Looking for a gift that’s thoughtful, unique, and guaranteed to delight? Custom gift certificates for my cooking classes and private chef services are now available—beautifully printed on card stock and tucked into a ready-to-gift envelope. You can even add a personalized message to make your present truly meaningful. For the foodie who has everything: Give an adventurous eater the unforgettable treat of a private dinner party cooked right in their own home. Whether it’s an intimate celebration or a special surprise, I bring the experience to you—no trip to Chicago or flight to Paris required. My private chef services are just $50 per hour, backed by more than 200 kitchen-tested recipes and the option to design brand-new dishes to match any theme or fantasy. Learn more here: www.cooking-with-paul.com/private-chef.html For the curious home cook: A hands-on cooking class at Urbana Park District’s Phillips Recreation Center might be the perfect present. With only 12 students per sessio...

To help promote the upcoming Paella Festival in Valencia pop-up dinner, I decided to demo how to make Gazpacho on WCIA's lifestyle show called  ciLiving . Gazpacho is a healthy chilled summer vegetable soup that requires no cooking. Most people use tomato juice as a base for Gazpacho, but if you start with V8 instead, you're already halfway there. Of course, I add more fresh veggies for both texture and nutrition.  Since Gazpacho is a tomato-based soup, it didn’t exist until the discovery of the new world where tomatoes came from. The Spanish and Portuguese brought tomatoes back to Europe in the 1400s and they were the first people to make Gazpacho. Today it is popular all around the Mediterranean and there are many different variations. You can taste this dish on September 1 when I will be making  this exact recipe  at my next pop-up dinner at Harvest Market. Gazpacho will be the first course served, but the featured main course will be my version of ...

You may have met Brittany Heyen at one of our pop-up dinners in the past year. Brittany was the server and all-around helper who made sure the food arrived hot, your wine glasses were never empty, and your needs in the dining room were met. So when Brittany said she wanted to be the chef du jour and cook up some German dishes inspired by her grandmother's recipes, we absolutely said yes. And since the annual Oktoberfest season is upon us, we thought she should do it twice. First up is our  Oktoberfest Feast in Munich pop-up dinner on  Sunday, September 22 . As is our tradition, we'll be serving up a multi-course dinner complete with imported German beers and wines for one fixed price (unlike at restaurants, all taxes and tip are included as well). This time, 16 guests will be invited to celebrate Oktoberfest in a private party room in downtown Urbana where we'll create a Bavarian beer hall atmosphere with communal-style dining. Brittany's grandmot...

As of right now, there's only one seat left for this Sunday's " Persian Royal Feast " pop-up dinner ( reserve now if you've got Sunday night open). We're taking August off, but starting in September, we will be back on schedule with our monthly Sunday night pop-ups. On September 25, we'll be going to Spain to celebrate the annual Paella Festival in Valencià . Traditionally cooked outdoors over an open fire, paella is a Mediterranean rice dish that's especially popular during holidays and celebrations all over the world. At our Sunday night banquet, we will be cooking up a big batch of seafood paella along with a few other popular Spanish side dishes. Kilya, our mixologist will also be creating a variety of sangria for your tasting pleasure. On October 27, we will be going to Oaxaca, Mexico, to celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), an ancestral festival with deep roots in ancient civilizations like the Aztecs. A special menu of unusual ...

Our monthly Sunday night pop-up dinners continue in July at a new venue -- the Harvest Market upstairs demo kitchen. Affectionately named "The Nook," this ultramodern space has a giant kitchen counter island that is perfect for both cooking and eating. With this pop-up event, we are inaugurating a new series called "Chef's Table" where 10 special guests are invited to a front-row seat right at the kitchen counter, where you can watch your dinner being prepared in front of your eyes. Each dish will be presented by the chef with notes on ingredients, preparation, and flavor profiles, as well as background information about its cultural history. Cooking techniques and modern shortcuts will also be discussed, and all your questions will be answered. Persian cuisine is steeped in thousand-year-old traditions from an ancient empire that connected India and China with the West along the silk road. Famous for its creative use of spices like saffron, cardamom, and dr...

