Amazing Night at Chicago Food and Wine Fest's Toast and Taste

Toast and Taste - Grant Park August 29, 2015

On Saturday night, we had the pleasure of attending the Toast and Taste  event in Grant Park. Tickets were generously provided by Wirtz Beverages, which I am very thankful for, because the ticket prices were nowhere near my current food budget.

Taste and Toast is the evening portion of the the Chicago Food and Wine festival, which landed in Chicago for the first time this year.

It was a very chill evening with food, and drinks, and music, and best of all, an awesome crowd. There were 20 tents of food and drinks, which was enough to get us full by end of the night. The crowd was manageable. We did not have to push and shove, nor wait in long line for food, which is such a major plus in my book.

All the top chefs were in attendence at the morning festival, as well as the evening party. I really don't know how they do it, because even though they were working 12+hours, the chefs were all in great spirits and were incredibly jolly and super friendly.

Rick Bayless and his Ceviche

Stephanie Izard who brought her Shrimp and Pork Stir Fry

Duck Duck Goat

I love that I got to try some really unique things from restaurants all across America, like one from LA's Animal.

 My favorite dish of the night was from Nico Osteria. Erling Wu-Bower always hit it out of the park at every food fest he participates in. Tonight, he brought this rigatoni that was so good that his booth became the hangout for all the cooks that night.

Oh, and the drinks! The drinks were great that night. My favorite was the Bulliet Autumn Cocktail, but the Hendrick's Gin, Don Julio, Stella and various others were also stellar. Another amazing point about this fest was that instead of standing in long lines for wine, people with wine bottles were walking around pouring. There wasn't an empty cup in the party!

While eating, we were treated to an amazing concert by Tameca Jones, a wonderful singer from Austin. Dare I say that this event is as good as last year's Food Network in Concert? I mean, she's not John Mayer, but the overall night was amazing.