ChicaGourmets! explained in menu form
First Course -- An Appetizing Taste of Our Town
ChicaGourmets! members are introduced to a wide variety of our area's best and most intriguing dining establishments. Our exclusive events feature showcase menus and signature dishes that reflect the restaurants' strengths, prepared especially for us by their top chefs and served in a private group setting. We take full advantage of the Chicago area's culinary diversity, enjoying cuisines from Argentina to Thailand, from down-home Creole to French haute cuisine, from simple charcuterie to full dégustation, from provençal tapas to the latest in fusion cuisine.
It's food too fine for angels,
yet come, take and eat thy fill!
-- Edward Taylor
Second Course -- Scoop du Jour
If you enjoy visiting Chicago's hottest new eateries, keeping abreast of the current food trends, meeting culinary legends and outstanding cookbook authors, wine experts and restauranteurs, or getting preview invitations and special "behind the scenes" tours, you'll love ChicaGourmets! As an educational as well as a fine dining organization, our members are always "in the know."
Sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge.
-- John Lyly
Third Course -- Melange of Members
The social aspect of ChicaGourmets! is every bit as delicious as our dining encounters. You'll share a common love of food, wine and restaurant patronage with hundreds of other members -- interesting and congenial individuals from all over Chicagoland: architects and writers, entrepreneurs and physicians, horticulturists and vintners, college professors and professionals of every stripe -- all celebrating the bounty of fine food and wine.
From wine...
what sudden friendship springs!
-- John Gay
Fourth Course -- Bread and Amuse
Imagine savoring not only great menus but also one-of-a-kind experiences. In the last year alone, members of ChicaGourmets! have been serenaded by a sixteen-member mariachi band while eating a Mexican parillada feast, dined in Charlie Trotter's studio kitchen, sampled a select series of imported beers together with a Bohemian buffet, and attended an Italian farmhouse supper with visiting Italian cookbook author Susan Herrmann Loomis. Book signings have been held for a number of authors, including Richard Crowe, Wilbert Jones, Ruth Law, Joan Reardon, Camille Stagg, and others. Lecture-Lunch Series speakers have included Stephanie Hersh, Julia Child's personal assistant. At a recent gathering at the Palm restaurant, members enjoyed a lecture on and tasting of Napa Valley wines while dining on a trio of prime aged steaks. Members of ChicaGourmets! partook of a luncheon at the renowned Phoenix Restaurant, followed by a "supernatural" walking tour of Chinatown. Knowing that "man cannot live by bread alone," we add much to amuse!
'Tis not the meat, but 'tis the appetite
make eating a delight.
-- Sir John Suckling
Fifth Course -- Sweet Temptations
As if great adventures, good company and glorious value aren't "just desserts" enough, ChicaGourmets! offers several other sweet extras. As a ChicaGourmets! member, you will be part of a highly-prized audience for special restaurant openings and promotions, Invitation-only culinary events -- like charity galas and a recent celebration with Julia Child -- and enjoy activities with world-class organizations like The American Institute of Wine & Food, Culinary Historians of Chicago, and The Green City Market. You will be included in our newsletter mailing list, receive advance announcements of food and wine lecture series, regional food tours and book signings; and, be special guests at events like the champagne and hors d'oeuvers reception at Tiffany & Co. where we learned "How to Set a Tiffany Table." You will also benefit from travel opportunities with Aadman Travel, Excell Travel, Hobbit Travel, Michel Bouit International, Travel Duet -- all run by ChicaGourmets! members and friends.
Oh wonderful, wonderful,
and most wonderful, wonderful!
And yet again wonderful!
And after that out of all whooping.
-- William Shakespeare
Interested? For information on membership in ChicaGourmets!, click here.