What do the Taste of Chicago, Eric Clapton, and Porsches all have in common? Lou Malnati’s! Summer is in full swing and Lou’s has been all over the event map. From catering to musicians at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival to welcoming the Porsche Club of America to Chicago for their annual Parade, we’ve been having a blast!
Lou Malnati’s was on the scene at Toyota Park, Saturday, June 26, for the Crossroads Guitar Festival serving our delicious deep dish pizza to Eric Clapton, BB King, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, ZZ Top and other legendary guitarists, musical artists, and their families. Lou Malnati’s first catered to the Crossroads musicians in 2008 and, after liking the food so much the first time around, Eric Clapton asked us to come back a second time. An opening BBQ was in order for the rehearsal session followed by a mini Taste of Chicago spread on the day of the Festival. All deep dish pizzas were made fresh on site – would you expect anything less from us?
In addition to serving Eric Clapton and his musical guests, we also served VIP guests in the American Express tent with the help of Chef Grant McPhearson, Head Chef at Sandy Lanes Hotel in Barbados. Working together, the Lou’s team and Chef McPhearson provided all VIP guests with unique mouth-watering cuisine and, of course, fresh deep dish pizzas right out of the oven!
Before wrapping everything up at the end of the day, Mr. Clapton requested we cook up one final batch of pizzas for him to take on the road. How could we turn him down?! He was as excited to have us at the festival as we were about participating!
From June 25 to July 4, Lou Malnati’s set up shop at the Taste of Chicago in booth #32. Each pizza sliced and served was handmade on-site and cooked in one of the 24 pizza ovens we had set up. Alongside our traditional deep dish pizza, we also served our delicious bruschetta and Malnati salad. After serving up over 60,000 slices of cheese and sausage pizza, we felt we were ready to take on the Porsche Club of America’s Annual Porsche Parade welcoming party.
The Porsche Club of America’s Annual Porsche Parade was held in St. Charles this year and Lou Malnati’s was on hand to provide some Chicago-style tastes. Held at the DuPage Airport alongside vintage Porsches and antique aircrafts, we offered a mini Taste of Chicago menu for the Club members to give them a special Chicago welcoming. Nothing says Chicago like deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s! Parade is the Porsche Club’s annual national convention and their biggest event of the year. In line with this year’s theme, Cars, Planes and Kids, proceeds from the silent and live auctions benefited the Hope Children’s Hospital, a large cardiac children’s center right here in the Midwest.
Our summer doesn’t stop here though. Lou’s is headed to Lollapalooza the first weekend in August! Oh, how we love the dog-days of summer!
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