Pierogi Festival in Whiting

Some of you may have heard of the Pierogi Fest from the food network or other travel shows.  Having grown up in Northwest Indiana (Da Region) it's just been something I've always known about.  I used to go on Fridays and mingle with the massive crowds for the parade.  That was always fun but this year I experienced it in one of the best ways possible.

A friend of mine had a friend 3 blocks away from the main drag on 119th street so free parking for us. She lived on this beautiful street.  It's the last cobblestone street in Whiting.  I took a picture as we were on our way.  We went tonight around 9.  They close at 10 and there are some huge advantages to this. First of all you get to avoid the massive crowds.  Secondly the vendors are closing down so they give you some great deals on food.

We started out with 3 Pierogis.  A buddy of mine split an order of six pierogis for 5 dollars.  Two mushroom, two kraut, and two potato.  They were from a local bar on 119th street and were amazing, the mushroom being the big win of the night.

There is a great Serbian booth that does great cevaps and kabobs.  Now here is where getting there late can be great.  They had three kabobs left that were sitting in a pool of the most delicious juice.  I was able to snatch them for the price of two and share with our entire party.  Sadly, the lady in front of me had got the deal of the night on the last of the cevaps.  She grinned at me in a good way, but I understood.  Man if I had only been there two minutes earlier.

Well know it's crunch time so I had to get some to go orders in.  They are great at preparing to go stuff, so no worries on a good take home container.  I picked up a dozen potato and a dozen meat.

The great thing here is that we were able to enjoy a great walk down the strip, eat some great food and get in and out in under an hour.  Don't get me wrong spending a day here is fine as there is music and plenty of liquor.  They have beer tents and they actually allow you to buy booze out of the liquor stores on 119th.  I've seen it both ways, but it's nice to know how to make a quick enjoyable visit out such a large festival.