Eater goes to Chicago….with me!

Curbed Media was the first company that I invested in.  I read Curbed and Eater daily (nationally and locally) and began to read Racked every day as well when it launched.  Am a huge fan of the team and the company.  It has been an education and really rewarding for me being involved at a board level watching the company grow and evolve over the past four years.

Lock and I had discussed taking a road trip to Chicago to meet the team and of course eat.  Last night they put on an event at Nellcote.  A bunch of chefs kindly provided tastings for our clients and advertisers.  It was nice to meet many of them last night.  The photo above is a table overlooking the room(top of the page) at Nellcote.

This treat is from Paul Virant from Perrenial Virant & Vie. He just came out with a cookbook called, The Preservation Kitchen; The Craft of Making and Cooking with Pickles, Preserves and Aigre-doux.  Might be a good pick up for the summer.  He made sauteed morels with bone marrow, pickled garlic and parlsey on grilled bread.  Pretty amazing.

From Michael Ada and Zoe Schor of Ada Street.  Salmon tartare with bacon on crostini, two ways.  I am a fan of the bacon with the fish. 

Jared Van Camp from Nellcote.  Runny burrata with caviar, a thinly sliced piece of radish, a little bit of lemon and a crispy shallot on top.  It was the shallot that changed the entire composition of this dish.  Yum.

Desserts from Mindys Hot Chocolate.  Three types of shortbreads; fleur de sel, oreo chocolate and graham cracker.  Each came with a different ice cream already cut into small squares to make a quick sandwich.  Nice hand held treat.

Razor clam with a slight fennel essence, tender peas and a borage leaf.  This was really light and I really loved the presentation.  They used the shell like a spoon.  Merlin Verrier from Graham Elliot.

There was one more chef that I missed but I will return.  We left after the event and took a walk down the block to the Girl and The Goat for a group dinner.  More on that later.