taking one for the team - beef at Ravinia

Hi

I've had an Italian Beef at Ravinia (Levy bros. runs many of the concession stands there). So now none of you have to

Yuk. Ick. Ptoui.

I suppose I'll try one of the Barbeque sandwiches next time (brisket or pulled pork I think) I don't have time to make a nice picnic to take.

(the goat cheese, beet, and fig salad I made the time before was much nicer

I'm sorry you didn't have time to put a picnic together at the only entertainment venue where you don't get frisked.

Saturday night, (Folds/Wainwright) we had a wheeled cart with a picnic basket and cooler with cheese, salami, wine, cola, and a spinach salad with bacon, blue cheese, grape tomatoes, red onion and a quick balsamic vinagrette (salt, pepper, EVOO, balsamic and thyme). All of 15 minutes to prep. Well, desert took longer: the Mrs. made chocolate mousse (the primary reason for the cooler), in ice-cream cone cups coated with more chocolate. Our friends came with their own picnic basket; more wine, cheese, crackers and breads, and sliced flank steak from Whole Foods, and some other desert items left over from a recent party.

Originally, we'd planned to make fondue, but they've banned all fuels or charcoal. Possibly we could have gotten away with sterno or tea-light-based heat, but only if we'd pre-melted the cheese and just re-warmed it there.

Sorry that you had a bad experience with the beef. We were just there last night for the Zuckerman Chamber strings. We brought our own food and drink, but when we ran out of the latter, my wife ordered the white wine from the concession. Too sweet. Way too sweet.

No Italian beef and no white wine at Ravinia.

keep eating,
J. Ro

I had a pretty decent caprese salad from the Ravinia concession last time, and L. had the beef brisket sandwich, which wasn't particularly good. We'd planned to eat at the sit-down restaurant, but the menu didn't look very enticing. I think we'd been through that once before and forgotten. We never take a picnic; it's one level of complication more than we need. So we've tried most of the concessions. I stick with vegetarian salads and sandwiches, snacky items, and beer rather than wine. The other stuff is all gross.

I'm going to cut back on my Ravinia attendance, though. I'm increasingly discouraged by the amount of noise and other distractions. We always get pavilion seats and are there very much for the music. At the Brubeck-McPartland-Lewis concert, we could hear the content of conversations taking place inside and outside the pavilion for pretty much the whole four hours. A man facing into the audience and talking on his cell phone was finally asked to stop by one of the ushers, but nothing was done to get people crowded into the waiting area to stop or tone down their conversations. Admittedly, that's not really a good venue for jazz trios and quartets, but it was only the worst in a series of frustrating experiences.

Most of the time we do take our own picnic, but when I have to get home, walk the dog and give her at least some quality time, then get on a train for a 7 pm week night concert, well, sometimes we buy the food up there! Sometimes I do have time to put stuff together they day before, or over the weekend, it just depends.

And we always bring our own wine. Mostly we drink French rose or a light red of some sort.

Yes, the conversations are very annoying. We only do a few concerts in the Pavillion because of that. I don't mind it as much on the lawn. Interestingly, we didn't hear too many conversations the other night (inside the Pavillion) for Marriage of Figaro. Maybe it was a smaller crowd, or maybe it was that folks were too busy reading the supertitles.

leek wrote:Yes, the conversations are very annoying.

must be where one sits, I've been a few nights at Ravinia and it has been relatively quiet. The Latin jazz night was terrific.

We too, have been frustrated by the extent of conversation during the music.

We live a short walk from Ravinia. There are several good local food options if you arrive a bit early. You can get a picnic baskets from

Ravinia Bistro
581 Roger Williams Avenue
847-432-1033

And from:

Pasta Fresca
493 Roger Williams Avenue
847-432-4600

Both are about a 10 minute walk from the main gate. If you are planning on ordering a picnic basket, be sure to call ahead.

Also, you can rent a table and chairs for a reasonable sum (I think it's $10) when you get to Ravinia Park.