Visiting the Taste of Chicago

Sunday was Taste of Chicago Day! What a pretty day to be in Chicago (ignoring the rain clouds and the brief downpour in the middle), especially with lots of great food! :) And we had lots of it. My friend Lynn accompanied me on our organized food quest, adding her own picks to my list. We took the combined list and decided what we felt like eating, bypassing some of the too common choices, like pizza, and foregoing the "cherry" Italian ice, which I thought meant it had cherries in it, but was actually the "red" cherry- think ICEE, so we decided to save our appetites for other cuisines. We bought 4 sets of 12 tickets ($32), so for $16 each, we came away sufficiently stuffed and having tried 13 items at 12 booths in about 4 hours!

Our favorite? I think we agreed on The Grill on the Alley (booth 14) as being our best find. We tried two items from there (only place we did). Both the taste portion, the Gazpacho with Avocado and Chopped Chives and their Rice Pudding with Mango and Dried Cranberries were amazing (only 3 and 5 tickets, respectively). The Gazpacho was chunky and flavorful and the Rice Pudding seemed to also have a custard base and had some cinnamon and/or nutmeg mixed in. Yum! :)

Here's what we tried and what we thought, starting with the best:
#1 - The Grill on the Alley, Gazpacho with Avocado and Chopped Chives and their Rice Pudding with Mango and Dried Cranberries- both excellent
#2 - Rainbow Cafe, original rainbow cone- best rainbow sherbet ever! Lynn suggested this one from trying it in the past, and I have to say, this may be worth a trip to city to get a hand packed quart. The rainbow mix was an orange sherbet, cherry sherbet, chocolate ice cream, pistachio ice cream and a vanilla custard ice cream. The flavors may sound a little strange in combination, but they worked wonderfully together, along with the real cherries and pistachios mixed in!
#3 Lagniappe-Creole Cajun Joynt, Beingnets- these were actually much tastier than the ones Lynn and I had in New Orleans last year! Though I loved visiting New Orleans, if I get a hankering for a beingnet, I'll just head closer to home!
#4 Tutto Italiao, Italian Fries- another Lynn suggestion, these fries had a bit of batter and Italian seasoning on them and were sprinkled with cheese. Very tasty!
#5 Sweet Baby Ray's, meatball sandwich- great because of the sauce.
#6 Star of Siam, Pad Thai- delicious!

The rest we didn't rate in order, but here were our thoughts:
Soul Vegetarian East, Vegetable Tempura- pretty good, a little salty
Polka Sausage & Deli, Cheese Pierogi- disappointing, bland and sweet taste to it when it seemed like it should be more of a savory item
Harry Carey's, Toasted Ravioli- it was good, but it didn't knock our socks off
Las Tablas, Empanada- disappointing, bland- needed a sauce. It also seemed deep fried, whereas the ones I have had in the past were baked.
BJ's Market, mustard fried catfish- this was good, just not great, though a good portion as taste sizes go.
Tamarind, Tawain Shining Noodles- they tasted fine, but were plain with a few vegetables in them and a bit dry.

So there you have it! :) If you go to the Taste this year and find some hidden treasures, please let me know (I could be persuaded to go back ;)