Entries associated with the tag "Uncommon Ground":

The Festival of Cheese, one of just two events in the American Cheese Society's 25th annual conference and cheese competition that’s open to the public, takes place 5:30-9 PM Saturday at the Hilton Chicago (720 S. Michigan). It features tastings of more than 1,000 artisan and specialty cheeses from producers all over North America—among them Capriole from Indiana, Everona Dairy from Virginia, Redwood Hill Farm from California, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese from Washington, and Rogue Creamery from Oregon—plus wine, beer, and specialty foods. $85.

The American Cheese Society’s cheese sale from 10 AM-1 PM Sunday at Kendall College (900 N. North Branch) will have offerings from all the producers at Saturday’s festival at what it promises will be “rock-bottom prices.”

Prefer a little less cheese and a little more beer? Rock Bottom Brewery (1 W. Grand) hosts Curds and Ale II from 2:30-5:30 PM on Sunday, with 20 American artisan cheeses (many purchased at the sale) and 20 American craft beers from breweries including Three Floyds, Two Brothers, and Dogfish Head. The focus will be on pairings of clothbound cheddars (in the tradition of English farmhouse cheddar) with British-inspired bitters and ales and stinky cheeses with wild-fermented Belgian-style beers. $35.

Pastoral Artisan Cheese's Loop location (53 E. Lake) is hosting special events to coincide with the ACS's conference. On Thursday at 3:30 PM San Francisco Chronicle cheese columnist Janet Fletcher, a CIA grad, will be signing copies of her latest book, Cheese and Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing, and Enjoying; cheese and wine selections from the book will be served. On Friday at 3:30 PM sample some cow's and goat's milk cheeses from Ann Arbor's Zingerman's Creamery; Zingerman's cheese maker John Loomis will attend. Both events are free. 

Slow Food Chicago hosts a four-course dinner 6 PM Monday at Uncommon Ground (1401 W. Devon) featuring fruit from Seedling fruit farm in South Haven, Michigan; each course is paired with a wine or spirit. Chilled melon soup with mint creme fraiche, for instance, comes with a shot of melon-infused North Shore vodka, while a terrine of red raspberry, black raspberry, and honey-vanilla bean gelato with peach puree is accompanied by a house-made honey-peach cordial fizz. There’ll also be a tour of the cafe’s rooftop organic garden and jazz by the Ted Sirota Trio. $65.

Evanston's Va Pensiero (1566 Oak Ave.) and the Land Connection host their Summer Abundance Dinner Saturday at 6:30 PM, featuring fresh produce from the organic and sustainable Henry's Farm, in central Illinois. The vegetarian three-course meal features a caramelized onion tart with Tallegio cheese, roasted garlic-hot pepper crostini, and a grilled vegetable napoleon with candied garlic and spicy beet puree; the cost includes wine service and an hors d'oeuvres reception. Henry Brockman, the farm's owner, will be selling produce at the dinner; his sister, Land Connection founder Terra Brockman, will discuss the group's efforts to promote sustainable farming in Illinois. Reservations required; 847-475-7779. $80. 

In Fine Spirits (5420 N. Clark) hosts a second Return of the Green Fairy tasting seminar, its celebration of absinthe's recent legalization, on Tuesday from 7:30-9pm. Sonja Kassebaum of North Shore Distillery will be back to discuss the mystique surrounding absinthe as well as its history and uses. Three types of absinthe--North Shore's Sirene Absinthe Verte, Kübler Swiss Absinthe Superieure, and Saint George Spirits' Absinthe Verte--and absinthe-based cocktails will be paired with tastings. $36. 

Thursday

• Uncommon Ground on Clark hosts a free tasting of cocktails made with spirits from North Shore Distillery and appetizers by executive chef Brian Millman from 6 to 8 PM.

    

Friday

• John Freyer of Dogfish Head Brewing Co. leads a free tasting of his company’s beers, paired with cheeses, at West Lakeview Liquors from 6 to 9 PM. The star of the show is the just-released Festina Peche, a light-bodied summer brew in a Berliner Weisse style made with peaches. 
• Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral’s three-day Taste of Greece on LaSalle Street (Fri-Sat 4-11 PM, Sun noon-11 PM) features Greek food, beer, wine, ouzo, dancing, and music by the John Linardakis Band. Also: a silent auction, raffles, children’s games, and tours of the cathedral. $2.

   

Saturday

•  New Belgium Brewing Company's annual Tour de Fat begins with registration at 9 AM, followed by a bike parade at 10. The parade ends at 11, at which point the kegs get tapped and the "revivalation," with live music and other entertainment, begins. Festivities last until 4 PM, culminating with "Would You Trade Your Car for a Bike?," in which the winner of the contest of that name will hand over his or her car title and keys in exchange for a new commuter bike and trailer.

• Amelia Saltsman, author of The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook, gives a talk titled The Fabled Farmers' Markets of Southern California from 10 AM to noon at the Chicago History Museum (a Culinary Historians of Chicago program). $5.

