We are still in. I am happy to bring a special bottle, though for this big a crowd I am at a loss as to how a couple of special bottles will serve much purpose. I mean 2 bottles for 17 people?

I suppose we could sit with jpschust and swap tastes, but that hardly seems gracious, and at $25 per for corkage, it ain't much of a deal to bring more. Perhaps bringing wine is no-go?

Unfortunately, we will not be able to attend on the 29th. Maybe next time...

dicksond wrote:We are still in. I am happy to bring a special bottle, though for this big a crowd I am at a loss as to how a couple of special bottles will serve much purpose. I mean 2 bottles for 17 people?

I suppose we could sit with jpschust and swap tastes, but that hardly seems gracious, and at $25 per for corkage, it ain't much of a deal to bring more. Perhaps bringing wine is no-go?

My thought was more that we'd bring a couple of bottles and order a couple of nice bottles thus letting a bunch of people taste a bunch of stuff.

For the public record, I am most sadly obliged to bow out of this dinner. WTTW has offered to interview me about LTH & the GNRs at the exact same time and as much as I am certain the dinner will be the more memorable and satisfying experience, when the media goddess calls I dare not refuse her.

dicksond wrote:For the public record, I am most sadly obliged to bow out of this dinner. WTTW has offered to interview me about LTH & the GNRs at the exact same time and as much as I am certain the dinner will be the more memorable and satisfying experience, when the media goddess calls I dare not refuse her.

I am in the same boat as Dickson. Consequently I will not be present for Otom, which I was so looking forward to.

Thanks for arranging this.

Regards,

And we apologize though we have something that came up at the last minute that we need to attend- it's a family thing for our engagement. Apologies abound.

dicksond wrote:For the public record, I am most sadly obliged to bow out of this dinner. WTTW has offered to interview me about LTH & the GNRs at the exact same time

Why don't you have them interview you at Otom?

My power just came back on for the first time since Wed...the cleanup is gonna kill my budget for the month so I have to bwo out as well, sorry.

Octarine wrote:My power just came back on for the first time since Wed...the cleanup is gonna kill my budget for the month so I have to bwo out as well, sorry.

We are being told that we won't have power until Thursday in east Glenview! I need somewhere to eat Wednesday night. I'll be there.

I regret that due to unforseen circumstances, French Baguette (+1) will not be able to attend the OTOM dinner.

The press invite and storms have certainly changed the character and size of the outing. I'm still in, but would also not be upset if we tried for a different night where more of our colleagues can make it.

Oh man. I totally understand everybody. I just got my power back too after three days and spent this morning basically tossing everything from my refrigerator. Very sad.

This would be the third time we've rescheduled the dinner. I'm fine coordinating another change of date, and I think the OTOM team might stick with us, but what do others think? Reschedule again so that we have more attendees? Please let me know soon so that I can talk to Kathryn. I don't want to tire folks with the rescheduling, but if the group can sustain its enthusiasm for the gathering, I'm happy to do the footwork for a new date. Otherwise, it's this Wednesday.

I know it is a pain in the neck, but I would be thrilled if a different date was selected.

Jyoti

Especially because of the storms and the fact that the earlier rescheduling has been on our end and not theirs, I think the OTOM team will be understanding and know you've cultivated a great relationship there, HS. Maybe we can try for another date not too far in the future (but maybe after Sep 15 since people are still trying to get trips together for some of the GNRs before nominations close)?

My advice is to keep the date for Wednesday. EVERY DAY we select will be a problem for someone, and it is likely that OTOM has already made plans. This has happened with each dinner I have planned. Some people will miss it; that is the way that the world goes. If this dinner is a success, we can have another dinner.

Since we need an executive decision, I'm going to keep the dinner for this week. I'm very sorry to the folks who'll miss it. I'm sure there'll be many, many more opportunities to get together. The much smaller list of attendees I have for this Wednesday are:

myself
kanin
Kennyz
Santander
GAF
GreenFish +1
crrush (?)

I need to check with in Kathryn tomorrow afternoon to give her the final count. Please let me know if your plans to attend change. Also, if you are coming, recruit a friend to come, too (and let me know by tomorrow afternoon).

If it's not too late, I'd be honored to join you

Kennyz wrote:If it's not too late, I'd be honored to join you

Excellent! Looking forward to meeting you.

Sharon

I apologize for the late notice! My husband just found out he doesn't have class -- can I add him to our group for tomorrow?

Let me know if it's a problem. Thanks.

GreenFish wrote:I apologize for the late notice! My husband just found out he doesn't have class -- can I add him to our group for tomorrow?

Let me know if it's a problem. Thanks.

Super! See you and Mr. GreenFish tonight at 6:30.

Looking forward to this; I'm glad we're doing it. See you at 6:30.

To save some typing later in either thread, here was our menu from tonight, prettily emblazoned with "Welcome, LTHFORUM" and our diamonds at the top of the page.

Courses are my addition based on how the plates came out.

