Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Lite Bites: What Your Favorite Chefs & Mixologists Are Up To Around Town This Week

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Big Star's Blue Line Swinger (Photo: One Off Hospitality Group)

It's nice and crisp outside. Enjoy.

• October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and One Off Hospitality Group contributes to the cause by donating a portion of proceeds from its food & drink programs to the Lynn Sage Foundation.

Each of its restaurants will donate $1 from the sale of the following items: select rose by the glass (avec); On Pointe cocktail (Blackbird); The Blue Line Swinger—a new take on the classic Manhattan (Big Star); Veal Breast Hash, available during Saturday and Sunday brunch (Publican); veal breast sandwich (Publican Quality Meats) and Old Fashioned cocktail (The Violet Hour).

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Jimmy Bannos, Jr. (left) and Jimmy Bannos, Sr. are two of many chefs participating in the 25th annual Celebrity Chef Ball. (Photo via Modern Midwest)

• Speaking of One Off Hospitality Group, the collective's Paul Kahan is also deeply involved in Pilot Light, which enlists the city's top chefs and Chicago Public Schools teachers to incorporate culinary education and nutrition into existing core curricula. He's getting together with a bunch of his colleagues for the first-ever Pilot Light Back to School Block Party, which occurs at Publican on Oct. 4 at 6pm. It's $175 per person with some sweet silent auction prizes. Our fave: A BBQ for you and 11 of your closest friends prepared by chefs Paul Kahan, Jason Hammel, Ryan Poli, Matthias Merges and Justin Large served in Kahan's backyard. Get tickets for the event right here.

Juno chef/partner BK Park hosted the first of a monthly series of collaborative private dinners with Michael Carlson (Schwa) on Sunday. They were nice enough to share these fantastic photos on Facebook. Keep an eye out for the next one!

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One of the courses from the Juno/Schwa hybrid omasake: cold applewood-smoked akami, seared foie gras, Fuji apple, Osetra caviar, chive and gold leaf (Photo: Juno)

Christian Gosselin apparently didn't stray too far from the group that owns The Boarding House following his departure in April. He's now working as second-in-command at Bistronomic, according to the publicist. It's owned by the same team.

Bar Toma's Dough Masters series continues on Oct. 9 with guest "Dough Master" Jonathan Goldsmith of Spacca Napoli Pizzeria. The event begins at 6:30pm with a reception followed by a family-style dinner featuring antipasti from both restaurants, three of Goldsmith's pizzas, gelato and espresso. It'll be paired with beer. It's $45 per person and tickets may be purchased right here.

• Get ready to buy your tickets for the annual Celebrity Chef Ball, which fetes 25 years in 2013. Here's the list of participating chefs and mixologists, plus how you can purchase tix. It takes place Oct. 26 at the Zhou B Art Center (1029 W. 35th St.).

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