BON VIVANT: June 13 – 19, 2013

Written by agnes.miles on June 13, 2013. Posted in Blog

For our culinary-addicted, dolce vida-loving readers, “24/7” tracks down and uploads the most delicious food fêtes and gastronomic happenings going on this week.

Thursday, June 13
WHAT: GLAMORAMA Launch Party
WHERE: Gallery 225; 225 W. Hubbard Street
WHEN: 7:00 – 11:00 p.m.
$$$: Complimentary admission when you purchase GLAMORAMA ticket levels of $175 or higher. For details, or to buy tickets, click HERE.
24/7 Tip: When summer temps spike, “24/7” gets excited about three things: corset tops, faux tans and Macy’s Passport presents GLAMORAMA, the most buzzed-about fashion fête of the dewy season. Hosted at the Harris Theatre, this year’s “Fashion In A New Light” theme will take hundreds of fashionable guests on a colorful sojourn of fashion and live theatrical and musical performances by Cirque du Soleil and Sheryl Crow.

Purchases tickets for $175 or more and join blogger and media personality, Candace Jordan, and others at the official GLAMORAMA Launch Party (TONIGHT) at Gallery 225. Evening features specialty cocktails and creative bites, a Hershey dessert bar, fashions by Chicago’s leading designers Anna Fong, Elda de la Rosa, Horacio Nieto and Eva Pazola. DJ Sye Young will be spinning until the last drop of champagne is poured.

Saturday, June 15
WHAT: Blue Line Coffee Crawl
WHERE: Gaslight Coffee Roasters, 2385 N. Milwaukee Avenue
WHEN: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
$$$: $30 per person, includes coffee samples, small bites and tasting cards (transportation is not included; CTA pass required). Click HERE for more info or to purchase tickets.
24/7 Tip: All aboard! Hosted once a month, Caffentures takes the over-caffeinated and java-adventurous on an interactive, sip-and-savor excursion of three coffee houses – Gaslight Coffee Roasters, Ipsento Coffee, and Cafe Streets – via the Blue Line. Attendees will boost their roast knowledge and gain brew tips from industry experts. Craving more joe? Caffentures also offers two additional coffee tours via the Red and Brown Lines.

Tuesday, June 18
WHAT: One Ingredient, One Varietal
WHERE: Green Zebra, 1460 W. Chicago Avenue
WHEN: 7:00 p.m.
$$$: $65 per person,. Space is limited. Call 312-243-7100 to RSVP.
24/7 Tip: One trip to owner/chef Shawn McClain’s (pictured left) stylish West Town resto, Green Zebra, and you will find yourself with a guilt-free fixation for creatively-prepared, farm-to-plate cuisine. Part of Bon Appetit presents Chicago Gourmet 2013 Wine & Dinner Series, Chef McClain will prepare an elegant, seven-course vegan feast with each course focusing on a single, seasonally-inspired ingredient and partnered with a unique grape varietal. Dishes include spring pea quinoa with glazed carrot, pea tendril and parmesan tuile, fava bean lemon cake with olive oil ice cream and fennel gastrique and more.

For more information about Chicago Gourmet 2013, or to purchase tickets, click HERE.

Wednesday, June 19
WHAT: Sixth Annual “Chefs on the Grill”
WHERE: The Plaza at Park Grill
WHEN: 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
$$$: $75 per person, in advance; $90 at the door. To purchase tickets, click HERE.
24/7 Tip: Just because you couldn’t decide which 2012 presidential candidate was your favorite – the guy who wanted to raise taxes on the country’s uber-rich citizenry or the one who wouldn’t lose any sleep being “concerned about the very poor” – doesn’t mean you don’t know how to pick a winner. The opposite, in fact. This Wednesday, when some of Chicago’s most celebrated toques will converge upon Millennium Park to compete for the title of best grill master, you’ll reveal your gift for picking top talent. Sixteen chefs are competing, you ask? Yeah, never mind.

Evening includes specialty cocktails and unlimited al fresco dining/sampling, live music, silent auction and raffle (proceeds benefit Special Olympics Chicago/Special Children’s Charities).

WHAT: Wine Down Wednesday
WHERE: III Forks, 180 N. Field Boulevard
WHEN: 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
$$$: $15 per person
24/7 Tip: To pull or to twist? It’s been forty years since Stelvin’s screw tops first hit european wine shelves (including your grandmother’s wine cart), and the wine industry’s great “cork versus screw cap” debate continues to pit even mild-mannered oenophiles against each other. Although many studies have shown screw caps actually make wine safer to drink – unlike corks, caps completely eliminate fungi (or “cork taint”) – don’t take our word for it. Join III Forks’ Wine Director, Lance Gresak, who will lead an interactive evening of lively wine chats and screw cap wine-tastings. Guests will sample six wines and hors d’oeuvres prepared by Executive Chef Billy Caruso. Words of wisdom: Don’t be hasty and toss that $525 Code38 Stealth wine knife away. It might be really worth that much someday.