  This is the sequel to last year's BULLET TRAIN TO OSAKA event that all of you have been asking for. Like last time, we'll take a fantasy foodie safari from Tokyo on the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train line while tasting everything Japan has to offer en route to Kyoto. Before we board the train at the Tokyo station, we'll grab some sakana (small bites). As our train leaves Tokyo station, we'll indulge in some tasty appetizers as the train departs and accelerates up to 200 mph. Soon food carts will come down the aisle and we'll grab anything that looks tasty. Once we arrive in Kyoto, we'll head directly to our ryokan (Japanese style inn) in the Gion dstrict where we might spy a geisha walking the alleys. When we arrive at our ryokan, we'll be directed to a private dining room where a kaiseki-style dinner has been prepared for us. Like last time, we'll have sake, wine, highball, and beer pairings all evening long, plus a few surprises!...

  To label Singapore as the Asian food capital would be an understatement. Sure, this city-state has Michelin-starred restaurants, but only tourists eat there. The locals prefer to eat at hawker centers and food courts instead -- where the food is abundant, cheap, and really good. From "food opera" to "food republic" to "food village" to "food square," these eating palaces offer an endless variety of pan-Asian fare. From authentic traditional bites to exotic ingredients to creative fusion inventions, if you can dream it, you can find it here. Join us for an authentic Singapore hawker center feast with an all-vegetarian menu : Wood Ear Mushroom Salad : crunchy Chinese mushroom salad dressed with garlic, soy, and sesame Vada Sambar Chutney : popular south Indian savory donut snack served with lentil stew and coconut chutney Green Papaya Salad : zingy and spicy Thai salad dressed with a savory garlic-lime sauce Okonomiyaki :...

  Join us on Sunday, April 14 for a culinary ride through the heart and soul of Mumbai's street food scene. For the first time, we'll be featuring a meat-free menu made by  Sirisha Bhandaru , our guest chef for the evening. Sirisha grew up in Andhra Pradesh and in Mumbai, India but spent many summers with her grandmother, who taught her how to cook authentic dishes from scratch using homegrown ingredients. Since 2016, Sirisha has taught dozens of cooking classes in Urbana featuring regional Indian cuisines. Sirisha also manages her popular Instagram food blog page  @mycravesandraves , known for food styling, photography, food storytelling, and recipes. In the tradition of featuring good eats from exotic destinations around the world, we'll be recreating a multi-course vegetarian Indian foodie safari experience like no other. We've got comfort foods, playful flavor bombs, and indulgent treats – buttery, spicy, sweet – you name it! ...

Our monthly Sunday night pop-up dinners continue next month with a MUMBAI STREET FOOD TOUR special event on April 14, 2024. In the tradition of featuring good eats from exotic destinations around the world, we'll be recreating a multi-course vegetarian Indian foodie safari experience like no other. We've got comfort foods, playful flavor bombs, and indulgent treats – buttery, spicy, sweet – you name it! Join us for a vegetarian culinary ride through the heart and soul of Mumbai's street food scene: Chaat: Pani Puri  • Playful little flavor explosions that packs a punch Sev Puri  • Light, crisp canapes topped with potatoes, onions, flavorful sauces and thin crispy fried chickpea noodles Idli Sambar Chutney  • Savory steamed lentil and rice cakes with a lentil tamarind stew and coconut chutney Paneer Frankie  • A favorite among college kids, a soft wrap encasing a spicy paneer filling Pav Bhaji  • A flavor-packed spicy vegetable mash s...

As part of our Czech pop-up dinner event next week, I made this delicious honey cake for dessert. A throwback to the Soviet era, this very popular treat is available at almost all Czech restaurants and coffee shops during the Christmas season. Although this cake is fairly easy to make, the process does take three days. So plan ahead! On day 1, you'll want to make the caramel cream filling. Because you're boiling a can of condensed milk, it is recommended that you chill the unopened can in the refrigerator overnight. This way, you won't risk burning yourself when you open the can the next day. On day 2, you'll make the cake itself, but you should let it sit overnight in the refrigerator so that the flavors meld together as the wet cream filling moistens the sponge cake layers. It'll be so much better the next day! You can serve the cake on day 3, but be sure to let it sit out for an hour or so before dessert time. Since there is a lot of butter in the cream f...

