BaconFest Chicago 2013

For the second year in a row, Greedy Eater 2 and I attended BaconFest Chicago. As always, it was an awesome event.  We still didn't eat at all of the restaurants we wanted to, but it was still a great event. There were some dishes that we both tried and there were some that we tried on our own. Of course, the most important thing is we didn't get the meat sweats. Here's a rundown of what we had:

Bacaro
Triple-S Farm Bacon and Pineapple Upside Down Cake with bacon whipped cream and crispy pork rind

Review: This was a pretty good dessert. The cake was firm and I could definitely taste the bacon flavor in the whipped cream.

Benny's Chop House
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with applewood-smoked bacon streusel

Review: Greedy Eater 2 thought this was an awesome dish. The strawberry and the rhubarb really complemented each other. The bacon streusel was a good highlight of the dish.

Benny's Chop House
Applewood Smoked Bacon Doughnut with green apple jelly and apple butter

Review: We both thought this dish tasted great. What the picture doesn't show are the pieces of apple on the bottom. The combination of the ingredients was great. A good contrast between sweet and salty.

Big Jones
Refried bacon confit with country ham-creamed sauerkraut, pumpernickel toast and sweet and sour beets

Review: Another awesome dish according to Greedy Eater 2. The combination of the taste of the salty ham with the sweet and sour beets along the sauerkraut was really good.

Baume & Brix
Fat Elvis #1: Peanut butter braised bacon, brioche-banana mousse, bacon roasted peanuts
Fat Elvis #2: Peanut macaron filled with banana ganache and bourbon-bacon jam.

Review: I was surprised to see the size of the dish. Regardless this was a different dish, in a good way. I'm a fan of peanut butter and bacon so the combination worked well.

Bang Bang Pie Shop
Pigs in a Blanket: Candied peppered applewood smoked bacon wrapped in local leaf lard pie pastry and stuffed with preserved tart cherries

Review: We both tried this dish. Greedy Eater 2 really liked this dish, especially the combination of the tart cherries and smoked bacon. The pastry could have just been a little thinner.

Browntrout
Brandade fritters with spicy bacon lime hollandaise

Review: Greedy Eater 2 thought this was pretty good. It was sweet and tangy. It was a lot of flavor in just this small dish.

Carnivale
Spicy bacon media noche with bacon cole slaw

Review: We both thought this dish was great. The slaw tasted wonderful and the sandwich with the spicy kick was really good.

David Burke's Primehouse
Cherry-cured Bacon Chocolate Tart: Cherry-cured bacon lardon, dark chocolate ganache, sour cherry jam, smoked vanilla and hickory cream

Review: We both could have eaten a tray of these. It was sweet and yummy. The bacon was not overpowering in the dish which was a good thing. This was super-duper fantastic.

Epic Restaurant
Cherry Braised Pork Belly: Bacon cherry glaze, peanut & cherry wood bacon brittle

Review: We both thought this was another great dish. The glaze tasted great and combining it with the bacon and brittle made it a good combination.

Firecakes
Maple Glazed Pineapple & Bacon Doughnut

Review: Considering how much we like doughnuts, of course this tasted great. I was surprised that the pineapple didn't take away from the doughnut.

HUB 51
Crispy Bacon Tacos served with avocado and pico de gallo

Review: I love tacos overall, so I knew I was going to like this dish even before I tried it. These tacos smelled great and tasted even better. I could have easily eaten more of these tacos.

J Lafayette Catering Company
New Orleans Style Bacon Bread Pudding: Sweet cayenne gastric bacon and drageed pecans, with a shot of bacon horchata with micro mint

Review: Initially we didn't know what to make of this. I'm kind of picky about bread pudding, but this did not disappoint. We both thought this tasted pretty good considering the ingredients that were in this dish.

LOKal
Bacon, leek, cheddar scramble on bacon-fat crostini

Review: We both thought this was a good dish. The cheddar scramble was good. The crostini was a little harder than we would have liked, but overall it was good.

Mexique
Pepita Macaron, bacon fudge mole, Pernod orange meringue

Review: I could have popped these like tic-tacs all day long. This was awesome. I loved the combination of the meringue and mole. I inhaled more than chewed.

Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro
Bacon and Beer S'more: Homemade bacon graham cracker, Murphy's Stout marshmallow, candied bacon, toasted pecan and milk chocolate

Review: Greedy Eater 2 thought this tasted better than the average s'more due to the bacon 

One North
Pork Belly Adobo

Review: We both thought this was an interesting dish. The pea sauce with the bacon kind of threw us. 

