“Due to popular demand … ” – these are some of our favorite words around here at Baconfest HQ.
Today, due to popular demand, we are adding a second night to the Chalkboard Satellite Dinner! Sponsors Nueske’s Bacon and Templeton Rye will be there, rockin’ the tasty bacon and savory rye whiskey.
The second dinner will be at Chalkboard Restaurant on Tuesday 9/14 at 6:30 PM.
If you’d like to attend, please book through Open Table:
We’re gearing up to announce the next series of Chef/Resto partners for the BFC Satellite Dinners this Fall.
And most excitingly, after months of venue visits and number crunching, we’re razor close to locking our date and venue for BACONFEST CHICAGO 2011 – Revenge of the Belly. (Just kidding, that’s not really our new tag-line… hmmm but what should our tag-line be?? I smell a Facebook contest?!?!?!)
Anyway, stay tuned for those announcements…. and let the anticipation officially begin.
But meanwhile, ever eager to keep you bacon addicts in your fix, we at BFC wanted to let you know about this new paring of discount specials for Baconfest Chicago Members at Paddy Longs. According to Chris from Paddy Long’s, this summer’s ALL YOU CAN EAT PIG ROAST special was like off the charts amazing and that literally hundreds of you have been coming in and taking advantage of the Baconfest Chicago 1/2 off promo discount. That is SO AWESOME!
Paddy’s is happy, we’re happy, you’re happy. Everybody wins.
In that spirit, Chris has decided to offer still more bacon-bounty to you zealous bacon argonauts. Here are his details:
For the rest of August and all through September Baconfest Chicago members can get our beer and bacon tasting for $20 (normally $35). That’s a 43% discount! Our tasting includes 5 delicious cuts of bacon paired with 5 craft beers. Featured bacons include: Irish Bacon, Cracked Pepper Bacon, Danish Bacon, Hickory Smoked Bacon & Brown Sugar Bacon.
The tastings are Saturdays at 7PM and Sundays at 2PM. All they need to do is go to paddylongs.com where they will see the schedule and click on “I have a promo code.” Or visit www.bookwhen.com/beerandbacon to reserve. The Promo Code is “Baconfest”.
In addition, their ALL YOU CAN EAT PIG ROAST special for Baconfest members ($12.00 best deal in town) will also stay in effect til the end of September. NOTE: PIG ROASTS are now Fridays at 7pm. Visit www.bookwhen.com/pigroast to reserve. The Promo Code is also “Baconfest”.
We wanted to help get the word out about about the happenings with our friend Nick Spencer of SPENCER’S JOLLY POSH BRITISH AND IRISH FOODS. He’s moving and shaking and living the American Dream.
And he’s at the following Farmer’s Markets which he’d love people to attend:
Lincoln Park High School Farmer’s Market – 2001 N Orchard St, Chicago, IL 60614
Saturdays 7am – 1pm, til Oct 30, 2010
Wicker Park Farmer’s Market – N. Wicker Park Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Sundays 8am – 2pm, to Oct 24, 2010
His product sold like hot-cakes at BFC 2010. Why? It’s hands down delish! Get out there and support our friend from the UK.
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Spencer’s product range consists of a delicious dry-cured bacon, and two premium bangers – a Traditional Pork, and a Pork and Herb – all of which are perfect for your kitchen table!
Spencer’s Bacon is a hand-trimmed, hand-rubbed and dry-cured bacon made to an authentic British recipe. This specialty bacon is made using pork loin, in a dry-cure process that can take up to 10 days – that’s a long time to wait for a decent slice of bacon, but it creates a lean and truly unique flavor. Well worth it!
Spencer’s Traditional Pork, and Pork and Herb Bangers are made to authentic recipes using prime cuts of succulent pork, and lightly seasoned with a select blend of high quality herbs, spices and breadcrumbs. This ensures the right balance of flavors, texture, size and shape. All the bangers are stuffed into natural casings, contain no nitrates, nitrites or MSG, and are made with pork raised without hormones. As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for!”
UPDATE 8/17/2010 – the Chalkboard Dinner on 9/13 is at capacity. Please email seth@baconfestchicago.com to have your name added to the waitlist.
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We’re starting up the bacon-wheel for the coming year’s bacon events.
