Entries associated with the tag "Va Pensiero":

The Daley Plaza Farmers' Market hosts its second Country Chef Challenge Thursday from 11 AM to 1 PM. Mark Mendez of Carnivale, Jimmy Madla of Coobah, and Kaminsky Thomas of Anteprima will each have 30 minutes to choose ingredients from the market, and another 30 minutes to create a dish; a panel of judges will determine the winner. 

The Palm Chicago hosts a dinner Thursday at 7 PM devoted to the tequilas of Jalisco’s 130-year-old Casa Herradura. Each of four courses will be paired with a Herradura blue agave tequila—a lump crab and cantaloupe margarita starter with Herradura Silver, for instance, or an entree of oven-roasted cumin-crusted mahimahi with Herradura Añejo. Company rep Ruben Aceves will discuss Herradura history and describe the process behind each tequila. Guests get goody bags and will be entered into a raffle for a bottle of Selección Suprema, the company’s highest-end blue agave. (At retail it goes for about $300.) Reservations required. $95.

Friday at 5 PM, Chuck’s Southern Comforts Cafe starts its three-day-long Cajun Fest, a smorgasbord of southern, Mexican, and of course Cajun dishes, all between $2 and $5—including cochinita pibil tacos, beef kebabs with ancho-mushroom sauce, pulled pork, jerk chicken with mango sauce, jambalaya, muffulettas, and a shrimp boil. Abita Beer, from Abita Springs, Louisiana, will have its Turbodog, Purple Haze, and Amber brews on tap. Blues, zydeco, country, and rockabilly bands perform all three days. Friday 5-11 PM, Saturday noon-11 PM, Sunday 1-9 PM, Saint Albert’s Church parking lot, 5555 State, Burbank, 708-229-8700. No admission charge.

Friday’s the last day to make reservations for ChicaGourmets dinner [PDF] at Va Pensiero Wednesday, 8/13, 6:30 PM, with Count Niccolo Capponi of Villa Calcinaia, a wine- and olive-oil-making estate in Italy’s Chianti region overseen by his brother Count Sebastiano. Capponi, an archivist and professor of medieval and Renaissance history at Iowa State University, will discuss the history of the estate, which has been in his family since 1524, and demonstrate his recipe for orange risotto with taleggio and garlic, which will be served at dinner. The menu also includes a garlic-and-rosemary-marinated pork loin, a goat cheese-stuffed onion, and a chocolate-almond torte; each course will be paired with a Villa Calcinaia wine. Guests also get a bottle of Villa Calcinaia olive oil. $98.

Saturday from 10 AM to noon at the Chicago History Museum, Culinary Historians of Chicago presents The History of Greektown's Parthenon. Yanna Liakouras, a partner at the Parthenon and daughter of the restaurant's founder, and Camille Stagg, author of The Parthenon Cookbook, will discuss the history of Greektown and the Parthenon. They'll also serve samples of some Greek specialties and sign copies of the cookbook. $5. 

Harpoon Brewery holds a release party at Sheffield's Monday from 7 to 9 PM. The $15 admission price ($10 for "Friends of Harpoon") includes three drink tickets good for Harpoon's IPA draft or bottles of UFO, plus appetizers and samples from the 100 Barrel series.

(Contributing: Katie Buitrago)

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. 

Friday from 7-9 PM, Viet Bistro hosts a free Svedka Vodka tasting with cocktails from sommelier Rashed Islam and appetizers by chef Dan Nguyen. 

The Ins and Outs of Composting, a class at the Angelic Organics Learning Center in Hyde Park that was listed in this week's print edition, has been canceled. There are no plans at the moment to reschedule.

Binny's South Loop is promoting local entries to the Sam Adams Longshot homebrewing competition by hosting a free Chicago Home Brew contest Sunday from noon to 4 PM. The winner gets a trip for two to the 2008 Great American Beer Festival in Denver this October; in addition, all entries will be shipped to Boston (on Sam Adams’s dime) for consideration in the national competition. Participants should bring 12 bottles of homemade beer to be judged. There will also be a home-brewing demo and a tasting.

The Elastic Arts Foundation holds a fund-raising dinner Sunday at 6 PM at Friendship Chinese Restaurant. The four-course meal (a vegetarian option is available) is preceded by a 5 PM reception and followed by music and drinks at 10 PM, both upstairs at Elastic Arts. $50.

A panel including historian Sarah Marcus, Bruce Kraig and Peter Engler of the Culinary Historians of Chicago, and Monica Eng of the Tribune presents Hot Dog! A History of Chicago Foods, on the origins of local delicacies and how they’ve evolved over the years, Tuesday at 7 PM at the Chicago History Museum (Chicago-style Vienna Beef dogs will be served starting at 6:15). This is the first lecture in the Culinary Chicago series; other talks include The Local Option, which will demystify buzzwords like “locavore” and “green,” and Chef Showcase, where local chefs will discuss current trends in Chicago cuisine. $10.

Va Pensiero in Evanston is offering 15-cent martinis with the purchase of dinner on Tuesday in honor of tax day.