Remember our old friend Mike Lee at Studio Feast? Mike runs one of those supper clubs I looked into a while back, my interview with him is here. Well Mike is taking his show on the road, so if you are in or around Chicago, you should definitely consider attending his event. Studiofeast is starting the bring their supper club experience to more cities and I think this is a fascinating development. For sure there are supper club-type groups in every city in America, but New York City seems to have an extraordinarily strong diffusion. I asked Mike why he now felt the time was right to take his show on the road and he told me that now that their base in New York is so solid, they wanted the chance to branch out, but in particular, to dive headfirst into the cuisine of another region. To me this is the highlight of Studiofeast’s experimentation. New York has amazing local ingredients but every region has its own particular blend, and for Mike and his team, delving into another region forces them to confront other local ingredients and flavors.

Studiofeast is also teaming up with a local artisan ice creamery in Chicago, Nice Cream. Nice Cream, which can be found on twitter @Nicecreamco, uses only local seasonal and organic ingredients in their product, another great sustainable enterprise. I am really happy to see Mike and his team link up with such an artisan. If only I lived in Chicago I’d run not walk to try Mike’s watermelon, tomato and feta starter with basil sorbet from Nice Cream. So if you are in Chicago, or know of someone who is, share this great offering with them and have them send in their reports! I’ll share any chronicling on the blog with pleasure.

Studiofeast is coming to Chicago with an 11 course feast of new dishes as well as past Studiofeast classics. We also have the pleasure of teaming up withlocal Chicago creamery, Nice Cream, who are creating some custom flavors just for this menu.

Since February 2007, when we first roasted a whole pig inside of a small Manhattan studio apartment, we’ve been practicing and sharing our brand of culinary hedonism and calling it Studiofeast.

To date, we’ve been having great fun playing inside of the New York City limits: Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, to be precise. But we can’t wait to head into the Midwest to rock out with some Chicagoans over the following menu

Snack
Assortment of Fry Puffed Cheeses 

Raw Amuse
Sashimi / Yuzu Kosho / Brown Butter 

Starter
Watermelon / Tomato / Feta / Basil Sorbet, by Nice Cream

Salad
Grilled Romaine / Pecorino / Homemade Vinegar 

Soup
Chilled Sweet Corn / Whitefish / Chili Pepper

Offal
Beef Tongue / Parsley Salad / Cornichon 

Sorbet
Mango / Chili Powder / Lime, by Nice Cream

Three Course Main: “Three Bellies”

Belly Course #1:
Slow Cooked Veal Breast
White Bean / Fontina

Belly Course #2:
Kakuni Japanese Pork Belly
Grits / Mustard 

Belly Course #3:
24 Hr Lamb Belly
Tzatziki / Candied Pistachio 

Dessert
Peach / Mereingue / Blueberry Vanilla, by Nice Cream