Results tagged “festivals”

• Tonight: The Store (2002 N. Halsted) is hosting "Martini Madness," benefiting Cabrini Connections, an organization that provides mentoring and tutoring to children living in Cabrini Green. $40, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
• Saturday: VeganMania, a festival of all things vegan, takes place at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse (1419 W. Blackhawk) from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Best thing about this is it's free.
• Sunday: The Publican's monthly beer dinner will feature selections from St.Feuillien. Cost is $40 for the family-style dinner, $15-$20 extra for the beer. (837 W. Fulton Mkt., 5-10 p.m.)

                   

Today we're going to run some more photos of Chicago Gourmet that we didn't run in our recap of the festival yesterday. It's a combination of chef shots, action shots from demos and seminars, and good ol' food pr0n. Enjoy and, if you have photos of the event on flickr, be sure to tag them with "chicagoist" so that they show up on the "Chicagoist Photos" pool..

                

Now this is how a food and wine festival should operate!

A couple weeks back a friend purchased Chicago Gourmet tickets via the half-price special Groupon offered. She asked for advice to prepare for the festival. We told her to pack a lunch.

The schedule for CIFF is now online and browseable! There are around 150 films this year, and in honor of the festival's 45th year there'll be an extra day of movies (15 instead of the usual 14.) That's a whole lot of cinema. And obviously we can't see everything. That means making some painful choices. But rather than plunge ourselves into agony, we're trying something different this year. We'd like you to tell us what to see.

This weekend is jam-packed with events. Social butterflies plan accordingly.

                

After thinking about it, we took it upon ourselves to make it to the Saturday afternoon showcase at the Petrillo Band Shell in Grant Park. The four hours we were there featured everyone from Chicago local legend Fred Anderson (celebrating his 80th birthday) to Netherlands-based Azerbaijani Amina Figarova and her sextet, as well as the work of Curtis Mayfield, arranged by William Parker (featuring Black Power poet Amiri Baraka and drumming savant Hamid Drake); the night was closed out by the Dave Holland Big Band.

After over a year of planning the inaugural Chicago Luxury ice Cream Festival is set to open tomorrow. For festival founder Jeff Reid, just having the festival happen is a relief.

The Chicago Botanic Garden will be hosting All About Peppers weekend, a celebration of all things hot and spicy, this weekend. Sweet peppers will also be showcased, but we’re less excited about those. There will be tours of the garden focusing on pepper varieties, vendors, special decorations and informational signs throughout the garden. The CBG grows more than 40 varieties of peppers, so if you’re looking to experiment with something new, this would be a great time to visit!

Bike commuters, fixie enthusiasts, racehounds and general fans of two-wheeled transportation can rejoice as tomorrow kicks off the Chicago stop of the five day 2009 Bicycle Film Fest. Pump up your tires, grab your U-lock and get ready to cycle the city in the name of film and fun.

• Through Sunday: Pilsen's annual Fiesta Del Sol festival kicked off last night on Cermak from Morgan to Throop. Very good eats to be had at Fiesta del Sol.
• One of the highlights of this year's Retro on Roscoe Festival is the 15th Annual Windy City Chili Cook Off. The cookoff is open to anyone over 18. No beans allowed.
• Flemings Prime Steakhouse (25 E. Ohio, 312-329-9463) is offering that burger above as part of its "5 for $6 Until 7" menu. that's eight ounces of hand-shaped ground Prime beef, seasoned with salt and pepper, pan-seared and finished in flemings' broiler.

             

A few things we learned over the weekend:

• Today: Chicago Wine School is hosting a course on Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This will include tasting a really good Pape and learning of some of the grape varietals that go into this classic French blend. (The Wine Consortium, 123 E. 23rd St., 6:30-8 p.m., $45.)
• Tomorrow: The highlight (such as it is) of Taste of Lincoln Avenue this weekend will be the Jimmy John's-sponsored sandwich making and eating competition. Recent Chicagoist podcast guest Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, Tim "Gravy" Brown and others try to eat as many sandwiches as Jimmy John's can make. Who can forget Marcus and Stolpman's visit to this last year? Laura didn't even have a zoom lens last year and said that was too much detail. (2:30 p.m., Taste of Lincoln Avenue Montana Stage, Lincoln Avenue at Altgeld)
• Sunday: If Deep Dish and Gravy didn't spoil your appetite, head back to Taste of Lincoln, where FIG Catering will be setting up shop for the day

Day 3 of the 2009 Pitchfork Music Fest featured a full slate of bands we planned on catching and we managed to catch most of it with all roads leading to the big headlining set by The Flaming Lips, whose lighting rig was already set up on stage. We were welcomed into a warm, sunny Union Park by the spazzy, buzzy electro-rock of The Mae Shi who set the energy level to 11 and didn't relent for the duration of their set which included a brief switch to hip-hop courtesy of Yea Big + Kid Static. The highlight of the band's performance didn't come from the band itself but rather those guests who called on Pitchfork to review their new record, saying, "Give it a 4, I don't give a shit."

