thursday4
Room 21 offers a fish grilling class at 6 PM featuring tinfoil trout, grilled salmon with mustard glaze, blackened swordfish, and scallop and shrimp kebabs with chimichurri sauce; they’ll be served with wine pairings. $55.
friday5
The Windy City Wine Festival in Grant Park features 250 wines from more than 50 vendors, plus food from local restaurants, cooking demos, and seminars by chefs and wine experts. Fri 4-10 PM, Sat 3-10 PM, $30, $25 in advance (includes ten tasting tickets).
saturday6
The Guinness Oyster Fest, from noon to 11 PM at 2000 W. Roscoe, promises fresh-shucked oysters from the Whitehall Hotel’s Fornetto & Mei’s Kitchen, plus live music by Everlast and others and, of course, Guinness. $5 suggested donation.
As part of Aorta Transformata, an art exhibit at Kendall College by culinary student Arianne Vota Smeets depicting the human heart “as it undergoes various temperaments and experiences,” five students from the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College will create dishes interpreting the artworks for tasting at the two receptions for the show. A chocolate shell filled with honey cream and bitter cherry coulis, for example, corresponds to a piece titled Numb, intended to represent what’s “inside not getting out” when a person is numb to emotion. Sat 6-9 PM, Mon 5-8 PM, artist talk at 5, 900 N. North Branch, free.
sunday7
The Chicago Chocolate Salon features tastings of chocolates from Ghirardelli, Guittard, the Chocolate Traveler, Cyndy’s Sweet Treats, Confection Diva, and others, as well as demonstrations and chef and author talks. 11 AM-5 PM, Grainger Ballroom, Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan, 415-263-6800, $20, $17.50 in advance.
monday8
During Sonoma in Chicago Week, starting today and continuing through Sun 9/14, restaurants including Frontera Grill, Le Lan, Lula Cafe, and Spring will highlight Sonoma County wines; for each bottle sold, the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission and Sonoma County Vintners will donate $3 to Common Threads. And on Wednesday from 6 to 9:30 PM, the Allerton Hotel (701 N. Michigan) will host a Taste of Sonoma food and wine pairing seminar, with Ravenswood winemaker Joel Peterson, wine grape grower Jim Murphy, and chef Bruce Riezenman. $65.