Baconfest meets Top Chef in the Four Seasons this Sunday with the fifth annual Chicago edition of Cochon 555, the traveling festival of heritage pork and great chefs. This year the competing chefs include Carlos Gaytan of Mexique, Danny Grant of RIA and Balsan, Stephanie Izard of Girl and the Goat, Mike Sheerin of Three Floyds, and Jason Vincent of Nightwood, cooking with ingredients from local farms. And your $125 general admission gets you a metaphorical ringside seat to the cooking action and an epic feast of food and drink (lots of top-drawer wine and spirits co-sponsors) in which you, as a guest, will help to choose the winner who goes on to compete at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June. There is still a limited number of tickets available for the Sunday evening event; get more information and buy yours here.
• Okay, so this isn’t a food site that thinks much about who the hottest chefs are, but if it’s a subject of appeal to you, you can see some reasonable candidates for the title out of their chef whites— and into fancy men’s clothes (at least on the page) this Thursday night. Haberdash, a hip high-end clothing store, will hold a party for the release of its Spring/Summer 2012 “Look Book,” which features chefs and culinary figures such as Curtis Duffy, Richie Farina, Martial Noguier, Donnie Madia, Merlin Verrier and Paul McGee sporting the store’s apparel. The launch party is Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at 607 & 611 N. State Street, there will be cocktails, and there’s a free copy of the book (which also has a recipe from each chef or culinary personage) for the first 200 guests. To attend, just RSVP to events@zapwater.com.
