Your Friday Food Buffet

By Chuck Sudo in Food on May 18, 2007 4:45PM

The big event happening this weekend is the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show at McCormick Place. The event features over 2,000 exhibitors in nearly 900 product categories showcasing the latest kitchen innovations and technology, sustainability concepts, and fine cuisine. Highlights of the show this year include a celebrity bookstore (a new feature where celebrity chefs and restaurateurs will be in attendance signing books) a food fair featuring regional specialty foods from across the country, more than 60 educational programs on the latest restaurant industry trends and issues within the industry, and a 10K run/5K walk on Sunday in Grant Park. Chicagoist will be attending this weekend and posting recaps of the trade show next week.

• If spending most of your weekend cooped up in a convention hall isn't your idea of a good time, then head to Café Matou this weekend for their "ramps and rosé" weekend. Chef Charlie Socher and wine director James Rahn have put together specials for the weekend featuring Socher's favorite spring vegetable paired with Rahn's favorite spring wine (and ours). If you can't make it to Café Matou this weekend, then their monthly wine cellar raid is this Wednesday, where Rahn pulls over 25 wines from the cellar and prices them for $17 a bottle.
• D.O.C. Wine Bar is hosting a pinot noir tasting Tuesday at 7 p.m. The $35 price tag gets you samples of a dozen hand-selected pinots for the event, with a discussion of the grape itself and tasting notes.
• You don't have to plan a trip to Napa, or even Michigan, to visit a good vineyard. Provenance Food and Wine and In Fine Spirits are co-sponsoring a spring field trip to Roselle's Lynfred Winery. The $80 price tag (space is limited) includes round-trip transportation, a tour of the winery, lunch and a tasting with winemaker Andres Basso.
• The Ghetto Gourmet is hosting two events next week. Tuesday's event will be literally walking distance from us in Bridgeport, and the second event will be held in an undisclosed location on the south side Thursday. Chef Efrain Cuevas has put together a meal that includes corn masa with duck confit, filled with smoked duck and served with black cherry mole. Attendees and interested parties can purchase tickets for the dinner at the Ghetto Gourmet website.