While we are busy planning the next dinner, we thought that we would take a pause and let you in on some great ways to celebrate the holidays. Because, yep, it's that time of the year and we're all excited about getting together with friends and family over great food and good times. We know, we know, it can be glorious, but also can be a pain to wrack your brain for creative ways to do so! We have a idea. How about a better way to do so without the stress? Yo Soy Underground supper is perfect for intimate / private gatherings from 10-20 people. While we focus on our monthly dinners mainly, we are also on call to help you create a memorable and unique experience specifically for you and yours. Whether it be in the privacy of your own home or at one of our unique locations, we can make it happen! Looking for another way to spread the joy? We also offer gift certificates to the ongoing Yo Soy dinners. Bring the Yo Soy fun into your holiday repertoire! Contact us for further details, and a private consultation. Happy Holidays to all! We look forward to seeing and feeding you soon! 

we had the unique opportunity to collaborate with white city supper club this past friday for a celebration of "dia de los muertos". white city had chosen the venue, a darkly candle-lit church, that was perfect for the celebration. white city had created a "game" for the guests to partake in before arriving at the dinner. it was an eloborate series of spots for the group to meet at before giving the final hint of where to dine. We were more than thrilled to be on the other side of the door ready to serve the guest the 5 course meal we had created for the occasion! We had created a menu for the month of dia de los muertos and it received some great feedback. The menu was revolved around the "cycle of life" we had created 5 courses with the idea of the stages of a "life cycle". Our first course was birth, and then we moved on to life, then death and then preservation and the final course being revisitation. The menu is as follows:

1). birth: 4 bean salad + quinoa + mango white wine vinegar + pea sprouts

2). life :   acorn squash + baked kale +  rings of champagne thyme + chicken nutmeg + mole dots

 3). death :  carrot soup + ginger + poppy seed crema

it was a great evening and we look forward to future collaborations with white city supper club! the group they had for the evening was such great energy and sense of warmth! thanks wcsc!

We are pairing up with wWhite City Supper Club this Friday for an extraordinary evening of great, delcious food and company! We invite you to partake in this collaboration, as it is going to be one heck of a delicious evening!

Here are the details and background:

Are you familiar with the ideas of the White City? How about
underground dining? Or pop up restaurants?

White City Supper Club is hosting a series of pop up dinners inspired
by Chicago's 1893 World's Fair Columbian Exposition: The series of
hosted events is similar to secret or underground supper clubs, but
each will happen in different and unexpected locations, much like
flash dinners or popup restaurants, but with a salon vibe.

Dinners will be designed by a series of awesome guest chefs. The menu
and Chicago neighborhood will be revealed ahead of time, but the
specific location will remain a secret until the night of the supper.

Each event will focus on a topic, an activity or a performance
(sometimes a mix) designed to create a unique experience... elevated
food, conversation and social exploration.


Our premier event will be on November 2, 2012: Feast of All Souls (Dia
de los Muertos)

We're staging an exquisite one night only pop up dinner on the Feast
of All Souls aka Day of the Dead, prepared by very talented chefs of
YO SOY Chicago.

The dinner will take place in an undisclosed location: those who are
invited to attend will be sent special instructions... so check your
emails (and spam folder) a playful wink at the "code word" practices
of secret societies.

The theme of the meal is life, death and undeath... These are the
first four courses proposed in a five course meal (the dessert course
will be a surprise).

Our program for the evening is being designed by esteemed game
designers from Waxwing Puzzle Co. and will included a talk on
"Entertaining the Undead", courtesy of Diabolical Toy, noted producers
of online fiction, animation and video.

Please join us in what will be the first of many unique and memorable
evenings.  If you'd like to be added to the mailing list, please drop
us a line at contactus@whitecitysupperclub.com or, to secure your
reservation, join our Meetup Group:
http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-White-City-Supper-Club/events/88205192/

the supper we had last night was awesome! we took the idea of "day of the dead" and thought it would be an interesting twist to take our diners on a journey through the "cycle of life" with the meal. the stages that we represented were : birth, life, death, preservation, revisitation. ending the meal with "revisitation" was a perfect way to highlight the passion of "day of the dead". further fueling this idea is the fact that this holiday is centered around the hopes of loved ones returnning to visit us by enticing them with their favorite treats. so speaking of enticing, and without further ado, here is a breakdown of the night:

we started the evening off with a cocktail hour that was inspired by our passed love ones. in traditional "dia de los muertos" celebrations you prepare your passed loved ones favorite foods or items that they loved when they were living. after preparing/purchasing their favorite foods ,you would then place all of the items on a makeshift altar, or ofrenda. we took that idea, but instead of "altar"ing it, we used them as treats for our supper guests during the welcome hour. to begin the evening, we had everyone meet at the "yo soy" outdoor deck. yes, outdoors....in chicago....and yes....in late october! being outdoors for our meeting point really took advantage of the not-so-seasonal gorgeous weather we were experiencing. it was a great setting to meet and mingle with all of our guests while sipping our "genoveva's grapes" cocktail and noshing on "election day" corn fritters! after we soaked up the booze, er, the weather, we then moved the group over from the outdoor deck to a "secret location" (a.k.a. saugatuck coffee co.) that was located right around the corner from us.

after our outdoor cocktial hour was over we headed over to saugatuck coffee for the rest of the evening. we surprised our guests by converting the neighborhhod coffee shop into a one-night only 4 course sit down restaurant for yo soy underground supper. when guests arrived we already had the tables preset with the second course of the evening, which was the "life" course. the evening continued with a plated progression of the rest of the "cycle of life" menu and theme. i would say out of all the courses, the "preservation" course had a couple of people overly "excited" due to the spicy nature of the dish. i was told it had a spice level that revived the most petrified of souls! we then finished the meal with a traditional "pan de muerto" bread pudding with a revisited popcorn reduction and homemade caramel drizzle. it was so delicious! and if that was not enough to fill your body and soul, we had a fantastic singer/songwriter, ian wilson, perform some originals, and some covers for our guests. we highly recommend that you give him a listen to, his voice and keyboard skills are beyond impressive. huge thanks for sharing your talent with us, ian! The night just had a festive, dynamic tone to it that was accented with fun "skeleton" masks that guests took turns catching photos of. there also was an interactive altar (ofrenda) we had set up that guests were encouraged to add to. it was all around, full of great food, great people, awesome musical talent, and touching moments that really made this night anything but dead, quite opposite actually, it was ALIVE and KICKING! we cannot wait to see and feed you again soon! stay tuned for the november date! 

p.s.- here is the menu that was enjoyed last night:

cocktail:
inspired by mikey's grammy, genoveva: concord grapes + habanero bitters + fresh lime and oranges + vodka
1). birth: inspired by brian's grandpa's "election day" corn fritters : cornmeal + salmon roe + corn + peas
2). life: kale + acorn squash + terrine of vegetables + soy
3). death: carrot soup + ginger + poppy seed crema
4). preservation : smoked ribs + chipotle + poblano potato confit + pickled onions
5). revisitation: pan de muerto bread pudding + popcorn reduction + house made caramel + candied sesame seeds

IT'S HERE! the annual "day of the dead" celebration to celebrate life and all of it's finest things! food, laughter, art and wine! grab your seats now as this supper is going to be one heck of a great time!

p.s.- if you are not familiar with the "dia de los muertos" holiday read all about it here! gracias wikipedia!