Entries associated with the tag "Pastoral":

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Chef Daniel Tucker shows how to make fresh mozzarella at home as part of Room 21’s cooking demo series, which runs the first Thursday of each month (next month features eggnog). Mozzarella samples will be served with prosciutto and a wine pairing. Reservations recommended. 6-7 PM, 2110 S. Wabash, 312-328-1198, $10 (which you’ll get back as a discount on your tab if you order dinner at the restaurant).

Taste products from Vermont Butter & Cheese with company founder Allison Hooper at Pastoral's Loop store. 5-7 PM, 53 E. Lake, 312-658-1250, free. 

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Lush Wine and Spirits on Halsted hosts a tasting of winter brews from Bell's. 6-9 PM, 1257 S. Halsted, 312-738-1900, free. 

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The sixth annual Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer, presented by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, features area breweries including Mickey Finn’s, Goose Island, Three Floyds, Flossmoor Station, and Rock Bottom as well as farther-flung brewers. The competition covers eight style categories, ranging from classic porter/stout to barleywine to experimental; attendees can sample the entries at one of two sessions. 1-5 PM or 6-10 PM, Chicago Journeyman Plumbers’ Local Union 130, Stephen M. Bailey Auditorium, 1340 W. Washington, illinoisbeer.com, $35 in advance, $45 at the door.

Executive chef Jeff Mauro of Powerhouse shares tips for cooking Thanksgiving dinner, including how to roast the perfect turkey, prepare spoonbread, braised red cabbage, dried fruit couscous, and desserts. There'll be samples of the recipes and wine. 11 AM, 215 N. Clinton, 312-928-0800, $40.

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Sheffield's offers a class on the flavors and styles of beer with Brett VanderKamp, John Haggerty, and Fred Bueltmann of New Holland Brewing Company; attendees will taste five New Holland beers paired with appetizers. 7-8 PM, 3258 N. Sheffield, 773-281-4989, $25.

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The Freedom Museum’s Table of Nations, a series that “expands minds and palates through stimulating conversations on freedom issues in select countries,” meets at Ethiopian Diamond for dinner and a discussion of famine, genocide, and the current crises in Sudan, Somalia, and other parts of the Horn of Africa. 6-8 PM, 6120 N. Broadway, 312-222-7871, $35, $25 museum members.

Between Boutique Cafe and Lounge offers a fixed-price tasting menu by executive chef Radhika Desai, a contestant on Top Chef: New York, at a viewing party for the premiere of the show's fifth season. Among the offerings: curried lobster bisque, braised duck samosas, and ginger-chocolate mousse in chocolate tarts. 9 PM, 1324 N. Milwaukee, 773-292-0585, $50.

Pastoral's Lakeview location offers free samples of La-Dee-Dahs, caramel and nougat swirls dipped in chocolate from the new Chicago company Whimsical Candy, tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Owner Chris Kadow-Dougherty will be on hand to answer questions; there'll also be wine pairings.

Friday from 7 to 9 PM, Treasure Island Foods (2121 N. Clybourn) hosts a Belgian beer tasting class with Johnny Fincioen of the Global Beer Network and Anthony Norkus of Louis Glunz Beer. They'll lead a sampling of ten beers, including Wittekerke White, Piraat Triple, and Petrus Blonde Ale. $20, reservations required (773-880-8880).

Great Chefs, the annual fund-raiser for the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Chicago, is Friday from 5 to 9 PM at the Sheraton Chicago. There'll be dishes like mango-lobster mousse and mushroom bruschetta from Carnivale, Chalkboard, La Madia, and others, plus cocktails, wine, and a silent auction. $100.

Saturday from 6:30-8:30 PM, Taste Food and Wine hosts a free tasting of Partida Tequila, with margaritas as well as samples of the blanco, reposado, and anejo tequilas.

Also Saturday from 6:30-8:30 PM, Pastoral's Loop location offers a free tasting of their picks for summer picnic wines. 

777 Wine Week starts Monday at David Burke’s Primehouse, which means that through Friday diners can taste seven wines with lunch (11:30 AM-3 PM) for a $7 donation to Common Threads, a nonprofit (cofounded by Oprah chef Art Smith) devoted to kids’ nutrition. There’s a different theme each day, starting with chardonnay and continuing with cabernet sauvignon, summer wine, “new” old-world wine, and South American wine. Chef Rick Gresh will prepare daily specials that pair well with the featured wines.