The first bacon arrow in our quiver: Baconfest Chicago’s Satellite Dinner #1, at Chalkboard Restaurant. Our satellite events give the Baconfest chefs a chance to dig even deeper into the bacon subconscious – a multi-course meal, each course starring bacon. Think of them as a chance to taste the results of each chef’s romp in a bacon playground.
Chef Gilbert Langlois wowed Baconfest attendees with his bacon ice cream and aji-amarillo caramel sauce. That dessert will make an encore appearance at our Chalkboard Dinner. We’re throwing Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats, Tenuta Santome Prosecco and Templeton Rye into the mix. It should be a memorable meal. See below for the full details.
We need your help! We are looking for a venue for next year.
We LOVED the Stan Mansion, and we may end up there again as they are great people and were spectacular to us in our inaugural year.
That said, we want to vet other (bigger) options and we’d love recommendations.
Indoor vs. Outdoor? Answer: Indoor. Why? Many logistical reasons I won’t go into here.
We already looked at the Ravenswood Event Center, are in dialogue with Navy Pier and the UIC Forum – but we want to explore as many options as possible before we lock one down. The event will be in April 2011.
Any thoughts?
Those of you out there who’ve planned or who’ve been to weddings or are in the know when it comes to Chicagoland venues, please reach out to us with your recs.
Ideally the space would accommodate around 1200-1500 people. But if smaller, we’re not ruling out the “shift” model we used last year. If the venue is well suited, and the price is right, all options are on the table.
Thanks in advance for your input.
OH, and if anyone out there is or knows a web-designer who happens to LOVE BACON and who might want to have fun hanging out with the inner-circle of Baconeers as we plan Global Domination, we’re contemplating a major web-stie revamp. We’d love to talk!
All thoughts can be sent to andre@baconfestchicago.com
I hope the summer is treating you well. I wanted to reach out to you with another offer for Baconfest Chicago members. All the Baconfest members that have been in here raved about our bacon tasting last May so we wanted to get another offer out to them.
We are running an ALL YOU CAN EAT PIG ROAST each Friday and Saturday @ 7pm-10pm. We think it’s a real pig-worthy event. We roast and baste the pig in Austrian Pilsner and bacon-fat. It has a weave of hickory smoked bacon on it’s back and when its done we bring it into the bar so people can see it. Our chef then carves it up in the bar and people can try pulled pork sandwiches or whatever cut of pig they choose.This is an all you can eat deal!
So it’s an all you can eat pig roast buffet served up with sides of potato salad, barbecue beans and coleslaw.
Normally it’s $22 for civilians, BUT for Baconfest Chicago members we propose a price of $12. Your members don’t even have to reserve, they can just come to Paddy’s and tell the greeter they are a Baconfest Chicago member to get their discount. Or to be sure of a place, they can book online at paddylongs.com To get the discount on-line, the Promo-code is “baconfest”.
BTW they can wash it all down with 1/2 Liters of Trumer Austrian Pils for $4.50 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Starts this Friday (7/16) and runs til the end of the Summer. Let me know if this is something you think the Baconfest Chicago folks are interested in and if you have any questions about this event.
Cheers, Chris
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uh…. YES, Chris, the answer is YES we are in fact “interested.”
Well Bacon-Nation, $12.00 for an all you can eat Pig Roast – simply by dropping the name “Baconfest Chicago”. NO RSVP necessary.
FRIDAYS and SATURDAYS from 7pm-10pm ALL SUMMER. I mean… that’s an amazing offer. Get a group together, bring friends – look cool by busting out your secret “I’m with Baconfest Chicago” password for a hefty VIP discount.
And having spent some quality time at Paddy Longs’s as of late, I can tell you that you won’t find a more fun place to kick back a pint or three from their extensive beer selection, and enjoy some ALL YOU CAN EAT PIG ROAST action.
Bacon-Nation, this is Andre Vonbaconvitch saying “DO NOT PASS THIS UP!” You have all summer!
We at Baconfest Chicago wanted to help get the word out about this great event that our friends at THE PUBLICAN are putting together. They’ve been AMAZING to Baconfest Chicago. Let’s get out there and help make their efforts for charity a huge success!
Thank you to all those that came out to support the food drive this past February. Because of the great success and overwhelming response to continue these drives, we are just around the corner from the 2nd one!
