Start the year off with bit of decadence. We open with a Bubbly Bar featuring sparkling cocktails done four ways followed by a 6-course brunch including our fan favorite, Seafood Frittata. Make your 1st meal of the new year one to remember!
The Centered Chef
177 N. Ada Street
Doors Open at 11:30am with a Bubbly Bar, pastries & coffee
Brunch starts at 12:30pm
As always, we had a great time in this cold Monday morning at WGN News. We whipped up one of our fun holiday recipes – Jerk Fried Turkey! Special thanks to our sponsors Concha Y Toro, Epicurean Butter and Savory Choice. We hear the bird went over well with the crew after we left! Great job on cooking the turkey Ricky the Chef! Keeping that fire lit was no easy task. Later in the show we presented a few remixed side dishes. Check out the videos below. The recipes are available on WGN’s website. To order seasonings give us a call or visit our online store.
Are you ready??? If not, we are happy to help. This year our menu is bigger and better, and we have expanded our services making it super easy to order a full Thanksgiving meal or key dishes needed to complete your meal.
The menu below is for pickup & delivery service. In-home, private chef services are available upon request. Call us for a free menu planning consultation – 312-326-1948.
COMPLETE THANKSGIVING DINNER FOR 10 | * 450.00 *
Choice of oven-ready organic turkey (fried, jerk, herb roasted, maple & bourbon glazed or cajun butter)
-Traditional cornbread stuffing or chicken andouille sausage & chestnut stuffing
-Vanilla kissed sweet potatoes or espresso roasted sweet potatoes
-Herb roasted baby red potatoes with romesco & shallots or Epicurean Butter mashed potatoes
-Brussels sprouts with duck bacon & thyme or broccoli with garlic, ginger & sweet chili
-Roasted root vegetables
-Turkey gravy or wild mushroom gravy
-Cranberry sauce with orange & mint
-A dozen dinner rolls
-Sweet Potato Pie
*This meal can also have the following protein substitution in place of the turkey:
Pinot Noir Braised Beef Short Ribs
Calvados Braised Chicken
Herb Roasted Whole Pork Loin
DINNER A LA CARTE
APPETIZERS
Dates with bacon & Manchego (per dozen) 12
Spiced shrimp with Mango cocktail sauce (per dozen) 18
White bean soup with sage & Porcini Butter (per quart) 20
Salmon with Sourdough crostini, goat cheese & herbs (serves 8) 28
Deviled crab dip with crostini (serves 8) 38
Goat cheese and leek tartlets (per dozen) 20
CHEF’S BREAD (dozen)
Goat cheese Cornbread Muffins 18
“Very Corny” Cornbread Muffins 15
Garlic Bread Loaf 12 each loaf
Dinner Rolls with Garlic Butter 12
FOR DINNER
Oven-ready organic turkey (all ways) 10 –14lb(serves 10-12) 70
Oven-ready organic turkey (all ways) 18– 20lb (serves 16-22) 100
Pinot Noir Braised Beef Short Ribs (serves 10-12) 70
Herb Roasted Whole Pork Loin (serves 10-12) 75
Brown Sugar and Honey Glazed Ham (serves 7-10) 90
Turkey Breast Roulade (serves 10-12) 65
Cajun Stuffed Capon 75 each
Roasted Whole Duck 70 each
Calvados Braised Chicken (serves 10-12) 70
Supreme Stuffed Chicken (serves 10-12) 100
Roasted Turkey Legs (serves 8-10) 50
Roasted Turkey Wings (serves 8-10)
Chef Julius’ Game Hens - $9 each | black truffle butter, thyme, lavender
SIDES
Traditional stuffing (serves 8-10) 22
Chef Julius’ stuffing with chestnuts and andouille sausage (serves 8-10) 32
Baby red potatoes with romesco & shallots (serves 8-10) 27
Brussels sprouts with duck bacon & thyme (serves 8-10) 32
Broccoli with garlic, ginger & sweet chili (serves 8-10) 24
Haricot Vert with Lemon Zest & Truffle Butter (serves 8-10) 34
Roasted root vegetables (serves 8-10) 20
Mashed potatoes French Style or Saffron Creamed (serves 8-10) 28
The A Tale of Two Chefs team had an amazing time at the Chilean Embassy presenting the wonderfully flavorful Foods from Chile with culinary leaders on September 10th. Below is the menu and a few food shots from the kitchen.
