Baconfest Chicago turns ten this year and it’s hotter than ever. This year’s fest, coming to UIC Forum (725 W. Roosevelt) Friday and Saturday, April 6 and 7, will feature over 140 restaurants, highlighting nearly 50 of the best chefs in the city.
The 2018 menu is full of new trends and surprises.
From its’ relatively small beginning, in 2009, featuring a 10-chef cook-off at the Publican, Baconfest moved on to a one-day fest that would sell out immediately then to the current format with 3-sessions in order to accommodate as many bacon-lovers as possible.
Each of the three sessions offer on-trend dishes as well as some surprises.
Baconfest co-founder Seth Zurer explains, “However powerful the trends may be, our menu also serves as powerful evidence that creativity obeys no fashion – there are singularly unique items on the menu this year (as there are every year) that defy all categorization. Consider the Piggymisu, Farmhouse chef Eric Mansavage’s porky interpretation of the classic Italian dessert or The Roaming Hog’s Pork Belly Clay Pot – a Vietnamese-inspired clay pot marinated pork belly, black garlic caramel sauce, puffed rice, pickled Thai chili sambal sauce, fresh herbs, sesame seeds. There ain’t nothing like these dishes anywhere else.”
In addition to the amazing creative bacon snacks, artisan bacon-makers, and bacontrepreneurs who display and sell a multitude of bacon products, fest-goers can enjoy bacon-inspired beverages from Chicago’s celebrity mixologists and brewers including cocktails, beer and wine.
Tickets start at $60 plus fees for each of the three sessions:
Friday Dinner – April 6
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM VIP Hour
7:00 PM -10:00 PM General Admission Period
Saturday Lunch – April 7
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM VIP hour
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM General Admission Period
Saturday Dinner – April 7
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM VIP Hour
7:00 PM -10:00 PM General Admission Period
BACONFEST CHICAGO SUPPORTS THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY
Baconfest Chicago supports the Greater Chicago Food Depository with a donation from event proceeds, a raffle on site and a food drive at the event. Over its nine-year history, the event has generated more than $400,000 in donations to the area’s largest food bank. This translates to more than 1.2 million meals for hungry
Here are some looks back at past years.
Stephanie Izard, “The Girl and the Goat.”Bacon and Rogue smokey blue cheese “bread pudding”.Photo credit: Show Me Chicago.
Fifty/50’s Wobble Stopper. Photo credit: Show Me Chicago.
Jimmy Bannos, Sr. and nephew Andrew Bannos. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer
Stanley’s chef Jaysen Euler hard at work cooking individual quail eggs for his bacon-creation. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer
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Filed under: Chicago events, Chicago Festivals