Porkchop
Bacon-wrapped pulled pork blue cheese jalapeno with BBQ sauce

Review: One word...Awesome! We had a choice for BBQ sauce and went with Kansas City. There was a slight kick to this dish, but it was not overpowering. This was one of our favorite dishes.

Red Butter
Tandoori Bacon Arancini & Mint Raita

Review: This was another great dish. There's some heat to this dish, but the mint raita cools the heat. It's just the right combination.

Signature Room at the 95
Smoked bacon bread pudding, pork tenderloin stuff with chorizo and wrapped in bacon, bacon braised red cabbage, bacon ancho sauce

Review: Greedy Eater 2 thought the meat was really good. The meat alone was the highlight of this dish.

Slurping Turtle
Bacon pecan brittle with Jivara Praline Mousse and Caramel Ganache

Review: This was another awesome dish. Just an overall excellent combination. We could have eaten a tray of these. This was another favorite dish of ours.

 

Untitled
Love Me Tender: Pork belly panino with smoked banana, truffle caramel, and cashew butter

Review: We both really liked this dish. Not quite sure if it loved us tenderly, but all of the ingredients meshed well together to make a darn good sandwich.

Wave
Chicken fried bacon with bacon maple caramel

Review: We both thought this dish was pretty good. The taste of the chicken was deceiving because ten seconds after eating a piece of the chicken, there was this wave of heat in our mouths. The mashed potato with the caramel sauce tempered the heat.

Wow Bao
Freshly Steamed Bao: Egg, Bacon, & Cheese
Freshly Steam Bao: BBQ Pork

Review: Greedy Eater 2 thought these were good. They were pretty big. Greedy Eater 2 really liked the BBQ Pork out of the two.

ZED451
ZED Bacon n' Egg Ice Cream Cone: Bacon and egg infused homemade ice cream with candied bacon bits, served in a mini waffle cone lined with homemade chocolate

Review: This was another dish that we could have eaten like tic-tacs. The ice cream had a good flavor. This tasted better than the Drumstick ice cream cones at the store. Another favorite dish.

List of restaurants we tried, but didn't take a picture:

Hearty
Bacon Cotton Candy

Review: This was awesome. Unfortunately we did not take a picture. Hopefully Hearty will be back next year.


La Madia
Balsamic-glazed bacon, spinach & whipped ricotta bruschette

Review: I thought this was a good dish. The ricotta did not completely overpower the bacon.


Pure Kitchen
Kimchi braised bacon, house cracker, black garlic & potato puree, yuzu & bacon vinaigrette

Review: Greedy Eater 2 liked this dish a lot. It was melt in your mouth good.So good to the point that Greedy Eater 2 forgot to take a picture. The bacon was tender and the vinaigrette was good.



Overall, the food tasted great as usual and we definitely plan on going to BaconFest Chicago next year.

On a side note, prior to BaconFest's doors opening at 12:30, Eckrich had samples of their Bacon Lover's deli meats. They were awesome. Check it out: http://www.eckrich.com/products/deli/bacon-lovers

Papa Marcos Grill and Kabob

Another place Greedy Eater 2 and I stopped at yesterday was Papa Marcos Grill and Kabob. Papa Marcos is located in Waukegan, IL. They serve Mediterranean food along with American style food. We found this place on Yelp. They had excellent reviews and we wanted to eat at a non-chain restaurant.

Greedy Eater 2 and I decided to each order a Mediterranean dish. Greedy Eater 2 ordered the Beef Kafta Sandwich. It consisted of beef kafta, lettuce, tomato, onion and tahini sauce wrapped in a pita-like bread. I ordered the Chicken Shawerma Sandwich. It consisted of chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion and tahini sauce wrapped in a pita-like bread.

The sandwiches came wrapped in aluminum foil. We decided to split the sandwiches so we could try each other's sandwich. Both sandwiches were very good. The tahini sauce tasted great. The main ingredients of the sauce consisted of sesame seed paste, kosher salt, olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic cloves, and parsley. Both the beef kafta and the chicken were well-seasoned and flavorful.

The owner was very nice and knowledgeable. We definitely plan on going back to try other items on their menu.

The Doughnut Vault

Greedy Eater 2 and I decided to take a road trip yesterday and head north to the Chicago area. As always, we make a point to stop by restaurants that we've heard about. Plus, it's been a while since we've posted anything.

