The Friday Buffet

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 11, 2009 4:40PM

This weekend is jam-packed with events. Social butterflies plan accordingly.

• The Windy City Wine Festival, now in its 5th year, takes place this tonight and tomorrow at Grant Park's Daley Bicentennial Plaza, in the shadows of its younger, hotter sister, Millennium Park. Tickets are $25 and available at the festival entrance.
• The Old Town Grape Crush expands to two days (Saturday and Sunday) and two stages for music and comedy. Marcus and Tankboy may think otherwise, but headliners the Gin Blossoms can fall in either category. Tickets for tomorrow's actual grape stomping are sold out. As of post time, limited tickets for Sunday's stomp were available.
• Growing Home's annual harvest Celebration goes down tomorrow at their Les Brown Memorial Farm (2539 N. 30th Road, Marseilles). Meet the farmers, see where some of Growing Home's produce is grown, sample food from cooking demonstrations, pick yout own produce, and listen to live music. The festival has a suggested $5 donation, but give more, if you can.
• More Cupcakes (read Anthony's review here) turns one. Sunday they'll be giving away signature cupcakes and offering a 20 percent discount on purchases from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
• Chef Roy Yamaguchi visits his Chicago restaurant Monday to judge an "Iron Chef"-style cooking competition from 6-9 p.m. The "Aloha Kitchen Challenge" pairs one culinary student with Red Light's Jackie Shen, Tim Graham of Tru and Capital Grille's Pete Rikes to create a dishes reminiscent of Yamaguchi's Hawaiian fusion. Judging the competition are ABC7's Linda Yu, Ted Widen of Chicago SCENE magazine and Art Smith. (720 N. State St.)