So, Taste of Chicago. After a day of public sculpture viewing, we fell with the herd of hungry masses in a relentless march towards overpriced carnival food, free Bud Light tattoos, and platform divers.
First up, a plate of sweet potato chips from B.J.'s Market & Bakery, fresh out of the fryer. As we sadly neared the last of our chips, a Filipino couple next to us munched away on their own pile of crispy goodness. They stood up, they carried the plate away ... I knew what they were going to do, yet was helpless to stop them! ... and into the trash went a perfectly good, barely touched pile of sweet potato chips. Had that couple been, say, my Uncle Andrew and Auntie Nenette, my response would have been clear: "Wait! I'll eat that if you don't want it!" But I didn't think I could say that to total strangers, even Filipino ones, without looking like a scrounging vagabond. Could I?
No picture of the aforementioned Lou Malnati's pizza, having been scarfed down in just under 3 seconds, but I assure you it was good. Here is the Italian beef from Tuscany. Meat slow cooked to utter tenderness (a baby could eat it), bread wet with juice, and topped with peppers. Two thumbs up.
When Los Dos Laredos runs out of steak burritos, you get steak gordita, which seems to have all the same components of a burrito, except with a large cracker.
Since we were running out of tickets, we downscaled to the taste portions, which only cost 3 tickets, and I think are the better deal anyway, because you get to try more and if you don't like it, you don't have to eat as much. Take the samosa from Arya Bhavan. Good, but just a little bit too far on the spicy side for this crowd, so one was perfect.
Ah, the lemon ice. It was so good, so lemony, we spent the next few days in Chicago trying to find more lemon ice downtown, without luck.
There was a lot I didn't try, the Cajun alligator, the chocolate-covered marshmallow, the pickle on a stick (though I got no regrets on that score). But I did get the free Bud Light temporary tattoo.
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