- Michael Gebert
- Paul Fehribach with 1840s-style snowballs at a 2012 bourbon dinner
The Big Jones Cookbook, the long-awaited southern-food cookbook from chef Paul Fehribach, hits the streets on April 22, and to mark the occasion Big Jones is throwing a pair of events that feature recipes from the book: a prix fixe family supper from 6 to 8 PM ($45), followed by a cake-and-cocktails event from 8 to 10 PM ($25). For more info, go here. Last summer I did a long interview with Fehribach about his cookbook; read it here and here.
And in other food news . . .
• The Green City Market Junior Board will host a screening of the documentary Fed Up on Thursday, April 16, at 7 PM at Patagonia Chicago (1800 N. Clybourn). The movie is free; popcorn and Goose Island beer will be for sale.
• Next weekend there’s a big cultural summit thing coming to the Chicago Cultural Center and its environs called Lake FX, and one of the tracks is on culinary issues. Macy’s on State Street is hosting a bunch of free panels featuring interesting folks from the food world. On Saturday morning at 10:30 I’m hosting (and the Reader‘s presenting) a panel on local food’s rise in Chicago with food writer Anthony Todd, Dave Rand of Local Foods, and Gregory Berlowitz of Chicago Co-op. The whole list of culinary offerings is here.
• Cochon 555 returns to Chicago Sunday, April 26; $125 gets you a porkerrific afternoon spent eating and judging dishes made with heritage pork from six Chicago chefs: Chris Marchino of Spiaggia, Nathan Sears of the Radler, Nicole Pederson of Found, John Manion of La Sirena Clandestina, and the team of Thomas Rice and Kurt Guzowski of Tete Charcuterie. There’s also a kickoff dinner at Nico Osteria on Friday and another dinner at Tete Charcuterie on Saturday. The winner goes on to compete at the national Cochon 555 finale in Aspen. Go here for more details and tickets.
• Intro will host a dinner series the week of the James Beard Foundation awards in Chicago featuring the first two guest chefs, CJ Jacobson and Erik Anderson, plus Rising Star nominees Ari Taymor (Alma in LA) and Jessica Langey (Manresa in the Bay Area), Ben Sukle (Birch in Providence), and Michael Laiskonis (formerly of Le Bernardin). The multicourse menu will run May 1-9 (except the night of the ceremony), and a portion of the ticket price ($95-125) will benefit the James Beard Foundation. Go here for more info or a reservation.