Long-time Evanston residents Craig Golden (left) and Eric Singer have been friends for ages, but it wasn’t until this year that they finally got to work together.
Their new concept, Company, brings a fresh perspective to the pop-up dining trend, giving Chicagoland chefs and restaurateurs the opportunity to reach new audiences and try out new menus and ideas in an intimate setting. So you might find Erwin Drechsler—late of Erwin Restaurant—cooking one week, and the sous chef from Moto another.
Golden, a commercial real estate specialist who’s also a partner in Union Pizzeria, SPACE and Longman & Eagle, provided and decorated the space and brainstorms the marketing aspects, while Singer (owner of local fave The Lucky Platter, and once pastry chef for Café Provencal) provides “curatorial expertise,” working closely with the guest chefs as well as designing the kitchen for maximum efficiency and opportunity.
“It’s really a blank canvas,” Singer says. “For a little kitchen, it’s got a lot, including a wood-burning grill, convection oven, fryer, 6-burner gas stove and salamander.” They’ve also outfitted the kitchen with all the plates, silverware and glassware that any visiting chef might need. The chefs have been loving the space.
“The basic idea is, we’re booking chefs like bands,” adds Golden. “Our goal is you’ll treat it like a music venue. You’ll go on our site, see who’s ‘playing’ that week, check out their menu, and sign up.” So one night it might be Puerto Rican food, another it’s Italian family-style or molecular gastronomy. Or perhaps it’s a sneak peek at a new restaurant, like Golden’s The Promontory, slated to open later this year in Hyde Park. All chefs will bring their own staff, ingredients and clientele.
Company is poised to do 15 dinners a month, each serving 16-20 people. It’s like a professional dinner party where someone else brings the deliciousness and you don’t have to clean up afterward. “We want people to experience food in a way they might not otherwise have the opportunity,” Golden says. “It’s a more interesting, more community-oriented model than what we’ve seen before.”
And the dinners are a hit—each night has sold out so far. But Singer and Golden are still thinking up new options for the space, like a group bake sale by area pastry chefs, an occasional artisanal products market (featuring local sausages, breads, cheeses and the like), or perhaps even a fundraising effort with the cooks of local firehouses. Whatever they decide to do with the space, they’re in good company.
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