another PAUSE dinner

Last night we attended the Pause for the Cause charity dinner supporting Vibrant Emotional Health. At this now twice yearly event, coordinated by Rebecca Kolko Friedlander, winos and somms and chefs, from across Chicago, all come together to support the national suicide prevention hotline at 988.

Vibrant Emotional Health is a leader in suicide prevention and the administrator of The 988 Lifeline. Since the easy-to-remember number launched in 2022, the Lifeline received nearly 5 million calls, texts, and chats from people reaching out for support. This is a 2 million increase over the previous year! 

• Of the 5 million contacts in the past year, more than 700,000 were routed to the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). 
• We also shortened the wait time to 41 seconds—down from more than 2 minutes and 39 seconds. 

These numbers are more than just statistics; they embody the resilience and determination of countless individuals on their journey toward emotional healing.

Together, we are advancing access, dignity, and respect for all.

To me, each of these encounters is most importantly an opportunity to help a person in need, to give them hope and a sense of worth. This work is so important. Over the years (starting in 2018) our hospitality community has come together to support the hotline's work and raised several hundred thousand dollars. 

Tonight we gathered at Obelix in collaboration with El Che in the kitchen and Somms from many Chicago's top restaurants for a festive meal featuring many wonderful shared wines. 

the wines (mostly from us and from the Arkebauers - our dining partners)

Dish of the evening was definitely the lobster pie, the wine was IMO the chenin (the first wine shown).  tonight we will meet our buddies Ron & Mary to celebrate TEITUR with the traditional burger meal. This time we will do the dinner at Brownstone nearby. Some photos of Teitur himself... taken off the internet - and yes it's a long story... found here- if you want to know - 

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2018/09/burgers-for-teitur.html

another Pause for the Cause

 so last night we had another terrific dinner for Pause for the Cause- a charity dinner for the Vibrant Emotional Health suicide prevention organization. We have done all but one of these dinners (conflict with my nephews wedding)  most times both of us but last year we each did one of the two events held annually.  

Last night's dinner was held at Galit with collaboration by Daisies restaurant and catering. Plus volunteering from a superb cast of sommeliers and logistics organization from the amazing couple Rebecca Kolko Friedlander and Aaron McManus. 

But let's get to it!

the wines at our table - we had waaaay too much for the four of us but - it's a bring and share event...

the starting bubbles from the event sponsors- one bottle per couple - we were table 205

really a fun evening and we already have blocked the time for the fall event! 

Here is some copy from the organizer's post on the evening- 

We threw a party last night and it was a good one.

I'm delighted to share that our spring Pausing for the Cause event at Galit Restaurant last night raised over $40,000 for Vibrant Emotional Health, the operator of 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline.

We have partnered with Vibrant since 2018 and over the past 5+ years - and a number of events in both fall and spring - we have been able to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars (truly) thanks to the generosity of guests who join us for these evenings in support of the organization.

We couldn't do it without our armies of sommeliers and servers, our cooks and chefs or our dishwashers and bussers. It really does take a village, and we've got a really good one.

If you missed the event this spring in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month - fear not! We'll be back in the fall for Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month this September and we'll return to Obelix, hosts of our wildly successful evening last fall.

If you'd like to donate directly to Vibrant, please use the link below. Your money can and will save lives, and this is exactly why we keep on coming back year after year.

I can't thank our village, our army of committed and passionate volunteers, enough. These dinners would be absolutely impossible without each of them and I am deeply grateful for our wonderful food + wine community and all of the support that comes along with them.

Before that, we had a fairly busy last week. We had dinner with Ron & Mary and then a concert at the Old Town, and a few days earlier attended a play at the Raven and before that dinner with Lee & NIck ... and well you get the gist - 

would not recommend the restaurant- so no photos

the main act Tracy Grammer - who was fine but I liked the opener, Heather Styka, better- 

Phil liked the play - I was fairly neutral about it- great acting but the storyline left me cold..

and two days before that - to wrap up our previous week- we had dinner with Lee and Nick at Gather- it was good and the company was even better!

Meanwhile - I spent the week getting the deck planted for the summer- plants arrived on Tuesday and the annuals I picked up on Friday - so lots of outdoor work- ruined my fingernails but hey- they will grow back... LOL

So now we can put our entertaining hats on and start having company over - beginning tomorrow- LOL

We have dinner plans with Jenny at the new place- Il Milanese restaurant and we hope to start here before our 8:30 dinner reservation. Fingers crossed on this place- it looks authentic Northern Italian but we will be holding our breath until we actually eat there! so stay tuned... on the upcoming agenda  is also Osteria Langhe, Burt's Pizza with Zack & Becky.....