Taste of Chicago returns to Grant Park this week

Taste of Chicago will take over Grant Park this week with dozens of food vendors, free concerts and cooking demonstrations.

The 46th annual free-admission food festival is returning to its usual mid-July dates, after being shifted to September for the past three years because of the NASCAR Chicago street race. It runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, July 8-12, in Grant Park along Columbus Avenue, from Balbo Avenue to Monroe Street.

The festival’s main stage will feature music acts playing at 7 p.m. each night, including Beach Bunny on Wednesday, Original Koffee on Thursday, Common on Friday, Babyface on Saturday and Julieta Venegas on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Goose Island Stage will showcase local and up-and-coming artists.

This year’s food lineup includes both new entries and veteran vendors, like Pretty Cool Ice Cream, the Tamale Guy, Kinnaree Thai Kitchen and more.

Daniel Will, who runs Daniel’s Test Kitchen, says he’s excited to bring his “global comfort food” to the festival for the first time.

“I like to say that my food represents my travels, my ethnicity, my personality and my upbringing,” he said.

His pop-up menu features jollof rice arancini and “chicken and waffle on a stick,” which attendees can sample on Friday.

Will began cooking with his family as a child, but says he never thought it would become his career. In his early 20s, while living in a co-op in San Francisco, he began to cook weekly meals for his housemates.

“I was cooking Filipino food one weekend, Burmese food the next, a vegetarian meal another week,” he said. “I was learning how to cook all over again, with all these restrictions and flavors and cuisines.”

He began calling the weekly dinners “Daniel’s Test Kitchen.”

After moving to Chicago, Will became involved with Boxville — an outdoor marketplace in Bronzeville — and began catering across the city. He now cooks full time.

While Will is a newcomer to the festival, other businesses, like Eli’s Cheesecake, have participated since the very beginning. Marc Schulman, president of Eli’s Cheesecake, says the company’s signature dessert even made its debut at the first Taste of Chicago in 1980. The business has been a festival fixture ever since.

“We’re always proud to celebrate our birthday with the Taste,” Schulman said.

This year, Eli’s is bringing both old and new items, from its classic strawberry-topped plain cheesecake to its “dippers” — frozen cheesecake on a stick, dipped in chocolate. Festivalgoers can also buy “just a sliver” of cheesecake to taste.

Ponce, a Puerto Rican restaurant located in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, is celebrating its third year in Taste of Chicago. The restaurant was founded 28 years ago by Marisol Meléndez and named for her hometown in Puerto Rico. Since her retirement, it’s been run by her daughters Anabel Duarte and Elba Jasso.

Duarte said the restaurant emphasizes traditional Puerto Rican comfort food. At the festival, they will serve arroz con gandules — rice and pigeon peas — with roasted pork, jibaritos — sandwiches made with flattened plantains instead of bread — and “Puerto Rico in a cup,” containing rice, pork, chicken and plantains.

“It’s generational recipes passed down,” Duarte said. “We just continue our mother’s legacy.”

New to Taste of Chicago this year is the Chef’s Stage, where local chefs will do live cooking demonstrations, take part in Q&A sessions and offer signature dishes. Participating chefs are Maya-Camille Broussard of Justice of the Pies and Carrie Nahabedian of Brindille on Friday, Diana Dávila of Mi Tocaya Antojería on Saturday and Javauneeka Jacobs of Frontera Grill, John Manion of Brasero and El Che on Sunday.

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Taste of Chicago

When: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, July 8-12

Where: Grant Park, Columbus Avenue from Balbo Avenue to Monroe Street, Chicago

Details: chicago.gov

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The full list of participating food vendors

5-day food vendors

• African Food Palace

• Arepa George

• Badou Senegalese Cuisine

• Beat Kitchen Cantina

• Billy Goat Tavern

• BJ’s Market & Bakery

• Bust Outs

• Chicago Eats Sweet Honey Tea & Lemonade

• Chicago’s Doghouse

• Churro Factory

• Connie’s Pizza

• Dao Thai Restaurant

• Doom Street Eats

• Eli’s Cheesecake Company

• Esperanza Kitchen Delights

• Franco’s Ristorante

• Frannie’s Cafe

• Gaby’s Funnel Cakes #1

• Harold’s Chicken 55

• Joey G’s Mac ‘N’ Cheese

• Josephine’s Southern Cooking

• LC Pho Restaurant

• Lexington Betty Smokehouse

• Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria

• oooH Wee Smothered

• Ponce Restaurant

• Porkchop

• Rainbow Cone

• Rickshaw

• Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs

• S2 Express Grill

• Saffron Street Chicago

• Seoul Taco

• Star of Siam

• Tacotlan

• Tandoor Char House

• The Sole Ingredient Catering

• Thimi’s Empanadas

• Yum Dum

Pop-up vendors

Wednesday and Thursday

• Havana Banana

• Ms. P’s GFree

• Taylor’s Tacos

• Kaya Grill & Gyoza

• The Tamale Guy

Friday

• Daniel’s Test Kitchen

• Pretty Cool Ice Cream

• Classic Cobbler Baked Goods Company

• Aaron’s F.O.F. BBQ and Catering

• JJ Thai Street Food

Saturday

• CHKN Box

• Molly’s Cupcakes

• Taco Pros

• JJ Thai Street Food

• TE’AMO

Sunday

• Cebu Chicago

• Lindsey’s Ice Cream

• Fernando’s Blue Agave Restaurant

• Kinnaree Thai Kitchen

• Chillafry

Food Trucks

• Caseras Food Truck

• Decadent Flavor

• Delicias Tacos

• El Azteca Sánchez

• Haires Gulf Shrimp

• Happy Lobster

• La Guerita Mexican Food truck

• Mr. Quiles Mexican Food

• Ms Tittle’s Cupcakes

• Route 66 Mobile Diner

• Soul & Smoke

• T&J Food Services/Sausage Fest

• Taco Motora Inc.

• Tasty Chicago

• Uncle Remus

• Whadda Jerk

• Willie P’s BBQ & Catering

• Yummy Halal Food

Snack Shack

• Banato

• Café Tola

• Crave Cookies

• Donut Dudes