Baconfest Chicago announced its restaurant roster featuring over 150 restaurants, as well as additional schedule details for the eighth annual edition of the event. This year, the roster includes nearly 40 first-time participants, from Food Network stars to veteran Chicago chefs.

Baconfest highlights award-winning restaurants Slurping Turtle, Table Donkey Stick, Spaccanapoli, Untitled, nana, Duck Inn, and The Dawson from the 2016 Bib Gourmand List, along with Michelin-Star recipients Carlos Gaytan and Takashi Hagihashi, James Beard nominee Paul Virant, and Sandra Holl from Floriole, winner of the Banchet Award Pastry Chef of the Year.

General admission tickets will go on sale noon on February 22, and are expected to sell out quickly. Bacon-lovers can choose from three exhibition sessions: lunch and dinner on April 30, as well as Sunday Brunch on May 1. General admission tickets cost $100; VIP tickets are $200, allowing ticketholders access to the Cooking Channel VIP Hour and general admission period for the session selected. 

All tickets will be available online. Ticket-holders receive unlimited dishes from the chefs, seven drink tickets (redeemable for beer, wine, and cocktails from Baconfest's beverage partners), a Baconfest tote bag and a souvenir program guide.

The Baconfest Chicago restaurant roster features Baconfest vets, Golden Rasher Award Winners (the Oscars of the bacon world), and new restaurants.

"I think we get just as excited as our fans do to see which restaurants sign up every year. As foodies, we love the diversity. As bacon geeks we love the creativity. As the founders of Baconfest, we're so humbled that so many great chefs and restaurants want to celebrate the undying virtues of America's most delicious food," says Baconfest co-founder Seth Zurer.