Chicagoist hasn't been the only one covering the event. Here are some other reviews of Chicago Gourmet. I don't know what festival Phil Vettel attended, but it sounded really fucking good. Mr. "One fork per plate" found no "shortage of richness"; at one point, Stolpman and I had to go to America's Dog to grab a bite. Apparently, Vettel didn't bother to share that same spoil of riches with fellow Stew correspondent Chris Borrelli.......

With a lineup filled with food seminars, cooking demonstrations, wine classes and a beautifully equipped Viking Culinary Stage at the Pritzker Pavilion, you would think that Chicago Gourmet would’ve been a Mecca for home cooks looking to jazz up their dishes. Think again. While some of the seminars were informative (most notably Greg Hall on beer and cheese and Paul Bartolotta on seafood), others were thinly veiled promos for books, products or restaurants. The......

The seminars at Chicago Gourmet were a lot like college— you either left feeling smarter after a lecture from a great professor or you sat through the whole thing drawing on your notebook, wondering what all your friends were drinking at the wine tents. I assume many ticket holders attended Chicago Gourmet hoping to expand their knowledge of food and wine. The seminars seemed like the best place to start if this was your......

It's been said numerous times that chefs are the new rock stars. Chicago, then, could be considered one of the epicenters for the rock star chef. And they come in all forms: the arena gods (Bayless, Trotter, Achatz, McClain, Kahan); adult contemporary and classical (Smith, Gand, Arun, Tramonto, Nahabedian, Christophe David at NoMI); indie and experimental darlings (Segal, Carlson, Cantu, Bowles, Tschilds and Hammel of Lula) and world beat (Bahena, Nieto, Takashi, Gras, Garces, Shen).......

The cooking demonstrations at Chicago Gourmet were easily the more popular events, despite the fact that tasting the prepared food was a no-no. Since tasting food at the entire event was a seemingly rare experience, who cares? Viking set up two pretty sweet kitchen counters and induction stovetops side by side, so that two chefs could simultaneously prepare dishes, taking turns describing their process and dishes. The Pritzker stage was very effectively transformed into a......

Expecting more of the same of what we saw Saturday, it was decided that any coverage of Chicago Gourmet for Sunday would be optional. With an overcast sky and the first tinges of autumn finally in the air, it turned out to be a prudent decision. It also appeared as though the weather kept paying customers away, as well. Lines for the exhibitors on the Pritzker Pavilion lawn were noticeably shorter than Saturday. This resulted......

The weather couldn't have been any better yesterday as Chicago Gourmet officially kicked off at Millennium Park. A press release sent to us shortly after 9 p.m. last night announced that over 3,000 visitors attended the event, with last night's Grand Cru wine tasting selling out completely. As one who's long been critical of Chicago Gourmet's ticket price, we have to wonder if the paying customers felt they got their money's worth yesterday. Wine tents......

After months of buildup and debate, the inaugural Chicago Gourmet festival of food and wine kicks off this evening with a gala reception at the Harris Theatre in Millennium Park. You just know that Mayor Daley is eager to showcase the rarefied air of the Chicago restaurant industry mere months before the IOC makes its final decision on the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. He tried to sell the sizzle in this......

The long-anticipated and much-discussed Chicago Gourmet festival at Millennium Park is just over a week away. It's no secret that entrance to the event itself will cost some their entire month's rent, and then some. In that vein, Chicagoist has a special online offer for folks interested in attending and buying tickets online at the Chicago Gourmet website. Enter the promotional code "CG2008TEN" and receive a 10 percent discount on tickets.......

Big Brother is watching you. So, apparently, was Julia Child. The CIA released over 35,000 declassified documents this morning shining a light on the operations of the World War II-era precursor to the CIA, the OSS. Other notable spies included Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Miles Copeland, Jr., the father of Police drummer Stewart Copeland. [AP, via Yahoo] Hot on the heels of the Bennigan's bankruptcy comes news that......

More Chicago Gourmet updates. Tickets went on sale yesterday for the Grand Cru Wine Tastings, September 27 and 28. Master sommeliers, including local talents Joseph Spellman, Alpana Singh and Serafin Alvarado, will select fifty of the best wines in the world for tasting. The ticket price, however, is steep: a nice, round price of $175 per person (that's on top of the $150 tag to enter Millennium Park for Chicago Gourmet). That's some serious......

Discounted passes for September's Chicago Gourmet event at Millennium Park will end Monday. If you want to save $20 off the $150 ticket price, act fast.......