Lombardi Food & Wine Experience

Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner

Held on Saturday, November 15 at the University Club of Milwaukee, the Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner will feature a multi-course gourmet dinner prepared by a distinguished chef and matching wines presented by well-known winemakers and winery owners. The memorable evening concludes with a Late Hours Cafe with decadent desserts and martinis.

The Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner is from 6:30 - 10:00 p.m. Attendance is extremely limited. Please make your reservations early. The Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner is $225 per person. Corporate tables of eight (8) are available for $2,000. Corporate tables include two (2) tickets to the Friday evening Food & Wine Tasting Gala and mention in Saturday's event program.

The attire for the Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner is business.

Special room rates are available at The Pfister Hotel and the University Club of Milwaukee. Please contact The Pfister Hotel and University Club directly at 414.273.8222 or 414.271.222, respectively and request the Lombardi rate.

About the 2008 Celebrity Chef, Michael Kornick
Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds and the 2008 Lombardi Food & Wine Planning Committee are proud to announce that Chef Michael Kornick, founder and owner of mk in Chicago, will be this year's featured chef. As a nationally recognized leader in the culinary arts, Chef Kornick works with the freshest seasonal ingredients and stays true to classical cooking techniques. It is his belief that ingredients should speak for themselves.

Michael Kornick graduated in 1982 from the Culinary Institute of American and went on to work with some of the most influential chefs and restaurateurs in the United States. These include Barry Wine at New York's legendary The Quilted Giraffe and Gordon Sinclair of Gordon Restaurant in Chicago. In 1987, Kornick traveled to South-East Asia as a consultant for Hyatt and Regency Hotels. Then, in 1988, Kornick joined Richard Melman at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises to work on various themed restaurants, including Eccentric as Chef/Partern in 1989. Chef Kornick, at the age of 28, was appointed to the Executive Chef position at the Four Season's Hotel Boston; New England's only Five Diamond restaurant and hotel.

Kornick returned to Chicago to develop two restaurants with the KDK Restaurant Group in Chicago, Marché in 1993 and Red Light in 1997. Kornick served as managing Chef/Partner for KDK for five years. Both restaurants received critical national acclaim. Red Light was included in John Mariani's annual survey, "Best New Restaurants of the Year," in Esquire Magazine in 1998.

In 1998, Kornick, together with his wife Lisa, opened mk, the restaurant. Since opening, the restaurant has been acclaimed by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, and Chicago magazine, all recognizing mk with three-star reviews. Condé Nast Traveler selected mk as one of the "Hottest Restaurants in the World," and Esquire chose mk as one of the "Top Restaurants to Open in 1999." After ten successful years in business, mk continues to thrive and has established a reputation for being both contemporary and timeless.

Kornick currently serves as consulting chef/partner for the Nine Group. Nine Group opened Nine Steakhouse and Ghost Bar in Chicago in 2001. Nine Group owns and operates three (3) Nine Steakhouses, two (2) Nove Italianos and six (6) night clubs and ultra lounges in Las Vegas, Chicago and Dallas.

Although known primarily for his accomplishments as a chef, Michael Kornick has developed into one of the country's leading restaurateurs. He is highly sought after as an authority on restaurant management and customer service and is known as a generous mentor to those who have under him past and present.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Michael is very active in the community. He has raised awareness and money annually for Share our Strength, the Chicago Food Despository, Steppenwolf Theater, and Perspectives Charter School. Chef Kornick also serves as a Chef Chair for Toque's, "An Evening with Chicago's Great Chefs." The event raises money for Children's Oncology Services, Inc. and funds their Camp One Step at a Time, a camp for children with cancer.

