Everyone’s been all atwitter regarding Chicago’s impending Restaurant Week Feb 22-29. The idea is 40 “local” restaurants will be offering reasonably priced fixed multi-course menus in an effort to promote and celebrate Chicago’s arrival as a top dining destination. I imagine the promotion’s also supposed to offer consumers a more affordable opportunity to check out the breadth of local spots.
I’m all for anything that raises national and local awareness for Chicago’s food treasures, but the restaurant promotion as it is now feels more like a weak publicity stunt on behalf of mostly corporately owned restaurants then a genuine accurate celebration of Chicago food.
Of the 40 “local” spots, it looks like only about ten of them are true independent local owner operator restaurants, places like Naha, Carnivale (if Jerry Kleiner counts as an indie anymore), and Aigre Doux. The bulk of the participating restaurants are hotel owned restaurants, NY based corporately owned restaurants, and national chains (since when is Buca di Beppo, a national chain founded in Minneapolis a “local” restaurant).
A real restaurant week would feature places like Blackbird, Charlie Trotters, North Pond, Alinea, Moto, Crofton on Wells, Takashi, etc. Furthermore scanning the restaurant week menus I could find, it looks like a lot of places are unloading lower margin and uninspired menu items for their prix-fixe selections.
The way I see it, this means a lot of tourists will probably end up eating steak frites, mahi mahi or tilapia in white wine butter sauce, veal parmesan and tiramisu and believe that’s all Chicago has to offer. Until restaurant week includes a greater breadth of “real” local restaurants and a cross section of interesting menu choices, it’s a waste of time. It’s also a waste of taxpayer resources, as the Chicago Convention and Tourist Bureau, which gets some its funding from the State of Illinois, is one of the primary organizers of this event.
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Barry Strum
This is not about the food, but rather, about the hackneyed boosterism that is common to chambers of commerce, visitor bureaus and convention groups. The true food reputation is fortunately not riding on the backs of the Buco Di Pepo crowd….they report back to their hopmetowns with reviews based on poundage and portion size. The buzz starts with the locals’ enthusiasm for place and food, creative chefs, excitement among the food press, and word of mouth. Hotels want to boost their dining facilities. The chains need to get a volume spike at their Chicago units.
Many ears ago (the 1980’s), Cincinnati had a relatively small event, “Taste of Cincinnati:. It was held downtown in a small park. Intimate, enjoyable, food from downtown and nearby establishments. The crowd was good, but not huge.
Racthet up ten years. Once the Downtown Council wrested the event away from the local restaurant folks the venue moved to a 4 block stretch of city asphalt with the sun beating down like mad. Then the beer distributors wtrestled away about 20 booths. Next came the entertain ment and women in jeans & high heels accompanied by their mullet cut escorts. Next came all the riverfront clubs cum food mills. Before long……..Dukes of Hazard Buffet.
This year I think the theme is “Can you cook better than a fifth grader?”
John Hasan
The above comment about taste of Cincinatti applies almost exactly to what happened to the Taste of Chicago. It started out as a small celebration of local restaurants and has grown to an uncontrolled orgy of food, music and drinks. The participating restaurants offer things at this event that are not even part of their regular menus.
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