To tease the appetite, a little yoga before dinner
Before you dig in to that short rib ravioli, how about a downward facing dog pose or two to work up the appetite?
That’s the idea behind Jam Sessions: Yoga for Foodies, a traveling dinner series created by California-based yoga enthusiast David Romanelli.
Each Jam Session event begins with a flowing yoga class conducted by Romanelli. Senses properly heightened, you move on to a sit-down dinner that should be the best damn meal you’ll ever have.
Romanelli is the guy who partnered with college buddy and Vosges Haut-Chocolat founder Katrina Markoff for a series of yoga and chocolate seminars.
As it happens, Romanelli also is good friends with the business partner of chef Randy Zweiban of Province — the uber-green West Loop restaurant that will host the March 8 Chicago stop on the Jam Sessions tour.
“The whole concept of taking cuisine and pairing it or making it an integral part of something else has always appealed to me,” Zweiban says. “And what we do, being farm-to-table, fits the mindset of someone who does yoga and wants to dine.” (Zweiban doesn’t do yoga unlike that other Chicago chef, but adds wistfully, “I wish I had the time. It would probably make me feel a lot better.”)
Because the yoga portion will be held in Province’s private dining room, the Chicago event will be limited to 12 people. Zweiban says the cost of the yoga-and-dinner will be $95, which will include pre-dinner nibbles and paired cocktails, and organic wine pairings with dinner.
For reservations, call the restaurant at (312) 669-9900. Oh, and… namaste.
For more on the story, please visit The Chicago Sun Times Online.