Chicago Chefs Cook for Maui with Silent Auction for the Ages
Remaining seats for Sunday's Prairie Grass Cafe dinner one of the prizes
Maui Fundraising Auction is Food Lover’s Paradise
As is so often the case, Chicago’s generous community of chefs is responding to raise funds to help victims of a crisis. Chicago Chefs Cook for Maui, which will provide proceeds to those affected by the Hawaiian island’s disastrous wildfires, is the latest such culinary-focused collaboration.
Prairie Grass Cafe, chef/activist Sarah Stegner’s farm-to-table restaurant in north suburban Northbrook, is the focal point of the event this coming Sunday (August 27). This fundraiser, though, is taking a different tack from previous events with an online silent auction with a truly amazing selection of prizes for which to bid.
As the organizers explain, “In the wake of the devastating Maui wildfires, Chicago Chefs Cook is hosting an online auction to raise funds for the Chef Hui Maui Hospitality Relief Fund, which supports Maui restaurants, hospitality workers, and their families who have been displaced by this disaster.”
Here are the three parts of the event:
Tasting Happy Hour: There is a happy hour that will be held in the bar area of Prairie Grass Cafe on Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. This gathering is hosted by Sarah Stegner and Ricky Sakoda, who trained at Prairie Grass Cafe and then for many years ran Merriman’s, then considered by many as Maui’s best restaurant. The $50 admission per person includes tasting stations, passed canapés and wine. A cash bar for cocktails and beer will be available. Gratuity is not included. Reservations may be made by calling Prairie Grass Cafe at (847) 205-4433.
Dinner with the Chefs: This sit-down dinner that will begin at 5 p.m. in Prairie Grass Cafe’s private dining room was just announced a few days ago, and demand was so high that the few remaining tickets are only available in the online auction. The five participating chefs — Sarah Stegner, Ricky Sakoda, Sebastian White of The Evolved Network, Randall Sabado of Cooper’s Hawk, and Arshiya Farheen of Verzênay Patisserie — will dine family-style with the guests after orchestrating this amazing meal:
Silent Auction: When you click the button below, the first auction item you’ll see is two tickets to Sunday’s dinner at Prairie Grass Cafe. Bidding on this prize closes on Saturday.
The other 30 prizes are open for bidding through September 3. Too numerous to list here (click the button to see the whole lot), but they include numerous dinners or gift cards at some of Chicagoland’s finest restaurants; a private tortilla-making class with Chef Rick Bayless; a virtual culinary garden consultation with Chefs Sarah Stegner and Jared Batson; an Italian cooking lesson for 10; a private truffle-making class; and much more.
We witnessed the sudden and catastrophic devastation in Maui with a sense of stunned disbelief. This Chicago Chefs Cook event provides multiple ways to help people who lost so much.