We would like to ask our restaurant friends and extended family for your support again this coming Saturday, June 26th as The Publican will host a Food Drive for Greater Chicago Food Depository from 1:30pm-3:30pm. If you have the opportunity to, please stop by and donate any canned or non-perishable items that you can. We will be serving complimentary Hannah’s Bretzel snacks and Goose Island beer for those who donate!
Thanks again in advance. Your support will help over 600,000 people in the Chicagoland area be able to have a meal for themselves and their families.
As the saying goes: “Membership has its privileges”
Baconfest Chicago and Paddy Long’s are teaming up for a joint promotion:
Paddy Long’s is offering a 43% discount to fans/followers of Baconfest Chicago.
Beginning at noon this Thursday, May 27th, and ending 48hrs later – Baconfest Fans can purchase tickets to a Paddy’s Bacon-Beer Tasting for $20 a ticket (compared to the regular price of $35)
2. Find a date (any Thursday or Sunday) that works for you (and your friends).
3. Click on the “I have a Baconfest promo code” The code will simply be “baconfest“. Once you click to book the discount will be applied.
All credit cards are accepted and you don’t need a Paypal account to reserve
Discount applies to all tastings beginning June 3rd (tastings before June 3rd will not contain discount)
The tasting includes 5 delicious cuts of bacon paired with 5 craft seasonal beers. Menu changes weekly but bacons regularly featured are Irish Bacon, Danish Bacon, Italian Pancetta, Cracked Peppercorn Bacon, Hickory Smoked, Brown Sugar Bacon.
Again, Tastings are Thursdays @7PM, Sundays @2PM. Mike and I have attended before. These events are AWESOME! The bacon is great, the beer is first rate and the atmosphere festive.
$20 for 5 bacon and beer pairings is a GREAT DEAL!!!
Act fast Bacon Nation – Discount offer only lasts from noon Thursday until noon Saturday. (May 27th – May 29th).
Baconfest Chicago may have been the best co-idea I’ve ever had in all my life (excluding my marriage of course). There I’ve said it. Not only did it culminate in the stellar events at the Publican last Fall and the Mansion on April 10th (see PRESS), it continues to yield fruitful and fun relationships with so many of the great chefs and vendors we met whilst spinning our bacony web.
Last week, Baconfest Michael, along with several of our extended Baconfest inner circle spent some quality, and I mean QUALITY time at Chalkboard Restaurant in Linclon Square. Chef Gil Langlois (great friend to Baconfest Chicago and one of the original 10 pioneer BFC chefs), seriously pulled out ALL of the stops for them.
Two of our posse (Jeff and Beth) went Monday for a little romantic dinner for two, and were treated to such a culinary feast that they decided to return for “Fried Chicken and Champagne Night” on Wednesday with Baconfest Mike and 4 other friends. Upon seeing their return, Chef Langlois customized a menu-based selection of tastings for them. I was not there (DAMN YOU WORK!), but by all accounts, those were two transcendent evenings of eating.
I only wish they took better photos. Below is a blow by blow from Beth of the food sampled, some photos and two video-shorts we shot at Chalkboard over the past year. I was gonna edit down her recap – but couldn’t bring myself to. If you haven’t been to Chalkboard yet, well… FIX THAT SOON!
Stay tuned for announcements regarding some upcoming restaurant-specific satellite events we’ll be co-hosting with some of our Baconfest Chicago chefs – as well as preliminary leaks about our plans for next year’s BACONFEST CHICAGO 2011. Yes friends, there will be a next year!! We learned a TON – and … well… I won’t get a head of myself. Let’s just say, IT WILL BE THE CULINARY EVENT OF THE SEASON or my name isn’t Andre Von Baconvitch!
Video-shorts featuring Chalkboard and Chef Gil Langlois (and his SUPER cute son Owen).
Chalkboard Restaurant Week of May 10, 2010 recap from Beth Spencer.
