event recap: Emerging Chefs’ Sacrilicious

After a surprising start, Team PIP headed to Cleveland’s Gordon Square Arts District for the second half of Wednesday evening. We arrived at a former Romanian Orthodox church ready for the Emerging Chefs “Sacri-licious” event:

As a reminder, here’s what “Sacrilicious” was all about: Cooking by its own right is a ritual. Like an ancient religion, it attracts a congregation of faithful foodies and a fanatical following. Join us for an evening of praiseworthy interpretations from Executive Chef Jeff Fisher of Touch Supper Club, as he serves up a sermon for all the senses.

By the time we arrived, the event was in full swing as the third course was on its way out of the kitchen. We managed to find room for two seats at the bloggers table where I was greeted by good friends:

Yes, I’m going to hell, but what else to you expect at an event called Sacrilicious?!

We found more than just a significant religious figure and a bourbon cocktail awaiting us: Brad from Cleveland Food & Brews, Stephanie from Hungry in Cleveland, and Twitter friend Joe (@JoeG2001) were ready to share the foodie love. CFBgal shared a sip of her St. Germain’s Lime Soda from the 2nd course, which was heaven on earth.

Chef Fisher prepared quite the five course meal. Each course was conceptualized from verses in the Bible. The theatre major in me smiled to see such excellent research.

Here are the courses we enjoyed during our time at the event:

Course 3: Lamb carpaccio, tempura battered egg yolk, crispy fennel and shallots, parmesan cheese and truffle oil. Served with a Catcher In The Rye cocktail.

Course 4: Braised pork belly, with forbidden rice and blood orange star anise sauce, five spice cotton candy. Served with a Grapes of Wrath cocktail.

Dessert: Beet foam with angel food cake, devil’s food cake, passion fruit coulis, with raspberry teardrops. Served with Right of Passage beverages.

My favorites from the menu:

• the lamb carpaccio: yet another reason why I’ll never go vegetarian.
• the tempura battered egg yolk: I’m a sucker for a runny egg.
• the five spice cotton candy: savory AND sweet!
• the beet foam: if you LOVE green monster smoothies, you would have been ALL over this!

After all was said and eaten, Michael and Rick from Emerging Chefs thanked Chef Jeff, the wonderful staff from Touch Supper Club and all that attended. They were kind enough to invite the bloggers back behind-the-scenes and to chat with the chef. It was quite the scene behind-the-scenes as the amount of space was minimal – the staff had prep table set ups outside because the space was so small!

In our time at the event, Hans and I had some tasty exposure to what Touch Supper Club is all about. We are already making plans to swing by Touch for a night out followed by a Sunday brunch.

As for Emerging Chefs event on a whole, I was quite impressed with what I saw. Taking an empty space and transforming it into an event like this is quite the undertaking. The EC team should be proud of the work they are doing. Since we did arrive late in the evening, I encourage you to check out my fellow diners more detailed reviews of the evening:

• Brad’s Emerging Chefs Sacrilicious Event Review on Cleveland Food & Brews
• Laura’s write up on the event on Fare By The Flame in the Burning River City
• Paul’s Divine Intervention blog post

Keep tabs on Emerging Chefs: they’ve had some fabulous events in the past and are planning some more in the near future!

Disclosure: I was provided a media pass to the Sacrilicious event via Emerging Chefs. In return, I agreed to blog about my experience. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.