June 11, 2007
The Funeral Crashers…
I will show up anywhere for gourmet food. And Prince Charming is so easy going, he obliges my every whim when it comes to fine dining. So when Chef called last week to see if we would accompany him to a luncheon on Sunday, it didn’t occur to me to get the details. I figured lunch with a bunch of chef’s cooking was… well…lunch with a bunch of chefs and I was lucky to get invited. Prince Charming attempted to get more info out of me prior to leaving but I didn’t have much to offer. Lunch at a French bistro in the city with eight very well known chefs cooking, what more did we need to know.Apparently, it would have been appropriate to know the deceased who was being honored that day. We showed up just after the first course and waited to dash to our seats between eulogies. When we sat, we were quickly introduced to the rest of the table and briefed on the life of a well respected chef in Chicago. Prince Charming looked at me with that look of “now what did you get us into?” As I shoveled in pate and foie gras, I learned the impact this French soul made on many of our top chefs in Chicago. And believe me- I didn’t miss a mouthful during any of the tearful speeches.
Halfway through the lunch, Prince Charming and I realized that we were the official funeral crashers at the party. We had an unspoken agreement that we were in this together and just go with it. Since we only knew our Chef and one other, we had to explain our connection a few times. Our response was always met with a look of bewilderment. It was a stretch that we were even invited and that was evident.
The main course was prepared by the Queen of Cooks in Chicago, Carrie Nahabedian. Chef happens to be a close friend of the Queen and we were seated with her family for lunch. I find her career to be one of the most fascinating in the food industry. She spoke yesterday with emotion and passion for not only the gentleman who died, but for an industry she lives for. As a food lover, it was an amazing experience to hear such great tales of how their careers evolved.
Every few minutes the microphone was passed to another diner to share stories of the French soul. At one point, the host with a very thick French accent said, “and now, Kiki will say a few words”. I almost fell off my chair while spreading a wonderfully buttery cheese on my multi grain bread. But thankfully, The Kiki of Kiki’s Bistro was seated in the corner. Even Prince Charming had a look of horror for a split second. I was just grateful I could finish my cheese plate and move onto dessert uninterrupted.
As any good funeral crashers go, I think we did a fine job of fitting in. Chef had to exit before we did, at least forty five minutes. At that point, I was holding out for dessert. We made it that far; we were parked for the Tarte tatin. When I asked Prince Charming if he wanted to sneak out, he looked at me like I had lost my mind. “But the tarte tatin hasn’t come out yet”. Well, how silly of me. The French soul would have insisted we stay for dessert, so we did.
Posted 3 years, 6 months ago on June 11, 2007