Roasted Pisco Chicken Empanadas
Who says girls can’t get handy and creative when it comes to a little home improvement? 
With a line draped around the corner on September 20th, Tom Joyner’s Home Depot ‘Girls’ Night Out’ soiree took place in Oak Lawn and ladies adopted creative do-it-yourself inspiration and how-to tips on saving time and money when it comes to home maintenance.
Our team catered pasta salad, sandwiches and the event foodie highlight, Thai Beef Ginger Salad to over 900 women and their girlfriends during the fun-filled and vibrant evening. And we thoroughly enjoyed sharing cooking secrets and tips on how to create their own “Chef’s Kitchen.”
To the beat of live entertainment, girl time included workshops—such as painting and tiling, interactive activities that provided effective ways to gain more home improvement knowledge, giveaways, an on-the-spot fashion show and so much more.
We want to thank all of you for your continued support and for those who experienced A Tale of 2 Chefs for the first time during this event, we hope you enjoyed your seasonings!
Thank you gowherehiphop.com for capturing the action! Check out the video and pics.
“Girls Night Out at Home Depot” hosted by Tom Joyner & Chef Julius from Jada Russell on Vimeo.
Our “International Style Sunday Dinner” Pop-up on August 31st was by far one of the best and we can’t thank all of our friends and colleagues enough for your continued love and support! We had a great time putting our twist on the traditional dishes and we are so glad everyone enjoyed it.
We also want to extend another thank you to the Centered Chef, 177 N. Ada, for whose venue space provided intimate and cozy aesthetic. The ambiance and versatility of the space gave us room to engage our social group with wine and mingling on one side and provide an experience for tables of four on the other.
Adding to the excitement of this pop-up, we were featured on ndigo.com where LaToya Cross, stated, “One of the ultimate joys of attending a Chef Julius Pop-Up is connecting and socializing with familiar faces and getting acquainted with new ones! The décor is always nice and elegant, food is always delicious, wine is continuous and there’s always anticipation for the next one. Well done!” Read the full article.
Here is a visual recap through photos and video! We’re looking forward to seeing you at the next one.
A Tale of 2 Chefs on ABC:
It seems that every time we do another pop-up, so many things have changed in the food industry. The culinary landscape in Chicago moves so fast that most chefs dismiss the fads and ignore new food trends until they can no longer be ignored. When it comes to a pop-up, I like to take new food trends and merge them, making people feel good. It’s really why I decided to “Pop-up” in the first place. For the next one, I am giving Sunday Dinner a much needed makeover. In this very crazy 9 to 5 world, so often dinner is eaten on the fly…or in front of a television…or from a drive thru. Most want to just get past it just they can rest, because “We All Hate Mondays”. Well, I have had enough of seeing that happen. The Sunday family dinner used to be fun, and sharing a meal is special. It makes the food taste better and you get a chance to relax a bit and gear up for what Monday has in store for you. It’s my belief that if I show you a “re-working” of family dinners from various parts of the world, you can start to enjoy Sunday Dinner again. And this isn’t just a big hunk of protein carved and thrown to the group. There will be PLENTY of fresh, “in-season” vegetables, some duck, lamb and seafood. There are items to remind you of the most comfortable night in front of a fireplace. I also have dishes that will take you to the sexiest beach in Brazil. If that’s not enough, you can jump from a cozy French bistro to a bustling tapas bar in Barcelona. I have around 8 courses and a few surprise dishes to take you ANYWHERE you want to go. No TSA’s, no luggage, no horrible tasting wine from plastic bottles. This is how I see Sunday Dinner from around the world with the energy of a Saturday Night!
Here is a preview of the first few courses:
1st Course
HERB & PARMESAN ARANCINI with BLISTERED SUN GOLD TOMATOES (Italy)
2nd Course
YOUNG CARROTS WITH SAGE, TROPEAS & MERKEN (CHILE/ITALY)
3rd Course
LOBSTER CROQUETTES with BLACK TRUFFLE BUTTER & GRILLED SCALLIONS (South America)
4thCourse
BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI, SWEET PEA PUREE & CANDIED WALNUTS (Italy)
5th Course
DUCK CONFIT ETOUFFEE, GOAT CHEESE CORNBREAD CRUTONS (France/USA)
Date & Time: Saturday, August 31st – 6pm
Location: The Centered Chef | 175 N. Ada
Thanks to everyone that came out to the Taste of Chicago demo last week! Guests watched intently and asked great questions as Chef Julius showed them how to impress their friends with 2 dishes: Chilean Shrimp with Merken and Herbed Quinoa AND the Better Butter Cheddar Burger with Black Truffle Butter from Epicurean Butter PLUS wine pairings from Casillero del Diablo’s Winemaker’s Red Blend from the Concha y Toro family. Here are the photos from his July 11th demo at the Dominick’s Cooking Corner.
