The inaugural Chicago Food + Wine Festival took over Lincoln Park this weekend and judging by the enthusiasm of the crowd, Chicago was clearly hungry – pun very much intended – for an event of this kind. Perhaps because this was the first year, the crowds were not overwhelming. There were very few lines, except for highly-sought-after events like the Champagne tasting session, and the chefs had time to chat with their fans.

Upon walking through the gates, festival-goers were immediately engulfed by the enormous Grand Tasting tent. Rows and rows of tables offered bites from some of Chicago’s best restaurants and many were staffed by the chefs themselves. In my travels, I chatted with Chef Takashi Yagihashi of Slurping Turtle, Michael Kornick of MK, and Paul Virant of Vie among others.

Some of the best things I tried were a fig and pistachio profiterole from Leigh Omilinsky, the pastry chef at Nico Osteria; Michael Kornick’s marinated raw zucchini with fresno chiles, mint and panko bread crumbs; Chef Takashi’s savory egg custard with barbecued eel, bacon, corn and edamame (!); a savory parfait of grilled peaches and burrata from Jared Van Camp of Nellcôte; The Florentine‘s ear of Italian sweet corn with aioli, Parmesan and shaved black truffle; and tangy goat cheese bars with seasonal peaches and blueberries from the folks at Floriole Cafe and Bakery.  I especially loved the idea of a savory parfait and am already trying to come up with my own version.

For every one food table in the Grand Tasting, though, there must have been at least three tables with wine and spirits. Every attendee, all over whom had to be over 21, were given a glass at the entrance and encouraged to taste as much as possible. The “wine” part of Chicago Food + Wine Festival was anything but an afterthought. In fact, several of the attendees I spoke to in the course of my day described themselves more as wine fanatics than foodies.

Surrounding the Grand Tasting Tent were three demonstration tents and one tent that housed wine and spirits tasting sessions. Most of the day’s line-up featured Chicago celebrity chefs including Rick Bayless, Stephanie Izard, Tony Mantuano and Rick Tramonto, many of whom also signed copies of their cookbooks for their fans. (Including this fan who had a book signed by the always friendly and down-to-earth Stephanie Izard.)

But towards the end of the day, Texas chef Tim Love, one of the founders of the Festival, brought his unique blend of f-bombs, tequila shots and folksiness to an adoring, drunken, standing-room-only crowd.

If you listened carefully between the cursing and hollering you actually could pick up some great advice on why home cooks should not be afraid of high heat or as Chef Love called it, burning our food. I especially liked his seared zucchini with the middle punched out and replaced with grated Parmesan. He also pandered to the local crowd by coming out in a Blackhawks sweater, although he did have some less-than-complimentary words about the Bears.

One of the highlights of the day for me was a tasting session with Champagne Taittinger led by James Beard award-winning sommelier Bernard Sun. Although it pretty much destroyed me for the rest of the day, the opportunity to try five of house Taittinger’s Champagnes — including a vintage Champagne and the 2005 Comtes de Champagne which retails for over $200 — was a once-in-a-liftime experience.

I tried very hard to absorb all that Sun was telling us about how Taittinger is one of the few remaining family-owned great Champagne houses, why Taittinger ages their Champagnes for longer than is required and how to care for and store vintage Champagnes, but after three or four glasses, my notes became illegible.

This was my first time at one of these large food festivals and, needless to say, I had a blast. For food and wine lovers, it doesn’t get much better than a day spent sipping, sampling and celebrity-chef-spotting. As press, I was there by myself, but easily struck up conversations with people around me. Everyone was friendly and in good spirits despite the intermittent rain.

I was naive, however, not to realize how much this event was about the alcohol. The Chicago Food + Wine Festival was an expensive ticket: $175 for one day and over $500 for the all-inclusive pass. To get your money’s worth, you definitely had to be prepared to drink a lot. Fortunately, from what I could observe, most attendees were happy to do just that.