APPETIZERS

first course

Marinated bean salad with red onion, oregano, rice noodles, and caramelized shallot vinaigrette

Wilted spinach salad with golden beets, smoked oyster mushrooms, red pepper, and roasted garlic vinaigrette

House-smoked turkey cobb salad with bibb lettuce, crispy pancetta, blue cheese, hard-cooked egg, avocado and grain mustard vinaigrette

Beer-battered vegetables with caramelized onion and sherry vinegar aioli

second course

Trio of miniature burgers with bacon and cheddar, mushroom and swiss, fried quail egg and shoetring potatos

Chinook salmon ceviche with lime, chili, cucumber and wonton chips

ENTREES

third course

Macaroni and cheese with creamy rosemary-white cheddar sauce, smoked carrots, and parmesan-panko crust

Roasted acorn squash and oyster mushrooms with seared tofu and crispy shallots

Braised beef pot pie with roasted root vegetables, veal demi-glace and puff pastry

House-smoked apricot and chili glazed pork back ribs with crisp sherry slaw and [awesome] pickles

fourth course

Grilled Top Sirloin [all caps sic] with butter-poached new potatoes, golden onion rings, and veal reduction

Grilled swordfish and jicama-Anaheim relish with gooseberry soup

Beef short rib raviloi with shallot and sage goat cheese, candied sweet potato and brown butter

Braised lamb shank, white bean cassoulet, rutabaga, and olive oil

DESSERTS

(not on our printed menu)

Strawberry shortcake

Banana-splits on a stick

Brownie with mocha ice cream, walnut crunch, and dried marshmallows

Apple cobbler (in cast iron pots) with ice cream

***

I'll post detailed thoughts after sleeping on this very filling evening of decent food and excellent company. Brava to happy_stomach, and to GAF for encouraging us to settle on the date and then sharing his mind with Chef Daryl constructively and elegantly. Thanks also to Fox Chicago newsperson Robin Robinson for peripheral flavor, and to the kitchen staff for only two nitrogen-frozen items (the peas on the tofu and the marshmallows on the brownie).

Thanks also to Fox Chicago newsperson Robin Robinson for peripheral flavor, and to the kitchen staff for only two nitrogen-frozen items (the peas on the tofu and the marshmallows on the brownie).

Haha, well put, Santander!

I had a fantastic time yesterday. I appreciate you typing that out, it will help caption my pictures better. I will try to get those posted later today if possible. Thanks to happy_stomach for putting it all together, I think it's safe to say that we all really had a great time and enjoyed each other's company.

Here's to more successful LTH dinners!

It was a very enjoyable evening indeed. Thank you to all you who came out (including Louisa Chu and sister who stopped at our table to say hello) and the entire Otom team. Kathryn Simpson also deserves special thanks for making my role as organizer very easy.

My food highlights were similar to others'... The bean salad was excellent. I thought the contrast of textures between the beans and the rice noodles worked especially well. Beer battered vegetables are a comfort food I often forget about. Thanks to Chef Nash for reminding me that vegetables deep fried are quite yummy. My favorite appetizer of the evening was the salmon ceviche on wontons. The quality of fish was superb, and I liked the trompe l'oeil effect that Kennyz pointed out of the salmon somewhat resembling off-season tomatoes. The wontons could have been less salty.

In terms of entrees...I loved the macaroni and cheese. I know we're not supposed to make comparisons to moto, but I think I actually liked otom's version better than the extremely pleasing dehydrated quail version I had back in May as part of my GTM. I especially liked the rosemary with the cheese and the panko crust. I liked the tofu, and I could have eaten my own pot pie. The ribs, I thought, were dry and too sweet for my liking. In the fourth course, my favorites were the lamb shank (and I normally pass on this animal part) and the short rib ravioli, which in my book is a solid rival to Schwa's quail yolk version.

The desserts were forgettable except the strawberry shortcake. I loved the dense richness of the cake--very different from the tasteless, twinkie-yellow sponge that I think of when I think shortcake. The apple cobbler tasted funny to me. I don't know if I was just unfamiliar with the kind of apples that were used, but the taste was unusual and not in an especially enjoyable way.

I'm glad we were able to sample a range of dishes. Now I'll know what to order if I go back. Thanks again to my dining companions!

Thanks again to Sharon for organizing the event! It was my first LTH Event and awkwardness may have been plenty obvious on my part initially but nothing breaks the ice better than sharing and passing dishes around.

As a side note, I thought it was pretty funny when happy_s had a momentary freakout when there were no cameras on the table as service was about to start :)

I posted my thoughts on the dishes in the main Otom thread.

I too posted my take on the restaurant on the main thread. Thank you so much to happy_stomach and the rest of my Otom dinner friends for making my first LTH event a blast. I'm looking forward to more.

kanin wrote:As a side note, I thought it was pretty funny when happy_s had a momentary freakout when there were no cameras on the table as service was about to start

Oh dear kanin,

You are mistaken on one small point. I freaked out because there were only TWO cameras on the table.