The Do Division street fest was this weekend in Chicago and even though the clouds looked like they could open up at any minute, we decided to risk it and made our way down. We brought [Peter] Parker with us so that he could experience his first festival, as I’m sure there will be plenty more this summer as I’ve vowed not to sit inside for more than 2 hours at a time on the weekends (as long as the weather’s nice). We met our friends Mike and Lauren down there as we don’t get to see them as often as I’d like, and they finally got to meet Parker. We got to the fest around 2 and were there only a couple hours before Parker decided he’d had enough and just wouldn’t walk anymore. It also didn’t help that he was deathly afraid of the bands that were playing, and would pull me away from the stage as soon as he heard anything resembling a drum beat.
Before we left the fest we did get to try some of the food. I know festival season has literally just started, but I haven’t been too impressed with the food selection at this fest as well as the Belmont/Sheffield Music Festival we went to last weekend. Last weekend wasn’t really anything to write home about, but we did have some pretty decent, all-natural, sausages from a place whose name escapes me. At Do Division though, I was excited to see that Smoke Daddy was one of the sponsors, meaning I’d get to have some pretty sweet BBQ… or so I thought.
I remember going to Smoke Daddy a couple years ago (the actual restaurant) and being extremely impressed with the quality of the pulled pork sandwiches and the BBQ sauces, but after the pulled pork sandwich I had at the festival yesterday I’m kind of second guessing my taste in BBQ. And yes, I know this site is called “Anti” foodie, and now I’m starting to sound like a food snob, those exact people I can’t stand, but I can’t help the fact that the food didn’t taste nearly as good as I remember. And I understand that it was a street fest and not the actual restaurant, but I still don’t see the need to slather all sorts of BBQ sauce on the pulled pork itself before it goes on the sandwich. You can still do what all other places do and just bring out the pulled pork on a bun, leaving me the ability to choose my sauce. Granted they did have 3 different BBQ sauces set out at the booth for you to put on your sandwich, but why would I want to put a different BBQ sauce on top of an already saucy sandwich? It kind of takes away from the appeal of good BBQ in my opinion. I don’t know, maybe I am being too picky considering it was street fest food, but if food trucks can pump out delicious food these days, why can’t a restaurant bring quality food to a street fest… I will say though, I was happy to see that they are starting to serve Cider’s at these fests. I’m not a big beer guy (doesn’t really agree with me), but I can drink ciders all day long. Judge me if you want, but they are delicious.
Overall though the day was a lot of fun, we didn’t get wet (left right before the rain), we got to hang out with friends we don’t get to see often enough, and we got to bring Parker the puppy to a street fest where he was immediately crowned “king of division” by every girl in the place. We literally couldn’t walk 10 steps without some chick coming up to us asking what kind of dog he was and telling us he was the cutest thing they’ve ever seen. We even had a grown man stop and tell us that he doesn’t use the word very often, but Parker was “The cutest fucking dog he’s ever seen”… although he was wearing a douchey neon tank top and neon sunglasses, so I don’t know that I’d trust his opinion, but the 900 other girls that said the same thing should give you a pretty good idea of his popularity. The only thing I was disappointed with is that Nick didn’t try to use the puppy to snag some numbers… Next time we’re putting a sign on his back that says “Have you met Nick?” and when the girls bend down to pet him and call him Nick, I’m going to correct them and say “No, the dog’s name is Parker… this is Nick”… BAM! instant ice breaker. I’m a genius.
And here’s a Vine of Parker wearing Michael Jackson The Pug’s hoodie, and Michael Jackson not being too happy about it.
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