Ravinia Park was the home of the first ever Food Network in Concert in Chicago a few weekends back. Celebrity chefs, drink experts, pop stars and over 100 different wineries joined some of Chicago's best chefs and mixologists in an afternoon of fun and feasting. The day started off with walking around and tasting over 50 different culinary creations along with all the wine one could want. One of my favorite things about a tasting event such as this is how you are able get up close and mingle in a relaxed atmosphere with a lot of well-known chefs.
I even had the opportunity to meet one of Food Network’s celebrity chefs in attendance, Sunny Anderson, who is just as sweet and outgoing in person as she is on television!
Next up in the day was a seated farm-to-table dinner hosted by Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian. Appropriately named Farm to Turntable, the event featured different dishes from many celebrity chefs and featured a great soundtrack courtesy of DJ Alexandra Richards (Keith Richard's daughter). I was lucky enough to meet up with fellow food blogger Amanda Topper of The Ghost Guest, who joined me in continuing to gorge after an already full day of eating and drinking.
The evening ended with great musical performances from American Idol season 11 winner, Phillip Phillips and one of my favorite heartthrobs, seven-time Grammy Award winner John Mayer. I hadn't seen John Mayer since I was in high school and I can say that he only improved with age, that man can play the guitar!
The food world continues to grow and evolve courtesy of the Food Network, varieties of foodie websites, great chefs, fantastic pics of meals on Instagram and more. How you and I think of food today wouldn’t have been imaginable even 10 years ago. It’s an honor to be part of that world where chefs, writers, and eaters are beginning to learn and experience that creating food and drink can be artistic, not so different from a great musician or painter. Chicago is a great city for artists of all kinds and I hope that Food Network brings this event back to Chicago for many years to come!
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