Get up close and personal with local chefs at Good Food Festival

Sometimes getting a prime table at a local restaurant can be a tedious task. This weekend no reservation is needed to see your favorite local chefs up close and personal. The Good Food Festival returns to the UIC Forum on Saturday, March 16.

In addition to numerous local vendors, the Good Food Festival will highlight some of our city's top local chefs. The festival offers several opportunities to see, learn from and even sample these innovators cuisine.

Here are some of the events.

• Chefs at Play. This is not only a spotlight on three excellent Chicago chefs, but it’s also your chance to see how they work in the kitchen with the freshest ingredients available.Paul Virant from Vie and Perennial Virant , Carrie Nahabedian of Naha and the forthcoming Brindille and Rick Bayless of XOCO, Frontera and Topalobampo are highlights of the cooking demonstrations.
• Kimchi Challenge. Do you have a winning dish? Chefs from the festival will submit samples of their gourmet spin on the classic Korean fermented food and compete for bragging rights and other prizes.
• Workshops. For the budding chef in all of us, a variety of workshops are available. Kim Leali, sous chef at The Publican, will offer a sausage-making workshop and demonstrate how to make Toulouse sausage. Additional workshop fee must be purchased.

The Good Food Festival will be held on Saturday, March 16 at the UIC Forum. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. For more information on this event, please visit http://goodfoodfestivals.com/ or Good Food Festivals on Twitter and Facebook.