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Hello all,

I wanted to make you aware of an event I'm arranging for the Northern Illinois branch of the International Wine & Food Society. I'm doing a Madeira Party, similar to those held in the 19th century. It will be held on Saturday, May 10 at Bank Lane Bistro in Lake Forest, IL., a suburb of Chicago. The event is open to all, so I'll keep you aware of updates in case you're interested in attending.

Here's the specifics that I know right now. The dinner will consist of a reception and 5 courses, with me doing a fairly short presentation on the history of Madeira in America during the reception. I'm organizing the event as a black tie dinner for our branch members, however non-members are welcome to come in coat and tie.

My intent is to showcase the different grapes of Madeira and to get the general public interested in these great wines again. I tasted all the wines yesterday with the chef so he can come up with the courses, which I should have in about a month. However, here's how the wines lay out:

Reception: Blandy's 5-year Sercial
1st course: Rare Wine Company Historic Series: Terrantez
2nd course: Rare Wine Company Historic Series: Sercial
3rd course: Henriques & Henriques 10 or 15 year Verdelho
4th course: Rare Wine Company Historic Series: Boal
5th course: Broadbent 10-year Malmsey and Barbeito 1834 Malmsey

The chef I'm working with has a great palate, and he's already got some great ideas on the food. I want to introduce the 1834 Malmsey to showcase what the old wines can be like, but due to price considerations I'll be doing only about a 1-ounce pour of that one. All the others will be 3-ounce pours. Price point will be about $150 per person.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll keep everyone up to date as I get a menu and we get closer. I hope you can attend.

All the best,
John Danza

John,

Thanks for posting this. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend but is good to see some tasting opportunities being posted here for our US cousins

Best of luck with the event, it sounds like great fun.

Derek

Thank you for telling us. How expensive would be accommodation in the vicinity?

jdaw1 wrote:Thank you for telling us. How expensive would be accommodation in the vicinity?

Hi Julian,

I'll check on some options and post them. There are a couple of overall choices that I'll check out. One is to stay in downtown Chicago and take the commuter train to Lake Forest, which stops a block from the restaurant. Another is to stay in Lake Forest, but that would require a rental car or arranged taxi. Actually, a third option is to stay at the O'hare Hilton and taxi both ways (or I can pick you up and drop you off as it's on my way). I'll scan for some prices and post the options.

Thanks very much.
John Danza

Hi Julian (and all others not in the Chicago area),

I did some checking on hotels. If you wanted to stay at the O'Hare Hilton to make it convenient to your flights, they're quoting a rate as low as $169.00 per night on that weekend. You can then catch a taxi back and forth to the restaurant, or I would be more than happy to pick you up and drop you off afterwards.

There isn't any hotels conveniently located in Lake Forest unfortunately.

As far as staying in downtown Chicago, you will pretty much have the availability of anything you want, so I'll leave that up to you to investigate using the websites of your favorite hotel chains. You will be only a 10-15 minute cab ride to the commuter train station, which stops a block from the restuarant.

If you choose this last option, let me know and I'll make sure you get the correct train schedule information. There's two different lines running through Lake Forest, and one of them is about 5 or so miles from the hotel. I discovered this the hard way when I went to pick my wife up from the train for the tasting we did with the chef, and she was at the other station!

I hope to see you at the dinner in May.

All the best,
John

Hello all,

This dinner is going to be postponed until the spring of 2009. Unfortunately, the chef I'm working with is leaving the restaurant he's at now and opening his own place in a year. I want to still work with him on the dinner, so I need to push it back. I'll post something on it when we get closer.

Have a happy new year!

John Danza

Thank you for letting us know. And please tell us again when more is known.