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