Bonsoiree 3.0

Chef Shin has announced plans for the third incarnation of Bonsoiree. What is cool is he will be auditioning chefs next month by having them operate a pop up dinner in the restaurant and then he plans to have the new venue up and running in December. The pop up meals will be open to the public!

Here is the link to an article about this: http://chicago.grubstreet.com/2012/10/s ... stick.html

Edit - Chef Shin has announced the pop up meals will be just $15 per/person with reasonably priced beer and wine for sale. Reservations are not yet available, but a link will be up soon with a schedule and the ability to make online reservations (a credit card will be required to secure the reservation, but will not be charged in advance). Follow Bonsoiree's Facebook page for updates!

3.0, really?

First, it was a place with prepared foods carryout stuff, etc. Does anyone even remember this?

Then slightly upscale BYOB, but affordable.

Then the prix fixe thing that has been around for the last few years.

Then the most recent debacle.

So conservatively, the new thing is 5.0, but I'd call it 7 or 8.0.

I support them but man, this "brand" hardly means anything.

They are actually changing the name this time round, which I think is a good thing. It will be called Table, Donkey and Stick (after a Brothers' Grimm fairy tale) and be modeled after a Alpine Inn. The concept sounds intriguing (and the pop-up dinners to choose a chef sounds really cool), but who knows if it will gain traction and be a success. I definitely plan to hit one of the pop-up dinners - quite a bargain at $15.

Reservations for dinners on 11/5 and 11/8 went up today and are already gone... I was lucky enough to snag tables for both nights, really looking forward to them.

Grub Street wrote:And we have our first contestants! Table, Donkey and Stick, the "Alpine inn" concept that is planned for the Bonsoirée space (2728 W. Armitage) by chef Shin Thompson and partner Matt Sussman, has announced the first two chefs to compete in its series of pop-up dinners to pick the chef for the concept— and it's the battle of the Blackbird vets! The first one has the home court advantage: he's Jon Keeley, former sous chef at Bonsoirée, whose background also includes experience at Blackbird and at James Beard Award winner Ken Oringer's Toro, in Boston. His pop-up will be on Monday, November 5. But that's not to discount the next challenger, whose credentials for running a restaurant based on charcuterie and whole animal cooking are pretty unimpeachable: he's Scott Manley, a longtime veteran of Paul Virant's Vie and Perennial Virant as well as Blackbird, who most recently spent several months as one of the collaborating chefs at EL Ideas. His pop-up will be Thursday, November 8.

Anyone have info on how to (at least try) to sign up for a pop-up?

zoid wrote:Anyone have info on how to (at least try) to sign up for a pop-up?

This is the link, but who knows when the next round will be announced. Keep your eyes on their twitter and FB accounts.

Thank you!

Yeah, they really sold out quickly, I hope they release more...

They held a few back to be released via Facebook when it is closer to the date (they did not specify exactly when). They also will be releasing reservations for other dinners (where different chefs will be auditioning) in the near future. Pay attention to their Facebook page to maximize your chance of scoring seats. Definitely a fun concept and quite the bargain at $15.

On a whim I checked this morning and there are reservations available for 11/12 and 11/13. I made ones for both. Plenty still available!

I hope this works out for Shin, but the whole thing seems a wee-bit odd to me. The torpedoing of the high-end Korean concept after a couple of weeks even with all the PR and fanfare makes me think there are a lot of issues behind the scenes. Having to audition chefs in this way convinces me of it.

Thanks for the heads up, fropones! I snagged a reservation as well. For that price, I'm happy to give the experiment a try.

Yeah thanks for posting that fropones, I got a Tuesday reservation before work this morning. They just posted them to the FB page and now they are totally gone.

Thank you Fropones from me as well! I saw your post before the Facebook message came out and was able to snag a four top for Wednesday.

I am going to start a new thread for Table, Donkey and Stick since the restaurant is changing to this name.