Taste Away At Open Market Chicago This Weekend
By Lisa White in Food on Dec 6, 2013 5:40PM
We love a good shopping trip, but add in the promise of great food and ties with a worthy charity and we’ll line up at the door. Tasting Table is offering all that and more this weekend with their Open Market Chicago at Block 37. Tonight you can taste a variety of bites from some of the more popular places in the Chicago culinary world and Saturday do the same as well as shop for local crème de la crème food products. You can also learn about their charity partner for the event, Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit fighting to end childhood hunger in America. If the overall idea didn’t lure you in, the list of vendors will seal the deal.
You can check out the full list of vendors by day here but we obviously have some favorites on the list. Friday you can purchase bites from food stalls manned by the folks at Bristol, Bang Bang Pie Shop, Blackbird, Longman & Eagle, Nellcôte, Parson’s Chicken and Fish, Pecking Order, Saigon Sisters, Smalls and many more. That list alone is just our personal favorites. And on Saturday the focus is on retail from local companies such as Little Goat Bread, Katherine Anne Confections, Middlewest, Mama’s Nuts, Rare Bird Preserves and Rare Tea Cellar but you can purchase bites as well from the likes of Saturday Sausage Shop from Longman & Eagle, Fat Rice, Spiaggia, Urban Belly and Do-Rite Donuts. Phew, that is quite the list and that was only our highlights.
Admission to the events is only $5 each day and that includes a complimentary drink from their bar serving cocktails and beer. If you want even more access, VIP passes are $30 which is a great deal when you consider you get four complimentary drinks and an hour early access to the market.
Open Market Chicago is Friday Dec. 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (VIP entrance at 5 p.m.) and Saturday Dec. 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (VIP entrance at 10 a.m.) on the third floor of Block 37, located at 108 N. State St. Tickets are required for the event and can be purchased here. Children 10 and under are free.