3 ways to Taste

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There are 54 restaurants at this year's Taste of Chicago, and just as many ways to approach the 10-day fest. To help you through the music, events and food extravaganza, we've plotted a course for three different scenarios. Pack a few wetnaps, and leave the planning to us.

THE LUNCH-HOUR RUN
When to go: Friday, June 26
Tickets spent: 12 (one strip of tickets, $8)
Total time at the fest: 40-50 minutes

You drop close to $8 on a chicken fajita burrito at Chipotle every other Friday, so $8 for a strip of tickets should seem a small price to pay for a break in your lunchtime routine. The catch? You need to be back at your desk in an hour flat—and preferably without telltale barbecue sauce on your tie. These booths (Nos. 3, 14 and 15) are all concentrated at the north end of the fest, so you won’t burn too much time fighting crowds on Columbus Drive.

Stop 1: Taste trolley stop. Get there quick on the new free weekday lunchtime trolley, running 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday (except July 3) with nine Loop pick-up points.

Stop 2: Chicken taco (4 tickets), La Justica. Chipotle who?

Stop 3: Jambalaya (4 tickets), Blue Bayou. You know that guy in accounting who claims he’s already eaten everything at Taste? This booth’s new to the fest in 2009. Boo-yah.

Stop 4: Frutti de bosco sorbet (4 tickets), Canady le Chocolatier. Chilly, sweet and light enough that it won’t spoil your daily 3 p.m. grande iced mocha run.

Stop 5: Trolley stop, via Dominick’s Cooking Corner. Your chariot awaits, but if you’ve stayed on task you’ll have time to catch the end of a quick chef demo. Top mid-day options include Phillip Foss of Lockwood (noon Friday).

— M. Kathleen Pratt


THE INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE
When to go: Monday, June 29
Tickets spent: 24 (two strips, $16)
Total time at the fest: 2-3 hours

You joke that any festival that dished out 202,200 slices of pizza last year isn’t the right match for your worldly palate. But if you’ve got enthusiastic out-of-towners or a die-hard Taste fan in tow, you’re going to have to suck it up. Who knows? A survey of some of the fest’s international eats just might prove you wrong. This round-the-Taste tour take you from north to south and back again with a stop for funky tunes along the way.

Stop 1: Sesame beef on a stick (4 tickets), The Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine. Meet your food-on-a-stick quota and save yourself a trek to Chinatown. Efficiency!

Stop 2: Jollof rice with goat (4 tickets), Vee-Vee’s African Cuisine. This West African spot was serving goat meat long before it was trendy.

Stop 3: Bhel (4 tickets), Arya Bhavan. A restaurant that’s fun to pronounce and a food that’s fun to eat—it’s puffed rice, sev (crunchy fried dough that resembles noodles) and puri (deep-fried whole wheat bread) mixed with diced potatoes, onions, cilantro and garlic.

Stop 4: Steak jibarito (8 tickets), Sabor Latino. Who needs bread when you’ve got fried plantains?

Stop 5: Illinois Taste Lottery Stage. Monday’s world music day at the lottery stage, so work off some of that mayonnaise-slathered jibarito grooving to the Chicago Afrobeat Project (5:15-6:30 p.m.).

Stop 6: Mango-cumin dusted fries (2 tickets), Vermilion. You didn’t have other plans for those two extra tickets, did you?

—M .Kathleen Pratt


THE DATE
When to go: Friday, July 3
Total tickets spent: 36 (three strips, $24)
Total time at fest: 3 hours

You and your significant other are two of the unlucky souls who get stuck working July 3—you're not the only ones, trust us—and you decide to meet at the Taste after work. Yes, there will be crowds, but the promise of ending the night with fireworks (wink, wink) helps you get over it.

Stop 1: Stella Artois (9 tickets), Gallo pinot gris (7 tickets). Gallo Wine Garden/Specialty Beer stand. You agree to meet in front of Buckingham Fountain, which, lucky you, is where the high-end booze can be found. Grab a seat in the lounge area and decompress after a day of work.

Stop 2: Empanadas (8 tickets), Las Tablas. You're a meat eater, your date isn't. Not a problem. There are two empanadas to a serving. Get one beef, one cheese.

Stop 3: Two tasting portions of stuffed pizza (8 tickets total), Bacino's. Stuffed pizza is a tradition, and the tasting portions—one sausage, one spinach—allow you and your veggie lovin' lover to indulge.

Stop 4: One scoop lemon Italian Ice (4 tickets), Mazzone's. Sharing is caring, and your date is charmed by your thoughtfulness when you offer to split your single scoop.

Stop 5: Fireworks, 9 p.m., lakefront. You've wisely packed a blanket, now the question is where you can spread it out. You scour the area between Navy Pier and the Adler Planetarium—the area recommended for the best views—and find the only remaining patch of grass. Success!

— Matt McGuire