Almost everyone in Chicago either watches,
has heard of, or has dined at one of the many restaurants featured on
the PBS program “Check, Please!” As a fan of the show, I jumped at the
chance to attend the annual “Check, Please!” fundraising benefit at the
WTTW studios. The benefit featured 30 different low to mid-end
restaurants located in the city and surrounding suburbs, as well as
local entertainment, raffle prizes (like a spot on the show) and silent
auction. The event was great and I thought a real treat that it was
held at the studio so that you could wine and dine within the sound
stages where “Check, Please!” and other PBS shows are filmed.
The evening started off in the VIP lounge where 10 restaurants tempted guests with signature cocktails and Jazz vocals by Kurt Elling. Some of the more unique concoctions worth mentioning all fall within the martini category and include an organic lemon and ginger infused martini by uncommon ground, the “Spring Fling” Absolute Kurant, lemon-grass green tea and cranberry juice martini by the Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club. And then my favorite, presented by The Dining Room at Kendall College, an Asian inspired martini with cucumber puree and Yuzu syrup and soy Vodka with an Edemame and pickled ginger garnish.
After all that drinking it was time to head to the main dining area where there was an unbelievable amount of great, good, and not so good signature foods to sample. I’ll just stick with some of the great, standout dishes of the night from restaurants I’d check out at a later date for more. Blu 47, serving American cuisine with a southern style, featured a hearty and surely addicting white chicken chili that just oozed with Monterey Jack cheese. Miramar Bistro is a French-Cuban combination that served simple yet irresistible oysters Rockefeller. Red Light on Randolph prepares dishes with a pan-Asian theme and served a succulent, fall-off the bone 5-spice rib, and completely ran out of the dish by 8:30PM. The Speakeasy Supper Club that rotates a seasonal, global menu introduced their Ducktini, a fresh and tasty appetizer with chunks of duck breast, avocado puree, olives and greens.
The one restaurant that stood out to me that night was The Dining Room at Kendall College. Not only did they prepare a unique signature drink for the VIP room but their main entrée really showed character and thought. While some of the not mentioned restaurants took the easy way out by serving cold pizza slices or hummus and pita, Kendall served up a soft and expertly seasoned braised short rib with a watermelon slaw and chickpea salad. It was truly the highlight of the evening and peaked my curiosity to try more.
I was thinking about attending this event because I LOVE Check Please, but I thought $150 was steep (I know...it's a donation to help WTTW)...in your opinion, was it well worth the $150? I'd consider going next year.
Posted by: Laura | June 07, 2006 at 12:36 PM
Stacy and I actually mentioned this after going to several larger-ticket events. We were both in agreement that it would be definitely worth the money.
*It would be prudent to note that we did have comps for this event.
Posted by: josh | June 07, 2006 at 12:47 PM
I would like to start dining out and trying different foods i am a mother of to girls ages 17and13 and want them to venture out as they grow older not to just be stuck on home run in and chicken i love watching your show but cant catch it all the time can you please give me some suggetions please help the 33year old mom of two
Posted by: Shunda | October 29, 2007 at 09:50 AM
Basically my life is just hard work, I can say that I live a seventy-year-old, is not that comfortable life than a month, like pushing a stone up the mountain, the stone kept rolling down and Tuishang Qu.
Posted by: louis vuitton bags | November 03, 2010 at 09:39 PM
Green Leaf is excellent, imo.
Posted by: air jordan | November 12, 2010 at 01:41 AM
Green Leaf is excellent, imo.
Posted by: air jordan | November 12, 2010 at 02:31 AM