In which I become a "ghetto gourmet" for the evening

As I described in my recent post on Chicagoist, I subscribe to Daily Candy and then promptly ignore the daily emails I receive. But when I received one about the Ghetto Gourmet, I was intrigued, and when the asked for volunteers, I was there. The underground restaurant scene, is, depending on how you look at it, either super hip, or super over. I decided that regardless, it was something I was intrigued by, and so I ended up cooking with them on Saturday night.

At 6:30, I showed up at the address given to me and was taken into the kitchen, were various dishes were coming together. The meal was lead by Chef Efrain, a Chicago native who now lives in the Bay Area. The space was a live-work space behind Dodo, a restaurant I have walked past many times, but never been inside. I met everyone, we all exchanged pleasantries, and then the cooking began.

Adrenaline kicked in. Many dishes were made.

And then it was midnight, the plates were clean, the 45 guests home or at a bar or wherever they dispersed to, and I was done for the evening. I didn't even realize an hour had gone by.

I'm lucky enough that I've never had to supplement my income by working as a waitress or a line cook or what have you. I've always had desk jobs, or skating jobs, or camp counselor jobs, but never cooking jobs. And I don't think I would want one. But for those six hours, I was there, I was Anthony Bourdain, or Molto Mario. As one dish was plated and one pan slid into the oven while another was whisked out, I could understand the draw of making this a profession or lifestyle. It was tremendously tiring, but tremendously exhilarating at the same time.

On the menu: salad with pomegranate stilton and a pomegranate vinaigrette, an acorn squash soup with candied walnuts, scallop mouse stuffed sole on a parsnip puree with Brussels sprouts, and an pear turnover with rosemary infused caramel. The first two courses were perfectly tasty, but the main dish and dessert were simply phenomenal. I was so awed by the dessert (which I helped make!) that I couldn't really do anything besides eat it and make the "O" face. It was that awesome.

The Ghetto Gourmet isn't coming back to Chicago until February, but if you are in the Bay Area, they are having a new years thing in addition to their weekly events. If you love eating and cooking, and love not spending lots of money (yeah, right) try to volunteer like me. Once the adrenaline hits, it won't even feel like work.