Chicago ‘Top Shelf’ Food on Tour

Chicago 'Top Shelf' Food on Tour

Posted by Bridget at 10:32 am

Jul 102010

Pink peppercorns from the spice house.

Looking for a way to sample a variety of food and learn a little something about Chicago’s food culture too? A food tour can be a good way to do that, but there are drastic differences between them.

We have the Wicker Park Food Tour under our belt, and a chocolate tour too. But most recently we were invited to tag along on a “top shelf” tour sponsored by Chicago’s Downtown Farm Stand. Aimed at locals and hosted by the director of culinary arts and events for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Judith Dunbar Hines, this tour was one of the best we’ve taken. Hines’ insider foodie knowledge and her handle on Chicago food history made the three-stop tour memorable, educational, and tasty! These tours are sporadic and thematic, so sign up for the Downtown Farmstand’s monthly e-mail newsletter to get up-to-date information about what tours are available when and how much they cost.

Brewing coffee at the factory with Mason Brown.

Our first stop on the Top Shelf tour was the Intelligensia coffee factory on west Fulton, where we got the day started off right with a caffine infusion while we learned all about the coffee brewing process.

Making crackers at Nicole's.

From there, we made our way to Nicole’s Cracker’s, where Nicole herself regaled us with tales from her bakery business and plied us with baked goods and lemonade.

Add a little spice to your life! The folks at the spice house will walk you through it.

Finally, we found ourselves in the lovely courtyard behind the Spice House on Wells, learning all about pepper and vanilla… how it’s grown, where to find it, how much it costs, etc.

We were shuttled from spot to spot in a comfy bus, and the tour was just the right length — just over three hours. Keep an eye out for the next one… it’ll be worth your while.

We attended free-of-charge as members of the media.

These beautiful breads from Nicole are served all over the city, including at the Trump Tower and the Ritz Carlton.

Chicago Food Planet Wicker Park Tasting Tour

Posted by Bridget at 8:00 am

Nov 092009

George's Hotdogs serves 'em up Chicago style.

Looking for an easy way to branch out and try new restaurants?

The folks over at Chicago Food Planet Food Tours offer food tasting and cultural walking tours – one of the Near North neighborhood and one of Wicker Park.

For $42 you’ll join roughly 15 others on a three-hour walking tour that takes you though the neighborhood to different places for tastings.

We went on the Wicker Park tour last weekend at Chicago Food Planet’s request, which included whirlwind visits to George’s Hot Dogs, Hot Chocolate, Goddess and the Grocer, Piece, Sultan’s Market, and iCream.

This tour is designed to make food in the neighborhood more accessible to locals who would likely not explore it on their own, or to visitors who want to break free of the city’s tourist traps but don’t know where to start. If that’s you, you’ll get your money’s worth. But if you’re a more experienced foodie, you’d likely be more satisfied with a self-directed day that’s more adventurous.

At iCream, you come up with an ice cream combo that's created before your eyes.

Still, the tour has several things to recommend it. For one, it’s well planned. We were easily herded from one place to the next, and the restaurants were prepared for us, even though some of the storefronts are extremely small.

The places on the tour were selected as much for their location as their notoriety. In fact, I’d guess Goddess and the Grocer and Sultan’s Market are on the tour because of their proximity to the other things, not because they have particularly outstanding food.

Our guide was knowledgeable about the establishments we visited and the neighborhood, enthusiastically sharing tidbits about history and architecture along our route. His running commentary added a lot to the tour, but there were times it seemed that were led down side streets merely to kill time between tastings rather than see something of significance. Even so, the tastings were well spaced out, so we had room to try a little bit of everything.

The end result and final tasting at iCream.

I also appreciated the information packet we were given to take away – it includes a number of discount coupons, a full list of restaurants in the area, and a map, so planning our next neighborhood visit will be easy.

We were certainly reminded of some restaurants we want to try while touring, so don’t be surprised if we go back to Wicker Park soon!