We were at the market on Wednesday and picked up some beautiful grapes from Mick Klug Farms.  Without an idea of what we were going to do with them, we kept looking and tasting the beautiful red Candice and green Golden Rod grapes for a couple of days.  So today they go into an Artic Char Ceviche that we cure and cold smoke.  We add some of the Char to the Grapes with fried Capers and a Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette. And the rest of them are turning into sorbet right now. That will be on the menu tomorrow.

Monday starts the special dine around prix fixe menu for the Chicago Gourmet Event. We have a three course menu available for $33 per person every night and Jeff will be adding a wine pairing. The menu features Becker Lane Pork Loin as an appetizer, Alaskan Coho Salmon as an entrée, and Seedling Farms Apple Cider Sorbet for dessert. If you dine at five of the participating restaurants from August 30^th until September 26^th you receive a free one day pass to the event. Not a bad deal at all.

It’s a crazy growing season when we have beautiful tomatoes and peaches available at the same time as apples and pears. Is it all the rain or global warming? Not sure but it is a challenge to think a little differently about our seasons.

….Michael Batterberry

The world lost a great, passionate, gentleman on Wednesday July 28^th when Michael Batterberry passed away in New York City.  Michael was the founder of Food and Wine magazine and also the founder of Food Arts magazine.  I had the good fortune to meet Michael on many occasions and be invited by him to a number of events to both speak at and cook at through the years. It’s hard to imagine the world of food and wine as it is now, without crediting Michael for educating and opening the minds of so many people. Michael will be missed by so many of us.

It’s been a great summer here in Chicago so far with so much coming up too. The weather has been great except for some extreme rain storms this week. On Wednesday we are cooking a dinner with the team from Outstanding in the Field at the Growing Power Farms location in Grant Park. I went by with our manager Jeff and Laurel from Growing Power, and the site is going to be spectacular. The views of the city surrounding it are beautiful. Hopefully we will get one of these great days we have been having. We have a few days of work to get ready for the dinner and we have some great produce from Growing Power, some fruits from Seedling Farms, Becker Lane Farms Pork, and some outstanding Spanish wines. It should be a very fun event. We did a dinner at Peter’s Seedling Farm last year which was a lot of fun and we are excited to be doing a dinner again this year with the Outstanding in the Field team.
There are so many amazing and beautiful items available at the market right now. The corn we have been getting from Nichols Farms is like candy, so sweet and delicious. We have a Corn and Crab Chowder, a Corn Pudding and a Corn and Pork Belly Hash on the menu right now. The heirloom Tomatoes from Green Acres Farms are just gorgeous and we have been getting a variety of them. We are featuring them on a salad with some House Made Mozzarella Cheese. They are also used in a Squash and Tomato Gratin that is served with our Skirt Steak. I am looking forward to see what august will bring, and it should be another great month for local products.

Some great events are coming up this month starting with the Green City Market BBQ on Thursday the 15th. I believe this year will be the biggest turnout ever for the event. After the weather we had last year, we are due to have a beautiful night for it this year!! On the following Thursday the 22nd we are participating in the Chefs and the City event at the Peninsula Hotel which benefits Vital Bridges. It is going to be a great night for a great cause.

Our patio has been rocking with the nice weather. Let’s hope it stays this way and we hope to see you here soon!!

Even though I am allergic to seeded berries, I am always excited to have strawberries show up. Presently we are doing a strawberry tartlet with vanilla bean ice cream and vanilla honey. I’m being told that we will begin to see other berries possibly as soon as next week.

Soft Shell Crabs have been very beautiful this season and we are still featuring them two ways. One as a bisque and the other pan roasted with a salsa of ramps, avocados and serrano chilies. Hopefully they will be around a bit longer.

It’s June and hockey season is going strong here in Chicago. So far this has been a very exciting series with game five tomorrow night. For a change we have a home team to root for!!!

