Chicago Gourmet returns offering new street food options
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago Gourmet comes back to town next weekend with several new options for eating and drinking in and near Millennium Park.
New pavilions are one of the biggest features at this year's Chicago Gourmet. A nicely-curated barbecue area will feature bites from such local favorites as Lillie's Q in Bucktown, Barn and Company in Lincoln Park, Q in La Grange and the city as well as the venerable Smoque in the city's Northwest Side.
Capitalizing on the recent noodle craze, there's also going to be a ramen demonstration this year, pitting Logan Square's Fat Rice against Japanese native Takashi Yagihashi and his Slurping Turtle version from River North.
Another interesting addition is a street food pavilion. Here, several local businesses - some with brick-and-mortar operations, others with kiosks at The French Market - will prepare food right in front of you, like Ukrainian Village's Kasia's Deli, known for their blintzes and pierogi.
"We're trying something different, which we call Buffalo Potato Pierogi, and we gonna serve as an appetizer that will go great with wine," said Elizabeth Jakubowicz of Kasia's Deli.
A standard potato and cheese is doused in spicy buffalo sauce, then served in a cup with sour cream and celery. A more Asian approach comes from K-Kitchen, which will cook traditional Korean street food.
"We are gonna do bulgogi, which is like Korean BBQ beef, and we also have Korean-style fried chicken," said Hannah Jang of K-Kitchen.
The fried chicken is served on small skewers with a sweet-spicy gojujang chili sauce, as well as peanuts, for added crunch. Clearly, a different take on the familiar picnic staple.
"We use the gojujang, which is the Korean chili paste so it's different from other chicken," said Jang.
Now the street food vendor pavilion is going to be at the Chicago Gourmet Sept. 27-28 and each day there'll be eight different vendors, so you're going to get 16 different tastes of the city.
Chicago Gourmet
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