so, after counting the people, and the seats, we have some chairs left to be filled by you guys! we are doing our belated cinco de mayo dinner by having a "dieciséis de mayo" gathering! since i am mexican, i thought it in true tradition of tardiness to celebrate cinco de mayo a little bit later than others! lol! just joking, it is the best time that we could have sat down and put together another since our last one, since we are both still working guys in the industry, we don't have much time to devote to our yo soy baby except for these monthly dinners. 

since we are hovering on spring, and summer in sight, we wanted to go with some street fare items as well as backyard barbeque items that can easily be eaten sans forks! don't fret, we will still have proper eating utensils, the whole street food meets backyard was just a theme to inspire us!

so, the menu is going to consist of a welcome dish of cactus + pollo potstickers with a piloncillo soy glaze! the welcome drink that is to be paired with the mingling hour is a fresh melon + chinese basil concoction! 

the first course will be a jicama + cilantro + mandarin orange salad with a rice wine cerveza vinaigrette!

the next course is a chorizo + wok seared sambal shrimp tacos. it is an earthy dish that is going to be married by queso fresco and a black bean puree! it is so delicious!

our main dish are ribs that are glazed with a super asian and mexican braising au jus! so think of flavors like star anise, ginger,orange,guajillo and ancho peppers, and so many more. they are served with yucca fries (yucca = yummy) and elotes! for those who have never had elotes, watch out, you are about to become addicted!

the finale is a banana + peanut empanada with an in house made ginger ice cream! in the words of rachel zoe from the hit show on bravo, THIS IS BANANAS! literally. i love this one! 

and as per usual, our last course is followed by a performance of local talent, and this sunday it is john david! he sings opera and has recently toured asia sharing his beautiful talent! 

the "loteria"course is to start around 11 pm. that is for those who want to stick around for the mexican bingo fun! there will be enough loteria cards for everyone to have at least 2. **hint** bring your quarters****

this is the first dinner we are hosting a group of 16, usually it hovers around 10 to 14, so we are excited about the challenge we are taking on. some courses will be individually plated, and some are family style, which we believe calls for interaction between guests!  salud to making new friends over food and fun and frivolousness!

DETAILS: $50 suggested donation ( not including gratuity )

                  7pm to 11ish sunday may.16th , 2010

                  email for details on how to grab your seat to:  

                  yosoychicago@gmail.com

                  an email will be sent to you on the 16th releasing the location

so, our last dinner was freaking great! we had people from chicago, texas, and even san francisco! it was a blast to be had by all! we tried something different this time and featured cocktails by graham + joe. They are a duo here in chicago that do cocktails for art galleries around the city, and these guys are nothing short of fantastic! they created a cocktail o lychee + lemongrass + lime with cucumber infused gin topped off with a splash of soda! it was light, refreshing, and zesty all at once! last count, i think i had indulged in over 3 that night! 

we had a small snack of lotus buns with chinese 5 spice barbacoa that was set out as a light snack during the meet and greet hour. it helped everyone from getting too sloshed before we headed to the table for our first course which was sopa de ajo ( a.k.a. mexican egg drop soup). the soup was prepared with ginger, garlic and of course, chili! the addition to the soup for a texture element was fresh corn and cilantro, and instead of wonton crisps, we opted for fresh strips of corn tortillas that we tossed in roasted ground cumin and salt.

the next course kinda set off a round of jokes , and amusement for the laughs, and also for the stomach! it was a recipe we had been playing with for about a week or so, and we finally got the taste down to a "t" that night! it was papas rellenas stuffed with chinese orange chicken. we crusted the rellenas with panko, and then drizzled them with a chipotle + soy sauce that was smokey, savory and addictive! the garnishes of pickled carrots and peas were a great jolt of heat towards the end! 

the 3rd course was brian's work of geniusness in the kitchen! it was pork belly that was cured for 3 days with salt, fennel, cumin, cinnamon, star anise, coriander, white pepper, and black pepper! then it was slow cooked for 9 hours at 200 degrees. the result was the most tender, juiciest, most flavorful pork i had eaten, ever! it was served with a garlic + cilantro rice and shaved fresh greens (green beans, asparagus, field greens, radishes, carrots) with lemon zest! it bordered on insanity! 

the last course was a deconstructed pineapple + chinese basil raspa! the base was panna cota to add some creaminess and sweet and sour notes to the so cloud-like shaved ice atop it! the dessert was followed by a sipping tequila (Corralejo Reposado) brought to the party by vince perez (we love you for that!).

