Business & Tech
Chefs Cook up Chili to Free Birds
Bucktown's Red Door will host a chili cook-off fundraiser tonight in support of a central Illinois farm.
Nine chefs from restaurants across the city will converge on a Bucktown eatery Monday night to cook chili as well as support local farmers and free chickens.
Chef Troy Graves of Red Door, 2118 N. Damen Ave., will host the Red Door Chili Cook-Off to benefit the Chicken Freedom Project from Slagel Family Farm.
Joining Graves in the cook-off will be chefs Mark Steuer of Carriage House, Matt Troost of Three Aces; John Manion of La Sirena Clandestina; Enoch Simpson of endgrain; Eric Mansavage of Farmhouse; Rob and Allie Levitt of The Butcher & Larder; and Art and Chelsea Jackson of Pleasant House Bakery. Attendees, along with guest judge Audarshia Townsend of 312 Dining Diva, will vote to determine the best chilis, and all ticket proceeds will benefit Slagel Farms.
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Troy said he was inspired to put the fundraiser together after the farm asked him for help promoting the project online.
"They sent all the chefs an email to see if we could help social media their cause," Graves said. "And I thought I can probably do better than just that, you know? I can get a bunch of friends together and do some sort of fun fundraiser. And obviously, as cold as it is right now in January, chili seems like the perfect food."
Find out what's happening in Bucktown-Wicker Parkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Chicken Freedom Project is Slagel Farm's fundraising initiative to purchase a commercial chicken farm that has come up for sale near their existing farm in central Illinois and convert it to a cage-free facility. According to the donation page, the Slagel family wants to take the farm off the market so it can't be used as a factory farm again and instead use it to raise chickens more organically and humanely.
Graves said he's worked with Slagel since opening Red Door last May, and that he wanted to help with the fundraiser to support the farm's business practices.
"I like the fact that they do their own slaughtering," he said. "They do everything on their farm themselves."
The Red Door Chili Cook-Off will take place at 6 p.m. on Jan. 28. Admission is $25 and includes tastings of all the chilis and one free cocktail. For more information, see the event listing on Red Door's Facebook page.
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