2nd Annual Jewish X-Mas Eve Chinatown Dinner!

Last December, a young Jewish newlywed couple found themselves approaching Christmas Eve with no supper plans. Eager to fill themselves with the traditional Jewish holiday dinner of dumplings and kung pao chicken, they planned to visit Lao Sze Chuan in Chicago's Chinatown on Christmas Eve.

The husband lamented to his new bride, "I wish we could be joined by more people so as to enjoy a bounty of dishes to delight our palate, rather than merely two or three. We should announce our meal plans on an Internet-based 'Chicago Culinary Chat Site' and mayhap other souls will join us!"

"A splendid idea," said the bride.

The young couple expected a handful of culinary enthusiasts to respond, but were delighted (and a tad overwhelmed) when the group swelled to nearly 30! The young couple was pleased by their good fortune.

And so Christmas Eve 2005 came to pass with a triune of tables full of happy eaters at Lao Sze Chuan in Chicago's Chinatown. The young couple went home that evening with full bellies and warm hearts.

Now 2006 is upon us and the same young couple (one year older and perhaps a little wiser) is extending the same invitation to the same "Culinary Chat Site". If you and yours find yourself without plans for this Christmas Eve, please join us for a tradition Jewish holiday dinner. The details:

Where: Lee Wing Wah, SW portion of the Chinatown Mall, Chicago, (312) 808-1628
When: Sunday, December 24th, 2006, 6pm
RSVP: In this thread, by PM, or by email. RSVP will close the evening of Tue. 12/19. I will call the following day to make the reservations.
How: Last year, we did not pre-order food, there was no menu or set fee. We will fill as many big round tables as we need to and each table will order for themselves and split the cost among the table.

Note: You do not have to be Jewish to attend

We hope you can join us for what is now a LTHForum tradition.

Best,
Michael and Jill (petit pois)

HI,

I am in!

Regards,

Three members of the Dritz family will attend. We are honored to join you again this year!

Suzy

I am in for 2.

Three wise men, and one Madonna... fan.

Evil Ronnie and The Lovely Donna will be there.

Put me down for 2.

Great choice Michael! Put me down for 4.

It's shaping up to be a big evening.

Count us in for 5 (me, MrsF, Thing1, Thing2 and a step-nephew). There's a chance the teens will back out, watch the skies for updates.

Add Barb and myself in for two.
>>Brent

3/4ths of the Dritz Family (3)

Let n = count(my family).
Please add ceiling(1/(n+1)).

I.e., I'm in for 1.

--Matt

May I add my family (Josephine and The Duchess of Birmingham) as tentative? I should know for sure before the 19th.

In order to fulfill the commandment to eat Chinese food during the Christmas holiday... Phyllis and I ,along with Molly and Gabe would love to join you .

Please add me and the DH.

kuhdo wrote:In order to fulfill the commandment to eat Chinese food during the Christmas holiday...

man.. this is like the 11th commandment. and if i were in town. i'd be all over it like white on rice. last year VI hosted me to a Xmas-time Chinese dinner and it was tres nice.

If anyone was still wondering, here's a bit of a teaser of one of the best dishes at Lee Wing Wah (note the size of the shrimps!)

Hey - just so we can avoid food incompatibilities, should we maybe plan to have a "loves hot stuff" table and a "can't abide hot stuff" table so we don't get 1/2 of a table that can't eat what the other 1/2 orders and so on?

leek wrote:Hey - just so we can avoid food incompatibilities, should we maybe plan to have a "loves hot stuff" table and a "can't abide hot stuff" table so we don't get 1/2 of a table that can't eat what the other 1/2 orders and so on?

One of my personal rules for this particular event is that I don't do very much planning. Organizing table groups crosses way over the line into heavy planning. I'm taking a big list of names, making arrangements, and letting the chips fall where they may.

If anyone is very concerned about sitting at a large table where they may have to subsidize the cost of a particular dish they may not eat, then this may not be the right event. If you find yourself at a table where your tastes are incompatible, maybe you could try and engineer a swap.

Either way, across all tables (I'm predicting four tables) there will be plenty of generous people with plenty of food.

Best,
Michael

Also, Lee Wing Wah serves Cantonese style Chinese food; the food is generally not very spicy. On the other hand, there is plenty of opportunity to eat guts and exotica.

Vital Information wrote:Also, Lee Wing Wah serves Cantonese style Chinese food; the food is generally not very spicy. On the other hand, there is plenty of opportunity to eat guts and exotica.

mmmmmmm.....exotica*

*Please read in a Homer Simpson voice

I'm sorry to say that The Chow Poodle and I will not be able to attend.

As of now I'm all in... unless one of my goyim friends sucks me into one of their family "have pitty on the poor Jewish boy and deprive him of his only joy (damn good Chinese food) on Dec. 25th" modes. Heck I might just tell everyone I know that I'm going out of town so no one will stand in the way of this dinner!

Stagger wrote:As of now I'm all in... unless one of my goyim friends sucks me into one of their family "have pitty on the poor Jewish boy and deprive him of his only joy (damn good Chinese food) on Dec. 25th" modes. Heck I might just tell everyone I know that I'm going out of town so no one will stand in the way of this dinner!

Stagger,

Glad you can join us. Just to make sure you know, this dinner takes place on the 24th, Christmas Eve. (I only bring this up because you mentioned the 25th above).

Best,
Michael

I just got off the phone with Lee Wing Wah.

I've set up a reservation for 40 people for 6pm on the 24th.

We're currently at 34 (with two more tentative). We can grow beyond 40, but I just wanted to get us on the books right away.

Michael,

Marisa, the Empress of Japan would like to join us as she did last year.

Thanks,

Donna

eatchicago wrote:

Stagger wrote:As of now I'm all in... unless one of my goyim friends sucks me into one of their family "have pitty on the poor Jewish boy and deprive him of his only joy (damn good Chinese food) on Dec. 25th" modes. Heck I might just tell everyone I know that I'm going out of town so no one will stand in the way of this dinner!

Stagger,

Glad you can join us. Just to make sure you know, this dinner takes place on the 24th, Christmas Eve. (I only bring this up because you mentioned the 25th above).

Best,
Michael

Sorry I fat fingered that. I meant the 24th. I'm going to bring a bud from work (who has no family in the area) if there is still room. So it would be Stagger +1

Count us in (Robert and Catherine, alias the French couple). Is it BYO?

chapulin wrote:Count us in (Robert and Catherine, alias the French couple). Is it BYO?

You are counted in.

Lee Wing Wah is not BYO.

Best,
Michael

Here's another chance to help:

On Christmas AM, the VI family is helping to prepare breakfast for about 40 at the West Surburban PADS emergency shelter.

We would welcome anyone who wants to come work with us that morning--think 7-9 AM.

or

If you are so inspired, we would anyone coming to Lee Wing Wah, to bring some breakfast type of food such as home made muffins, quiche, strada (or is that strata); stuff that can be re-heated or easily served the next day.

PM me if you want to volunteer or bring at dinner.

Rob