Otis was able to rent out the CHIC Cafe (Culinary and Hospitality Institute of Chicago) on the night of August 10th at 7:30 PM (361 West Chestnut, Chicago, IL 60610). I have agreed to take over the planning and coordination of this event so Otis can concentrate on the CDP.

We will have the cafe completely to ourselves. The students at the school will prepare a Four course meal for us with a few choices for each course. We do not have a set menu yet. The cost will be $28/pp plus tax and 20% tip for a total of $36 per person. Please bring cash to the dinner and have exact change (no need to pay in advance). This is a BYOB restaurant so there is no corkage fee. They say the room can fit 50 comfortably but can go to a max of 60 people so 60 will be the limit.

25 members of the Chicago Wine Mafia have prebooked (one of the perks of this thing of ours) so that leaves 35 spots open. To accomodate as many out of town CDPers as possible, I am going to limit those signing up in this thread to only those who are attending the CDP If there are any additional openings as we get closer to the dinner I will open it up to board members, family, friends who are not attending the CDP. Here are the CWM members who have already signed up:

Otis (4)
VM (2)
All Red (2)
Anwar (2)
Scubarex (2)
Francis (2)
TLV (2)
Grossie (4)
Scott (1)
Blue Oval (2)
Haggis (2)

Please sign up in this thread if you would like to attend.

Since we will have 60 people at this dinner I would like to make this a magnum dinner since that worked fairly well at the last pre CDP party. Bring what you want. One bottle per person so if you are confirming for 2 people, bringing 1 magnum would do it. This is not mandatory though. If you don't want to or can't bring a magnum then bring whatever you want.

If I recall correctly, the glassware at CHIC is serviceable. Therefore, if possible you may want to bring your own stems.

VM

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Vino Me,

Sounds like fun. Steve8, Julie and KSC02 would like to attend. The latter sent me an e-mail last night asking me to sign him up since he won't have internet access today and was afraid all of the spots would get taken before he got home.

Unfortunately our flight does not land until 7:40, so will have to miss dinner!

I confirm my desire to attend dinner at CHIC! Thanks for riding shotgun Steve. I greatly appreciate it. Should be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to it.

VinoMe,

Please sign us up for (2).

Thanks for planning!

Updated list:

Otis (4)
VM (2)
All Red (2)
Anwar (2)
Scubarex (2)
Francis (2)
TLV (2)
Grossie (4)
Scott (1)
Blue Oval (2)
Haggis (2)
Steve8 (2)
KSCO2 (1)
Winetex (2)

That leaves 30 spots.

VM

VM,

Sign me up for 2 also.

Thanks!

Vino Me, we're not sure if we'll be back in Chicago that Friday or not. I'll let you know in a couple of days. If the spaces are taken by then, that's okay, too.

Thanks.

i'm not positive i'll be in in time. will firm up plans this week.

VinoMe - sorry to be a pain but we've had to cancel our trip to the CDP weekend.

Please remove us from the list. Thanks!

Updated list:

Otis (4)
VM (2)
All Red (2)
Anwar (2)
Scubarex (2)
Francis (2)
TLV (2)
Grossie (4)
Scott (1)
Blue Oval (2)
Haggis (2)
Steve8 (2)
KSCO2 (1)
Emilio (2)

That leaves 30 spots.

VM

VM

We've had to bail on the CDP. Won't be able to make this dinner either. Have a great time.

We also will be unable to attend.

Updated list:

Otis (4)
VM (2)
All Red (2)
Scubarex (2)
Francis (2)
Scott (1)
Blue Oval (2)
Haggis (2)
Steve8 (2)
KSCO2 (1)
Emilio (2)

VM

Sorry I had to back out of this, VM. I have a friend coming into town with his wife (he'll be at the CDP) and we wanted a chance to catch up in a slightly quieter setting that night.

VM- Please reserve one more for me, as a lady friend is flying into Chicago that weekend. She MAY make it in time for dinner. As there's some room available I hope it's no problem. Just let me know if it is.

quote:

Originally posted by grossie:
Sorry I had to back out of this, VM. I have a friend coming into town with his wife (he'll be at the CDP) and we wanted a chance to catch up in a slightly quieter setting that night.

Couldn't resist:
Grossie: VM is currently unavailable, but on his behalf I will accept your apologies and let you know that that is totally lame! (of course VM is way too nice to ever say anything like that!)

Nicely done, Haggie.

Haggis- Thanks for covering my back.

Updated list:

Otis (4)
VM (2)
All Red (2)
Scubarex (2)
Francis (2)
Scott (1)
Blue Oval (2)
Haggis (2)
Steve8 (2)
KSCO2 (2)
Emilio (2)

Still room if anyone else wants in. I am going to give them a final count next week.

The menu is confirmed and CHIC will be doing a Spanish style tapas menu this cycle. The director of the cafe told me that they ran this menu a couple of weeks ago and it was very well received.

~The first course is a bread course.
~The second course is a tapas course where they put out a bunch of plates for sharing
~The third course there will be a choice of paella, a fish course, or I believe a pork stew
~The fourth course is choice of dessert.

If there are any vegetarians attending or someone who has other dietary needs please let me know and I will make arrangements with CHIC.

VM

Sounds great, VM. Looking forward to it!

For purposes of the final count, please note that I'll be a singleton. Mrs. O' nieces are in town from London and she wants to spend Friday evening with them.

Cheers,

Otis

My schedule will allow me and Barb and John (3) to attend the dinner if that was possible.

Please advise if you can still fit us in?

No problem fitting you in Tom.

Updated list:

Otis (1)
VM (2)
All Red (2)
Scubarex (2)
Francis (2)
Scott (1)
Blue Oval (2)
Haggis (2)
Steve8 (2)
KSCO2 (2)
Emilio (2)
Thomas (3)

VM

Edit: in for 2 as originally planned.

Trigirl - LOL! I don't envy the two of you, having to get up and run what, 50 miles, uphill and into the wind both ways...all while the rest of us are sleeping off Friday night's festivities and dreaming of Saturday's CDP.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AllRed,

VM - Anwar will be able to make it on Friday.

Allred, I dub you and Anwar Marathon Widowers.

Looks like the final count will be around 20 so no need for magnums. Single bottles are fine and if they don't stretch to everyone so be it.

Updated list:

Otis (1)
VM (2)
All Red (2)
Scubarex (2)
Francis (2)
Scott (1)
Blue Oval (2?)
Haggis (2?)
Steve8 (2)
KSCO2 (2)
Emilio (2)
Thomas (3)
Anwar (1)

VM