• Today: Dunlay's on Clark Street (2600 N. Clark) and 10 Cane Rum are hosting an patio party featuring a Trinidadian sugar cane crusher. guests will be able to taste fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice. 3-7 p.m.
• Saturday: Eivissa chef Dudley nieto will lead guests on a crash course in making paella. The $25 course includes samples, instruction and sangria; a take home paella kit is also available for an extra $10. (1531 N. wells, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
• Saturday-Sunday: The debut Taste of River North festival will be a great way to sample food from @Spot Café, Citizen Bar, PROSECCO, Zocalo, Sullivan’s Steakhouse, Ai Japanese Restaurant, Italiasia, Bella Luna, Excalibur, Fleming’s, Roy’s Chicago and others. tickets for food are $1 each.

• North Shore Distillery's Sonja Kassebaum writes a loving profile of graham elliot beverage manager/head mixologist Lynn House (pictured). [Thinking of Drinking]
• Baconfest news: the Publican is hosting the VIP Pro cookoff the day before the fest. [Baconfestchicago.com]
• Mike Sula cheers the return of kaiseki master Seijero Matsumoto. [Food Chain]

His Elective Majesty and the Illinois Restaurant Association trotted out some of the city's best chefs and sommeliers yesterday to announce the second annual Chicago Gourmet festival, taking place September 26-27. Reader reporter Julia Thiel noted that the IRA is looking to atone for last year's inaugural edition, which was heavy on the wine and spirits. And that's an understatement.

                      

We were excited to go out and actually see the Counting Crows live - if only to watch the bouncing dreads of Adam Duritz in person and marvel at their plasticine uniformity.

Taste of Chicago starts tomorrow just a little bit smaller. Only 54 vendors will be serving the teeming masses descending on Grant Park for the next 10 days. That might actually turn into a postivie.

We love a good mole here at Chicagoist, although not so much to follow Geno Bahena and his traveling freak show of moles from restaurant to restaurant. Seriously, does the man have a wanderlust or is his business acumen just not that good?

The DarkLord Days of recent years have devolved into a litany of disappointed beer fans either leaving without bottles of Three Floyd's prized Russian Imperial Stout, or being so desperate for it that they purchase bottles from some of Northwest Indiana's brightest trade school dropouts for at least three times the $15 selling price set by the brewery. The golden ticket sale announced by the brewery was a step in the right direction to give those who truly wanted the beer an opportunity to buy it. Still, it was only a matter of time before golden tickets started popping up on Craigslist and online auctions.

People keep asking us who we think will play this year's Lollapalooza so let's throw a few names out there as predictions. We would like to emphasize that these are predictions! We have no inside knowledge of any sort -- these thoughts are purely speculative.

Fed up with the Blago/Burris Circus? Need some levity to save you from the winter blahs? You're in luck because the Eighth Annual Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival kicks off tonight. Running through Sunday, January 18, the festival features over 125 shows by over 100 different troupes from around the world. Held at Theatre Building Chicago (1275 W. Belmont), the fest features performances each night across three different stages. Each show is $12.50 and $150 gets you festival-wide pass. Check out the schedule and get planning.

After months of buildup and debate, the inaugural Chicago Gourmet festival of food and wine kicks off this evening with a gala reception at the Harris Theatre in Millennium Park. You just know that Mayor Daley is eager to showcase the rarefied air of the Chicago restaurant industry mere months before the IOC makes its final decision on the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. He tried to sell the sizzle in this week's edition of Time Out Chicago:

It's been a season of milestones for the city-sponsored music festivals. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the World Music Festival. What started out as a small festival centered in Chicago's notable places for international music has evolved into a city-wide event, with artists performing throughout the city limits. WMF highlights Chicago's reputation as a city of neighborhoods. In incorporating most of the major club venues, WMF also does more to shine a positive spotlight on our vibrant music club scene in one week than venue owners often do themselves. Only the ongoing resistance to the promoters ordinance can unite club owners as well.

The annual Windy City Wine Festival, presented by Binny's Beverage Depot, takes place tonight and tomorrow at Daley Bicentennial Plaza downtown. We've never been overly impressed by the festival, but taking a look at the cooking and wine exhibitions scheduled we might be swayed to drop by.

The press conference yesterday announcing the September Chicago Gourmet festival at Millennium Park went off without a hitch. Mayor Daley brought to the conference the "Chi-CAW-go is a world class city" enthusiasm that earned us (read: him) the right to fight for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Rock The Bells, a "world-class hip hop platform" that kicks off its 2008 tour right here in Chicago on July 19th, announced their main lineup yesterday, which includes local acts The Cool Kids, Kid Sister, and Kidz in the Hall. Ironically, The Cool Kids and Kid Sister (both playing Coachella this weekend) aren't listed on the Chicago itinerary, though they are listed for subsequent shows. We don't know if it's an oversight or not, but here's hoping they're added for the hometown gig. (Ed. note: They might be excluded due to the blackout around the Lollapalooza dates.) Even without the local acts, the lineup is pretty solid already, with hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, and De La Soul (returning a year after their triumphant Pitchfork set) leading the charge along with one of our personal favorites, Mos Def, and a few Wu Tang members thrown in for good measure. Additional acts will be announced in the near future.

To quilters, crafters, voyeurs, whatever: the International Quilt Festival has landed in Rosemont for the weekend. The Donald E. Stevens Convention Center is bustling with activity at this very moment, as the festival previewed last night and was officially opened this morning. The festival is actually not just for quilters, but other textile artists as well; the theory being that those who are crafty in one capacity will be interested by another.