On April 13, around 400 guests headed to the Chicago Cultural Center for a pre-Passover Seder dinner that came with the holiday's traditional tropes: songs, stories, and plenty of matzo. Event founder Michael Dorf has hosted a similar dinner in New York for the past 11 years, and decided to bring it to Chicago for a pretty straightforward reason: "We plan to open City Winery in Chicago, and I wanted to establish a relationship with the city," he said. The venue, an offshoot of New York's City Winery, will open later this year.
Along with getting face time with the locals, the dinner allowed Dorf to provide samples of his venue's goods. During the meal, servers from Spertus Kosher Catering Featuring Cuisine by Wolfgang Puck poured three City Winery wines, one of which came from Israel.
The Seder lineup included readings, songs, and speeches from Jewish entertainers and political figures. Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel poured the second ceremonial glass of wine and delivered a speech that touched on social responsibility. Less serious performances included a song called: "Where'd You Hide the Afikomen" from the local Chicken Fat Klezmer Orchestra. (Afikomen is a piece of hidden matzo that children traditionally compete to find during a Seder dinner.)
Comedian Judy Gold was also on hand to lead guests through the song "Dayenu," and crack some jokes about Charlie Sheen, whom she referred to as "Chaim Sheen." And even Emanuel infused some levity into his address: "This isn't like the Seder dinners I grew up with," he said, "because my grandfather's not at the table hitting me. I always flinch this time of year."
Tickets for the event ran from $118 to $500, and proceeds benefited the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
