A Taste of Lolla

Lollapalooza was already one of my absolute favorite weekends of the year. And then something happened to make it even more amazing... Per my earlier post, Graham Elliot Bowles was made master of Lollapalooza's Chow Town this year.

He brought in a ton of new food vendors from many of the city's top restaurants. And I was pumped. Here's what I was able to try.

Item number one on my agenda was the acclaimed lobster corn dog from the graham elliot booth. The lobster corn dogs sold out every day last year and I couldn't wait to try one this time around! Unfortunately, I wasn't particularly impressed. The entire thing was pretty mushy and there was some sort of strange (read: not tasty) casing involved.

After chatting with some of my foodie friends who were lucky enough to sample the lobster corn dog last year, I learned that the casing was a new development -- and one that no one seemed to like. I'm sure there was a reason they decided to add it (maybe it's too hard to keep the lobster meat together enough to hold the corn dog shape?), but the taste and texture definitely suffered. Lobster corn dog, you were not terrible, but you were a disappointment.

Next up was the pulled chicken sandwich from Chicago barbecue powerhouse Smoke Daddy. Although I haven't made it to the restaurant itself, I love using the Smoke Daddy Mustard BBQ sauce when I'm barbecuing at home and was extremely excited to try something from the masters themselves. In hindsight, I probably should have stuck with the pulled pork sandwich, which is my all-time favorite BBQ option. But pulled chicken sounded pretty interesting and not every BBQ place offers it, so I felt it was my duty to give it a whirl.

Well, there's a reason not every place offers it: it's dry. As I am want to do, I saturated that sucker with BBQ sauce (Smoke Daddy's Original this time) and dug right in. Even with all of that extra sauce, the sandwich was just decent. By nature, chicken gets pretty dry when you shred it and dry is definitely not the name of the game when it comes to good barbecue. If you want a BBQ chicken sandwich, stick to a chicken breast that's served intact with lots of your favorite barbecue rub or sauce and you've got the potential for juicy greatness. Lesson learned: in terms of shredded BBQ sandwiches, there's really no match for pulled pork. Despite the pulled chicken incident, I look forward to visiting Smoke Daddy and trying the BBQ master of disaster that is pulled pork.

I had been hearing all kinds of great things about Franks N Dawgs since it burst onto Chicago's gourmet hot dog scene this spring. When I ambled up to their booth for dinner on Day 1 of Lolla, I was ready for greatness. And I got it.

I ordered the Chili Cheese Dog, which is an incredibly delicious dog topped with chili and shredded cheddar cheese melted beautifully over their amazing grilled-cheese-like bread. The bun on this thing has the buttery grilled/toasted wonderfulness usually reserved for grilled cheese and paninis. Completely brilliant to pair it with a gourmet hot dog. It elevates the entire creation to a level never before seen by a gourmet hot dog. (Please note that I have yet to visit Hot Doug's.) Regardless, this hot dog is truly excellent. I cannot wait to go to the restaurant itself and try some of the other dog options.

I have to acknowledge that I ate Lou Malnati's twice during Lolla. I know, bad form. I have discussed my unwavering love for Lou's previously and when I saw the hordes of people wandering around with it (a sizable slice of deep dish cheese is only $3 and definitely one of the most budget-friendly options at the fest), I couldn't resist. By Day 2, Lolla was just so hot and so crowded that I couldn't brave some of the lines at some of the newer and hipper booths. And as I soon discovered, the pizza was fabulous. They had about a million ovens going and the slices were as good as they are when you eat them in the restaurant. It's hard to execute something that consistently delicious working out of a booth at a street fest, so I have to give them credit for delivering an excellent product. I wasn't surprised, but I was delighted. Mad props, Lou. Keep up the good work.

Naturally, I had a gigantic scoop of chocolate chip ice cream in a waffle cone from Windsor Ice Cream Shoppe. It was amazing... and enormous. That one scoop was probably more equivalent to four regular scoops. It was a fabulous choice on a sweltering day. Definitely recommended. Sorry, it was melting too fast to take a picture -- or at least that's what I told myself so that nothing would delay my devouring it.

We also stumbled across the Sausage Haus shortly upon entering Lolla on Day 3. It was a little too early for a brat, but seemed like the perfect time to give their pretzel with whole grain mustard a try. The pretzel was far superior to your average stadium (or skating rink) pretzel. I'd highly recommend it should you happen across the Sausage Haus, which is actually in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Or... maybe just see if they're at Lolla again next year. FYI, word on the street is that the hot dogs and brats they were slinging were mighty tasty as well!

All in all, I respect Chow Town's performance this year. I think that there were a ton of amazing offerings, almost to the point of it being overwhelming. However, that's certainly better than the alternative! Well played, Graham, minus the lobster corn dogs.

Next year, I vow not to eat Lou Malnati's two days in a row -- no matter how delicious it looks and how efficiently their booth is moving through the lines. I also promise to try to stop taking bites out of food before I photograph it. I will try.