the dinner on may. 16th for 16 was absolutely a-m-a-z-i-n-g! we started with a cocktail hour which was paired with cactus and chipotle chicken potstickers with a soy+piloncillo glaze! the drink that was being served up by our fantastic bartendress was a watermelon + honeydew +chinese basil cocktail! it was just the right thing to set the mood for all the arriving guests! and it was also amazing that the sun was our shining bright that day so our lakeview apartment windows were open and adding to the ambiance of festivity! before sitting to dinner for our first course, we did a traditional mexican toast with a blaring linda ronstadt song called "y andale" which is all about gleeful debauchery! it was fitting since we were about to stuff our body and soul with sinful amounts of food and wine (and tequila!). 

our diners were all very open and ready to experience our talents that was so generously written up by time out chicago last week. the response from you all were and still are amazing! we are thrilled and are actively working on our next menu to be prepared for our june.20th, 2010 sunday dinner! some guests that were in attendance were jennifer sanders who runs a blog called girls just wanna have food! she was in attendance at the underground dinner party my friends and i attended on cinco de mayo in pilsen. we are quickly becoming underground dining besties, and i am seriously going to have to take it to the next level of above ground dining friendship with her! love ya' jen! the cinco de mayo underground dinner was hosted by abraham and adrian of xmarxchicago. they are truly an inspiration for this scene and should be checked out if you have not already! jorge valdivia from the mexican museum of art was also representing! there were also a college friend, jared hatch, who is an artist in all sense of the word, and his partner ramon! tony and jeff, were a gem of a couple and were a true pleasure! tess and her sisters girlfriend were here , joe fresh from barcelona was in attendance as was a neighbor from around the block i had never met before, thomas, who i hope will become a regular!

the menu did not differ from the prior post much, the only thing we tweaked was the tacos course. we were unable to perfect our sope recipe, and opted at the last minute to make tacos instead. well, it did not sit too well with us, as we felt like we were giving up on our initial recipe, so we stayed up til 4 in the morning the night before and got it right! the hard work definitely was worth it, the group went wild with love for the chorizo + shrimp and black bean puree sope with queso fresco! the ribs were melt in your mouth tender, the yucca fries were lightly crunchy, the elotes with a huitlacoche (mexican mushroom that grows on corn) aioli were ridiculous! i also cannot find the words for brian's homemade ginger + vanilla ice cream paired with a banana + peanut + honey empanada with a dark chocolate drizzle! 

the diner was concluded with john david singing some very beautiful arias for us as we had the room dimly lit and everyone with a gorgeous tequila to sip in hand. btw, thank you jorge and xmarx'ers for the crazy delicious tequila selection! it was a great evening, and we feel that we have made some new foodie friends with everyone that was there that night. we also wanted to apologize to those who were not able to get seats for that evening, but we eagerly await the next dinner to meet you all and serve up some "goodie" lovin!

unfortunately, due to the excitement of the evening, we did not have time to play loteria! which made me a little sad, but that just leaves us with further ideas of possibly just a game night for all of our past diners one sunday to get together over a fierce game of loteria and cocktails, and of course, yo soy goodness!

once again, thanks to all that believe in us, and especially to our dear friends that forefeit their sundays to help us with our dream! huge, huge, xo's to  josie, diane, and julie! we love you guys and could not have done it without you!

so, email now if you are interested in seats for the next dinner! we have already almost sold out! 

xo,

mikey corona + brian riggenbach

p.s.- we love you time out chicago!