Chicago Ice Cream Festival

Only half of the 20 or so advertised vendors (excuse me, artisans) were present so it left me wanting more. Clandestino’s was hands down the best — seriously, where can I order some chile chocolate and cornbread ice cream for shipment to my doorstep? I don’t typically like sweet-​savory/​spicy-​sweet chimeras, but the right balance just amplified the flavors mm. One booth served some tasters of red and white wines, while another had ice cream floating in champagne.

Who knew Chicago had an ice cream festival? Good thing people for some reason associate me with food, sweets, being a foodie, and/​or liking to eat and tell me about events like this.
A $ 25 ticket to the ice cream festival gets you entry to and samples from something like 15 – 20 ice cream, gelato, and pastry vendors. Expect it to be a madhouse, and bring your weaving skillz to dodge in between all the people in an ice cream frenzy. I went on the second night, and it appeared that Canady Le Chocolatier, Black Dog Gelato, and Via Gelato were MIA. But like any true ice cream lover, I didn’t dwell on this and proceeded to stuff my face with other offerings.
After 12 – 13 mini scoops of ice cream, I determined that the best sample was from Clandestino’s. They had this chocolate chile ice cream that knocked my socks off, and their jalapeño cornbread ice cream wasn’t too shabby either! My second fav was the birthday cake ice cream from Oberweis.
Mini slices of spinach pizza from Edwardo’s were a welcome savory break, and wine and water quenched our thirst. All in all, I’m not sure if I’d rush to come back for next year’s festival, but my sweet tooth thanked me for the rest of the weekend.

This year’s Chicago Ice Cream Festival was the 2^nd annual ice cream festival in Chicago. I was hoping this would be a well run machine since this was the second time they did this. Unfortunately it wasnt.
The website said doors would open at 6pm and advised people to arrive early to check in. Hoping to avoid the early crowd, I arrived at 7pm only to find the doors closed and a long line waiting to go into the museum.
At 7:10pm the doors finally opened, but by 7:30pm I was still waiting in line because they were still trying to check people in by alphabetical order. I can understand this if I had my ticket held at will call, but I actually had a hard ticket to this event and didnt need to pick up any ticket at will call. When I slowly started approaching the front of the line, the guy working the event started sorting people from A-​H, I-​O, and P-​Z. I asked him where to go if I had an actual hard ticket for the event already. He said «Sorry, I dont know where you’re supposed to go».
That wasnt the worst part though. I purchased my ticket when this festival was first advertised as being held from June 4 to June 5. Then after my ticket was issued, they changed the date to July 30 – 31 without reissuing me a new ticket OR advising me on what to do with my ticket with the wrong date. I had to email someone on what to do and was advised to go to «will call». Unfortunately there was no «will call» area here.
Anyways, enough about the disorganization of the event. Lets move on to the ice cream. Some flavors were unique and delicious and some were just gross tasting. Here is what I tried:
1. Via Gelato-​Key Lime Pie (not bad)
2. Ciao Bella Gelato-​Raspberry Hibiscus (yum); Mango Sorbet (yum)
3. Oberweis– Chocolate peanut butter (yum); mango pomegranate (yum)
4. Homers-​Cinnamon with white chocolate (yum); perry berry (yum)
5. Sassy Cow-​blueberry cheesecake (yum); dark cherry
6. Bobtail– goat cheese ice cream (yuck); vanilla bean
7. Mac’s Ice Cream– grilled peach; chocolate sour cream sea salt (yuck)
8. Mitchell’s– chocolate chip; banana chocolate chip (yum)
9. Labiola-​white peach sorbet; Belgian sugar cookie on an ice cream cone (yum)
10. Black Dog Gelato– banana curry (yuck); pistachio (yuck); Mexican chocolate (yuck)
11. Snookelfritz– Maple and Candied Hickory Nut; Valrhona Torrone Noughat
12. Clandestino– blueberry
13. Vosges– sweet Indian curry and coconut (yuck)
It was fun tasting all the different flavors but the check-​in process was really terrible. Even after you enter, you have to stand in another line for a tasting. There were only 7 vendors on the first floor and about 9 vendors on the second floor. The second floor served alcohol. I didnt try any, but it looked like people were enjoying it. The second floor also had a live band playing music as well as an open area for you to sit and lounge.
Unless the event is free next year, I dont think I will be going again.