Geja's Cafe's Winemaker Dinner, Monday from 6:30-9:30 PM, pairs wines from Hahn Estate with cheese, meat, and chocolate fondues. $50 (includes tax and tip). 

Saturday at 10 AM at Kendall College (900 N. North Branch), the Chicago Foodways Roundtable presents Chef Louis Szathmáry and "The Bakery" Restaurant, a talk by Barbara Kuck on the Hungarian immigrant who founded the longtime Chicago institution. $3. 

Pastoral will be serving free duck foie gras on homemade crostini at both its Lakeview (2945 N. Broadway, 11 AM-7 PM) and Loop (53 E. Lake, noon-6 PM) locations this Saturday in an impromptu celebration of the city's repeal of the foie gras ban--never mind that the repeal doesn't go into effect till later this month. This may be your last chance to taste the forbidden liver while it's still forbidden; after that it's just controversial like before. 

The Drinking and Writing Brewery celebrates American Craft Beer Week with the second annual Beerfly Alleyfight, a “tri-pairing” of beer, food, and art, Saturday from 1-5 PM at Rock Bottom Brewery (1 E. Grand). Ten home brewers will bring a beer and food pairing, and a local artist will “interpret” each entry “in an ass-kickin’, alleyfight way” in a boxing ring. The artists include Neo-Futurists Jay Torrence and Diana Slickman, dancer Mindy Meyers, potter Marla Seibold, and the musical duo Twang Bang.

The annual Rare Breeds Show at Garfield Farm Museum, near Geneva, is Sunday from 11 AM to 4 PM. This year it features Don Schrider of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, who'll lead a seminar on rare chicken breeding and selection Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM ($20, reservations required). At the show itself, owners of rare breeds like fainting goats (pictured), Babydoll Southdown sheep, and miniature Hereford cattle will show and discuss their animals. $6 adults, $3 children under 13.

The Chicago History Museum's Exploring Chicago's Yeast Side: A History of Beer, a boat tour with Berghoff beer provided, is Sunday from 6:30 to 9 PM, leaving from the Chicago Line Cruises dock at North Pier, 465 N. McClurg Court. $45 ($40 members).

Sunday from 4-7 PM at Weegee's (3659 W. Armitage), mixologists and Slow Foodies Allen Katz and Bridget Albert host Slow Food Chicago’s benefit "Consider the Cocktail," “a slow celebration of the repeal of Prohibition.” During an evening of “fine drink, long tales, and festive camaraderie” (plus hors d’oeuvres), they’ll give a talk and demonstration on our country’s contributions to the art of imbibing. Proceeds go to Slow Food USA. $50, reservations required.

Tours of the Rick Bayless Organic Garden—a mix of traditional and raised beds, containers, and indoor garden spaces on three adjacent Bucktown lots—begin Wednesday, 6:30-7:30 PM. Bill Shores, who manages the garden, will discuss the chef’s outdoor kitchen, commercial organic vegetable garden, and worm composting systems as well as what’s in season now (salad greens). Additional tours are scheduled for June 11, July 16 and 23, August 13, and September 10. E-mail for reservations and address. $20.

Zinfandel Advocates and Producers is holding a tasting with wineries including Gnarly Head, Peachy Canyon, and Rancho Zabaco at the Mid-America Club Tuesday from 6:30-8:30 PM. $45.

Thursday from 7 to 10 PM at Toast of the Town, Wine Enthusiast’s annual extravaganza at the Field Museum, more than 500 wines and spirits will be paired with food from 30 restaurants, including Carlos’, Mambo Grill, Le Lan, and Vermilion. $95 ($185 with VIP tasting at 6 PM).

Zocalo celebrates Cinco de Mayo early this year, with margaritas, wine, beer, and hors d'ouevres Thursday from 6 to 8 PM. $40. 

The Oak Park Conservatory’s annual Herb Sale Saturday from 8 AM to 3 PM features plants for the "urban potager," including vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers, all chosen for their ability to thrive in Chicago’s climate as well as for their flavor.

