Giant Wines, Giant Talents: An Imperial Dinner At BOKA

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 23, 2012 5:20PM

When we hear "Imperial Dinner" what comes to mind? Queen Victoria moving her ships around the map while eating tea sandwiches. Darth Vader and Governor Tarkin eating chicken wings. Starting today, that's gonna change - an "imperial" is a freakin' enormous wine bottle, and an "Imperial dinner" (at least at BOKA) is a dinner that brings those bottles together with six star chefs.

This is one of those events that is absolutely sure to sell out. If you want tickets, buy them as you read this. On Sunday, November 18th, BOKA will be hosting six star chefs. Each will create a course. The wine pairings will all come from 6-liter imperials.

The chefs include Anthony Martin (Tru), Homaro Cantu (moto), Michael Sheerin (Trenchermen), Bill Kim (Urban Belly), Matthias Merges (Yusho) and Carl Shelton (BOKA). BOKA's pastry chef Sarah Jordan will be making dessert. Think about that lineup for a second. If you were going to give a rich, vacationing friend a restaurant list off the top of your head, that would be pretty close to an ideal lineup.

Want to play a fun game? Try to match each course to each chef. If you're clever and know the restaurants, you can probably do it. Answers are below.
Courses include:
A) Cervena Venison with Blackberry and Celeries
B) Braised Oxtail, red miso, seared shisito peppers, and toasted brioche
C) Pork Tenderloin with lentil stew & red thai curry
D) Aged Peking Duck Breast, brown butter spaghetti squash, Parmesan, romaine
E) Smoked Salmon and Trout, sea beans, bagel foam, cream cheese, caviar
F) Grit Arancini with apple smoked bacon sauce

The dinner is $165 per person, and it starts at 7:30. For reservations and more information, call BOKA at (312) 337-6070. Tickets go on sale at noon today.

BOKA is located at 1729 North Halsted St.

Matching: A = Anthony Martin, B = Matthias Merges, C=Bill Kim, D = Michael Sheerin, E = Homaro Cantu, F = Carl Shelton.