CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A line formed down Columbus Drive well before 11 a.m. on Friday morning as dozens of food fans waited to be first inside the gates of the new, scaled down Taste of Chicago.
"We are back, baby. A bite sized taste. Not the full boat but this is a really nice introduction back to the tradition," said Neil Heitz, Manager, Taste of Chicago.
More than 30 vendors and three stages lined Columbus Drive and surrounded Buckingham Fountain.
"We scaled down a bit and we reformatted. This year, Buckingham Fountain is hosting most of the activity. We do have food trucks and local DJ's out on Columbus. We are focused on giving people space to breathe and move so it's in the round this year," Heitz added.
From alligator sausage to pork chop on a stick, to peach cobbler to a malort guava margarita, Heitz said there is truly something for everyone's taste.
Zelda Robinson is with Sole Ingredient Catering, a first time vendor at the taste. She estimates they'll cook about 300 jerk lamb and chicken an hour.
Zelda Robinson is with Sole Ingredient Catering, a first time vendor at the taste. She estimates they'll cook about 300 jerk lamb and chicken an hour.
"Today the special is Jerk Lollipops, shredded cabbage and carrots," she squealed. "We have lamb lollipops too. It all tastes scrumptious."
Across the fountain, Mr. E Chef's Catering fired up the smoker early Friday.
"It takes about 20-30 hours to prepare for this. I'm hoping to sell over a thousand of these rib tips," said Melvin Jordan.
Eli's Cheesecake has been a vendor at every Taste of Chicago since its founding in 1980.
"We've done Taste from the beginning. We've had thousands of people and now onto third generations enjoying this with us. We're so happy to be back after two years. It's our birthday too, with a giant 1,000 pound Eli's cheesecake to the public," said Marc Schulman, President, Eli's Cheesecake, who hopes to serve 15,000 slices a day during the 3 day festival.
Heitz said Taste of Chicago is all about supporting the restaurant scene in the city.
"We've got the old favorites like Eli's, Robinson's and Connie's Pizza but we've brought in some interesting new food vendors like Chicago's Dog House, Yum Dum, or Puff's of Doom, Mr E Chef Catering. We've widened the opportunity so that it's restaurants, caterers and food trucks so everyone is invited to participate." Heitz said.
There's also a designated beer hall, wine tent and cocktail lounge. Also different this year- no tickets- all vendors will accept cash or credit cards. There will also be tighter security at all entrances and a heightened police presence.
“You have to come through checkpoints which may take a little longer, but safety is worth the time." said Heitz.
Taste branched out with mini-fests in three South and West Side neighborhoods- Austin, Pullman, and Little Village- last month.
"This is something we hope to continue. It expanded into Chicago neighborhoods and the pop-ups were very successful so I consider this a 6-day festival which includes those neighborhood pop-ups. Taste is the biggest party, most accessible, most inclusive party. Come on down." he smiled.
Taste of Chicago is free to the public and will be open 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. through Sunday.
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