And a extra special thanks to our sponsors Casillero del Diablo, Concha y Toro, Epicurean Butter, Nature Isle Tropical Gourmet, Savory Choice and Deleyda Olive Oil.
Photo Credit: Tim Hanrahan
Let’s face this indisputable fact. Chicago is one of the most beautiful places to be in THE WORLD during the summer. It even has its own moniker “summertime chi”. That’s because the weather is ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS for 16 days (the rest of the summer is good too), the lake is beautiful, LOLLAPALOOZA ROCKS, beach volleyball is hot and outdoor food festivals like the TASTE OF CHICAGO comes back!
That is right. Love it or hate it, the TASTE OF CHICAGO is the largest open food festival in the world. And because Chicago is such a great food city, everyone takes notice. I know the crowds can be a little much and the tourists are everywhere, but you really didn’t think that with all this food, no one else wants in…did you? Of course, this means you just have to plan better. It’s worth it! I like the fact that Chicago has brought back the “pop-up” restaurants and they even added food trucks. I checked out the line-up, it’s some good ones.
And this year, once again I will be giving a cooking demonstration at the “Dominick’s Cooking Corner”. If you have ever attended one of my demos, you know we have a good time and I am prone to give away free stuff! You get to stop by the tent, sit down for a bit, learn a fun fact or two about cooking and maybe even get a “chef goodie bag”.
My cooking demo will focus on a few easy to cook dishes, easy to find ingredients, affordable wine pairings and how to have some fun with your summertime cooking. Everyone will get copies of the recipe and who knows what other goodies that I have in store? It’s all happening on July 11 at 5:30pm. Stop by and let’s visit for a bit. After that, you can get back to tasting or check out one of the FREE concerts. My demo just happens to be the same night as the Robin Thicke & Estelle performance!
See ya there,
Chef Julius
More info: Full Cooking Corner Line Up
WOW!! Another “pop-up” has come and gone. And I have to say this one was INCREDIBLY special for a few reasons. We dealt with many challenges right up until the day of the event. That included the location, new cooks not showing up and servers “missing in action”. You would think those issues would deter us…NOT ONE BIT! We had an awesome time.
Once again, Jada and her wonderful team from High Style Marketing & PR transformed a humble sausage shop to a quaint bistro. The colors were bright and matched the theme of the dinner. We had some of our constant supporters attend the event and had quite a few “1st timers”. One of the 1st timers was my mother. She along with a few of my aunts had a blast. It felt so good to showcase this style of my cooking for them. I’m sure they’ll be back.
There were food enthusiasts from all backgrounds at this one and we all got a chance to connect over food and great wine from the Concha Y Toro family. Speaking of which, it never ceases to amaze me how at every “pop-up”, the wonderful people from Concha Y Toro bring us something new and exciting to the Chicago Wine Scene. This time was no exception with the Coastal White Blend. If you’re in the city, make your way over to the Armanettis, located at 515 North Western Ave. The Coastal White Blend, usually served during the spring and summer, is really affordable and pairs perfectly with light and fragrant cuisine.
Oh yeah, I think we have quite a few NEW fans of ramps, if there is any judging of how well the Chilean Sea Bass dish went over. A special thanks goes to my reliable culinary team for helping execute a new take on a southern classic, the Salmon Croquette. I think that dish will make its way onto a few of the summer menus.
If we missed you this time, we hope to see you at the next one. The expected date is August 31st 2013. We will offer an early purchase price of $70 for the tickets bought before August 1st. For purchases after August 1st, the standard pricing of $85 per guest goes into effect. The theme for our next “pop-up” is Summer Jazz: A Global Fusion of Cuisine. Tickets on sale now! See below.
NEXT UP: Taste of Chicago on July 11th at 5:30pm. Robin Thicke and Estelle are performing that night. It’s gonna be HOT. And Thursday is the new Friday so COME OUT.
© 2013 A Tale of Two Chefs. 