“Jeff and I went to Chalkboard for dinner on Monday May 10th. This was our second visit to Chalkboard and we had the same wonderful waiter Alex. We started off with a lovely bottle of Easton Zinfandel (one great reason to go to Chalkboard on a Monday night – 1/2 price bottle of wine night!) To begin we had the Cheese Plate. It was delectable! There were 3 different kinds of cheeses, grapes, figs, almonds–the perfect pairings with these cheese selections! For dinner I had their famous Southern Fried Chicken served on a bed of mashed potatoes with white sausage gravy and sauteed collared greens. Perfect. The greens had the perfect amount of crunch and were very flavorful and the chicken was perfectly cooked so that it was juicy on the inside and crunchy and flavorful on the outside. Jeff had the Duck. Simply, it blew his mind. We also shared the Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese which was to die for! But that was not the end of our evening at Chalkboard.
Gil said that if he had some time he would make us some of the Bacon Ice Cream for dessert…and boy did he!! [A HUGE SMASH AT BACONFEST CHICAGO] After our meal, Gil came over with a white coffee cup and two small ramekins. In the coffee cup was the bacon ice cream. And this wasn’t just bacon flavored ice cream-there were big meaty chunks of bacon. In one of the ramekins there was caramel sauce and in the other there was curried bacon cotton candy. First he poured the caramel onto the ice cream and then the cotton candy. There are not enough words to explain how amazing this dessert was! We decided to get two glasses of port to round out this evening of perfection…but it still wasn’t over. Gil brought out a dessert salad. It consisted of a mixture of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and gooseberries. There was fennel pollen and herbs topped with shaved lemonade ice cubes. The amount of flavor going on in this dessert was absolutely fantastic! And, last but not least Gil brought out one more glorious treat…manhattan milkshakes. They were 100% divine. Gil & Alex gave us a wonderful and magnificent evening.
We decided to return to Chalkboard on Wednesday with Mike, Josh, Melissa and Erin. We went planning on partaking in the Wednesday Fried Chicken & Champagne special that they run…but we got something even better! Gil came over to say hello to our table and told us that he was just going to start bringing us food. He astounded us with an amazing tasting! It began with the cheese plate, then scallops, then the pate, then the duck, the fried chicken, bacon ice cream, the dessert salad, chocolate chip cookie dough eggrolls…and lets not forget that he also paired each of these amazing items with the perfect beverage. White wine, red wine, sparkling wine, beer, and lastly the sublime manhattan milkshake! It was quite possibly the best meal I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
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Thank you Beth for the report.
BACON NATION, if you’ve not yet been, give Chalkboard a try! Ask for Gil or Alex and tell them Baconfest Chicago sent you and you must try the Bacon Ice Cream! If enough of you ask for it, Chef Gil just might have to make it a permanent fixture on the menu!!
For those of you in Chicago-land serious about your Bacon-love, AND willing to drive for it, our pal and LEGENDARY bacon aficionado Ari Weinzweig is hosting an event in Ann Arbor Michigan called Zingerman’s Camp Bacon. You heard me. CAMP BACON.
It’s going to be an incredible event. We’ve got Allan Benton coming to do a dry curing demo and then we’re going to have a hands-on pancetta curing session (campers will cure their own pork!) with Herb Eckhouse form La Quercia in Iowa. Molly Stevens (James Beard Award-winning cookbook author) will do a cooking demo that’ll lead into lunch from Zingerman’s Catering (a BLT bar! Oh, and there’s breakfast to start the day too). Plus, Ari will be running the show and leading a comparative bacon tasting. And, campers get a free shirt and a signed copy of Ari’s book: Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon.
That’s the main event. We’ve also got a free bacon street fair after that event from 3 to 5 on Saturday which will be vendors plus our businesses sampling and selling and we’ve got Andre “Bacon Fat” Williams playing a gig at the Roadhouse to kick it off Friday night.
Also joining Ari are Baconfest Chicago veterans Megan Dorsch of Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats (one of our MAJOR AWESOME sponsors), and Nick Spencer of Spencer Foods (who made his product release debut with Baconfest Chicago on April 10th). And that is just the beginning of the delights which await in Ann Arbor.
How far is it really from Chicago? I took the liberty of google-mapping: Can be done in a 4hr drive. We at Baconfest Chicago recommend making a weekend out of it. Get there Friday and catch the Kick-off party at night. Enjoy the Camp all day Saturday. Drive back leisurely and take in the gorgeous southern Lake Michigan coastal scene on Sunday. Just a suggestion.
Seriously, Ari and the Zingerman’s gang are THE REAL DEAL when it comes to the Indie Bacon scene. If you can swing it, get June 19th in your books! We’ll be there, no doubt.
