Cocktail Classes and Wine Tastings at Your Own Table
Photo by Olivia Leigh
Some of my favorite evenings are not the ones where everyone sits and watches me cook. They are the ones where the guests end up with a shaker in their hands.
A cocktail class is the most fun I ever get to have at work. Everyone gathers around the kitchen island. Mixologists set out the spirits, the citrus, the things most people have never thought to put in a glass, and we make three drinks together. While the room is shaking and pouring and debating whose Old Fashioned came out better, I am plating a small bite to go with each cocktail. By the third drink, a group that arrived as polite acquaintances is laughing like they have known each other for years. I have not found a better icebreaker.
For the table that wants to slow down
A wine tasting is the gentler, sophisticated cousin of the cocktail class. Five wines, a Court-certfied sommelier walking your guests through each one, a grazing table to delve into alongside them. It is for the group that wants to settle in and learn something together, to figure out why a particular bottle makes a particular bite sing. It works as the opening act before a seated dinner, or as the whole evening on its own.
When you just want the drinks handled
Not every night needs an interactive class. Sometimes you want to greet your guests and forget the bar exists for the rest of the evening. That is what our beverage program is for. Seasonal cocktails, happy hour, an open bar, wine pairings matched course by course by a sommelier, so no glass ever sits empty and you never once think about it.
The part I love
What all of these have in common is that they pull the drinks out of the background and make them part of the story. A meal people remember is rarely just about the food. It is about the moment someone tried something new, the bottle that surprised the table, the cocktail your friend will not stop talking about. I build those moments on purpose.
These pair beautifully with a private dinner at home, or they can be the evening all on their own.
The Vendador Table at Home
If you want to give your guests something to do with their hands and something to talk about for weeks, let me bring a class or a tasting to your table. Email , call 630-864-9349, or reserve your experience.
Chef Francis Pascal, founder of Vendador