The Green City Market officially opened this week and I am really looking forward to all the great products from all of our awesome Midwest farmers.  There are lots of fun things going on with Rioja weeks running right now and Monday and Tuesday two events with our friends from Three Floyds Brewery celebrating Craft Beer Week.  We have a Spanish Wine tasting event Wednesday with nine wines and passed appetizers for $25 starting at 5:30 pm. Then Friday night kicks off the annual NRA show which is always an exciting time. It’s great to get a chance to see people who make it to Chicago that we don’t often get to see. And on Sunday afternoon we will participate in one of my favorite events, the 10^th annual Food Arts Magazine BBQ which benefits Share Our Strength.  This is going to be the ninth year in a row for me. I have been there when it has been too hot, too cold and also beautiful. We are due for a beautiful day for the event this year!

I had the opportunity to participate in an event at the Cultural Center with Les Dames d’Escoffier this past Monday night called Fashion Plates. Six chefs were paired with some amazing and talented local fashion designers. Each pair was given two words to inspire a dish and an outfit. I was very lucky to be paired with Richard Morse and Daryl Sneed from Studio 5p1t who were just great to work with. The event was fantastic and Limelight Catering and their staff did an amazing job getting out multiple courses of 275 plates. Judith Hines and Melissa Gamble from the Cultural Affairs Department conceived the event and it is always so nice to work with them.

So the Bulls beat the Cavs last night and hopefully will continue to make this series interesting. And let’s hope the Blackhawks can win this round and get to the next series.

Tomorrow our first Asparagus are getting delivered and we are starting to see some more items being available with this unusually early warming spring.  More and more greens are coming around and we are very close to seeing the Green City Market move to its spring, summer and fall location again. One of my favorite spring veggies are fava beans. We are pairing those up with some spring onions, spring garlic, piquillo peppers and some fresh ricotta cheese that we herb and infuse with roasted garlic.

The dish gets a little bit of preserved lemon vinaigrette to finish it.

This next month is a fun one as we get ready for lots of events and it’s only four weeks until the National Restaurant Show is in town.  This coming Thursday kicks off a great weekend, the annual Art Chicago event at the Merchandise Mart.

We started getting some beautiful lamb ribs from Pinn Oak Farm in Wisconsin and put them on the menu last weekend. We braise them with Robert the Bruce beer from Three Floyds, some molasses and poblano peppers. The braising liquid is the base of the BBQ sauce for the ribs. We smoke some sour cream slaw dressing for a chayote-jicama-cabbage slaw and serve that with the ribs.

Saturday is going to be a fun event, the second annual Baconfest. I love bacon like everyone else, but who knew how wild people are about it. Apparently they sold out the event in minutes. We are making a cured and smoked pork belly, with crispy bacon, and an avocado and lettuce salsa with roasted garlic aioli. We are doing the morning event which is 11 am until 2 pm.

Next Tuesday is our dinner with Dietzler Farms and I am going to take a trip up and see the farm on Monday. Let’s hope the sun is shining again soon!

On the thirteenth of April we are doing a dinner with Michelle Dietzler of Dietzler Farms. Lots of great beef from her farm, and we have some fun dishes on the menu that evening. It begins with a reception and follows with a four course dinner for sixty five dollars per person inclusive of tax and gratuity. I am excited to be doing the dinner and excited to have Michelle here for it.

The new schedule for the Outstanding in the Field dinners is out and we are doing a dinner with Growing Power Farms in Grant Park on Wednesday August fourth. We are very happy to be working with Outstanding in the Field again this year.

Tomorrow the shade sail goes up on the patio and Tuesday the furniture comes out. And yes, I am optimistic!!

I went and served some food at the Redmoon Theater Anniversary event last evening. It was an amazing party with so many talented performers, musicians, and some great restaurants serving food. If you haven’t had a chance to see the theater company, you definitely owe it to yourself to get over and see them.  I wish I could have stayed later but it been a long day.

One more week and it’s the official beginning of spring. I just hope it begins to really feel like that!!