October 10, 2018
42 Grams chef cooking dinner collab at Bardo
The Asbury is also bringing star power to town
Bardo’s modern menu will be pushed even further during a collaborative dinner this month. Kristen Wile/UP
October is full of food events around town, but there are two upcoming dinners you’ll want to save the date of (and start saving for).
Bardo chef and owner Mike Noll is bringing his friend and fellow chef Jake Bickelhaupt to town to cook a collaborative dinner at the restaurant on Monday, Oct. 22.
Bickelhaupt is best known as chef of a two Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago called 42 Grams, which he owned with his former wife. The restaurant earned acclaim from the James Beard Foundation and national publications as well, including a Best New Chef recognition for Bickelhaupt by Food & Wine magazine. A documentary called 42 Grams: The Evolution of a Chef was also made about his rise to fame.
The restaurant closed in 2017, and since a domestic violence incident between Bickelhaupt and his ex, the chef has been working to get his life back on track. He has adapted a sober lifestyle and has returned to his roots of pop-up dinners with Konro Supper Club in Chicago. A konro is a Japanese grill popular with chefs. I felt uncomfortable writing about the dinner without mentioning the arrest, and Bickelhaupt asked that I publish his statement in full:
I am human and I made a mistake in 2017 that cost me everything but my life, barely. Alcohol took my reputation, 2 Michelin star restaurant, health, home, savings, car, and relationships. I did everything that was required of me from that incident. I also pursued additional help on my own accord. Because, I desperately wanted to get better. I didn’t want my addiction to ruin my life anymore or those around me.
Many chefs go through what I did and much worse. Consequently, many sadly haven’t survived this addiction and the mental toll it has on us (RIP Anthony Bourdain). I am fortunate and grateful to be able to move on from my dark past and live a healthy life.
I have completed 26 weeks of domestic violence/anger management classes, six weeks of alcohol and addiction treatment and hundreds of hours of counseling. Today, I am very happy to be sober and extremely thankful for the help of all those who have the compassion to help those in need. I have found balance in my life for the first time.
I am honored to join my best friend Mike Noll at Bardo for a one night only collaboration dinner on October 22, 2018. Tickets are selling fast and the buzz is exhilarating so far. We are celebrating our past from 2013 at Sous Rising, as well as the present moment. I am so proud of Chef Noll and his team of what they already accomplished in Charlotte. Everybody has been so welcoming and gracious. I am looking forward to a wonderful night with amazing people.
At Bardo, Noll and Bickelhaupt will serve a 12-course tasting menu with cocktail pairings to 56 diners spread across four different seating times (5, 5:30, 8, and 8:30 p.m.). Tickets are $265; the latest seating is already sold out. Noll won’t divulge what’s on the menu for the dinner, but did say that it will be more elevated than the current menu at Bardo. Bardo’s menu already pushes the limit on what the city of Charlotte is used to, so it will be exciting to see what these two chefs come up with. Some courses will be collaborative courses between the two; others will be created by a single chef.
Get tickets here before they sell out.
If the $265 ticket is out of your budget, there’s another option for you. Happening the following day (Oct. 23) is a collaborative dinner at The Asbury, with Asbury chef Matthew Krenz and visiting chef Kenny Gilbert in the kitchen. Fans of Top Chef will remember Gilbert from season seven. He was eliminated on episode nine, but was a fan favorite. He’s also appeared on Food Network shows Cutthroat Kitchen and Beat Bobby Flay. He now owns a handful of restaurants in Florida.
The Dirt Candy + Bourbon dinner focuses on sweet potatoes, served with bourbon pairings. I attended a previous sweet potato dinner at The Asbury; the courses were fantastic, with Krenz’s signature layers of texture and flavor, but didn’t leave diners overwhelmed by sweet potato.
Tickets cost $65, plus gratuity and tax. —Kristen Wile
Darn…I so wish I could go tonight! I saw the film, and it was amazing. And I also very much appreciated you publishing his own statement. We all make mistakes. I hope the dinner is a big success…maybe I will get to go to one in the future.