Saturday at 6:30 PM, Pastoral's downtown location is hosting a class on how to create infused artisan vodka, using Death's Door vodka and ingredients like peanuts, bacon, lavender, cucumber, basil, and horseradish. Cherry lavender fizz cocktails (with lavender gin) and horseradish egg sours (with horseradish-infused vodka) will be served during the class, and each participant will take home a jar of their own infused vodka. $50, reservations required.

The Cuisine of Afghanistan, the latest dinner and class in the Oriental Institute’s series on food from the Near East, will highlight traditional specialties such as mantu (meat dumplings), ashak (scallion dumplings), and quabili palau (lamb stew served over seasoned rice) at Kabul House Sunday at 7 PM. Owner Abdul Qazi will explain the preparation and history of each dish he serves and share some of his favorite recipes. $45 (includes tax, tip, and wine).

Tuesday from noon to 2 PM is the reopening of Hull-House Kitchen, a program to honor the legacy of Jane Addams and the original soup kitchen at her Hull House, the first of its kind in Chicago. Every Tuesday at lunchtime in the Residents' Dining Hall, Hull-House Museum staffers will serve free organic soup and bread during a discussion of topics related to sustainability, health, food supply, community, and the environment.

Saturday at this year's Chicagoland Flower & Garden Show, Garden Gourmet features cooking demonstrations from chefs Alex Cheswick of May Street Market, Darrel Anderson of Dinner’s Ready, and Ina Pinkney of Ina’s at 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM, respectively. All recipes will use ingredients that can be grown around the house, and the first 100 people attending each session get to sample the food. Demonstrations continue throughout the show’s run through Sunday, March 16. $12-14, $5 children ages 4-12.

Massimiliano Vivalda samples out wines from his eponymous winery, including barbera d'asti and dolcetto, in a free tasting at the Broadway location of Pastoral on Saturday from 2-4 PM.

Bring home the bacon--not to mention ham and Polish sausage--at the annual Easter Ham Bingo at the American Legion Franklin D. Roosevelt Post No. 923, Saturday at 7 PM. There'll be a bar and food (not just the pig-based prizes) in addition to the bingo. Free to attend; there's a "minimal charge" to play. 1824 W. Cortland, 773-338-7373

Gene Baur, founder of the farm animal rescue and protection agency Farm Sanctuary, which campaigned for Chicago’s foie gras ban, discusses his new book, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, Monday at 6 PM. It examines ethical questions raised by large-scale production of meat, milk, and eggs and the issues that small farmers face in an industry dominated by factory farms. At DePaul Center's North Cafe, 11th floor, 1 E. Jackson, 312-362-6799.

The Book Stall at Chestnut Court hosts a luncheon at Corner Cooks with Barbara Damrosch, author of The Garden Primer, Monday at noon. Reservations are $27, $15 of which goes to Open Lands.

The University Village location of Lush Wine and Spirits hosts "Cabernet Cage Fight: Down and Dirty International Cabernet," a tasting Monday from 7:30 to 9 PM that highlights the differences between old-world Bordeaux-style cabs and wines from Australia, California, and Chile—the only country in the world with old vines that haven’t been infected by the pest phylloxera. $30.

Wednesday from 6 to 8 PM, the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum hosts a Table of Nations discussion on Pakistan at Chopal Kabab and Steak. Over Pakistani food, participants will discuss the prospect of peace in Pakistan and the country's relationship with the U.S. Reservations required; $35 ($25 members).

The Alzheimer's Association's annual benefit A Toast to Remember is Thursday from 6 to 9 PM at the River East Arts Center. It offers wines from small wineries including Scherrer, Guilliams, Ogden Olson, and Tensley; Joey Tensley will also be on hand to discuss his wines. $75 in advance, $85 at the door.

In an effort to liven up a tourism season, the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau has coordinated Chicago's first official restaurant week, Eat It Up. Starting Friday and continuing through 2/29, 35 local restaurants will offer three-course prix fixe lunches for $21.95 and dinners for $31.95.

Culinary Historians of Chicago presents Flavors of the Fruitland: An Ode to Michigan, a talk by Justin Rashid of American Spoon Foods, Saturday from 10 AM to noon at the Robert Morris College Institute of Culinary Arts, eighth floor. He'll discuss fruit varieties and history in Michigan, specifically the tart cherries of western Michigan and the role they've played in his company, and samples of American Spoon's products will be available. $5 ($3 for students; free for CHC members).

