worked our way down the row and about half way down I was getting full! Ut oh! Some portions were quite large for sample size which was awesome but oh-​so-​filling! Other food standouts for me were Wow Bao’s Bacon, Egg & Cheddar Bao (huge portion and fluffy cloud-​soft bao), the Kick Ass BLT from 694 Wine & Spirits (HUGE bacon pieces and such a fun group serving them up, one of the guys took a big ol’ piece of bacon and hand fed one fellow, dropping it right in his mouth!), iNG’s Bacon Dumpling had the cutest presentation on a wooden spoon plus was tasty to boot, and Park Grill’s Bourbon Bacon Cream Float was heavenly divine!
After we completed one row, I was just so full! I only completed 1.5 rows of restaurants of 5… a sad showing! But even my male companion couldn’t do every single restaurant. After row 2, we only went to restaurants he thought looked the best. Midway through I just felt so full I needed to exit the forum and take a break to sit down. Back up and at ‘em we finished off the rows! Then we went to the vendors. They had some super cool bacon shirts and other bacon goodies. I signed up for Celebrity Chefs which will donate a percentage of my restaurant bill plus I got a fancy cookbook highlighting the participating restaurants. My buddy bought me a strip of chocolate covered bacon from RGW Candy Company which I just ate today and it was AMAZING! Around 230pm, restaurants started closing up and things were dying down. When we walked out, it was pretty funny because people were strewn everywhere laying down and passed out. Bacon food coma!
I cannot overly stress how amazing this event was. I absolutely will be buying tickets for next year but need to somehow prepare myself to eat more!

I write this in the wake of a bacon and booze filled buzz. I was afraid the growth of BaconFest would ruin it but it was even better this year. Bacon bloody Mary’s, Goose Island and PBR were great. Other cocktails interesting but could have done without. Chizakaya, Big Jones, Heaven on 7, one SixtyBlue, Longman & Eagle (with cabin still bourbon and bacon rillete lollipop with bacon cotton candy OMG), and Signature Room all big winners for me. Only a few bad dishes throughout the day.