CRUX’s “Apicius” Pop-Up October 17th; Centered Around 1st Roman Cookbook

by Rock ‘n Roll Ghost

The ten books of Apicius

After the runaway success of CRUX‘s most recent pop-up on August 19th, the culinary

CRUX leader Brandon Baltzley - check out the culinary collective's next pop-up on October 17th

collective, led by Brandon Baltzley, are ready and raring to return October 17th for another dinner. This time, the team is aiming high and they’ve brought along a big gun to join them: Longman & Eagle‘s Michelin-starred chef, Jared Wentworth.

60 total tickets are available for two seatings, the first at 6:00 PM and the second at 9:00 PM. Cost is $140 per person and an optional wine pairing is $60.

The event will be held at Evanston’s Pensiero Ristorante (1566 Oak Avenue, Evanston, IL) and the restaurant’s wine director Marcello Cancelli will pair the wine with the evening’s menu.

And what of that menu, you may ask? Here’s where things get REALLY interesting and exciting. For years Baltzley has wanted to do a menu based on Apicius, the first ever printed Roman cookbook. The menu will be kept a secret to keep things interesting, but Wikipedia has broken down what the ten books of Apicius translate to. And though the Romans were known for some bizarre behavior (orgies, eating of their slaves, much more) no menu concept this year has stirred my interest more than this one. Baltzley warns that the squeamish may not want to attend, just as a warning to ensure that the bold eater is the one who gets to enjoy this special evening.

The little that Baltzley will confirm is the dinner’s finale of a whole roasted boar that will be eaten by hand from the carcass and he promises many more surprises to come.

For tickets, e-mail cruxrestaurant@gmail.com – reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Jared Wentworth, Michelin-starred chef of Chicago's Longman & Eagle and collaborator in CRUX's "Apicius" dinner on October 17th

For more about CRUX please see Baltzley’s latest blog post at brandonbaltzley.com/blog . You can follow @getCRUXed on Twitter for daily updates and for documentation and news on future plans for the organization.

Look for more about CRUX‘s Apicius dinner on Rock ‘n Roll Ghost coming soon…