10 uncommon Mother’s Day 2013 options in Chicago

 

 

Family-style Mother's Day feast at Embeya.

Family-style Mother’s Day feast at Embeya.

Sure, you can follow the brunch bunch on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12, but why not let mom sleep in and enjoy something different? Here are a few uncommon ways to celebrate with Mom this weekend.

  1. Start Mother’s Day weekend off by taking mom to a special Truffle Making Party at Katherine Anne Confections in Logan Square at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 11. Chocolatier Katherine Duncan will show you and mom how to design, melt, chill, scoop and roll luscious chocolate truffles. Munch on scones and finger sandwiches and sip mimosas alongside samples of the chocolates. Each attendee will leave with a sampling of the four truffles created that day. The event costs $60 per person. Reservations are required.

  2. Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace is known for its lavish brunch buffet, but at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, they’ll host a Mother and Daughter Tea in their new French Room. The buffet menu includes sandwich selections such as cucumber with herb cream cheese, radish and arugula on white bread; smoked turkey and pear chutney on brioche; and classic egg salad on rye; freshly baked scones with Nutella, lemon curd and other toppings; and for dessert, cream puffs, éclairs, mini fruit tarts, mini cannoli, and chocolate covered strawberries. An array of fine teas, from darjeeling to lemon ginger, also features. You can follow it up with a performance of “Oliver!” Mother/Daughter Tea is $22/per person. For tea and theater tickets, the package is $71/per person.

  3. Embeya, in the West Loop, serves up a family-style, three-course, prix-fixe, Mother’s Day lunch by Chef Thai Dang, featuring dishes such as beef carpaccio with maitake mushrooms, marinated peppers and chili oil; seafood stew flavored with coconut, lime, and scallions; garlic chicken; and ribs with tamarind, toasted garlic and hoisin, $38. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

  4. Black Ensemble Theater in Uptown offers a special concert, “To Mother – With Love (A Concert Just For Her),” at 3 p.m. Sunday. Featured performers include Rashawn Thompson, Melanie McCullough, Dawn Bless, Meghan Murphy and Lyle Miller. Tickets are $50.

  5. Chef Takashi Yagihashi honors his 85-year-old mother who inspired his cooking career in his hometown, Mito, Japan, where she still cooks daily, with a special 10-course Mother’s Day tasting menu at Takashi in Bucktown. This special menu focuses on Mama Takashi’s very favorite ingredients, and features some cooking techniques and dishes she taught the chef. The lineup includes spring pea tofu and North Carolina sashimi fluke with yamaimo and salted plum; otsukuri (sashimi) of Hawaiian big eye tuna, Scottish salmon, and Alaskan Spot prawns; sukiyaki of kurobuta pork loin; age-mono “Bad Hair Day” of prawn, kani croquette and age-chicken shumaishio-koji marinated Scottish sea trout “roch etive”shabu-shabu of Maine monkfish with truffle ponzu sauce; aka-miso-nikomi udon with Amish chicken; miso cheesecake with blood orange ice; and anmitsu, sweet red beans and soba ice cream. Moms will also receive a variety of Takashi’s signature macarons to take home. The meal is $100; A credit card is required to hold reservations, and there is 24-hour cancellation policy.

  6. Geja’s Café in Lincoln Park will treat your mom to a 5-minute massage by a licensed massage therapist from Lincoln Park Massage Spa if you bring her in for fondue on Mother’s Day.

  7. Restaurant Michael, Winnetka, offers a three-course Mother’s Day prix fixe featuring such choices as house-cured and smoked salmon rosette over a warm potato gateau with lemongrass-honey crème frâiche; pan-roasted soft shell crab, spring pea and truffle purée, tangerine micro greens salad and crispy gruyere cheese tuiles; gratin of morel mushrooms, spring onions and asparagus tips with preserved tomato sabayon; spring pea soup with truffle and spring pea custard and “Scotch” quail egg; filet of halibut and lobster printemps with roasted new potatoes, fava beans, spring onions and mushrooms; roasted foie gras-stuffed breast of hen, leek and confit cabbage tart and truffle game jus; and roast saddle of Australian lamb stuffed with garlic-mint lamb sausage, duck fat roasted Yukon gold potato, grilled asparagus and mint-kissed lamb jus. The menu is $45: kids under 10 get half portions at half price,

  8. Take mom for an Asian dinner at Koi in Evanston on Sunday and they’ll give her a free orchid. Dinner service begins at 4:30 p.m.

  9. mk The Restaurant in River North will give all moms having dinner there a glass of champagne and special gift bag that includes a $25 gift card to the Bucktown boutique p.45, ; a $25 gift card to Michael and Michael Salon; a $25 gift certificate to return to mk; and a take-home treat from Pastry Chef Stephanie Mazzone. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m.

  10. Moms lunching or dining at Pasteur in Edgewater will receive a complimentary mimosa and a Vietnamese recipe booklet that highlights the owner’s family recipes that have been passed down for generations.

 

 

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