Taste of Chicago In a “Bite-Sized” Version

Hundreds flocked from near and far to Buckingham Fountain Friday for the first day of the weekend-long Taste of Chicago event.

“(It’s) tried and true Chicago: four-star beverages, four-star menu items and four-star talent,” said Neil Heitz, Taste of Chicago manager. “It’s all designed to give people a really fun experience.”

Taste of Chicago returned after a two-year hiatus, due to the pandemic. This year’s event was a “bite-sized” version, as Heitz called it.

“This isn’t necessarily the full-boat that Taste of Chicago used to be,” Heitz said. “We want to deliver Chicagoans an awesome experience, but we had to be thoughtful of our management of the event given some of the challenges of the pandemic.”

30 food vendors along with food trucks were featured as well as a beer hall, wine tent and cocktail lounge, which featured a malort guava margarita. For the first time there was a NBC Chicago Family Village.

Customers did not have to buy food tickets this year, and each vendor accepted cash or credit. This allowed for travelers, like Nelda Martell and her husband, to join at the last minute and experience the foods of Chicago.

“This is a great place to try out all of the different foods of Chicago,” said Martell, who is visiting from San Antonio, Texas. “It’s a really cool way to end the trip.”

Many locals have been attending Taste of Chicago since its inception in 1980 and said they were waiting “with bated breath” for the event’s return after the pandemic. Brian Marshall had been waiting a bit longer, having moved out of the city to New Hampshire and now returning for the weekend. He said he was looking forward to trying the $4 bites that many tents offer as a “tasting” of their cuisines.

Vendors at Taste of Chicago included Eli’s Cheesecake Company, Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs, Yum Dum, Seoul Taco, Connie’s Pizza, Puffs of Doom, Doom Street Eats, BJ’s Market & Bakery and Auntie Vee’s Kitchen.

“It means a lot to keep coming back and being invited to the festivals,” said Shauna Gordon, a manager of the festival for BJ’s Market & Bakery. “We’re expecting to be busy the whole weekend.”

Gordon and her team, who have been at the festival for 25 years, were selling Southern-cuisine specialties this year, including Nashville hot chicken and mustard fried catfish.

Further along the circle, Puffs of Doom and Doom Street Eats sit next to each other, as the companies were founded by a husband-and-wife team, according to Manager Jeni Cohen. The cuisine offers a fun twist on classic “childhood foods.”

“It’s so amazing to be back.” Cohen said. “This is kind of our bread and butter. It’s what we’re best at. We like to consider ourselves festival boomers and this is really where we excel, so it’s a lot of fun.”

There was also a music performance on three stages. Attendance was free.

This weekend’s festivities follow three smaller pop-up neighborhood events last month in Austin, Pullman, and Little Village.

This article was provided by Monica Sager. The views expressed here are the author's own.