By A.D. AMOROSI
Many chefs and restaurants are currently using farm-to-table menus and healthy eating as a marketing tool. Christina Pirello, however, has been doing that for ages. Since the 2001 launch of her PBS series, Christina Cooks, the Philadelphia chef has prepared gourmet vegan dishes. On Friday, February 12, 2016, she'll start hosting culinary pop-up events dedicated to healthful eating. The first of these moveable feasts is a romantic, 5-course, pre-Valentine's Day dinner/cabaret with live music at Caffe Valentino in South Philadelphia.
"I’m thrilled to be launching this series with a Valentine’s theme," says Pirello in a prepared statement. "The Caffe Valentino space is perfect for me to showcase the dishes and discuss the ingredients while presenting helpful cooking tips. Guests will feel like they’re attending one of my cooking shows in person." To give the dinner its cabaret feel, pianist/raconteur Robert Pirello will provide piano accompaniment and humorous asides to his wife's tales of travel, cooking and growing up in a large Italian and Irish family.
For the Pirello Pop-Up's debut menu, Christina will cook five courses that "will deliver a positive effect on diners’ bodies," she says. Among the dinner's standouts are saffron-scented red lentil and cauliflower soup, cabbage spring rolls with a sweet and spicy apricot glaze, and an arugula and fennel salad with grapefruit and oil-cured black olives. For desert, there is "a decadent dark chocolate and hazelnut brownie that stimulates romance and increases stamina."
The pre-Valentine’s Day dinner is Friday, February 12th at 7 p.m. at Caffe Valentino, 1245 South 3rd Street, on the corner of Moyamensing & Wharton Streets in South Philadelphia. Cost is $69 per person, including tax and gratuity; BYOB. For tickets visit ChristinaCooks.com or call 215.551.1430.
Photo courtesy of Peter Breslow Consulting & Public Relations
Posted on Friday, February 12, 2016
