Local foodies will be excited to hear about Evanston’s brand-new pop-up dinner club. Feast & Imbibe is a project from two Moto alumni, chef D’Andre Carter, who is charge of the feast, and Heather Bublick, who oversees the imbibing, marketing and administrative duties. Upcoming Evanston dinners will be held at Company, 1307 Chicago Ave.
Their next dinner will have a romantic Valentine’s Day theme, running today through Saturday with one 7 p.m. seating each night. The menu is pricy at $195 per person, including wine pairings, tax and tip, but this dinner will be a luxurious anomaly. “We’re using a lot of premiere ingredients like lobster, caviar, saffron, truffles and foie gras,” Carter said. “I really want to express my skill with those ingredients.” Highlights from the menu include lobster noodles in coconut bisque and a chocolate truffle dessert with Perigord truffles, beet sorbet and mulberries.
Both Carter and Bublick said they learned a lot from their time working at some of Chicago’s top restaurants. But after getting burned out by the long hours and hectic schedule, cooking independently is a happy medium that allows them to enjoy cooking without having to serve hundreds of people each day.
“It alleviates a lot of stress and pressure,” Bublick said of having a more flexible schedule. Looking forward, the duo plans to have Tuesday night chicken and waffles dinners with multiple seatings and other more casual themes.
“We bought these awesome crocks and we want to make gourmet mac and cheese,” Bublick said. “Eventually we would want to do three weekends a month and have one weekend to ourselves. As long as the food tastes good we want to do everything. The pop-ups are really allowing us to expand our horizons.”
Before starting Feast & Imbibe with Bublick, Carter was the sous chef at Moto under chef Homaro Cantu.
“(Cantu) will never let you give up on anything,” Carter said. “He will always challenge you and push you to the end.” Carter took this work ethic to heart, only missing one day in his four years at the Michelin-starred restaurant.
Although Bublick has lived in Evanston for eight years now, she moved into a new apartment with Carter a few months ago. A bedroom adjacent to the kitchen has been transformed into Carter’s “research room,” with industrial shelving, blenders, a chitarra pasta maker and other culinary paraphernalia.
“Every pop-up will have a new menu,” Carter said. “It keeps us on our feet.” Carter said he would also love to start doing private catering, but only for small parties. “We want to keep things intimate and small. We don’t want to decrease the quality of the food.”
After hosting their first dinner in January, Bublick and Carter received a very positive response from guests, many of whom were friends or regulars at Moto.
“There was a Yelp page all of a sudden,” Bublick said. “The feedback was incredible. By the time we woke up, there was a YouTube video, and a Yelp review. It was a cool. I was like, ‘Shut up! We have a Yelp page!’”
This time around, with reservations open to the public with Table Host, they’re receiving reservations from strangers.
“Having people that we don’t know want to come is just awesome,” Bublick said.
Visit Twitter (https://twitter.com/FeastandImbibe) or email [email protected] for more information on upcoming meals.
