Tickets for Chicago Gourmet on Sale This Morning

By Anthony Todd in Food on May 19, 2011 2:30PM

Here we go again - the behemoth of the food festival scene has returned for another year. Chicago Gourmet is back for the fourth year in a row, again sponsored by Bon Appetit. This year, the festival will be held on the 24th and 25th of September. For all of our complaining in the past, Chicago Gourmet has improved dramatically since the first incarnation, and the list of chefs, exhibitors and demos still makes us squirm with foodie glee. The $90 price tag ($175 for the weekend, another $175 for the grand cru tasting) bring us back down a bit, but there is nowhere else that you can see all of these chefs together in the same place. Plus, those are the pre-order prices. If you buy tickets later, they will cost $150 per day. So, if you are sure you want to go, buy now - sales open at 10 A.M. and the number of pre-order tickets is limited.

The list of chef demos, food tastings and exhibitions is so long that it takes up multiple browser windows. Go look for yourself - if we pasted it here, it would crash the servers. We're most excited about the "Hamburger Hop," a burger competition between 15 top chefs that promises to be the taste sensation of the weekend.

Considering their history, it's best to buy tickets for Chicago Gourmet at the $90 level. In previous years, they've run Groupons that brought general admission back down to $90, but the Groupons were limited in number. The joke will be on anyone who pays $150 for the same event.