Planning a dinner for 150+ - suggestions requested

Hello all,

This may/may not be the right forum - but figured it probably is a good one. I am, as some of you may know, in the process of organizing a conference (http://www.meshforum.org. We have mostly settled on a venue and rough date. (We're probably going to be at the HotHouse on a Monday and Tuesday).

Ideally, however, I would like to start the conference off with a reception, probably for about 150 on the Sunday evening beforehand. Conference attendees will be flying in and staying at a Loop hotels (probably south loop as HotHouse is at 31 E. Balbo). Many great downtown restaurants with capacity for 150+ people, such as Berghoffs are not open on Sunday.

So I'm looking for suggestions of a restaurant or a venue with good catering and reasonable pricing to hold a reception and dinner for 150-250 people on a Sunday evening. Ideally for <$50/person inclusive of all taxes, gratuities etc.

Most likely we would have an open bar - but would be very open to restricting it to just Wine and Beer (ideally good wine and good beers). Since this will be the first event of the conference, I want to start it off well - with good food, great service and an interesting venue. Berghoffs would most likely have fit the bill very well.

Another venue I am considering, but need more info on, is "the club" at the Chicago Symphony Center - not sure if they make it available on a Sunday evening however, but it would most certainly be a distinctive and uniquely Chicago space.

MeshForum is a non-profit, though as this is a our first year we may/may not have all of our paperwork fully in for this year, so may have to pay taxes and for-profit prices this time around.

Any suggestions?

(also - suggestions for great caterers to work with would be appreciated. The challenge being that HotHouse does not have a kitchen so caterers have to prepare all food offsite - we're going to need two breakfasts, two lunches and one dinner catered there.)

thanks!

Shannon

Hi, I'm new here. Hello to everyone and thanks for all of your enlightening and interesting posts. I'm hooked on your forum. I'd like to address your question of a caterer. Please look into Polo Cafe and Catering on south Morgan St. They are excellent caterers and have coverted an old movie theater into a banquet hall (if you need the facilities). It's in Bridgeport. If you're not aware Bridgeport is being regentrified and Polo's is within blocks of new homes in the $700K to $1M range. You'll find Polo's has a great catering menu for this sort of gatering. They have a website, the URL escapes me at the moment.

Apologies for my spelling, I'm horrified.

HotHouse is a fantastic place for music and should be an interesting venue for your meeting. It's nice you'll be able to support them financially; I suspect it will be very welcome. Sorry, I can't think of much for Sunday night. For some of your other meals have you asked Marguerite (I think that's her name) at HotHouse for suggestions? They often have outside caterers serving food at events (e.g., World Music Festival). Some are from Chicago restaurants but others are private. There will be some interesting cuisines to choose from (Liberian, anyone?). As a bonus you'll know they've worked at HotHouse before and so are familiar with its setup and limitations.

When I was planning an event a bit over a year ago for about the same number, I loved the South Hall space next to the Winter Garden at the top of the Harold Washington library. They have their own in-house caterer. Here's the link:

http://www.chipublib.org/001hwlc/corpevents/discover2a.html

Also, the Chicago Special Events sourcebook is a worthy addition to a library if you do this sort of thing on a semi-regular basis:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1556523947/qid=1105506469/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/002-6707543-3579220?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Jacki

Rene,

I'll definitely talk with HotHouse and very likely will work with one (or more) of their caterers for the meals there - however it is always good, especially with caterers, to hear about other people's experiences with them - there is quite a variation in prices and quality.

In terms of the Library though MeshForum is a non-profit (though our paperwork may not be 100% complete by the time of our first event - takes time to get all the tax exemptions etc) the nature of the conference may not lend itself to using the library facilities - for one thing sponsors of MeshForum may be doing some degree of "marketing" of their commercial products, something not allowed by the Library's terms of rental. I'm also not sure - hard to tell from their website - if the spaces are available for a Sunday evening. Good suggestion however and I'll keep it in mind for other groups I work with/advise.

thanks,

Shannon

beauford wrote:Hi, I'm new here. Hello to everyone and thanks for all of your enlightening and interesting posts. Please look into Polo Cafe and Catering on south Morgan St. They are excellent caterers and have coverted an old movie theater into a banquet hall

Welcome Beauford, we're always happy to have new participants. I want to second your Polo Cafe suggestion. I went to an event there last winter and the food was very good and I gather from the organizers that it was very reasonable. It's also an interesting space in an interesting neighborhood I would not have otherwise visited. The event I went to was a music scholarship fundraiser, so having the stage available was a real plus.

And, to address your question of spelling, you'll find that there's an "edit" button at the top of your post if you're logged in. You can use it to make any changes you want any time. Believe me, I've used it a lot!

A few years ago I attended an event this size at the House of Blues, and it was great fun. I no nothing about the prices, but would definitely recommend the venue.

Ann Fisher wrote:Welcome Beauford, we're always happy to have new participants. I want to second your Polo Cafe suggestion. I went to an event there last winter and the food was very good and I gather from the organizers that it was very reasonable. It's also an interesting space in an interesting neighborhood I would not have otherwise visited. The event I went to was a music scholarship fundraiser, so having the stage available was a real plus.

And, to address your question of spelling, you'll find that there's an "edit" button at the top of your post if you're logged in. You can use it to make any changes you want any time. Believe me, I've used it a lot!

Ann and Beauford,

Thanks for the suggestion - unfortunately for my event it probably is not workable - many of our attendees will be flying into Chicago for the conference - so we need to hold the events somewhere near to their hotels. For our first year and especially for our opening night event, we don't want to have to deal with the complications of arranging for transportation from the loop to an event and back (plus I personally don't have a car - so bridgeport is one of the less easy to access areas of Chicago for me as well). That said, I'll keep Polo Lounge in mind for other events in the future - sounds like a nice space, just too far away for this event.

Shannon

Buddy Guy's Legends sometimes hosts parties. I can't speak for their food (basic Cajun/Southern) but certainly the location, around the corner from Hot House is right.

Although I don't know if they host parties of that size, Chicago Firehouse at 1400 S. Michigan is open on Sunday and not too far away.

And remember, if you don't mind packing off everyone on the Red Line, Chinatown is only two stops down from the Hilton, and I'm sure there are several places that could give you a good per/head price on a terrific Chinese banquet.

Has anyone actually done a large banquet (for 150+) at any chinatown restaurant? Kerensa and I are also starting to look into large reception spaces (for reasons more nuptial than commercial) and I wonder if anyone has any experience dealing with chinatown restaurants on that scale.

Seth

Seth Zurer wrote: Kerensa and I are also starting to look into large reception spaces (for reasons more nuptial than commercial)
Seth

So, can we assume congratulations are in order?

Ann Fisher wrote:

Seth Zurer wrote: Kerensa and I are also starting to look into large reception spaces (for reasons more nuptial than commercial)
Seth

So, can we assume congratulations are in order?

Yep!

Last April I wrote a story about Jorgina Pereira, an accomplished Brazilian caterer who works with the Hothouse fairly often. She's quite capable of producing authentic Brazilian food for that number as well as "safer" versions for eaters who might be a little freaked out by pig ears in their feijoada. I was lucky enough to attend a dinner at her home afterward that focused mostly on Bahian dishes. If memory serves she also comes highly recommended by a certain three-initialed phantom that used to haunt the other board.

p.m. me and I'll email you the story, otherwise,

http://www.sinhaelegantcuisine.com/

Seth, I just happened to check your website and find the beautiful photos of you and K and the ring. All wonderful. Keep us in the loop as you work out the details.

Kerensa's ring