The first place we went to was The Doughnut Vault. This place is known for long lines of customers waiting to get these freshly made doughnuts. A primary thought that came to mind was what is so special about these doughnuts that people will stand in line, sometimes over an hour, to buy. So Greedy Eater 2 and I wanted to find out. First, a couple of things about The Doughnut Vault:

• On Saturdays The Doughnut Vault opens at 9:30.  Tuesday through Friday they open at 8:00. They stay open until they sell out.
• The Doughnut Vault is not big at all. The space is big enough for about 10 people to stand in a single-file line. There is only one person who gets your doughnuts and also works the cash register. 
• They only take cash. 
• Everyday they're open, they have a specialty doughnut (i.e., Birthday Cake, Mocha Glazed, Pistachio, Powdered Sugar Stack, etc.), in addition to their standard doughnuts.
• All of the standard doughnuts, except for the Buttermilk Old Fashioned, cost $3 each. The Buttermilk costs $2 each.
• They serve coffee that is $1/cup.

We got there around 9:45 and there was already a line of customers around the corner of the building. We stood in line for about 45 minutes.While standing in line we could smell the doughnuts. A customer in front of us told us that the doughnuts are well worth the wait.We hoped he was right.

We got in the small space and it smelled awesome! The specialty doughnut of the day was Mocha. We decided to get a dozen of doughnuts that consisted of Buttermilk Old Fashioned (2), Gingerbread Stack (1), Chestnut Glazed (1), Vanilla Glazed (2), Chocolate Glazed (2), Jelly (2), and Mocha (2).

We went back to the car and each devoured a doughnut. They looked, smelled, and tasted really good. The size of the doughnuts are bigger than the run of the mill doughnuts. The doughnuts are deep-fried goodness, and they were well-coated with icing and sugar. The jelly doughnut was the best of them all. There was plenty of jelly and it didn't taste like jelly out of a jar.

Personally, we felt the Doughnut Vault was worth the stop. We would definitely recommend as a place to get doughnuts if you're in Chicago, don't mind standing in line, and don't mind the price.

Food Collection

Lemon Tower Cake at Biaggi's: The cake itself tasted good, but the sauce was too thin, bland and runny.

Meat Lover's Skillet at Wild Berries: This was pretty good. Shredded hash browns, bacon, ham, sausage, monterey jack and cheddar cheeses with 2 scrambled eggs. Adding gravy would have really made this a great skillet.

Breakfast Skillet at Shannon's: This was another good breakfast skillet with fried potatoes, ham, bacon, sausage, two scrambled eggs, (minus grilled onions and peppers). This skillet also had sausage gravy which the skillet from Wild Berries lacked.

Chocoholic Cheesecake and Peanut Butter Cheesecake at Sweet & Savory Grille: Homemade cheesecake that is somewhere in between the cheesecake sold at Wal-Mart and the cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory.

Bacon Caramels at The Caramel House: My co-worker and her husband spotted this while they were in St. Louis. These were awesome! Definitely could taste the bacon. I really liked the combination of bacon and caramel.

Magnolia's on Prospect - CLOSED

Update: Magnolia's closed in April 2013.

Last Saturday, Greedy Eater 2 and I went to Magnolia's for dinner. This was our first time there and had heard good things about this restaurant.

We ordered two appetizers: Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and Southern Calamari.

The Bacon Wrapped Shrimp came with Haricot Verts, Scallions and Red Peppers, with a sweet chili sauce. There were 3 shrimps in this dish. The shrimp tasted really good. If you like bacon and shrimp, this is a must-try dish.

The Southern Calamari had a cormeal coating and came with slices of bell peppers and spicy horseradish sauce. The cornmeal coating gave the calamari a good flavor. This was a pretty good dish.

For the entrees, I ordered the Pan Seared Sea Scallops and Greedy Eater 2 ordered the Rosemary and Thyme Filet Mignon.

The Pan Seared Sea Scallops came with grilled asparagus. There was a roasted garlic and chive cream sauce on top of the scallops. The asparagus was on top of a parsnip puree. The scallops and asparagus were cooked perfectly. This was a great dish.

The Rosemary and Thyme Filet Mignon came with a demi-glace. This entree also came with one side. Greedy Eater 2 chose the Wild Mushroom Risotto. The filet mignon was cooked medium rare. Greedy Eater 2 felt it was an excellent cut of meat. The meat was very tender to the point of just melting in the mouth. 

Overall the food was excellent at Magnolia's. We definitely plan on going back and would recommend this restaurant.