ONCE Upon A Midnight Dreary reviews

OK, I admit it, I love when other people write about our events, and not just because it makes life easier for me, or even because I am enormously self-focused about everything all the time (though I am, hey, might as well admit it.) It is just that it is so great to get another person's perspective, and to hear what people were thinking and how they were reacting to whatever it was we were doing.

As ONCE upon a midnight dreary (our recent Halloweening dinner party) was so especially gruesome, I was particularly excited to read about how people felt post-dining. And we really hit the jackpot this time! Please read on, and follow the links, to not one, but two great pieces from LimeyG, and another perspective from Cave Cibum. Thanks both!!

Tongues, hearts, bugs, worms: a Halloween feast

Somehow Hallowe'en snuck up on us this year. We didn't think about costumes or put up decorations, and our social calendar was empty. And then we got an unexpected invitation from Trevor, a redonkulously incredible chef and total sweetheart: he was going to be cooking at JJ Gonson's next ONCE event and thought we might be interested.

Indeed we might.

JJ is a chef, a passionate locavore, a dynamo, and completely cool. Her dinners are known for being fun and full of unexpected surprises. This particular event happened to be on October 30, which made it a perfect time to create a menu of things some people are afraid to eat.

Trevor had mentioned lamb's tongue and pig's head. There were rumors of insects. It was going to be awesome.

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Halloween feast ONCE more (with better pix)

Sometimes it seems as though I'm surrounded by generous and creative people.

First, I got to go to a ONCE dinner, which required some fabulously talented kitchen artists to spend days of cooking (and doubtless weeks of planning) to create a truly unique meal.

And now one of my fellow diners, who was wielding a far nicer camera than mine, has kindly allowed me to post some of his shots here.

So before I go further, an enormous THANK! YOU! to Benjamin Eckstein, director of photography, video editor, producer. Check out his site benjamineckstein.com, especially the gorgeous highlights reel.

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ONCE Upon a Midnight Dreary

From the very first time I heard about Cuisine En Locale's ONCE, I've been dying to go. ONCE stands for One Night Culinary Event, and the concept is that JJ Gonson and her friends put together a special dinner party (with some loose theme) for that one night only. So I've been longing to go to one for about a year now, and between my schedule conflicts and other ONCEs filling up too quickly, ONCE Upon a Midnight Dreary (hosted the night before Halloween) was the first one I could make.

The first email I got from JJ just said that the night was going to be scary. I can handle scary, I thought. It wasn't until a night or two before that I realized just how scary this night would be.

I like to think I'm pretty open-minded about a lot of foods - I'll give most things at least a taste. But this meal, focusing on offal (oh, and bugs!), really pushed my limits. Having said that, I'm pretty damn proud of how much I did end up eating.

More from Cave Cibum....