Walking along Randolph Street on the far north edge of Millennium Park this past weekend, you’d hardly know that just a few steps away, one of the city’s top culinary events was taking place, the trucks lined up on the street notwithstanding.
Now in its 16th year, Chicago Gourmet is a multi-day food, wine and spirits festival that attracts the who’s who of Chicago’s hospitality world and the hungry (literally and figuratively) fans who want to meet them.
In its early iterations, it was top chefs from outside Chicago that drew in crowds. There were panel discussions and cooking demonstrations on the Pritzker Pavilion stage and others in the multiple tented structures spread out on the lawn in front of it with plenty of food, wine and spirits samples in between.
These days, Chicago Gourmet is a much leaner affair with its domain mostly limited to the giant tent set up on the rooftop of the Harris Theater and the grassy area nearby. While you’re still find a few non-Chicago chefs in the mix, it’s local culinary talent now that takes the spotlight.
Sponsored by the Illinois Restaurant Association and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Chicago Gourmet officially began this year this past Thursday, with Tacos & Tequila. Hosted by chef Rick Bayless (Topolobampo, Frontera Grill, Xoco, Bar Sotano), the event offered creative takes on tacos from 11 chefs and plenty of premium tequila and mescal tastings.
On Friday, chef Stephanie Izard (Girl & The Goat, Little Goat, Duck Duck Goat) hosted Hamburger Hop, which featured 14 chefs fighting for the bragging rights of the best burger. In the end, it was chef Shota Nakajima of Seattle, Washington’s Taku, who took home both the judges’ and people’s choice awards.
Chef Sarah Grueneberg of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio closed out Chicago Gourmet on Sunday with an Oktoberfest-style affair with 17 chefs on hand crafting their takes on wursts. A handful of off-site events rounded out the the multi-day festival.
And then there was Saturday’s Grand Cru. Broken into two 3-hour sessions, it featured 18 to 20 chefs from around the city offering signature dishes from their restaurants, which ranged from the Japanese-influenced, Osaka-style okonomiyaki with shiitake mushrooms and Wagyu beef made by Gaijin’s Paul Virant, and an Italian beef tart complete with giardiniera from Adalina’s Soo Ahn, to caviar-topped zeppole from Fioretta’s Joe Rizza.
Additionally, there was a selection of wines and spirits from around the world curated by leading master sommeliers, including Serafin Alvarado of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. At Grand Cru, guests had the opportunity to speak directly with the 50 or so wine and spirits vendors in attendance.
I attended the afternoon session, hoping to get a sense from those working in the industry of what makes Chicago Gourmet — and, by association, Chicago’s dining scene — special.
“It’s a good example of what we do together, brothers and sisters in arms in the kitchen, and raise awareness through each other,” sais Jonathon Sawyer of Kindling restaurant, of why he has participated in Chicago Gourmet multiple times.
It was a sentiment echoed by Dominique Leach of Lexington Betty Smokehouse, who offered hearty portions of Wagyu andouille sausage macaroni & cheese topped with breadcrumb gremolata and green onions.
“This is a celebration of the greatest chefs in the city as we come together to celebrate each other,” she said.
Like Sawyer, Joe Flamm (Rose Mary) has participated in many Chicago Gourmet events. This year was especially poignant for Flamm as it marked the first without Lin Brehmer, a longtime Hamburger Hop judge.
“He was such a great champion of Chicago restaurants and the food scene here in general,” says Flamm of the Chicago radio legend who recently passed. “He always brought such a great amount of life to this event.”
Spend any time walking around Grand Cru and it’s hard not to notice many of the chefs mingling with their peers when they aren’t in their booths handing out dish samples and posing for photos with fans.
“We’re always in our kitchens, so it’s good to take a break and be able to do this and hang out with some other great chefs,” said Rodolfo Cuadros of Bloom Plant Based Kitchen.
For his Chicago Gourmet dish, he created a Peruvian-style smoked turnip causa with fermented and smoked turnip, crispy potato and kelp caviar.
“I wanted to convey a feeling of warmth, spice, acidity and textures, which is what we try and do in all of our restaurants,” he said
It’s fitting that when I catch up with Thai Dang of HaiSous, he’s chatting with Leach.
“It’s great that we get to see one another in our element,” he said. “Something like this is the moment where we get to connect and give each other hugs and congratulations.”
While the festival itself can be fun for the participating chefs, choosing a dish to feature isn’t without its challenges due to the cooking and space limitations of the festival.
“If done right, it’s an awesome opportunity to distill what you do as a chef in the restaurant in one or two bites of food,” said Sawyer, who opted to do a chilled seafood salad of lake trout, shrimp and mussels topped with a spicy dressing and avocado that incorporated some of the smoky flavors for which his restaurant is known.
Beverly Kim (Parachute), another long-time Chicago Gourmet participant, wanted to convey the playfulness of her restaurant as well as its Korean heart.
“It’s a small bite so I wanted to make something that had a lot of flavor to make it memorable,” she said of her kimchi fried rice with ’nduja and hollandaise sauce.
Memorable is also a word that can be used to describe the sentiment these Chicago chefs have for each other.
“From a working perspective this is the most tight-knit community of chefs I’ve ever found anywhere,” said Flamm. “We are all there for each other and everyone wants to see each other win.”
Added Cuadros, “COVID has changed things a lot, but Chicago is resilient. There are a lot of places struggling but we are going to get back to a new normal.”