Provenance Food and Wine's Logan Square location celebrates its second anniversary with birthday cake, wine, food samples, and a drawing on Saturday from 3-6 PM.

Delilah's hosts its tenth annual Vintage Strong Beer Fest, with more than 70 beers from 50 breweries, Saturday from noon to 6 PM. As the name implies, most of the brews will be strong ales, and multiple vintages of some will be served—including the 1989 and 1999 J.W. Lees Harvest Ale and eight vintages of Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barley Wine. Other offerings include Anchor Old Foghorn Ale, Dogfish Head Immort Ale, Unibroue La Fin du Monde, and Malheur Millennium. $20.

In celebration of winter and the Museum of Modern Ice exhibit in Millennium Park, Pastoral's new downtown location is offering a free tasting of ice wines—sweet wines produced from grapes that freeze on the vine—Saturday from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Resident sommelier Jan Henrichsen will provide some background on the wines, which have a high sugar concentration because the grapes are allowed to ripen for several months longer than those harvested in the fall and are pressed while still frozen, allowing the sugars to be extracted while the water stays frozen inside the grapes.

Saturday is the ninth annual "Open That Bottle Night," created to give people a reason to open that special bottle of wine they've been saving, and Taste Food and Wine in Rogers Park is honoring it with a free wine tasting from 6 to 7:30 PM. BYOB Chicago author Jean Iversen will be signing books, and there'll be samples of food from BYO restaurants in the area. 

Ashtrays to Art, an exhibition of work by 20 local artists using ashtrays collected from bars and restaurants since the statewide smoking ban went into effect January 1, ends with a silent auction of the art to benefit Erie Neighborhood House Tuesday from 6 to 8 PM at the Architrouve. Susan Goss of West Town Tavern, who’s been involved with the project since the beginning, will prepare cold turkey canapes with pomegranate seeds and apple, smoked pork butt biscuits, bruschetta with ash-coated goat cheese, and smoked trout rings, all with wine pairings. It's free to attend.

Fat Cat hosts a New Holland beer dinner, featuring a different beer selection from the New Holland Brewery with each of the five courses, Tuesday at 7 PM. Among the offerings are steamed mussels with tomato orange fennel broth, chili-braised pork rillettes, and for dessert, an "uptown car bomb" and creme brulee. $65.

Tuesday from 6 to 8 PM, Just Grapes offers a class on the principles of biodynamic farming and winemaking with Erinn Benziger of Benziger Family Winery and sommelier Don Sritong, owner of Just Grapes. They'll "demonstrate the principles we discuss" with wines from Benziger and other wineries. $65.

The Globe Pub hosts its annual Burns Supper Thursday at 7 PM to celebrate the birthday of poet Robert Burns (which is actually January 25). There will be haggis, tatties and neeps, scotch, and a Scottish bagpiper. $10 cover charge.

Barbara Glunz, third-generation owner of the Old Town wine and spirits emporium House of Glunz, and Tribune food editor Carol Haddix give a talk Saturday at 10 AM at the Chicago History Museum called 25 Years of Great Chicago Cooking and Drinking. They’ll also discuss and sign the recently published Chicago Cooks: 25 Years of Chicago Culinary History and Great Recipes from Les Dames d’Escoffier. A ChicaGourmets luncheon featuring recipes from the cookbook follows at 12:30 at Naha; Haddix will attend. The talk costs $5; the lunch is $79.

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba and the Instituto Cervantes kick off a six-week course on Spanish language and cuisine Saturday from 11 AM to 1 PM at the cafe. The language part is food-oriented and designed for novice speakers; the cuisine part involves food and wine pairings from a different region of Spain each week. On Saturday chef Tim Cottini focuses on Seville with a menu including shaved pata negra (the Iberian cured ham that only recently became available in the U.S.), grilled vegetable cannelloni, duck-stuffed pears with rainbow chard, and crema Catalana. Classes are every Saturday through March 1 and enrollment is limited. $250 for all six weeks.

Chili Fest at Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church offers all-you-can-eat hot, mild, or vegetarian chili for $6 ($4 for children under 10) from 4 to 6 PM on Saturday. 4511 N. Hermitage, 773-561-2610.

