Chefs Bartolotta, Kaysen to Host 5-Course Dinner
James Beard award-winners offer stories, gourmet food, wine at Bacchus Oct. 19.
Bacchus. Photo taken July 25th, 2019 by Dave Reid.
A good meal can bring back memories, evoke powerful emotions and even tell a story. On Thursday, Oct. 19, two award-winning chefs will host An Evening of Storytelling, channeling their expertise — influenced by a lifetime of experience — into a five-course dinner.
In tandem with the gourmet meal, chefs Paul Bartolotta and Gavin Kaysen will share tales of their culinary escapades, triumphs, learning moments and more with guests at the event, which will take place at Bacchus, 925 E. Wells St.
While Bartolotta is a household name in Milwaukee, encompassing both the two-time James Beard award-winning chef and his company’s portfolio of dining establishments, Kaysen may be lesser known.
The chef, who operates a handful of restaurants in Minneapolis under Soigné Hospitality, earned the James Beard award for Best Chef Midwest in 2018. His French-inspired eatery, Spoon and Stable, received a James Beard Award nomination for Best New Restaurant in 2015. The foundation also recognized Kaysen as a Rising Star” in 2008. Outside the kitchen, Kaysen acts as president for Ment’or Foundation Team USA.
The chefs’ collaborative event will begin at 6 p.m. with a series of passed appetizers including deviled eggs — a Kaysen family recipe — squash soup with pumpkin seed dukkah and lime yogurt and braised lamb shanks with housemade pita bread.
To follow, guests can expect tuna tartare with scallion vinaigrette, pecorino cheese ravioli with saffron buttermilk cream, roasted squab with caramelized fennel and rosemary red wine squab jus and a classic pot roast amped up with black truffle sauce.
The comforting-yet-elegant meal will finish with a spiced parsnip cake featuring persimmon curd, caramelized white chocolate parsnip puree and candied persimmon.
The meal, which features a number of dishes from Kaysen’s sold-out debut cookbook, “At Home,” will be accompanied by wine pairings throughout.
Tickets are $195 each and include a signed copy of “At Home” for each guest. Tickets are available for purchase on The Bartolotta Restaurants website.
Bartolotta heads up the restaurant and catering organization The Bartolotta Restaurants, which he co-founded with his brother, Joe, in 1993. The chef has also worked at 15 restaurants throughout Italy and was recognized as an ambassador of Italian cuisine by Italy’s president, according to a news release.
The company announced in September that it would relocate its Haymarket headquarters, 520 W. McKinley Ave., to make way for the construction of the new Milwaukee Public Museum building. The new offices are in Walker’s Point at 234 W. Florida St.
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