ArcaMax

I did not attend the Chicago Gourmet event this year.

The last time I went was two years ago.

If I were reviewing the Chicago Gourmet event of two years ago I could sum it up very quickly. I’d write: “A very good place to get drunk. Not such a great place to eat”.

This might seem odd for me to write since I am one of the biggest promoters of Chicago on the planet. I love this place. I love living here. The city is so beautiful, friendly and full of things to do. Anticipating the Chicago Gourmet event two years ago was high on my list. It was a beautiful day and I was just all a-twitter. Sort of like Christmas morning for a child.

The tickets to Chicago Gourmet are expensive. This year they were $173 per person for one day. And $265 for a weekend pass. My husband and I got a Groupon deal two years ago so it seemed like an extra-special reason to jump on the opportunity to go.

We arrived and were directed toward the registration tent. In that tent they give you a wine glass. A real glass. That’s nice. They also give you your bag of promotional goodies, and off you go.

Chicago Gourmet takes place in Millennium Park; one of the most beautiful parks on the planet. I regularly go to Millennium Park to hear concerts. We take all our out of town guests to Millennium Park. It’s a must see. On this day they spread the Chicago Gourmet display facilities across the whole park. It’s easily bigger than a football field. The white tents spread across in a huge rectangle. Inside there are rows and rows of offerings with featured booths in the corners of the tenting.

One really convenient thing they do is cover all the grass in this area with paths made out of solid hardwood. This is important because if you look around you’ll see many a well-heeled Chicago female wearing heels. Yep, heels. You’d think if you were going to a garden party on grass that heels would not be a great idea but the organizers thought of the women and put up “sidewalks”. When you are paying that much money to stroll around a park with your glass of wine it appears as though many of them feel as though they have to dress like they are in an Easter Parade on Michigan Avenue. It’s sort of comical to watch them lightly prancing on the hard wood floors. Cheek kisses all around. I guess you can guess I wore flat sandals. How dull and practical of me.

The first chef I saw at Chicago Gourmet two years ago was Kat Kora from Bon Appetit. She was sitting at a table under an umbrella signing autographs. I kept moving.

This year there was a line-up of chefs there just to sign autographs as well as lots of cooking demos. I hear it was hard to see though. Too many people. I’m not one that needs to see a chef cooking.

Jeffrey Zakarian attended. I wouldn’t mind meeting him. I watch him regularly on “Chopped” on the Food Network. He’s also an Iron Chef Champion. I respect his opinions and he’s certainly got a resume to back up his critiques. I think I’d rather meet him in a different setting though. I’m not a groupie. I don’t have one bone of groupie in me.

Art Smith was there. Art Smith was Oprah’s private chef at one point. He then opened up a restaurant called Table 52. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary at Table 52. Get it? 25...52?

Takashi Yagahashi is a James Beard Award Winner. His restaurant Takashi is about six blocks from my house. I can go there and Table 52 anytime I want. Yagahashi’s second restaurant is called Slurping Turtle and specializes in Japanese comfort food – meaning – noodle bowls. Too high-carb for me.

And the last big name I saw on the list is Rick Bayless. I have been a big Rick Bayless fan since he opened his restaurants in 2007. My guess is my husband and I were probably in the list of his first 1000 customers at Frontera Grill. Lines used to form of people waiting to get in. We had to travel from Madison, Wisconsin, at the time to go to the restaurant. We made it a priority. His food is great!

His top-end restaurant Topolobampo is on my list of the top three Mexican-gourmet restaurants in the country. It’s a favorite of the Obamas when they are in town too.

So that rounds out the glitterati. There were several other chefs involved from Chicago; dozens even, but their involvement was not spelled out.

Now imagine this huge, football field-sized tented area. Inside are all the wine and liquor vendors. On the perimeter are restaurants offering food tastings. It’s the ratio I have a problem with. This year I went through the advertising and counted approximately nine restaurants that might have offered something to eat. I count in excess of 200 who offered something to drink.

That harkens back to my “great place to get drunk but not a great place to eat” comment. Don’t get me wrong. I like a wine tasting and liquor sampling event as much as the next gal. It was interesting. No lines of any length at any of the wine and liquor tastings. You could keep going back for more and more…and more. At one food line I got in line with my glass of wine. By the time I got to the front of the line my husband had gone back to the wine tent two or three times to get us refills. That line was over and hour long and I was standing in the sun. I was not a particularly happy camper but I was trying to keep my excitement level up. When we did get there the chef was handing out tastings of a few items. None of them was bigger than a l’amuse-buche. So I was still hungry! I never got to eat enough to justify more wine and liquor consumption so that was enough of that.

We did go to one lecture on steak that was informative. I knew one of the speakers from my past. I had not seen him in over 30 years. I had worked for him at one point. So that was interesting and a nice flashback.

You could spend another $175 for a separate wine tasting that is Grand Cru level wines so that could have been a learning experience and a good tasting for sure but if I were going to spend $350 on a wine or two you can imagine I’d buy a couple of bottles of wine that I already know are GREAT and have a private tasting with a couple of close friends rather than risk standing in muddy grass or balancing on hardwood sidewalks.

Call me the Party Pooper. The Gourmet Debbie Downer. But just remember to call me for a gourmet dinner and I’ll be right over.

Chicken Scaloppini EASY

Serves 2 (can be doubled easily)

This makes a very authentic tasting meal that is satisfying and still diet food! Because of the breading on this dish you’ll skip your bread portion for this meal.

12 oz of thin-sliced chicken breast pieces
2 lemons
1/3 cup of bread crumbs. You can grind up your favorite Plan Z approved cracker or use dried bread crumbs from the container.
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil spray
4 tsp of capers (rinse them before putting in the pan)
3/4 cup of organic chicken broth

Set up an assembly line. Take one lemon and juice it. Pour the juice on a rimmed plate. On a second plate spread the bread crumbs.

Take each piece of chicken and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Then pick it up and slide one side through the lemon juice. Then lightly dip in the bread crumbs. If you do this VERY lightly you’ll have enough to bread both sides. If you have leftover crumbs just toss them.

Heat the pan and spray lightly with olive oil spray. Place the chicken in. Do this same process for each piece of chicken. When they are all in the pan, cook on medium high for 3 minutes per side or until no pink remains in the chicken.

When chicken is done move it to another dish and cover it to keep it warm.

IN THE SAME PAN, (don’t wash it) add the chicken broth and the capers. Just bring it to a boil. You can now cut the other lemon and squeeze some more lemon in the sauce. You can also cut half of the lemon into slices or wedges to garnish. The amount of lemon you use in the sauce is really up to you. Drizzle sauce over or around the chicken and serve.

Italian Roasted Tomatoes

Serves 4

6 Italian plum tomatoes (the egg-shaped ones)
Olive oil spray
Italian seasoning blend
Sea salt
Cut each tomato half. Place the halves in an oven-proof pan.
Spray lightly with olive oil. Season with a sprinkle of Italian seasoning and a grate of sea salt.
Roast in the oven at 450 degrees for a minimum of 15 minutes and up to 45 minutes or more.

The ones in the picture were roasted for 30 minutes. The longer you roast them the sweeter tasting they become. The longer you roast them the more likely the edges will blacken. This is actually a good thing. The tomatoes caramelize and get really sweet as they begin to blacken.

Let sit for a while before serving our you’ll burn your mouth.

These go with any grilled meat or fish. Or any Italian meal as a side dish.

In the picture, these are paired with the chicken scaloppini.