Fi-ASCO

June 2, 2008

I just returned from five non-stop days in Chicago, for several meetings and to attend the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual General Meeting held at the McCormick Place Convention Center.

I left on Thursday (5/29) and returned on Monday (6/2). So, I've uploaded a gaggle of pictures in the following order:

1) random city pictures taken over the five days
2) Dinner at NoMI Restaurant (5/29)
3) Dinner at Aigre Doux Restaurant (5/30)
4) Dinner at De La Costa Restaurant (5/31)
5) House of Blues Gospel Brunch (6/1)
6) Genentech Reception at the Field Museum (night of 6/1)
7) Dancing in Boystown (5/31, 6/1)

I was staying at the Westin North Michigan, in the heart of the Magnificent Mile, which was a slow 30 minute shuttle ride to McCormick Place, but a wonderful place to be when I wasn't at the conference because it was smack-dab in the middle of all the action. Which is nice.

1) Shots of Downtown Chicago (5/29-6/1)

Chicago is famously known as the Windy City, and throughout downtown along the Magnificent Mile, there are wonderful displays of Kinetic Art designed by many of the talented Chicago architecture firms, I took pics of a few below.















I was pretty impressed with all the wonderful architecture in Chicago, as evidenced by all the pics above. We also lucked out on some nice weather following thunderstorms and rain that came down in the first day and half that I was in Chicago.


2) Dinner at NoMI Restaurant (5/29)

NoMI Restaurant is located in the Park Hyatt Hotel, and I went for dinner with my development team, the same team that I cooked with in Sonoma a few weeks ago. Great group of really fun people who work hard and eat/drink even harder. Love it!

An amuse bouche of lobster meat and white beans.
I started out with a Wagyu Beef Tartare, served with Thai Curry, Quail Egg, Ginger Nougatine. The tartare was deliciously tender and I wished for more. The thai curry and ginger nougatine was interesting, but nothing compared to the tartare.
For an entree, I had the Butter Poached Maine Lobster (Lobster Brandade, Chorizo, Ras el Hanout). This was an excellent choice as well. I was very happy with my "surf (lobster) and turf (tartare)" dinner.
I didn't have dessert of the solid kind (go liquid dessert!), but I had to take a picture of Jeff's lovely dessert:

2) Dinner at Aigre Doux Restaurant (5/30)

I spent most of the morning/early afternoon at the convention center, checking out the educational sessions, as the conference didn't actually start until Saturday. In the afternoon, I met up with some folks in another department and they introduced me to the wonderful pomegranate sangria at a kooky place called Weber Grill.

Following some yummy sangria, I met up with another team that I don't really work with on a day-to-day basis, but have oversight over their activities, so it was great to hang out with this team and get to know them better. Dinner was in the private dining room at Aigre Doux Restaurant.

A review that I found online provides this background on Aigre Doux:

This food at this French-influenced contemporary American restaurant is from the husband-and-wife team of Mohammad Islam and Malika Ameen. Islam, who clocked kitchen time with top-notch chefs like Sarah Stegner (at the now-shuttered Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton Chicago) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Mercer Kitchen, Jean Georges), plus a stint as the top toque at Chateau Marmont in Los Angles, is handling the savory fare. Ameen, whose resume includes the Cub Room, Craft and Balthazar in NYC, is handling the sweets.

The menu changes frequently, but expect entrees like pan-seared turbot with saffron sauce and slow-baked salmon with a citrus emulsion, and desserts like an apple bread pudding with caramelized apples, butterscotch and creme fraiche sauce. In case your French is a bit rusty, "aigre" translates to sour, and "doux" means sweet (it’s pronounced ay-greh-DOO).

We had some hors d'ouevres while socializing, and then sat down for a set menu with choices for three courses.

For an appetizer, I had the Seared Ahi Tuna with jicama, cumin infused citrus salad, which was lovely. I citrus salad was very refreshing as well, adding a nice amount of acidity to the dish.
For my entree, I had to go with the Steak Frites with haricot vert, milk jam. It was wonderful, and this would turn out that this would be my only true steak dinner of the trip, which is a travesty considering how many famous steakhouses there are in Chicago. A fantastic reason to come back to Chicago, right?
For dessert, I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding, with organic khadrawy dates, devonshire cream sorbet, cara cara orange. This is one of Aigre Doux's famous desserts, and it did not disappoint. It was wonderful, and I know that Will would love this (considering his penchant for bread puddings...).