it was perfect timing for sipping tequila because right after dessert, we all moved to the living room to hear the amazing voice of yolanda davis! she has a voice that is just romantic enough to make you want to grab the person next to you and do what comes natural! hahaa! i joke! i joke! it's a sweet melody that she carries, though, i have to let you know! or, come find out for yourselves at our next dinner!

lastly, the night was to be concluded by the signature game of yo soy, which is loteria (a.k.a. mexican bingo)!! it was the perfect way to end the evening, sipping tequila and playing loteria, what more could you ask for?!

spring is here! we are anxiously awaiting to roll out some ideas we have been playing with! lots of lighter, still flavorful recipes are being carefully maneuvered by brian, and drinks are carefully being thought out by mikey! 

we have the menu for the evening in the following courses

1). mexican egg drop soup

2). papas rellenas stuffed with ginger chicken

3). barbacoa in lotus root buns with a refreshing market salad 

4). raspas shaved with chinese basil and pineapple!

yum! yum! we cannot wait! also we are excited about seeing some new, fresh faces to welcome in our spring dinner! as of now, we do have 3 seats available, so email us pronto! 

xoxo,

mikey + brian

As we move through life we transverse with people of varying paths and motivations. Lately we have come across a group of extremely gifted singer songwriters, they may happen to all work with Brian, a happenstance that is a delightful surprise. As these talents are singing every Monday at a bar three doors down, we decided to throw a cocktail party in honor of the event, this coming Monday featuring Yolanda Davis and her sensual voice prior to her performance at Scarlet. We also have recently discovered Xtabentun which is a delightful liqueur dating back to the Mayans, consisting of fermented honey and Anisette. This has become the base for the beverage department of our upcoming fete, we are mixing this with Black Strap Rum, Lemon bitters, and grapefruit juice. The hors d ouves we want to keep simple, focusing on spring. There will be the tortilla cups filled with scallops and shrimp, accented by tropical fruit and fine herbs; chicken skewers with an acai mole, and wonton crisps filled with quenells of cilantro-ginger ice cream. We look forward to all of the creative juices flowing around, with Yo Soy at the center!

So, since brian and i both are still working in restaurants, we had to acknowledge valentines day a bit later than the rest of the world. Also, we both think that valentine's day is just another "hallmark holiday" so we had no issue with creating a nice "february feast for 2" on feb. 15th in our own home. It helps keep the intimacy factor high, and the "double-priced" dining out experience low. So, having been inspired by the prior days gluttony and champagne indulged tables we waited on, I went out and purchased a nice bottle of red wine, and a bottle of sparkling rose and 2 filet mignon and 2 lobster tails. Brian was a bit surprised to find I had done this, and having given him about an 8 hour notice for him to create a menu for the 2 of us, he was a little more delighted than i thought he would be! He knows that i am a sucker for food with a bit more of an edge to it, as far as heat is concerned, and also foods fried make me jump for joy! We also have been thinking about the mexican and chinese marriage we had initially started our journey with, and how we kinda strayed from it, wanting to focus on mainly "latin inspired" vs. mexican and chinese combined. I wanted to get back to that, and to get inspired all over again. With this renewed vigor for our original idea, i asked him to create a recipe with the filet mignon and lobster using the chinese and mexican concept! I could not have been more pleased! It was great! He made his infamous carrot star anise soup that made me fall for him five years ago, he did lobster tail tempura with a jalapeno aioli partnered with a chinese 5 spiced filet mignon with pickled onions and corn! I fell in love all over again, with food, our original concept, and of course the chef. Dessert was left to me, and since i am a huge fan of sandra lee's food network show "semi- homemade" my idea for dessert was to utilize the box of turtle mountain's "so delicious " dairy-free ice cream (since i am self-diagnosed lactose -intolerant) we had in our freezer. i puréed cilantro with a bit of sugar and ginger powder to a point of liquid consistency and then took 5 huge scoops of ice cream into a stainless steel mixing bowl and slowly poured in my purée churning it slowly together. i then put it back in the freezer for about an hour to let the flavors of soy and sugar and cilantro and ginger become acquainted. I loved it, brian, well..eh, he might need some time to take it all in! here are the pictures from the dinner by numbered courses:

so, winter is STILL here in chicago, and we are trying to survive it, so we are going to try to warm our hearts a bit more by having a dinner SUNDAY MARCH. 21st, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. it will be back to our original idea of mexican and chinese cuisine! please be on the lookout for the emails which will be coming out this week with the invite for you to attend! once again, space is limited to 12 awesome people... so, please, please don't take it personal, it will just make the dinner in april be that much better! it's also a steal at 50 dollars suggested donation per person for 3 courses , cocktails and wine pairings! yum! yum! glug! glug! i will post a menu this week! 

xoxoxo!

mikey and brian