Jump to: Reviews | Think Inside the Box
Be the kind of person who throws elegant dinner parties without throwing elegant dinner parties. Whether your friends are tragically incompatible, or you don't have time to design a menu, today's Groupon takes care of everything: the food, the design, the friends, and the culinary training you missed out on when you skipped home-ec to join the marching band (bassoon scholarship my eye). This deal invites you to a deliciously fun mix-it-up cooking party at Bespoke Cuisine for $45, an $80 value. You'll get an interactive cooking experience in Bespoke's cozy kitchen, with the expert guidance of experienced chefs and the newfound friendship of fellow foodies. Best of all, you get to sit back and enjoy the succulent fruits of your knifey, mashy labors in Bespoke's intimate, loft-style dining room.
The socially anxious can relax with a glass of wine and complimentary cheese before the cooking begins, while gregarious gourmands get to know their fellow partiers. Though the expert chefs at Bespoke will lead you through the meal preparation, you'll get your hands plenty mushroomy and prosciutto-wrapped as you pipe your own whipped cream from pastry bags and make paper dolls from a green pepper with one clean cut. The friendly chefs will give you helpful food tips and facts along the way and send you home with all the recipes to recreate the mouthwatering meal at home.
Seasoned cooks and kitchen newcomers will find their place in Bespoke's kitchen, and the fun continues beyond the cooking. Once the meal is prepared, take a break from playing dinner host and be Bespoke's guest for the multi-course meal you've created. Find out more about the other partygoers as you sink your fork into each decadent dish and marvel at your newfound culinary karate. Bring your own wine and beer or teetotal it with complimentary soft drinks.
Bespoke hosts up to five parties per month. December parties include a course of several holiday appetizers or a beef tenderloin entree and sides to practice before you cook for the in-laws. Other parties range from comfort foods (such as poached security blanket with rom-com sauce) to French, Indian, Mexican, and contemporary American. Check out Bespoke's schedule for updates to its party schedule for next year.
Reviews
Citysearchers give Bespoke Cuisine 4.5 stars and named Bespoke Chicago's Best Caterer in 2007. Yelpers and a lone Insider Pager give it four stars:
- What a great idea! Everyone had lots of fun and we walked away with a lot of ideas and tips. – Jeannie D., Insider Pages
- ...commitment to providing delicious food and fantastic service coupled with creative & thoughtful menu planning...They are the best in Chicago! Their private dining space is also a gem... – loredanaanais, Citysearch
Think Inside the Box
Bespoke's cooking mixer is kind of like a dinner party in a box, an increasingly common convenience in today's modern society. With our free time stretched thin by high-pressure forest-ranger jobs and hectic DVR schedules, what other conveniences do we rely on for an in-a-box lifestyle?
- Auto-repair in a box contains dipstick, rim polish, phone number for actual mechanic.
- Haunted house in a box contains rubber bats, fog machine, summer theater interns.
- Child-rearing in a box contains freeze-dried safety meals, college fund, and Discipline Clown™.
- World peace in a box contains enough cake for everybody to have two pieces, Season 3 of The Muppet Show.
- The Internet in a box contains way too much information about kittens and anime.
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Bespoke Cuisine
Creativity, collaboration, and carbs. The owners of Bespoke Cuisine advocate all three. According to their company manifesto, they also believe “eating well is a life skill,” “a little fat never hurt anyone,” and “anyone can cook delicious food.” The staff expounds on these and other company principles at public and private cooking parties, which give visitors a glimpse inside Bespoke’s commercial kitchen on Randolph Street's Restaurant Row without stowing away in a gravy vat. During these BYOB events, chefs help guests construct their own meals and teach basic cooking skills before the group retires to the dining room to eat the fruits of their labor. For those who prefer a hands-off experience, Bespoke also caters events or hosts them in a chic private-event space.