Chicago is a training ground for future food industry talent and boosts the most culinary schools in a major city. This means that there are opportunities for bargain dining and sampling gourmet food at student-run restaurants and schools in locations accessible from the Radisson Chicago Hotel and Suites via bus.
At the The Dining Room of Kendall College, guests can dine on innovative courses such as butter-poached alligator, duck gumbo and Pacific cod served with eggplant caviar and smoked oysters. The Dining Room has recently begun serving prix-fixe lunches for $18 and prix-fixe dinners for $28. Be sure to visit on March 15 when the Advanced Garde Manger class presents “The Grand Buffet,”an all-you-can-eat buffet for $25, prepared by the class for its final exam.
“CHIC Café "is operated by students at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. This is a friendly spot where the menu changes daily and guests can bring in wine and beer. Students test their creations on the public before going on to work at Chicago’s finest hotels and restaurants, and they thrive off of diners’ feedback. Lunch is $15 and dinner is $25. Reservations are strongly recommended (312.873.2032,) as the café is sometimes closed for parties or due to school breaks.
The French Pasty, located in Chicago’s Loop, is the only school in the area that concentrates solely on desserts and pastries. I got the chance to tour the kitchen at The French Pastry the other night when I attended a Chicago Hotel Concierge Association meeting at the school.The smell of chocolate in the air has me excited for the “World Chocolate Masters 2007 National Championship,” which will be held there May 19 and May 20, 2007. If you can’t wait that long for delicious sweets come, to Chicago on March 10, stay at the Radisson and attend the French Pastry’s “Open House,” featuring an artisan bread and sugar showpiece demonstrations. Many other seminars and exhibtions also occur at The French Pastry throughout the year.
After you have had your fill of food at a Chicago school, take the bus back to the Radisson Chicago Hotel and Suites. Then engage in some physical education by walking around the Magnificent Mile and use your food budget savings toward shopping at all the great shops nearby!
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2 comments:
The chocolate sounds great! Say, I hear Chicago has the best pen show in the USA. True? :)
Yes Val, Chicago does love its chocolate.
You're also right on about the pen show. The Chicago Pen Show will be held May 3 - May 6 2007 in Rosemont, which is just a short ride from downtown on the Blue Line (a $2 ride.) The show can be quite a zoo as it attracts not only Midwesterners, but guests from West Virginia, New York City and Costa Rico.
On your way there, stop in at Gilbertson Clybourn Inc., one of the best pen stores in the country, located just two blocks from The Chicago Radisson Hotel and Suites. It has been in the zany business of selling just pens for many, many years.
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