Oh how excited I was about the Taste of Chicago. If I had to rank my level of excitement, it would probably fall somewhere below free sample day at Harris Teeter and finding a $100 dollar bill, but above a trip to Disney World, a new bike at Christmas, and the future birth of my first child. So we planned our trip to Chicago early on in the summer, but then began hearing whispers about the Taste being a total rip-off. And you know what? It was. Not to say the food wasn't amazing. I was tempted by several options: grilled plantains with peanut sauce, samosas, tamales, empanadas, mango-cumin dusted fries with chutney, etc. etc. (notice how most of them are ethnic). But when you get down to it, $2.10 for half a plantain and a teaspoon of peanut sauce is not worth it. The Taste wasn't a total waste though. We got to oogle other people's food, and had tons of free samples dumped on us: cake, drinks, granola, and a shit-load of aspirin.
Luckily, this wasn't the Taste of Podunk City, so there was other things to do once we high-tailed it out of the crowds at Grant Park. I had heard of an Arab 
festival going on that day, so Markita and I decided to check it out. As far as festivals go it was pretty minimal, mostly just booths selling belly dancing outfits and hookahs, and some live music. We did, however, find a great deal for lunch: for $7 we got a sfeeha platter. Sfeeha? What? Neither of us had ever had sfeeha before, and we had to ask. It is kind of like a Mediterranean meat pie, and consists of ground lamb and beef cooked with spices and baked on a pita. The flavor reminded us of something we'd eaten before but... well we couldn't think of what. It was nothing out 
of this world, but was still really good and interesting to try. The platter came with hummus (blended chickpeas with tahini), jerusalem salad (cucumber, tomato, and onion witha lemon tahini dressing), tabouli (bulgur and parsley with lemon dressing), baba ganoush (blended roasted eggplant with tahini), grape leaves (leaves stuffed with ground lamb and spices), and a pita for dipping. It was delicious! I'd had baba ganoush before and was kind of putoff by the strong smoky flavor, but this one was more mild. Ki and I were looking for some ethnic, new foods, so this dish hit the spot. It was also light and flavorful (apparently Mediterranean diets are the healthiest. I can see why), which was great since it was so hot outside. The festival had a nice tent set up where you could sit on the floor and eat your food on raised platters. So even though the screachy music in the background wasn't the best, the overall environment was nice.
festival going on that day, so Markita and I decided to check it out. As far as festivals go it was pretty minimal, mostly just booths selling belly dancing outfits and hookahs, and some live music. We did, however, find a great deal for lunch: for $7 we got a sfeeha platter. Sfeeha? What? Neither of us had ever had sfeeha before, and we had to ask. It is kind of like a Mediterranean meat pie, and consists of ground lamb and beef cooked with spices and baked on a pita. The flavor reminded us of something we'd eaten before but... well we couldn't think of what. It was nothing out 
of this world, but was still really good and interesting to try. The platter came with hummus (blended chickpeas with tahini), jerusalem salad (cucumber, tomato, and onion witha lemon tahini dressing), tabouli (bulgur and parsley with lemon dressing), baba ganoush (blended roasted eggplant with tahini), grape leaves (leaves stuffed with ground lamb and spices), and a pita for dipping. It was delicious! I'd had baba ganoush before and was kind of putoff by the strong smoky flavor, but this one was more mild. Ki and I were looking for some ethnic, new foods, so this dish hit the spot. It was also light and flavorful (apparently Mediterranean diets are the healthiest. I can see why), which was great since it was so hot outside. The festival had a nice tent set up where you could sit on the floor and eat your food on raised platters. So even though the screachy music in the background wasn't the best, the overall environment was nice.From there Ki and I went to the beach, etc. etc. Yes, it was nice, but lets talk f
ood here. We ran into a restaurant Markita had been to called... something Barro. Anyways, she said it had some authentic hispanic food and that we should split an entree for dinner. We check out the menu and are outraged (no, this emotion is not too strong for the context) to find that it cost $4.50 just to split an entree (it's the same amount of food! same amount of labor! ugh!). Aaanyways, we decide to stick it to the man (or in this case the very nice woman working the register) and work around this inconvenience. We bought two appetizers at the front and ordered it to go. A block away we had a picnic next to the bean. Ha! Can't beat that.
ood here. We ran into a restaurant Markita had been to called... something Barro. Anyways, she said it had some authentic hispanic food and that we should split an entree for dinner. We check out the menu and are outraged (no, this emotion is not too strong for the context) to find that it cost $4.50 just to split an entree (it's the same amount of food! same amount of labor! ugh!). Aaanyways, we decide to stick it to the man (or in this case the very nice woman working the register) and work around this inconvenience. We bought two appetizers at the front and ordered it to go. A block away we had a picnic next to the bean. Ha! Can't beat that. So onto the food. We had some of my favorite food-memories from my trips to Venezuela. First, 
arepas with cheese and guacamole sauce. Arepas are dense cornmeal patties, usually fried. They can be an aquired taste, but even though it had been a 9 year hiatus since the last time I had an arepa, I still loved it. I wasn't used to eating them with guacamole, and I prefered them
plain. Next we had fried platanos with ropa vieja, sofrito (a tomate sauce), and guacamole. Ropa vieja is actually a cuban dish, consisting of shredded meat cooked slowly in its juices with spices. I remember eating this in Venezuela too, and I actually associate it with Venezuelan cooking. It was like a hispanic take on bruschetta. You would take a platano and top it with ropa vieja and the sauces. Amazing! These dishes were plain delicious, but they also brought me back. Ordering appetizers also let us sample many flavors for a smaller cost ($10 total). Take THAT Taste of Chicago. For the price of two ticket booklets we sampled a bunch of delicious foods.
arepas with cheese and guacamole sauce. Arepas are dense cornmeal patties, usually fried. They can be an aquired taste, but even though it had been a 9 year hiatus since the last time I had an arepa, I still loved it. I wasn't used to eating them with guacamole, and I prefered them
plain. Next we had fried platanos with ropa vieja, sofrito (a tomate sauce), and guacamole. Ropa vieja is actually a cuban dish, consisting of shredded meat cooked slowly in its juices with spices. I remember eating this in Venezuela too, and I actually associate it with Venezuelan cooking. It was like a hispanic take on bruschetta. You would take a platano and top it with ropa vieja and the sauces. Amazing! These dishes were plain delicious, but they also brought me back. Ordering appetizers also let us sample many flavors for a smaller cost ($10 total). Take THAT Taste of Chicago. For the price of two ticket booklets we sampled a bunch of delicious foods. So in conclusion, we came, we ate, we conquered.
2 comments:
seems to be delicious:-P
Only 10 more days until I can eat stuff like that again. Yummy!
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