FoodBowl ?!

Even with the Tribune’s official announcement of its three-week long eating extravaganza dubbed the Chicago Tribune Food Bowl, it was pretty hard to determine exactly why this mega event was taking place.  A little scratching revealed the newspaper is emulating its one time sister paper, the Los Angeles Time’s and its super successful May event of the same name. By saying L.A.’s a place where a lot of fun things happen in bowls, like the Rose Bowl and the Hollywood Bowl, L.A. offered a reason for calling their festival a “food bowl”.  Similar explanations were curiously missing from the Tribune’s promotional publications.  Also, in Los Angeles, the event places a strong emphasis on altruism by “promoting conversation of sustainability, food waste and hunger”.  Such aspirations are notably absent in Chicago’s iteration of the festival.

But let the comparisons end there.  The two cities took very different approaches to the party and we were interested to see exactly what the Chicago festival “felt” like.  If the two events we hooked into were any clue, it’s all about having fun in an elevated form of sport dining.

With over 100 venues offering wonderfully tempting things to eat, the festival covers a lot of ground.  You could hitch your star to a Chinese cuisine boat as it putts from downtown to Chinatown, go cheese crazy at an evening with Bistronomic or hang out with Bill Kim and his Korean chef posse as they do BBQ home-style on bellyQ’s patio.

Panel discussions on topics central to the restaurant industry were held throughout the three weeks.  Food related tours and functions that entailed pouring were also be available.

For us, it was farm to table rooftop dining at the Marriott on the Mag mile and a mixology demonstration with pro tips at Remedy’s in Wicker Park that lured us in.

Despite the roof top part of the Marriott event not happening, the consolation prize of dining in the kitchen turned out to be more than satisfying.  Besides, it’s always best not to gamble with Mother Nature when thunderstorms are in the forecast.

Kicking off early at 5:30 or 6, the evening began sedately in a sleek and sparsely furnished meeting space converted into an impromptu lounge.  Lovely hors d’oeuvres, champagne and Sophia beer were generously served. Each guest was assigned a table before they were escorted to the cavernous kitchen.  Five or six tables with seven people per made it intimate and low lights added a sense of adventure.

Using a number of ingredients grown on the hotel’s rooftop garden, the five-course meal included heritage prairie greens, cured whitefish, smoked chicken, steak roulade and a thoroughly original strawberry basil shortcake.  Each course was paired with an excellent wine or beer option.

Ample servings and pours from seemingly bottomless bottles encouraged conversation and it wasn’t long before each table was swimming in a sea of words.  Ours was made up of a Floridian couple celebrating a respectfully numbered anniversary, a spunky birthday girl flanked by her spirited entourage, a refugee from Milwaukee hungry for art and the curious.   Marriott’s Executive Chef, Frank Sanchez proved the most congenial of hosts as he provided the inspiration and reviewed the preparation of each dish.

As worthy as it was of its 80 bucks per head price tag, the totally free mixology event at Remedy was right on the Marriott’s heels according to the fun meter.   Showing up early to insure ringside seating proved completely unnecessary.  Only eight souls ventured out to get the skinny on cocktails that night.

At first, nobody at the bar seemed to know what was going on.  “I think they’re doing it at that end of the bar”, the attending bartender said a little warily.  She hadn’t been briefed on the Food Bowl concept and was waiting for someone with more knowledge to show up.  In the meantime, the drinking acolytes continued to trickle in.

Over custom gin based cocktails, the Rhubarbarella and the Puns and Roses, a lot of experienced knowledge, useful advice and genuine encouragement got passed our way by the time everything wound down two hours in.   Don’t be reticent about experimenting with bitters.  One dash can alter an experience and black walnut is particularly versatile.  Selecting ingredients to complement or contrast flavors is a learned skill.  You have to do in order to become proficient.  And Imbibe magazine is a great resource that’s well respected in the industry.

The Food Bowl was proving enlightening as well as entertaining.  But I can’t help but wonder, where’s the heart?

Chicago Tribune Food Bowl

August 8 – August 26, 2018

www.ctfoodbowl.com