• Pizza Fest Chicago, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 10 PM at Racine and Fullerton, features not only slices and whole pies for sale by eateries including Connie's Pizza, Nonna's Italian Pizzeria, and Vinci, but also a contest for the city's best pizza (thick crust, thin crust, and gourmet), a pizza-eating competition, "acrobatic pizza dough tossing" by the U.S. Pizza Team, live music, wine tasting, cooking demos, and cornhole competitions. $5.
• The first Chicago Kids' Restaurant Week kicks off Saturday from 9 AM to 12:30 PM at Green City Market with cooking demos, food tastings, and culinary activities for kids; it continues through Sat 6/28 with a prix fixe dinner deal at restaurants including Blue Water Grill, Lula Cafe, Otom, Prairie Grass Cafe, and Vie. From 5 to 6:30 PM, kids under 11 pay their age, while adults and kids 12 and over each pay $20.08. A dollar from each meal benefits Green City Market.
• At West Lakeview Liquors from 6 to 9 PM, Highland Park single malt scotch, from the Orkney Islands, is on the table in a free tasting showcasing the 12-, 15-, and 18-year-old batches.

   

Sunday

• The Farmers' Market Fiesta, from noon to 3 PM at Frontera Grill, offers food, margaritas, cooking demos by Rick Bayless, and stalls with local artisanal products ($45, $15 kids under 12). It's followed by a six-course dinner with wine pairings, featuring early summer produce, meat and fish from local farms and producers ($150). All proceeds benefit the Frontera Farmer Foundation.

   

Wednesday

• Bev Art Brewer & Winemaker Supply presents a winemaking class Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Whole Foods in Lakeview. Budding vintners can create their own wines from an assortment of juices, ranging from Australian shiraz and French sauvignon blanc to estate-grown Stag’s Leap District merlot and Sonoma Valley pinot noir; they’ll learn about techniques of aging and cellaring wine as well. Each student will make a six-gallon vat of wine—enough for 25-30 bottles. Bev Art will ferment and rack it for ten weeks; at a second session (exact date TBD at the first), students will balance their wines by adjusting tannins and residual sugar levels and, finally, bottle them. $65 plus $70-$200 for supplies including juice, bottles, and labels.

After you read the three featured reviews in this week's Food & Drink don't skip over the listings, where we have 11 other brand-new ones.

I took a generally cranky view of Bbop Lounge, Thai Urban Kitchen, Mythos, Spertus Cafe, and the Korean fried chicken chain Cheogajip. David Hammond weighed in on Connoisseur, Kudo Sushi, and the cartoonishly giant margaritas at the Rusty Armadillo. Chicagoland's Whet Moser took one for the team at Hyde Park's Chant. Restaurants editor Kate Schmidt felt like a Von Trapp at the Rogers Park Uncommon Ground, and Food Chain calendetrix Julia Thiel loved her waiter at Violet.

It's still too soon to say much about Risque Cafe, Rustik, Takashi, Crisp, Smokeshack, Con Sabor Cuba, or Tony Hu's double Laos (Beijing and Shanghai). We'll deal with those next month.

At Provenance Food and Wine’s Beer and Bacon Bonanza Thursday at 6:30 PM, hosted by Vella Cafe, each of the four courses features pork and a beer pairing. The meal starts with minicrepes with Gruyere de Comte, lardons, cider syrup, and apple butter, paired with the 2005 Eric Bordelet Sydre Doux, and ends with a chocolate stout float with chocolate-almond ice cream and shortbread filled with brown sugar-bacon buttercream, paired with Hitachino Sweet Stout. In between there’s spinach salad with warm bacon dressing and candied pork belly, a bacon-stuffed pork loin roulade, and bacon-infused fingerling potatoes. $50.

Photographer Melanie Dunea signs My Last Supper, a book of interviews with 50 well-known chefs about their ideal last meal, at 7 PM Thursday at the Borders on Michigan. Chicagoans Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless, and Paul Kahan, all featured, will participate in a one-hour discussion and Q & A moderated by Trib food writer Monica Eng; among the topics is whether their picks have changed.

Eskell kicks off "Shopping, Good Karma, and Discounts" with in-store cocktails from 5 to 8 PM on Friday. The store is offering discounts in exchange for donations of nonperishable food, toiletries, and laundry detergent to the Christopher House food pantry. The following discounts will apply: 10% for a donation of 1-3 items, 15% for 3-5 items, and 20% for more than 5 items.

Saturday from 11 AM to 1 PM, Provenance Food and Wine's Lincoln Square location has a free tasting of Treelala tea, the sister line to Ineeka teas. The Chicago-based company that distributes these whole-leaf organic teas from India strives to be socially and environmentally responsible, but while some admire Treelala's unique packaging, treehugger.com has a bone to pick with it.

The Illinois State University Madrigal Singers are the entertainment at A Winter’s Song Madrigal Dinner (PDF) Sunday at 2 PM at the Chicago Cultural Center's Preston Bradley Hall (77 E. Randolph). The menu will be prepared by Colin Beaumier, executive chef at the Whitehall Hotel, and features slow-roasted Cornish game hen with bubble and squeak (an English comfort dish of panfried potatoes and vegetables) and warm figgy pudding. 708-383-7543, $75.

Ground to Plate, Sunday from 6-8:30 PM at the Lakeview Uncommon Ground, is "not your Daddy's dinner theater." The $35 fixed-price menu is inspired by and paired with performance pieces that address "the freedom Americans have to choose what and how to eat and the repercussions that arise from the use, misuse, and neglect of that freedom." Reservations required; call 773-929-3680.