TRAVEL: Chicago Baconfest 2015

Baconfest Chicago isn’t exactly what it sounds like.

It’s not a strips-only affair with pig mascots and camp (though there is a Golden Rasher award that participating restaurants can vie for, and a costume contest for attendees).

At its core, Baconfest is a way to try incredible bacon-themed dishes from local restaurants without having to pay the restaurant prices, and a chance to interact with restaurants and owners one-on-one. It’s about discovery, interaction, and bacon (duh). Baconfest is divided into three sessions- Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and Saturday dinner sessions, each three hours long, with a VIP hour before each. Each session has 40-50 booths of local restaurants and a variety of drink providers- distilleries, breweries, and big-time liquor distributors. My boyfriend and I attended for the third year in a row

The first dish that stood out was a cocktail. Chicago’s own Koval Distillery offered up a cocktail appropriately named “The Hogwash,” with Koval bourbon, grapefruit juice, black pepper simple syrup and bitters. The cool citrus complemented the spicy pepper simple syrup, and toned down our first dish of the night- a bacon-wrapped rib tip from Porkchop.

The rib tip was smoky and warm, with a slight lingering spice and subtle vinegar flavor. Tasting partner in crime and boyfriend Kevin described it as “warm and oaky.” We almost went back for a second portion, but seconds is a fleeting notion when there are 40 booths to visit.

If there was an official drink of Baconfest, PI Gallery’s “The Bourbon Babe” cocktail would be it. It was bacony, spicy and was a shining example of a creative way to use bacon, which is a Baconfest hallmark. “The Bourbon Babe” contained cocoa-nib infused bourbon, maple black pepper simple syrup, plum bitters, and candied applewood smoked bacon. It was cold, spicy, and punched you right in the face. The boyfriend said it tasted like everything listed, and the candied bacon soaked up all those flavors. This cocktail was the perfect complement to our next dish, which was also a face-puncher--a bacon sausage from Three Floyds.

Midwestern favorite Three Floyds doesn’t mess around. This bacon sausage was one of the larger portions of the night (most dishes are small tasting sizes, maybe two bites max), and came to us covered in crispy greens, homemade pickles and a Dark Lord barbecue sauce so hot my parents felt it at home. It tasted like pure heat with an oaky vanilla back - the seminal flavors of Dark Lord, one of Three Floyd’s most coveted and popular beers.

As a person with zero spice tolerance, I needed something different to recover from the amazing and amazingly spicy Dark Lord sauce. E+O Food and Drink’s bacon and albacore poke was exactly what I needed. It was freezing, refreshing and a perfect change of pace from the other spicy bacon dishes we’d encountered. The albacore tasted like the purest ocean, and was offset by crunchy wasabi peas and red onion. It was supposed to come with guacamole, which I passed on. This was hands down my favorite dish of the night, because of its creative use of bacon and affording me the chance to try something new.

Only a few booths offered a drink paired with their food, and the best pairing of these pairings was from the haute Mexican eatery Zapatista. They served up a deconstructed paella with flavorful yellow rice, bacon piece and sausage slice with a perfect bloody mary. I’ll be honest - bloodies don’t appeal to me. I’m a bad person for it, but this bloody changed my mind. It was light, spicy and refreshing, not at all like the “chew your drink” bloody I had in my head. It added necessary spice and salt to the paella components.

I’ll leave with my final favorite of the night. Please appreciate this candy piggie on top of chocolate mousse with caramel sauce, whipped cream, bacon, chocolate-covered pretzel bits and fresh raspberry. It’s the cutest candy piggie I’ve ever eaten (until next year).

#chicago #bacon #baconfest #travel