Bill Kim of Belly Shack, bellyQ and Urban Belly has a couple of tasty-sounding fusion events coming up.
At 6 p.m. Jan. 22, Kim heads to Tanta (118 W. Grand Ave., 312-222-9700) to join forces with the restaurant’s chef de cuisine Jesus Delgado for a Peruvian-Asian styled menu.
The six-course “Cultural Crossover” menu alternates courses between the chefs, until dessert. Kim’s first, third and fifth courses are sweet potato and maple dumplings with quinoa and bacon, roasted tuna with coconut grits and shrimp ceviche, and cardamom scented ground lamb fried rice with toasted pepitas. Delgado takes on the second, fourth, sixth and dessert courses. The second course is Tiradito Nikei, which is sliced hamachi in smoked aji amarillo and dashi leche with Peruvian seaweed; the fourth is anticucho BBQ comprising a crispy pork belly with aji panca barbecue glaze, potatoes cream and kimchi mango chalaca; and the sixth course is a grilled duck breast glazed in lemongrass and ginger sauce over wheat stew risotto in aji amarillo and curry. For dessert, Delgado is making a Peruvian chocolate mousse with crispy quinoa mix, cacao nibs and cacao merengues. Tickets are $99 for dinner only, or paired with drinks for $150. For reservations call Lucy Kendall at 312-222-9604 or email [email protected].
At 7 p.m. Jan. 26, Belly Shack (1912 N. Western Ave., 773-252-1414) teams up with Half Acre Beer Company to pair Kim and wife Yvonne’s Korean and Puerto Rican-influenced fare with four brews. The first course is beef tendon pozole soup served with a crispy noodle and peanut fried chayote salad. It’s followed by several small plates including roasted nopales tacos with pomelo and chili on fried bean curd, braised pork sopes with pineapple and kimchi, and poached shrimp sopes with papaya and avocado. The main course is roasted chicken with green Thai mole, curry rice and dal. Horchata soft serve with sticky rice is dessert. Tickets can be purchased for $50 here.