About the 2008 Celebrity Vintners

Beth Nickel - Partner & Proprietress
Far Niente, Dolce and Nickel & Nickel
Born in Wisconsin and raised in Oklahoma, Beth grew up in the nursery business. She met Gil Nickel, a fellow Oklahoman, who harbored a dream to establish a world-class winery and it was this endeavor that finally brought them together.
Far Niente was founded in 1885, but its modern era dates from 1979 when Gil and Beth rescued the long-abandoned stone winery in Oakville and began restoration of the historic estate. It was their dream to establish a wine estate that would have a reputation for excellence reaching far beyond the borders of Napa Valley.
Beth has taken up the cause of fundraising to support cancer research in honor of Gil, who lost his courageous battle with melanoma in the fall of 2003.

Violet Grgich - Co-proprietor; Vice President of Operations and Sales
Grgich Hills Estate
Violet's passion for wine began at an early age, as she literally grew up accompanying her father, Mike, in the vineyard and cellar. After graduation from the University of California, she returned home to continue her education in the wine business, learning about the daily operations of the winery. She is now responsible for daily management of the winery, as well as sales and marketing.
In 1976, a chardonnay her father crafted for Chateau Montelena beat the very best wines in France in a now famous blind tasting in Paris. Ths event stunned the wine world and catapulted Napa Valley into the forefront of leading wine-producing regions of the world.

Farid Humeur
Gruet Winery
The Gruet family has been making fine champagne in France since 1952. In 1984, they picked up stakes and headed for Albuquerque and have since become New Mexico's most successful winery. Gruet produces eight sparkling wines in the methode champenoise. The 2002 International Wine & Spirits Competition in England, the Olympics of the vintners art, awarded Gruet's Blanc de Blanc '97 "best of show."

2008 Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner Menu

Hors d'oeuvres
Bison Tartare, Shallots, Capers, Anchovy & Parmigiano
Crispy Pacific Oysters, Leroy's Remoulade
Crudo Spoons, Hamachi, Tuna, Diver Scallop
La Quercia Proscuitto, Buratta, Chili Flakes
Gruet Winery 2004 Blanc de Blancs

Berkshire Pork Rillon
Chanterelle Mushrooms & Frisee
Mustard Seed Vinaigrette
Grgich Hills Estate 2007 Fume Blanc

Maine Lobster Two Ways
A Salad - Leek, Fennel & Celery
A Soup - Butternut Squash & Cumin
Far Niente 2006 Chardonnay

Tallgrass Beef
Twenty Four Hour Sous Vide
Rosemary, Swiss Chard & Anson Mills Polenta
Horseradish Gremolata
Grgich Hills Estate 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

Wisconsin Artisnal Farmhouse Cheeses
Wisconsin Wildflower Honey, Apricot, Watercress & Walnuts
Grgich Hills Estate 2006 Violetta

Nichols Farm Heirloom Apples & Almond Tart
Almond Brittle Caramelized Apples & Crème Fraiche
2003 Dolce

Past Celebrity Chefs include
2007 - Walter Scheib, White House Executive Chef, 1994-2005
2006 - Hubert Des Marais, Four Seasons Resort, Palm Beach, Florida
2005 - Mauro Mafrici, New York
2004 - Tony Mantuano, Spiaggia, Chicago

Past Celebrity Vintners include
2007 - Simi Winery, Steve Reeder, Vice President of Winemaking
2007 - Eponymous, Robert Pepi, Proprietor
2007 - Domaine Chandon etoile Rose, Pat Mangan
2006 - Duckhorn Wine Company, Margaret Duckhorn, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales/Pete Przybylinksi, Vice President of Marketing and Sales
2006 - Markham Vineyards, Kimberlee Nicholls, Winemaker
2006 - Veuve Clicquot, Pat Mangan
2005 - Peju Province Winery, Lisa Peju, Marketing Director
2005 - Schramsberg Vineyards, Hugh Davies, President and CEO
2005 - Trefethen Vineyards, Janet Trefethen, CEO
2004 - Heitz Wine Cellars, Kathleen Heitz Meyers, President
2004 - Iron Horse, Joy Sterling, Partner