The Asian American Coalition of Chicago's Lunar New Year Celebration Dinner is Saturday, starting at 5 PM with a cocktail reception, exhibits, and a political forum. Dinner follows the 6:30 opening ceremonies and presentation of awards, after which the UIC Banghra Team and the KAPWA Dance Group of Loyola University will perform. Tickets are $70 per person or $700 for a table of 10.

Pastoral's downtown location is introducing free wine tastings on the last Saturday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30 PM; this month focuses on organic, biodynamic, and sustainable production methods.

The 81st annual Raccoon Dinner in Delafield, Wisconsin is this Saturday from 4 to 8 PM. According to the Trib, you should also be able to find the critter closer to home, but to experience what inspired Cathy Lambrecht of LTH Forum to bring some 'coon back for Moto chef Homaro Cantu to prepare a few years ago, you'll have to drive for a couple of hours.

Chicago Originals, an organization of local independent restaurants, has a "restaurant week" that starts Sunday and continues through next Sunday, February 3. Member restaurants (see a complete list here) will offer three-course dinners for $20.08 and select bottles of wine for the same price.

Catholic Charities' d'Vine Affair, a wine-tasting fund-raiser for its self-sufficiency programs that takes place Sunday from 2-6 PM at the Union League Club of Chicago, features wines from over 50 vintners, hors d'oeuvres, and desserts. There's also a wine appreciation seminar with Patrick Fegan of the Chicago Wine School and sommelier Bob Bansberg, a silent auction, and a raffle drawing. Tickets are $120.

Chuck’s Southern Comforts Cafe boasts that its two-day Mardi Gras Bash, Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 to 10:30 PM at Burbank Manor, offers "the best Cajun/Creole food north of the Mason-Dixon line." Among the dishes included in the extensive buffet are seafood gumbo, Cajun tenderloin, crawfish etouffee with andouille, fried alligator, curried chicken a la Paul Prudhomme, and tilapia stuffed with corn bread and crawfish. The buffet closes at 8 PM, but the party continues with performances by Hurricane Gumbo (Tuesday) and Wayne Baker Brooks (Wednesday). $45-$47.

Tonight at 6 PM, Provenance Food and Wine gets in on the Beaujolais nouveau action with release parties at both its locations (the party goes until 8:30 at the Logan Square store; 7:30 at the Lincoln Square one). These wines, aged just six to eight weeks, are said to be indicative of the quality of the vintage—but have you ever had a good one? The Domaine Dupueble Pere et Fils beaujolais featured at these tastings may surprise you yet; owner Tracy Kellner says that last year’s wine, from the same vineyard, was “dare I say, complex.”

Chef Jake Linzinmeir demonstrates how to cook several Thanksgiving recipes involving that holiday mainstay Amstel Light today from 4-8 PM at Union Station. Visitors will get free food samples, an Amstel Light glass, and an Amstel Light recipe booklet.

Pastoral celebrates the opening of its downtown location at 53 E. Lake with "delectable nibbles and fine wines" from 6-8 PM tonight. 

West Lakeview Liquors has a free tasting Friday from 6-9 PM of all the beers from New Belgium Brewing Co, including the seasonal 2 Below.

“Drooling will be tolerated” at A Cake Walk Through Southern History (PDF), a talk on the history of southern cakes Saturday from 10 AM to noon by cookbook author Nancie McDermott. Best known for her books exploring southeast Asian cuisine, she’s recently focused her energies closer to home, compiling the cookbook Southern Cakes, which features classics like the 13-layer and the Lady Baltimore. Presented, with samples, by the Culinary Historians of Chicago. $5.

Bill Kurtis, founder of grass-fed beef company Tallgrass Beef, signs his Prairie Table Cookbook Saturday at 2 PM at the Skokie Barnes & Noble.

The Dill Pickle Food Co-op hosts a fund-raiser Saturday featuring one-man-band Willis P. Jenkins, Bobby Conn in a laptop duo with Monica BouBou, and Pit Er Pat. The 125-member co-op, which recently found a Logan Square retail space it hopes to move into next year, is seeking additional member subscriptions at $50 annually for five years. $15 suggested donation, cash bar. UPDATE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Starting Saturday and continuing every weekend through December 23, Fannie May offers a free Chocolate Ferry between Ogilvie Transportation Center and Michigan Avenue. Passengers will receive complimentary chocolate samples and a coupon for a free cup of hot chocolate at the Fannie May flagship store.

