2007 Food & Wine Magazine Entertaining Showcase-Nov. 12

It's always too crowded, but the food is so good.

Monday, November 12 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 6:30 p.m.

Here are the details.

Hi- did you go in previous years? Can you share your experience? I'd love to get a little flavor of how the event was before I commit to purchasing a ticket.

Thanks in advance!

I've gone in the past to this event as well as others like it (e.g., the Green City Market's chef tasting). I find that the chefs attending this event are on their "A" game. Some are trying to sell people on their star dishes, others are testing possible menu additions, but overall, the chefs seem to be dedicated to turning out excellent quality. There are also a number of wines to sample. Overall, it's a very reasonable price for what turns out to be quite an amazing tasting menu of sorts. The role call of chefs is very impressive and the quality of the offerings even more impressive.

I have two main complaints with this event. First, this event has gotten more popular over the years, and there are always people in a hurry slamming into you. But this is largely the fault of the organizers for choosing a location that, while attractive, is simply too small for the event. My other complaint is that there are not enough spots to take your food and relax and eat it.

Complaints aside, I enjoy the event but if you are not a fan of crowds, this event is not for you.

Definitely looking foward to this year's edition.

I ordered my e-tix on-line but never received any ticket-like document. Looking for opinions here: should I assume that there will be a list of paid attendees at the door, and that we'll have to present the credit card we used to purchase the tix to enter? Or should I get in touch with the organizers now and make an inquiry about our tix?

Thanks,

=R=

Call me the crazy speculator here, but with Top Chef 4 in town at the moment, doesn't this event just scream Top Chef challenge?

Sharona

Hi,

I just ordered two tickets for my friend Helen and I. Looking forward to this!

Regards,
Cathy

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I just ordered two tickets for my friend Helen and I. Looking forward to this!

Regards,
Cathy

Excellent!

A few of us have discussed, via pm, getting together for a "hello" at the event. Is it ok to work out the details here on this thread?

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I just ordered two tickets for my friend Helen and I. Looking forward to this!

Regards,
Cathy

Excellent!

A few of us have discussed, via pm, getting together for a "hello" at the event. Is it ok to work out the details here on this thread?

=R=

Please do!

Cathy2 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I just ordered two tickets for my friend Helen and I. Looking forward to this!

Regards,
Cathy

Excellent!

A few of us have discussed, via pm, getting together for a "hello" at the event. Is it ok to work out the details here on this thread?

=R=

Please do!

Ok!

A few of us were wondering about parking for the event. Here's what I was able to find, via MCA's web site:

MCA's web site wrote:Parking

Convenient discounted parking for MCA visitors is available in our parking garage. The garage is adjacent to the museum and may be entered from Chicago Avenue. Visitors must have their parking tickets validated at the admissions desk in order to receive discounted rates. MCA Member's receive a $4 discount off the standard parking rate and non-members receive $3 discount. The parking garage also has a bike rack available for MCA visitors at no charge. If you have any questions, please call the Parking Garage at 312.986.3120.

Standard Hourly Parking Rates:
Less than 30 minutes: $6
30 minutes - 1 hour: $13
1-2 hours: $16
2-3 hours: $18
3-8 hours: $21
8-12 hours: $23
12-24 hours: $29
Special rate for in by 9 am out by 6 pm: $17

FYI, the MCA is located at:

220 E Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 280-2660

Does anyone who's attended this event in the past have a decent idea for a spot in the MCA where we all can meet and say hello? Is there an obvious and conveniently located place inside the museum that makes sense for doing this? Since we'll all be arriving separately, at different times, ideally this would be centrally-located spot that could be accessed quickly, without building in a ton of lead time. If worse comes to worse, we can always choose to meet at one of the participating restaurants' booths. Also, we should choose a time. I am planning on arriving early or around 6:30, if traffic is heavier than normal. Some other people, with whom I've exchanged pm's, plan to arrive later. Perhaps we should plan to meet around 8pm, which is technically the halfway point of the event.

Thoughts on any of this?

=R=

Michael Carlson (Schwa) is scheduled to cook according to F & W website - do you think this will happen? This would be very strange indeed - but I will doubt this would happen.

See you guys there.

Snark wrote:Michael Carlson (Schwa) is scheduled to cook according to F & W website - do you think this will happen? This would be very strange indeed - but I will doubt this would happen.

See you guys there.

This event was scheduled (and the list of chefs announced) well before the closing of his restaurant was announced, so I'm guessing he won't appear.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Does anyone who's attended this event in the past have a decent idea for a spot in the MCA where we all can meet and say hello? Is there an obvious and conveniently located place inside the museum that makes sense for doing this? . . . Also, we should choose a time. I am planning on arriving early or around 6:30, if traffic is heavier than normal. Some other people, with whom I've exchanged pm's, plan to arrive later. Perhaps we should plan to meet around 8pm, which is technically the halfway point of the event.

