Last night I was lucky enough to attend a unique dinner at Takashi restaurant, a benefit for Japan that featured more than a dozen well-known Chicago chefs. Since each of the seven courses was contributed by a different chef, we ended up with a wide-ranging tasting menu of dishes from great restaurants all over the city. Other chefs were in the front of the house, bringing out plates from the kitchen and pouring wine, while Takashi circulated to say hello to every diner. The entire proceeds from the dinner went to relief efforts (literally – we wrote checks directly to the Red Cross).
We were seated at one of the downstairs tables, which meant that we had a clear view of the kitchen. I was a little star-struck by the collegial crew of chefs hanging out there, who had an impressive collection of awards and nominations among them, and included familiar faces from some of my favorite restaurants. Every table was filled, wine was pouring freely, and the atmosphere was warm and lively.
Once we were settled at our table, we sipped our cava while reading over the menu and the chef bios. A few moments later, we received an amuse bouche from Paul Virant at Vie Restaurant, a pierogi filled with heirloom turkey confit and topped with chopped egg, smoked turkey, and relish. It was a perfect way to start the meal, a few bites of richness offset by the prickliness of the onion and dill.
Next up was a crostini-like combination of cured sardine on grilled raisin-fennel bread, with a bit of fennel salad and salsa verde – fresh and vinegary and crispy-sweet. Spiaggia was represented not only by Tony Mantuano, but also by his Executive Chef, Sarah Grueneberg. I know her from the many times I’ve eaten at Spiaggia, so it was fun to run into her and say hello (and also talk with Tony for a bit – see above about being star-struck).
Our chef-servers were Bill Kim from Urbanbelly (which is on my list to try) and Don Yamauchi, yet another award-winner who is currently at the Motor City Casino. Both were good-natured about being out of their element – Bill joked that the other chefs were counting the number of knives he dropped while clearing plates, and Don cheerfully responded to my mother’s request for smaller wine pours by giving me much larger pours to balance it out.
Our third course was a plate of potato and speck croquettes with a spicy aioli, from Jimmy Bannos Sr and Jr, of Heaven on Seven and the Purple Pig, respectively. These little fried potato balls were a fun change of pace from the more composed dishes on the rest of the menu, which was well-balanced despite (or because of) the variety of styles represented.
My favorite dish came next, prepared by Paul Kahan (of the excellent Blackbird, Avec, and Publican) – miso-glazed squab with wonderful crispy artichoke slices and apricots. I wish I could have had a whole plate of the artichokes.
In between courses, we read over the list of items up for raffle – amazing prizes ranging from a private dinner for eight cooked by Takashi or a stay in the Peninsula Hotel and dinner for two at Alinea, to a round-trip ticket to Japan or an autographed bat from the Cubs’ Fukudome. I bought many, many tickets.
The dinner wrapped up with a big dish of washugyu beef in a lemongrass ginger broth, from John Hogan of Keefers. I especially loved the tender dumpling of beef shank tucked in the bottom of the bowl, and the clean and light flavor of the soup.
Finally, dessert arrived, created by Sebastien Canonne from the French Pastry School – a beautiful arrangement of a lychee baba (which looked like a cute little glazed doughnut) with a mango sorbet and a scattering of tropical fruits.
Takashi is from Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo and close to where the earthquake and tsunami struck. I’d like to thank him, and all the others who participated in the benefit, for a truly memorable dinner and a chance to donate to a very worthy cause.
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