Sampling Lollapalooza Cuisine

The chef Graham Elliot Bowles is the first “culinary director” of Lollapalooza, the gargantuan music festival for the masses that seizes downtown Chicago August 6th through 8th. It makes sense: The guy’s a musician, and c’mon, he even has a tattoo that references the Cali punk bank Jawbreaker on his forearm. He’s roped a few other music-loving chefs into joining him in a mini-Chicago-food court at this year’s Lolla, and on Monday night, he hosted an event at his restaurant to show what it will all be about. While servers passed out sample fare from Sunda, The Southern, Big Star, Kuma’s Corner, and Graham Elliot, the young chef took a minute to explain the project: “Lollapalooza brings in 90,000 people a day,” he told me. “They’re artsy and esoteric. I want to be in front of those people. I want to sell stuff, I want to make money—but it’s not about that. We’ll probably just break even.”