Mole de Mayo, May 2nd - Pilsen

Saturday, May 2 11:00a to 7:00p
El Zocalo, Paulina & 18th St. (directly across from the Pink Line - 18th Street)

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Chicago's Mexican Pilsen neighborhood with a mole cook-off, outdoor market complete with music and traditional Mexican libations. Chefs from Nuevo Leon, Cocina Mundial, Mexique, and others (including FIG Catering) will participate along with some local, home cooks. Judges including Alpana Singh and 312 Dining Diva will determine and winner, but there will also be a People's Choice Award. So, come eat mole (and other goodies), and celebrate in Pilsen.

I need some volunteers for our tent. PM me if you're interested.

I'm planning on attending this. I just head that the Navy Pier fest is off because of the Swine Flu craziness - any news on this event?

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009 ... e-flu.html

We haven't heard anything about it being cancelled. I hope it's not...I have a whole bunch of pork butt seasoned up and ready to go.

One of the great Chicago food events fo 2009, and a shining gold star for East Pilsen - an event holding tremendous potential. I'm a hard to impress guy who was thoroughly impressed with the event - including not just the food offerings but the cultural aspect of the music and dance. Kudos to the organizers.



FIGmolly catering





Fogata Village Restaurant





Lalo's Restaurant on Maxwell Street







Judges



Lucha Libre



Focloric Dance



Lalo's on Maxwell Street won the contest for me (good taste and the best texture . . . the most "Mexican" in my book), but, overall, Folgata Village Restaurant won the day's top prize from the judges.

I managed to convince my friend who was in from Milwaukee that we should go to Pilsen for lunch. Having read about the Mole de Mayo here on LTH, it sounded great. The weather was perfect and the event seemed to draw a good crowd. We thought it was a great value, especially compared to other festivals in the city. Every booth had a tasting portion for two or three tickets. Tickets were $1 each. We started with the enchilada from Fig Catering, which was delicious. Realizing our appetites wouldn't last, we then split tasting portions from Lalo's and Fogata Village. Not only did we receive the tasting portion, but each restaurant provided samples of all the moles they were offering. The green moles from both Lalo's and Fogata Village were rather flat to us, probably because we had already activated our taste buds with spicier food. My friend liked the Mole Poblana from Lalo's the best while my favorite was the Fig Catering. I would definitely attend this event if they have it again. I'd need to go with more people to increase our tasting power though!

As a side note, it was nice to meet Figmolly and Figjustin and say hello to gastognome who was assisting the Figs in their booth.

We had a great time at the First Annual Mole de Mayo and were happy to see so many LTHers. Special thanks to gastrognome and myhien who helped in our tent! The turn-out was great (partially due to the splendid weather) and I think it'll be even better next year (maybe two days?).

Thanks to everyone who came and tasted. Although we didn't win either the judged or peoples' choice award we thought our mole was a strong contender (although NL's was very good) so we'll be ready to compete again next year.

Cheers, Molly