Chicago Diner celebrates its 25th anniversary by offering both dine-in and takeout vegetarian Thanksgiving dinners next week. Entree options include veggie turkey, “beefy Wellington,” pumpkin ravioli, and a “holiday raw plate”; in-house seatings are at noon, 2, 4, and 6 PM Thursday, November 22, and cost $35.95 per person ($40.95 for the raw menu, $28.95 for carryout). Reservations required.

Others who know in advance that they won’t be cooking up a turkey can reserve a Thanksgiving dinner to go from Cyrano’s Bistrot starting Sunday. The six-course meal includes four appetizers, soup, an entree choice of rotisserie-cooked turkey, duck, or chicken, vegetables, a cheese course, and dessert. Pickup is Thursday, November 22, between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM.

Pastoral, which has operated for years from a Lakeview storefront (2945 N. Broadway), opened for its first lunch rush today at its new location, at 53 E. Lake. Among the customers the general response seemed to be: "We’re so glad this place has come to the neighborhood."

According to owner Greg O’Neill there were many reasons this spot made sense. "We might have ended up farther north, in someplace like Evanston," he said, "but frankly, this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. The Loop is exploding with many high-end residential buildings, then there's the embedded Loop working population--over a quarter million in a quarter mile--and tourist hotels going up all over." In addition, of course, we Chicagoans like us some cheese.

I decided to grab lunch, and when I asked a counterman about his favorite sandwich, he pointed me to the Bocadillo de la Mancha, a well-balanced blend of salty "Black Label" serrano ham, slightly creamy Manchego cheese, and membrillo, a quince paste with a sweetness that complements both the ham and cheese. For dessert, I picked up a few ounces of Crater Lake Blue Cheese, a relatively mild and soft Roquefort-style cheese pulsing with delicate tingles of mold.

Pastoral is the first local artisanal cheese store to open a second location, and the new digs give O'Neill and co-owner/proprietor Ken Miller the space to offer 150 rare, hand-crafted cheeses, in addition to hams, wine, and accompaniments. And this is only the beginning: Marion Street Cheese Market plans to add a wine bar and expand its space by seven times, and New York's Artisanal is scheduled to open a vast cheese emporium here next year.

I asked O'Neill about the growing popularity of fancy cheese, and he replied, "People have the sense that 'if I’m going to be bad, I might as well be bad with something good.'"

The new store is open from 10:30 AM to 8 PM seven days a week. Tables and chairs are on order, and once they’re in place at Pastoral, you’ll be able to take out or eat in.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society hosts a tasting of more than 60 rare single-malt scotches Thursday at 6:30 PM at the Union League Club of Chicago. The $120 admission fee ($105 for SMWS members) includes a dinner buffet  and premium cigars. Reservations required. 

Thursday at 6 PM, chef Christopher Prosperi of the Connecticut restaurant Metro Bis will prepare a three-course tasting and demonstration menu for Cooking With Heart II, a benefit for the Gerber/Hart library. It's at the Whole Foods Market on Halsted, and tickets are $50 per person.

The Royster with the Oyster festival at Shaw's Crab House kicks off Friday with a party at the Schaumburg location from 5:30-7:30 featuring free oysters with the purchase of any Goose Island beer. Oyster Week begins Monday at both locations with nightly oyster-slurping contests, live blues performances, and fresh cold-water oysters on the half shell ($11.95 a dozen, $6.50 for a half). The event culminates Friday, October 19, with a tent party at the Chicago location. From 3 to 10 PM live bands will accompany a shucking competition and the "National Championship Slurp-Off." The party's $10.

Saturday at 10 AM, the Chicago Foodways Roundtable hosts a talk at Kendall College on Learning to Cook in 1898: a Chicago Culinary Memoir, presented by author Eleanor Hudera Hanson and editor Ellen F. Steinberg. Part cookbook, part biography, the book recounts the efforts of a young Jewish housewife living in Chicago at the turn of the century to educate herself about cooking and nutrition. It costs $2.

Alphabet Jell-O, a Rice Krispie treat shaped like a high heel—anything’s possible at the Roosevelt branch library’s Tasteful Reading: Edible Books and Afternoon Tea, Saturday from 1-3 PM. All ages are invited to create an edible "book," which can be any food-based concoction inspired by a favorite novel, story, or poem. Participants won’t get to taste their favorites, but they can vote on them over tea and cookies. Register in advance to submit a design.

