Luxury Guide

Chicago Gourmet 2010

BON APPÉTIT PRESENTS CHICAGO GOURMET 2010, A CELEBRATION OF FOOD AND WINE.....Gourmet Event to Showcase Top Chefs, Master Sommeliers, and Wine and Spirit-Makers From Chicago and Beyond.

The Illinois Restaurant Association is proud to announce the third annual Chicago Gourmet celebration, presented this year by title sponsor Bon Appétit magazine, in conjunction with presenting sponsor Southern Wine & Spirits of Illinois, and featuring hundreds of top chefs, master sommeliers, winemakers, brewers, and distillers from Chicago and beyond.

This world-class celebration of the city's rich culinary heritage, taking place in Millennium Park on Saturday, September 25th from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, September 26th from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., will showcase the unparalleled talent of Chicago's culinary community via two days of food, wine, spirits and beer tastings, celebrity chef demos, educational seminars, book signings and more. Attendees will have the chance to interact with hundreds of culinary experts, including Bon Appétit Editor-in-Chief Barbara Fairchild, Restaurant Editor Andrew Knowlton and Executive Chef Cat Cora, and learn about today's most interesting epicurean trends first-hand from the innovators who are creating them in Chicago and nationwide....NEW AT CHICAGO GOURMET 2010, Chicago Gourmet is pleased to announce two new offerings for 2010: the Bon Appétit Marketplace Tent and the Foodspring.com Specialty Food Pavilion, brought to you by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT). The Bon Appétit Marketplace Tent will offer guests the opportunity to meet and mingle with the magazine's top editors and Executive Chef Cat Cora while enjoying sips, bites, and special promotions from their favorite brands.

The NASFT is pleased to bring to Chicago Gourmet 2010 a new Fancy Food Show consumer retail event. The Foodspring.com Specialty Food Pavilion will feature more than 60 specialty food and beverage purveyors who will showcase and sample their products in the sprawling South Promenade Tent.

RETURNING TO CHICAGO GOURMET 2010, Chicago Gourmet will continue to allow for interaction with some of Chicago's most innovative chefs and wine experts via a variety of programming. Celebrity chefs will demonstrate their personal passion for great food on the Bon Appétit Main Stage and on the Bon Appétit Culinary Stage. On-stage cooking demonstrations will offer the chance of a lifetime to sit up-close-and-personal as the chefs cook, taste, and teach.

Seminars on today's hottest gourmet food, wine, beer, spirits and other topics will be offered throughout the event, allowing participants ranging from beginner through aficionado to hone their skills, cultivate their palates and interact with worldwide experts and producers. A full schedule of demos and seminars will be announced soon.

The ultimate wine experience, the Grand Cru Tastings at Chicago Gourmet, will offer attendees the opportunity to taste some of the finest wines in the world, as selected by the master sommeliers. During these exclusive 90-minute events, taking place from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. on both days of the festival, the Master Sommeliers will be on hand to present and discuss their selections. The Grand Cru is a separate ticketed event at $175 per person and requires a general admission ticket. Attendance is limited to 200 people each day.

In addition, oenophiles, beer-lovers and spirits aficionados can look forward to numerous guided tastings and seminars, led by a wide variety of master sommeliers, mixologists, winemakers, master brewers and master distillers throughout Chicago Gourmet 2010.