Thoughts on any of this?

=R=

While the event is proceeding, the area around all of the food tables is ridiculously overcrowded, to the point of being somewhat unpleasant. If you stop and stand in one place, you tend to get bumped into from all angles. There are quieter, emptier areas near the elevators/stairs where you can escape occasionally and there's a little more room to mingle. And then there is the entrance/exit area on the first floor which is typically not crowded after the event has started. I might be arriving a little later and wouldn't mind saying hello and comparing notes a little later in the event.

hi- are the crowds really unmanageable? i was at the saveur reception in early october, and I thought it was crowded but totally bearable. The chopping block was such a small space too. How does this event compare to say the Share our Strength food and wine tasting at river east? Thanks. I am thinking of going, but wanted to get more feedback.

From what BR has indicated, it's pretty much elbow-to-elbow, butt-to-nut for all but the very beginning of the event. I've only been to this event once and at the time, it was held at different venue, so I cannot comment personally.

Since there doesn't seem to be a particularly ideal spot to meet up, why don't we say 8 pm by Prairie Grass Cafe/Sarah Stegener's booth? Now that I've met BR (at the Sun Wah GNR dinner last week), I will be able to recognize everyone who's posted here, who's definitely coming. And fusionfan, if you decide to come, don't forget to wear your LTHForum.com 10-gallon hat, so we'll all know who you are.

=R=

I'm sorry to say that we're now doubtful for this event tonight. My wife is feeling horrible, so I'm trying to find some friends to take our tickets. If I do make it, I'll be at PGC's booth at 8 pm but the chances of that seem slim, at the moment.

=R=

Hi,

If you have a taker for the tickets, then I can help deliver them. We are geographically fairly close to each other.

I am not leaving until 4:45 or so.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

If you have a taker for the tickets, then I can help deliver them. We are geographically fairly close to each other.

I am not leaving until 4:45 or so.

Regards,

Thanks, Cathy, for the offer. I think we're giving them to our neighbors but I will let you know if I need the favor. Again, very nice of you to offer. BTW, that was me who just hung up on your answering machine.

=R=

Crowded as always (at times painfully so -- unless you like being a pinball), but still some very good food. It seemed like there were fewer restaurants than in the past, but still there were about 20. In my opinion, there were four real stars of the show, and I could probably change the order of my favorites, except for #1:

1. The "liver," celery root and truffle custard from NoMi. Christophe David was the star of the night.

2. The coconut-white chocolate mousse tart on a macadamia crunch crust, with lime foam and a nut tuile from One Sixtyblue. What made this so good was that the nice combination of textures, the fact that it wasn't so sweet, and the lime foam which really cut into the sweetness nicely.

3. Sauerkraut bagel with smoked eel and mustard cream cheese from Avec/Blackbird. They even made their own bagels. My mom never made bagels, fish and cream cheese like this for me when I was a kid. When I saw they weren't serving pork belly, I was very upset . . . and then I tasted the bagel and forgot all about pork belly. It really was outstanding.

4. Pork belly with Chinese mustard on a steamed bun from Takashi (soon to be opening in the old Scylla space). The pork belly was outstanding. If this is what we can expect from Takashi, Bucktown is in for a real gem.

There were many other memorable dishes: can't remember what Vie had -- something smoked -- but I liked it a lot; the white gazpacho from Tru and the sunchoke, potato soup from Sepia with the scallop (maybe #5 on my list . . . what a perfectly cooked scallop nestled in this fantastic soup).

There were many other fine dishes, but I'll let others cover them. Overall, a very nice tasting menu . . . so good that for a brief while, I could ignore my distaste for packed crowds.

I think this event (and others like it) are a great way for chefs to show their stuff and remind people of their food and presentations. Chicago is such a competitive restaurant market that I'm surprised at the number of restaurants that seem willing to take this Monday off. But for the most part, the participating chefs really did a great job.

BR - Vie had smoked hamhock with mustard seed - excellent, which is saying a lot because they were just about the last thing I tasted because of their location. And the single carbonated grape really made TRU's white gazpacho shot exceptional - subtly sweet and surprising finish to a rich soup.

I thought North Pond's tender duck gizzard on gingerbread and Avenues' deconstructed baked potato - with an amazing prosciutto powder - were great too. I'm sad to say I actually missed one dish - Shawn McClain's. What was it?

Sorry we missed you. I went with my sister Annie and we got separated for a while - though she took refuge in the gift shop. It was great seeing Cathy and Helen - and thanks again Helen for the ride - extremely appreciated after all the wine!

Louisa Chu wrote:I'm sad to say I actually missed one dish - Shawn McClain's. What was it?

I believe McClain offered a fluke sashimi, which I recall being very good, but not exceptional.