The Efferfest World Sparkling Wine Festival, Saturday from 3-6 PM at Pops for Champagne, features more than 30 sparklers from around the world as well as appetizers and Brazilian jazz by Trio Mare. It's $50 per person.

Lake Side Cafe celebrates its two-year anniversary Saturday with free samples in the afternoon, an organic vegan buffet from 6-8 PM, and live music and poetry readings at 8:30. Tickets for the buffet and performances are $18 in advance, $20 at the door.

The final cook-off for Ballo's Just Roll With It meatball contest is Sunday at 11 AM, followed by a public tasting and festivities at 2 PM.

Slow Food Chicago hosts an apple dinner Monday at 6:30 at Hot Chocolate. Each of the four courses features a different type of apple from Seedling Fruit and is paired with a Goose Island beer (even dessert). It's $65, not including tax or tip. 

Pastoral offers a class on unpasteurized cheese Tuesday at 7:30 with Judy Schad of Capriole, the Indiana producer of farmstead goat cheeses. 

Fulton's on the River marks the beginning of stone crab season with a four-course dinner Wednesday at 6 to benefit Chicago Parkways. Chef Rick DeLeon plans to go along on a crabbing expedition in Key West to personally choose the stone crab claws. The dinner costs $95 and includes wine pairings. 

The Wine Discount Center's Elston Avenue store hosts "a unique and oddly healthy" event Thursday, pairing fruits from Seedling Fruit--fresh, grilled, and in salads, entrees, and desserts--with wines. It starts at 7 PM and costs $25 per person.

Pastoral offers a free tasting Thursday of Point Reyes blue cheese, plus a chance to meet Jill Giacomini-Basch, part of the family that makes the cheese. She'll be at the Broadway store from 6-8 PM.

Feeling flush? Friday at 7, Eno is opening its three bottles of 1945 Chateau Latour, one of the rarest and most expensive wines in the world. They're offering 2-ounce and 6-ounce tastings, which will cost $250 and $750, respectively. Reservations are recommended.

Even if a taste of some of the world's most expensive wine is out of your price range, tasting the most expensive coffee in the world might be feasible. On Saturday at 7 PM at its Roasting Works, Intelligentsia brews the famous Geisha coffee beans from the Hacienda la Esmeralda estate in Panama, for which it paid a record $130 a pound at auction. $25 gets you a taste of the premium coffee and a quarter pound of beans from the same estate, though not the super expensive ones. If you want to buy those, it'll set you back $55 for a quarter pound or $99 for a half pound.

Oktoberfest, with its brats and beer, is all over Chicago this weekend:

• The Seventh Annual Oktoberfest Chicago (which used to be called the St. Alphonsus Oktoberfest) is this Friday 5-10 PM, Saturday 11 AM-10 PM, and Sunday 11:30 AM-8 PM in Lakeview and costs $5.
• First St. Paul's Oktoberfest at its Evangelical Lutheran Church, Saturday 5-10 PM, includes live polka music by Flechsig's Oktoberfest Band. It costs $10-25; proceeds benefit First Saint Paul's ministries.
• St. Michael's Oktoberfest is Sunday from noon to 5 PM in Lincoln Park; it's $10.
• ELVN's Oktoberfest, Sunday from 3-7 PM in Wrigleyville, is the only one to boast a pig roast. Its $20-25 entry fee goes to benefit six local charities.

The Brookfield Zoo's annual Wines in the Wild fund-raiser is Sunday from 4-7 PM at the zoo's Discovery Center, featuring a tasting of more than 60 wines, hors d'oeuvres, and both a live auction and silent auction. Tickets are $100 per person; proceeds benefit the zoo's conservation and education programs.

The Highland Park Historical Society hosts a talk Tuesday on Learning to Cook in 1898: A Chicago Culinary Memoir. Presented by author Ellen F. Steinberg and Eleanor Hudera Hanson, it's at 7 PM in the Highland Park Library auditorium.

Also Tuesday at 7, Next Food Network Stars the Hearty Boys sign their new book, Talk with Your Mouth Full, which provides recipes and catering tips, at Borders on Michigan.