3) Dinner at DeLaCosta Restaurant (5/31)

I spent most of Saturday at the convention center for sessions and checking out the exhibit hall. It was insane, seeing how this was the first official day of ASCO. I had meetings in the afternoon back at the Westin with my team and our collaborators from across the Atlantic, followed by a big dinner with all the meeting participants on Saturday evening at De La Costa Restaurant.

The restaurant is beautiful and is the brainchild of chef Douglas Rodriguez. From one review I read in the Chicago Sun Times: "Rodriguez is a James Beard Award winner and a chef the Zagat Guide called the "most important Latin chef in the restaurant world." His culinary CV includes Patria and Chicama (New York), Ola (Miami), and Alma de Cuba (Philadelphia)". Impressive. The cuisine is described as "Coastal Latin Cuisine", and they feature a fresh ceviche bar, a large dining space with different dining rooms and a fun supperclub feel.

There is a wonderful drink menu (classic cocktails, sangria, muddled drinks, "poptails") and a large wine menu. Being a lover of girly-drinks, I was in heaven. . The staff brought a bunch of appetizers for the table to start, from their ceviche menu and their starter menu.
Ecuadorian white shrimp were gussied up with a dandy charred tomato sauce, avocado, cilantro, and served with popcorn and .
"Fire and Ice," a smashing arrangement of tuna and calamari with coconut, Thai chili, kafir and galangal leche (sliced Thai ginger). This was fantastic, definite ceviche favorite.
Hamachi ceviche with sour orange nectar, aji amarillo, elephant garlic and thai basil. Wonderful.
Mixed Charcuterie and Cheeses of Spain plate.
These were these wonderful parmesan bread nuggets that were to die for.

On the left: Duck confit flatbread; on the right: fish tacos

I had the "Xim Xim", with lobster, coconut-curry chicken, braised walnuts and a bacon-wrapped banana. If you're confused about this combination, so was I. But the words "lobster" and "bacon-wrapped banana" intrigued me, so I went for it. I was very happy that I did. It was fantastic, the banana was a hoot, really tasty but didn't really compliment the rest of the dish.

I once again opted for liquid dessert, but Jeff ordered this wonderful dessert: Chocolate cigar with candy matchbook, cognac sauce and espresso sorbet.

Fantastic meal with a great group of people, it was a pleasure and wonderful dining experience.

After dinner, I went dancing with the boys at Roscoe's and Hydrate, which was super fun, dancing pics are below.

4) Gospel Brunch at The House of Blues (6/1)

I woke up wee early to catch the 8 AM sessions at the conference, and was a little tired, cradling my large coffee to make sure I survived the morning. I met up with some folks at noon to head over to The House of Blues for their famous Sunday Gospel Brunch.

Jeff got us tix and reserved one of the opera house boxes for brunch, definitely the best way to go for this experience. For $50 (ticket and handling fee), you get an all-you-can-eat brunch (featuring typical brunch fare but also including the best cheese grits and southern fried chicken!), all-you-can-drink mimosas, and a wonderful concert by the HOB gospel choir.






The best thing is that if you run out of mimosa, you turn on a light that triggers a refill pronto:





The gospel concert was wonderful, we were on hour feet dancing the entire time. If you ever get a chance to go to Chicago, definitely check out the House of Blues Gospel Brunch, one of the best times ever!

5) Genentech ASCO Reception at the Field Museum

On Sunday night, Genentech hosted a massive reception for employees, collaborators, investigators and the like at the Field Museum. It was a great chance to network, chat with almost all of the GNE folks and collaborators, and also check out the museum.



After the reception, a gaggle of folks headed back to the hotel, did a wardrobe change, and headed back to boystown to go dancing at Berlin for Madonnarama (see below). Good times.

6) Dancing in Boystown (5/31, 6/1)

Boystown, also known as the Lakeview district, is like the Castro of Chicago. There's a good concentration of fun bars and is where we headed out two nights in a row for some good times.

We had a large group on Sunday night after the reception to Berlin for Madonnarama, which is held the first Sunday of every month and features Madonna songs only all night.

So, let's just say that it was another late one, and I managed to get a couple hours of sleep before getting my stuff packed and off to Chicago O'Hare to catch my flight on Monday morning.

I had a fantastic time in Chicago, with a perfect balance of work stuff, getting to know the people I work with and people I don't really work with, as well as checking out the city. I can't wait to come back and experience more that Chicago has to offer!