SausageFest Chicago

We got free admission so we went. The free admission saved us $ 5. I was shocked at the prices inside. Not only do they charge admission, you’re raped with the prices for the sausages ($ 8 – 12). Those prices for just sausage with no sides. I ate a couple and they were good, but not worth the price. I was offended when i tried to buy a simple can of pop and was told it was $ 2. I declined and the vendors response was, «festival prices». If this is the attitude of the vendors they bring then I will not be coming back. Luckily I live three houses to the west so I left to get my drink. Honestly I don’t see this festival lasting as there was virtually no one there either day.

This was really kind of a disappointment. It was essentially like having to pay $ 5 for access to a parking lot with a few food trucks. The sausages my wife and I had were good, but there certainly didn’t seem to be any sort of festival discount ($ 8 – 12 for a brat with no side). The hosting restaurant (Cubby Bear) also wasn’t allowing beer outside (despite the lot being fences off for the festival), so you couldn’t even enjoy the nice weather while you ate if you wanted something to drink other than water. In the future, I would opt to skip the «festival» and visit on of the participating restaurants directly.

Definitely won’t make an effort to go back. I was a little bit miffed about having to pay an entrance fee to essentially a food cart patio. You pretty much get nothing for your money because you still have to buy the sausage and the beer. It’s a much better deal to just go to a restaurant. I gave it two stars because the food was tasty, but other than that, it was a big waste of money. The beer at The Cubby Bear was ridiculously overpriced — 8 oz cups of macrobrew beer for 6 $. Plus, you have to drink the beer inside, despite the gates and ID checks at the door which was extremely loud and dark with a pretty awful band playing. Definitely wasn’t for me.

Great sampling of sausage. We tried the brats, polish, italian, and there must have been 1 more, Oh yeah, the Andouille. Not found very much up here in Chitown. Great music too! stood almost an hour listening to a local group which was great. Will return next year.

Turducken sausage. Paulina Market. Changed my life.

I’m right there with the other Unilocalers on the funnies that come from (ha!) SausageFest a block from Boystown, but really, let’s get down to it:
As my friends know, I’ve slipped from vegetarian, to pescatarian, to, um, flexitarian (which means I’ll eat whenever I GD want to). After sailing through the gates into SausageFest, I knew which way I’d lean that day.
1. Bobak’s Mini Polish — I grew up on the South Side, so I naturally gravitated toward Bobak’s … but sadly was disappointed. Meat flavor was delish, but the casing was so hard I could hear a crack when biting it. Poor thing was probably overcooked by about 4 hours. Ick. Glad I only sprung $ 3 for the mini.
2. 10″ Italian — Go ahead, make the obvious joke. But seriously, this thing was de-​licious. 10″ of awesomely seasoned, covered in onions and peppers, drizzled with gardinera juice AWESOME.
3. Beer — I’m a big jerk because I don’t remember the brew (Chicago Brew something? somebody please remind me), I remember I had 3 of the Pale Ales and they were very tasty.
4. Music — We Fight Dragons was surprisingly entertaining! But Sixteen Candles left me wanting some better 80s tunes. We weren’t *that* drunk to not notice. Mike & Joe would have been a better choice, but they were down at Cubby Bear that night.
Either way, SausageFest 2011 was a success! I’d head back there again next year for sure.

There’s some humor about Sausage Fest. That it’s in Wrigleyville and Lakeview (which are supposed to be sausage fests) or enjoying a six inch Polish or who wouldn’t like a weiner in two buns.
But I was excited for it and my first time.
The Meat
I was fired up for Chicago Dog House. They’re trying to do unique and quality interpretations of hot dogs and weiners, similar to Hot Dougs or Westminster, but located much closer to me. So this seemed like a great way to try it. What a let down! We ordered the Chompers and the BBQ Bacon Dog. The girl said we couldn’t use our coupon/​voucher for the dogs but had to pay extra. My companion asked if they’d just take an extra dog ticket instead. She turned and asked another kid who shrugged and said ok.
Now, no where on the coupon deal or event website said they weren’t part of the deal or won’t honor it. In fact the Greek vendor made a special note on both so we knew it could be done.
The money or extra ticket aren’t the issue. But when a vendor doesn’t honor a coupon or groupon it’s very offputting. The whole point is to turn you onto a new business. Because of this I would not want to go there now.
He ordered the Chompers Smoked Alligator Dog with sweet chili sauce and carmelized onion. He had one or two bites and was done. I sweetly offered to swap with my BBQ Bacon dog with raw onion and BBQ sauce. He was very disapointed with his dog, which I said it is a water LIZARD dog and btw not as gamey as I’d expect. I think it creeped him out cuz he said he forgot that.
Later, I got a Turducken Dog from Paulina Market. It had onions and sauerkraut with cranberry relish. I ate a couple bites.
The best dogs were by Chicago Dog. He didn’t like either, I’d give them a B-​.
The Package
First, Sausage Fest! Formerly Lake View Music Fest. It was way smaller than we thought. Less than the length of a city block side street and FRANKLY speaking a glorified block party. The organization of the coupon thing was poorly managed and hard to redeem. The vendors and boothes weren’t diverse. It wasn’t that crowded yet I had my flipflop clad foot stepped on three times in fifteen minutes. It was eerie. A lot of people looked alike. By that, the crux of the crowd was in Cubs or their former college shirts. After I tried the second sausage we shagged ass outta there.
The Relish
Great cause for Prostate Cancer Foundation! And the fact some could fundraise to be named Sausage King. He really enjoyed his appointment. But what gives? Can’t there be a Sausage Queen?! I should be top fundraiser next year to help the cause. Although being named SausageFest Chicago Sausage Queen would make me sound like a porn star.
They had live music and that’s always a plus.
So, there’s the tips next year go so you can try the whole thing for yourself.

The hilariousness of a SausageFest taking place in Wrigleyville, near Boystown, is not lost on me.
I always liked the Lakeview Music Fest (SausageFest’s predecessor) because, despite being in Wrigleyville, it always seemed less-​douchey to me than some of the other street festivals. My theory is that this street fest is smaller than others, so there’s less room to douche it up. But, who knows.
After I got over the excitement of seeing Abe Froman in person (fine, it wasn’t THE Abe Froman, but still… a generic Sausage King is better than no Sausage King), I moved on to the eats & drinks. The sausage was plentiful, the beers were cold, the bands were great… and you can’t go wrong when there is so much room to make non-​stop jokes about a 10″ Polish this, and a 8″ Greek that.

It’s finally festival season. The season that most of Chicago waits all year for. While all of my friends decided to head to other festivals, such as Do-​Division and Maifest, I went to check out some sausage at SausageFest. After hearing tales of overcrowding and amateur drinkers at the other festivals, I was happy with my decision.
SausageFest, formerly the Lakeview Music Festival, had the right amount of people. It wasn’t too crowded but there was also enough of a crowd to do some people watching and enjoy a fun festival atmosphere. The people that were drinking were fun and didn’t act foolish or spoil other people’s fun with their behavior. The sausages were decent, with vendors like Paulina Market and Bobak’s, and there was a pretty good selection of beers at the beer tent.
I really liked that the money raised at this festival was going toward the Prostate Cancer Foundation. They even had a fund raising drive and the person who raised the most money was crowned The Sausage King of the festival and got to sit on a sausage throne with a perfect view of the stage.
Well done, SausageFest.