Food & Wine Magazine Entertaining Showcase 2005

Food & Wine is hosting its annual Entertaining Showcase at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Wed., Nov. 16.

A lot of great local chefs participating (Achatz, Bayless, Trotter, Kahan, Cantu, Bowles) and wine tastings with Andrea Immer Robinson.

$85 in advance, $95 at the door

http://www.foodandwine.com/ext/chicago/index.cfm

Anyone going? Any past experiences with this event?

Josh

Josh,

I looked this forum up and down before I posted the same info as you! Anyway, I apologize.

Have you found anything out thru private messages or email? I see neither of our postings got any replies...

Christine

I'm going. I'd love to meet up. Post here or feel free to PM me.

I've gone to this event the past couple of years. The food offerings are excellent but it gets awfully crowded and you really can't sit down to enjoy the food. A couple of the stars last year were Graham Elliot Bowles with his foie gras lollipops and Grant Achatz (can't remember the dish so much as the fantastic contraption that it was served on) with something having dried strawberries and perhaps truffles?

BR - did you get a chance to taste everything you wanted?

Louisa Chu wrote:BR - did you get a chance to taste everything you wanted?

I did . . . I don't recall any places running out of food, but then again, I did not stay unil the end.

I ended up going to the F&W event again . . . seemingly forgetting that I told myself I'd never go again because it's just too crowded. But I did enjoy some incredible tastes.

My favorite: NoMi - Foie Gras creme brulees w/ toasted brioche. Reason number 100 to oppose the proposed foie gras ban. This dish was incredible, and although I thought NoMi was ok, not worth the price, under Sandro Gamba, I'm now very excited to try NoMi again under its new chef, Christophe David.

Also loved Blackbird - pork 3 ways (smoked pork tenderloin - incredible; pork belly and pork sausage which tasted slightly like chorizo) w/homemade sauerkraut w/apples.

Scylla's big eye tuna w/ cherry tart was also fantastic. Very much enjoyed Salpicon's crabcakes, but their corn soup w/ star anise and serrano pepper really was amazing. MK hit a home run w/ their baked haddock and sticky toffee cake w/ dates, lady apples and caramel. Avenues' smoked eggplant w/ fruit roll up and pistachio foam also quite good.

Most creative: Moto w/ lemon cheesecake in the form of edible paper -- gimmicky yet tasty. Also squeeze tube filled with peppermint and I think white chocolate type mixture which I liked a lot.

And most shocking: Renaissance hotel -- lamb chops w/ pomegranate reduction and mushroom spaetzle. Not just good but excellent . . . I never would have expected this from the Renaissance.

Most disappointing: Trotters to go -- several samples, all uninspiring.

Again I enjoyed the food (and wine) samples quite a bit. But couldn't they find a place where everyone is not running into each other???

I went with my sister Annie - we loved it. Yes, it was a little crowded during the rush - 7:30-8:30 - but there was always a good flow, plenty of food already plated - except Paul Kahan who personally plated each of Blackbird/avec's - which he said was his version of choucroute garnie which yes, was worth the short wait. It's not currently on his menus - we should petition for it. The great Merry Edwards poured her own mythical wine herself. By 9 there was almost no one there and at the end it was a free-for-all. Thanks to Omar Cantu, we took home a small coveted stack of Moto's lemon cheesecakes. Would have loved to have taken home some of the pipettes too - pastry chef Ben Roche said it was pine flavoured/a taste of Christmas - and Alinea pastry chef Alex Stupak's pineapple/liquorice dry caramel - a powder that turns chewy in the mouth. Also a great giveaway were the Target Riedel Vivant glasses. I do hope I can make it again next year.

Louisa Chu wrote: Thanks to Omar Cantu, we took home a small coveted stack of Moto's lemon cheesecakes. Would have loved to have taken home some of the pipettes too - pastry chef Ben Roche said it was pine flavoured/a taste of Christmas.

Ahhh ... pine ... that's it --that really was quite impressive. Tasted so much better than it sounds.

As for Paul Kahan's charcouterie, I was most impressed with the smoked pork tenderloin and how it tasted alongside the sauerkraut.

BR wrote:

Louisa Chu wrote: Thanks to Omar Cantu, we took home a small coveted stack of Moto's lemon cheesecakes. Would have loved to have taken home some of the pipettes too - pastry chef Ben Roche said it was pine flavoured/a taste of Christmas.

Ahhh ... pine ... that's it --that really was quite impressive. Tasted so much better than it sounds.

As for Paul Kahan's charcouterie, I was most impressed with the smoked pork tenderloin and how it tasted alongside the sauerkraut.

LOL - to me a piney taste of Christmas sounds really good - and yes, it was.

So you're in to petition Paul Kahan for choucroute garnie??

Louisa Chu wrote: So you're in to petition Paul Kahan for choucroute garnie??

Definitely! Can you get him to try a foie gras creme brulee too? yummmm

I always wanted to eat my christmas tree as a kid. They smell so good and yummy when you bring them home for the holidays. Hey check out star trek the next next next generation at www.cantudesigns.com

homaro cantu wrote:I always wanted to eat my christmas tree as a kid. They smell so good and yummy when you bring them home for the holidays.

Hmmmm . . . I hope you are not too big of a fan of the smell of a new car . . . but just in case you are, please promise us that you won't translate that into a pipette full of "new car taste."