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New Food Fest Will Let You Sample From Fulton Market's Trendiest Restaurants

By Sarah Gouda in News on Sep 14, 2016 5:24PM

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Little Goat Diner's Machos Nachos. (Photo via Little Goat Diner's Facebook page.)

The internet continues to remind us over (and over, and over) again that we too have as many hours in the day as Beyoncé. But has anybody checked up on Stephanie Izard? The woman's nearly wizard-like in her ability to execute across her four West Loop restaurants, and now she's added the first annual Fulton Market Harvest Fest to her generously filled plate.

Chef Izard has teamed up with fellow culinary titan Paul Kahan to curate an all-day event replete with beer, live music, beer, and an embarrassment of rich, delicious food from an insane roster of restaurants that call Fulton Market home. The festival will take over its eponymous street on Oct. 2 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and pre-sale tickets are available now for $25. It's no secret that $25 is barely enough to get you a brussels sprout salad and a peek inside The Aviary, but for one glorious day that reasonable sum will get you $20-worth of food and drink tickets, a custom glass beer stein and admission to the festival grounds.

Thus far, participating restaurants include a veritable who's who of the neighborhood: Au Cheval, The Betty, Girl & the Goat, El Ché Bar, Duck Duck Goat, Haymarket, bellyQ, Green Street Smoked Meats, and more. Beers will be supplied by Goose Island, Boulevard Brewing Company, Bell's, and Founders Brewing and Virtue Cider. Participating vendors will be added to the website leading up to the festival.

Izard and Kahan, benevolent masters that they are, will also be there to teach their loyal subjects a thing or two at the Kitchenaid Culinary Stage. Other demos from Edward Lee of Louisville's 610 Magnolia and Sarah Gruenberg of Monteverde have also been confirmed.

We strongly advise you dress in dark colors the day of, as a performance from Chicago darling's JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound all but guarantees you'll get sauce on your shirt in an effort to groove and chew at once. It's okay, we'll be right there with you.