The Very Best in Bacon
Each year, madly popular Baconfest Chicago brings out the best in carnivorous cravings, proving that bacon fanfare has transcended trend to become a permanent obsession. With the grand event taking place April 17 and 18, and with April being “Bacon Month,” it’s apropos to round up some of the best bacon creations in Chicago. Think of it as “research” and “warm up” for the big event.
Bacon is oftentimes thin and crispy, but when it’s as thick as a pork chop and laced with luscious fat, it reaches a whole new level of obsession. The Publican and Au Cheval corner the market on thick-cut bacon, which is so meltingly tender and rich that it’s hard to go back to the thin ’n’ crispy stuff ever again. At The Publican, the maple-soaked bacon is a popular standout on the weekend brunch menus, while Au Cheval takes their double-patty burgers over the top with bacon.
At Kaiser Tiger, the tagline is “beer, bacon, sausage.” You’ve come to the right place. For further proof, try the bacon-wrapped dates, the Belgian-style fries with bacon-walnut dipping sauce, the beer and bacon sausage, or the mighty Bomb, which is a gluttonous melee of beef and pork sausage stuffed with pepper bacon and wrapped in brown sugar bacon, served with fries, buns, cheese, and barbecue sauce.
Pairing bacon and cupcakes is nothing novel, and in fact the technique of bacon cupcakes is something that ballooned into an overwrought trend in and of itself. But when cupcake shops go the extra mile with intricate thoughtful renditions of bacon-infused cupcakes that become more like composed dishes than standard cupcakes, this merits attention. The cupcake in question is the BLT cupcake at more. Still the most provocative cupcake on the boundary-pushing cupcake shop’s menu, the savory BLT cupcake features a dense yellow cake topped with ranch buttercream, micro greens, and slivered cherry tomatoes. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s burly, and it’s surprisingly addictive.
The only thing more on-trend in the dessert world than bacon cupcakes is of course bacon doughnuts, something Glazed & Infused understands very well. The whimsical doughnut shop peddles one of the best bacon-bedecked doughnuts in Chicago with their maple bacon Long John. This mighty pastry features a yeast-raised and chocolate-frosted doughnut draped with a syrup-glazed slice of peppery bacon. It’s everything you’ve ever needed or wanted in breakfast.
Maple matches wonderfully with bourbon in a Manhattan, so it makes perfect sense that maple’s sweetly savory BFF bacon would work wonders in the drink as well. The Southern’s maple bacon Manhattan is potable proof, made with house-infused bacon bourbon, maple syrup, sweet vermouth, and North Country-smoked bacon.
Elvis would be blushing with pride over his namesake Fat Elvis waffles at Little Goat. One of the most indulgent items on a menu laden with heinous excess, Stephanie Izard’s interpretation of Elvis’ favorite snack is a gut-busting heap of waffles striated with bananas, peanut butter butter (that’s peanut butter blended with butter), and bacon-infused maple syrup.
What can be decadent than a thick slice of bacon? How about a flight of various bacons lined up one after the other, forming an assembly line into your mouth? The aptly dubbed Bakin’ & Eggs does bacon due justice with its bacon tasting plate. Various interpretations of bacon arrive on a single plate, including maple pepper bacon, jalapeño bacon, honey bacon, cherry-smoked bacon, and mesquite bacon.
The Publican
825 W. Fulton Market, Chicago
(312) 445-8977
Website
Au Cheval
800 W. Randolph Street, Chicago
(312) 929-4580
Website
Kaiser Tiger
1415 W. Randolph Street, Chicago
(312) 243-3100
Website
more
1 E. Delaware Place, Chicago
(312) 951-0001
Website
Glazed & Infused
813 W. Fulton Market, Chicago
(312) 226-5556
Website
The Southern
1840 W. North Avenue, Chicago
(773) 342-1840
Website
Little Goat
820 W. Randolph Street, Chicago
(312) 888-3455
Website
Bakin’ & Eggs
3120 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
(773) 525-7005
Website