Locavores unite: Pastoral’s summer culinary road trip leaves bright and early at 7:30 AM this Saturday, rain or shine. Breakfast will be served en route to the Urbana-Champaign area, where stops will include a farmer's market, lunch at Champaign's Cafe Luna, and Prairie Fruits Farm, Illinois's only farmstead goat dairy--which means its cheeses are made from milk from the farm's own herd. On the return trip wine and cheese will be served, the latter presumably selected by Daniel Sirko, Pastoral's fromager, who will be leading the trip. Tickets are $100 per person and must be purchased online in advance.

Shedd Aquarium's Right Bite program to encourage sustainable seafood choices features a dinner at 6 PM this Monday at Shaw's Crab House. In addition to sustainable seafood dishes, the evening will include talks from Shedd specialists. Tickets are $75 per person ($60 if you sign up for more than three dinners); ages 21 and over only.

Monday is the deadline to buy early-bird tickets to Chefs and the City, a tasting event on August 3 featuring 20 celebrity chefs. The event aims to raise $100,000 to support low-income people affected by HIV and AIDS. Early-bird tickets are $175; VIP tickets are $250 (after July 9 they go up to $200 and $275, respectively).

The annual Green City Market Summer BBQ Festival runs Thursday from 6-8 PM at the south end of Lincoln Park (Green City Market's regular home). It will include offerings from more than 50 Chicago chefs, including Paul Kahan (Blackbird), Stephanie Izard (Scylla), and Paul Virant (Vie), plus wine, beer, and live music. Tickets are $50 in advance, $60 at the gate. 

I asked Greg O’Neill, owner/proprietor of Pastoral (2945 N Broadway) to name his favorite cheese, and he chose Rondo, a goat’s/cow’s milk blend that he described as a “magical combination of tartness and creaminess with a signature feel and simple elegance.”

Rondo is produced by Soyoung Scanlan of Andante Dairy, an artisanal cheesemaker out of Petaluma, California. She has composed Rondo to have the “brightness of a goat's milk cheese and the mouthfeel of a cow's milk cheese.”  It is, indeed, a wonderful cheese: luxurious, but with a tang that gives snap to the silkiness.  The skin is remarkably delicate and flavorful, with a depth of taste and the lingering scent of California fields and goats that have been loved. 

Scanlan--a former music student--gives her cheeses musical names: Metronome, Acapella, Pianoforte The name of the dairy itself suggests a moderate pace, a slower speed, appropriate for the making of cheese – and, apparently, negotiating contracts with vendors. Pastoral is the only specialty cheese store in the city to carry Scanlan’s cheese, and it took two years to actually get her cheese into the shop.

In early 2004. Harold McGee was in Chicago to promote a 20th anniversary edition of his masterpiece, On Food and Cooking. During the Kennedy administration, McGee and I were in the same communion class in Elmhurst, Illinois, and we had emailed back and forth before meeting up in Chicago to do an interview for a segment of Gorilla Gourmet, produced by my friend Mike Gebert. After the interview, we stopped in at Pastoral. Scanlon, a friend of McGee’s, had asked him to check out the new cheese store while he was in town to see if it was suitable for her product.  It wasn't until he deemed it acceptable that the wheels started to turn. Now Pastoral offers several Andante cheeses, including Rondo, one called Piccolo, and another called Pastoral (Named for the shop?  Greg says probably not, but if Scanlon was naming cheeses after strictly musical terms, she would have called this cheese Pastorale, so who knows?)

In the picture above, Rondo is on the left and Pastoral is on the right; holding both cheeses is Daniel Sirko, fromager at Pastoral and 2005 American Cheese Society judge.

Scanlan is very protective of her cheese; says Sirko explains, “she wants what we’re selling to always be the best example of what she’s making.”  That’s why Scanlan asked McGee to do recon for her: she wanted to be sure that Pastoral had the would handle her creations with care--artisanal cheeses should be rewrapped daily, kept at the right temperature, and cut to order.

In an interview with Lynne Rossetto Kasper of Splendid Table, Scanlon explained that cheese making is like playing the piano: “for certain parts you have to be really gentle, and at certain parts you have to be very straightforward and put your energy (into it)….The whole goal of cheese making for me is expressing the beauty of milk.” 

In addition to Pastoral and other specialty cheese stores, Andante Dairy cheeses are available in several high end restaurants, including Thomas Keller's French Laundry and Per Se--but none in Chicago.