Me and bacon at Baconfest Chicago

Baconfest Chicago: how much bacon can you eat in 3 hours?

All the bacon at Baconfest Chicago.

If you know me, you know one thing. OK, so maybe two things. You know I like the color pink. And you know I like bacon. I like bacon a lot. I’ll put bacon in everything including my potatoes and my brownies. So, of course, when I heard about Baconfest Chicago, a festival devoted to all things bacon, there was no way I wasn’t going to go.

 

Eating all the bacon at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Sold out Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

 

Baconfest was split up into two shifts and my friends and I chose to go to the second shift: a bacon extravaganza lasting from 3pm to 6pm on Saturday. Chelsa and I got there slightly before three, were handed a bacon lollipop and went to check out the bacon perfume while waiting for others to arrive. JoeW and Meredith came in shortly after (and JoeM and Alina shortly after that) and we headed in further to check out the bacon venders.

There were bacon cookies and bacon popcorn and bacon syrup (to make bacon flavored chocolate milk and Pepsi) and bacon cupcakes (my favorite was the BLT) and bacon belts and bacon donuts and free jars of Baconnaise.

 

Bacon Bourbon Caramel popcorn at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival
Bacon bourbon caramel popcorn.


 

Bacon chocolate milk at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival
Bacon chocolate milk

 

Bacon cupcakes at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival
Bacon cupcakes.

 

Bacon products at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival
Bacon products.

 

And of course, there was bacon.

 

 at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival
Bacon.

 

And that was just the first floor!

After exploring that level thoroughly, we headed upstairs for more bacony goodness!

 

Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

 

Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

 

First up was to redeem my drink coupon. I went with a spicy and bacony blood mary.

 

Bacon bloody mary at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

 

And then it was on to the main ballroom for bacon-chef-apalooza: twelve area restaurant chefs cooking up the best of the best in bacon cuisine…and here’s what we ate!

What we ate at Baconfest Chicago:

 

Bacon Rillettes, Coddles Egg Dressing, Pickled Ramps, and Bacon Fat Griddles Brioche Croutons from Southwater Kitchen at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Bacon Rillettes, Coddles Egg Dressing, Pickled Ramps, and Bacon Fat Griddles Brioche Croutons
Southwater Kitchen

 

Gnocchi with Pancetta Ragu from Piccolo Sogno at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Gnocchi with Pancetta Ragu
Piccolo Sogno

 

Hominy with bacon, pork belly, jalapeno, and cheddar from Lula Cafe at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Hominy with bacon, pork belly, jalapeño, and cheddar
Lula Cafe


 

Bacon Snickers Bar from Atwood Cafe at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Bacon Snickers Bar
Atwood Cafe

 

Bacon Ice Cream with carmel and candy bacon from Chalkboard at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Bacon Ice Cream with carmel and candy bacon
Chalkboard

 

Irish Breakfast with Pork Belly, Blood Sausage and pickled cabbage leaf from Paddy Longs at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Irish Breakfast with Pork Belly, Blood Sausage and pickled cabbage leaf
Paddy Long’s

 

Bacon tacos from Primehouse at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Bacon tacos
Primehouse

 

Spring pea bacon and pecorino salad from The Purple Pig at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Spring pea bacon and pecorino salad
The Purple Pig

 

Bacon and cod sausage from Eve Restaurant at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Bacon and cod sausage
Eve Restaurant

 

Pastrami-style bacon with kimchee coleslaw from The Signature Room at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Pastrami-style bacon with kimchee coleslaw
The Signature Room

 

Bacon from Balsan at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

This one was supposed to be a lyonnais salad with pork belly, but they ran out of salad, and we got the last pieces of bacon
Balsan

 

Pork belly with peas and braised onions from Vie at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Pork belly with peas and braised onions
Vie

 

After bacon, bacon, and more bacon, it was time for, well, more bacon! We had bacon sangria and a bacon vodka and chocolate milk (surprisingly very tasty). And then went back downstairs for more samples and to buy some bacon. I ended up with a pack of Spencer’s Irish Back Bacon which I had sampled and loved because it was a little meatier than the bacon I’m used to.

 

Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

 

Bacon eating itself at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

 

Bacon vodka at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

 

It was an awesome day of bacon awesomeness. And I think I’m still in a bacon coma. Afterwards JoeM told me that this was the best outing I have ever planned…although if you know me you know that that really probably isn’t saying much 🙂

Have I used the word “bacon” a record number of times in this post? Yeah, this was a lot even for me! It’s hard to say which dish was my favorite as I quite enjoyed them all. The bacon ice cream was delicious. The Irish breakfast was yummy and I think they win my vote for the fact that I ate something with the term “blood sausage” in the description. I liked Vie’s pork belly. I liked the tacos. I liked Southwater’s dish and I liked the gnocchi…I think I pretty much just liked bacon.

Me and a piece of bacon at Baconfest Chicago - a bacon festival

Can’t wait to do it again next year!

More photos from Baconfest Chicago:

 

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Hi, I'm Val. I spent most of my 20s in a standstill, unable to pick which path in life I wanted to take. I wanted the nomadic life of a traveler but also wanted the husband, the condo, and the kitten. Unable to decide which life I wanted more, I did nothing. When I turned 30 I’d had enough of putting my life on hold and decided to start “choosing my figs.” So, I quit my job, bought a one-way ticket to Europe, and traveled for three years. Now I'm back in Chicago, decorating my apartment in all the teal, petting my cats, and planning my next adventure.

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2 Comments
  • Magda Krance
    April 12, 2010at12:03 pm

    Wow, wow. My EYES are drooling after that visual feast… I can only imagine the aroma! Viewing this before lunch….just cruel. Excellent reporting, Val!!

  • Moira Tuffy
    April 12, 2010at8:40 pm

    WOW! never knew I could develop such a huge hankering for bacon. now sure if I should thank you or not 😉 but seriously, fun post. thanks!

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