I have been arranging holiday parties for the various companies I have worked (and also ones that I have not worked) for approximately the last 9 years, and it is starting to get stressful coming up with new ideas each year.
This year, I did not have to look far. My office is located in downtown Madison, and I wanted to find a place in our neighborhood where we could be neighborly. I didn’t need to look any farther than the 8 Season’s Grille.
The 8 Season’s Grille is located on the corner of S. Bassett and W. Main Street. Tom and Nick Baertschy are co-owners of the restaurant, and have come up with a genius-marketing draw of having Iron Chef events.
If you do not watch the Food Network, and don’t know what Iron Chef is, let me give you a very quick synapsis. The premise is that two sets of Chef’s (and their teams) go head to head creating amazing dishes all using a secret ingredient that is unveiled to them at the beginning of the show.
8 Season’s Grille has taken this concept and made it work for parties. For my company holiday party, we picked the secret ingredient (coffee) and on the day of the party it was un-veiled to Executive Chef Nick. He was able to pull off some amazing menu items for us using this ingredient. My two personal favorites were his coffee risotto and homemade coffee ice cream. All of the food served was amazing, and the brothers work with you to come up with wine pairings that truly round out the meal.
If you are looking for something fun to arrange for a group of friends during the doldrums of January, February and March I would recommend checking out the Iron Chef events that are offered at the 8 Season’s Grille. I would also recommend not choosing coffee as your primary ingredient if you want to get to sleep before three in the morning….