Our monthly Sunday night pop-up dinners continue this month with AN EVENING IN ČESKÝ KRUMLOV on March 17 at 6pm. In the tradition of featuring gourmet meals from exotic destinations around the world, we'll be recreating an authentic five-course "Old Bohemian" dinner featuring Czech classics like:  Kulajda  • A rich and creamy mushroom soup with potatoes and dill Vepřové Koleno  • Pork knuckle marinated in dark beer, baked until crispy on the outside and fall-off-the-bone tender on the inside Braised Red Cabbage  • Stewed for hours with caramelized onions and vinegar Fried Cheese  • A Czech national treasure Medovník  • A luxurious and rich honey cake with layers of caramel cream infused with rum Of course, there will be imported wine and beer pairings all evening long, plus a few surprises! While Prague is a great city, the best-kept secret in Czechia is a picture-perfect town called Český Krumlov. Just two hours south o...

In July 2023, we launched a series of Sunday night pop-up dinners featuring gourmet meals from exotic destinations around the world. We are happy to announce that these special themed dinner parties will continue in 2024 with a brand new season of exciting new culinary adventures. We're lucky that Champaign-Urbana is home to an amazing variety of restaurants serving a broad range of international cuisines. Despite this abundance, we’re still missing a few important culinary traditions. Our goal is to fill in that gap with unique dining experiences not typically available locally. Here's what we've planned so far for this upcoming year: February 11 - Valentine's Dinner in Napa : A romantic five-course gourmet meal with wine pairings for every course March 17 - An Evening in Český Krumlov : An authentic five-course traditional Czech meal with wine and beer pairings April 14 - Mumbai Street Food Tour : A guided survey of all the best eats available in this vibrant India...

It's only December, but our February 11, 2024 pop-up dinner has already sold out. So we're pleased to announce that we're now taking reservations for our March 17 event called " An Evening in Český Krumlov ." At this pop-up event, we will be serving an authentic five-course traditional Czech dinner with wine and beer pairings. The Czech Republic (a.k.a. Czechia) is at the crossroads of Eastern and Western Europe and its "Old Bohemian" cuisine reflects their storied historical influences. While Prague is a great city, the best kept secret in Czechia is a picture-perfect town called Český Krumlov. Just two hours south of Prague, this charming fairy tale village of 13,000 is a Unesco World Heritage Site with a stunning castle, an old town square, and a great place for gypsy music and amazing food. At this upcoming pop-up dinner, I'm going to recreate a traditional Old Bohemia dinner that I had in this town ( see pictures from this trip ). Full menu ...

We started in July with "Bullet Train to Osaka," a 10-course Japanese fantasy foodie safari of small plates that also included sake, highball, beer, and sochu pairings. Then in August we hosted "An Evening in the Cinque Terre," a four-course Italian pesto feast. Next, we traveled to Greece for a six-course meze dinner that we called "Greek Sunset in Santorini." Last month, we hosted a Spanish small plates feast called "Tapas Crawl in Barcelona." The final pop-up dinner event this fall will be a "Formal French Dinner in Paris" where a classic seven-course gastronomic meal will be served on Sunday, November 12 (sorry, this event is already sold out).  We're going to be taking a break from hosting these monthly dinners, but we will be back on February 11, 2024 with a "Valentine's Dinner in Napa" special event. This romantic fantasy destination dinner will start with oysters on the half shell and end with crème brûlée. ...

What is the ultimate dinner experience? Some say it's the classic French gastronomic meal which starts with an apéritif (drinks before the meal), ends with a digestif (after dinner drink), and contains multiple successive courses in between all paired with specially selected wines. It is a festive meal bringing people together for an occasion to enjoy the art of good eating and drinking, emphasizing togetherness, the pleasure of taste, and the setting of a beautiful environment. Since 2010, this traditional French ritual has been inscribed as one of UNESCO's "intangible cultural heritage of humanity." We're going to recreate this "formal" French dinner experience with seven courses right here in downtown Urbana for ten special guests. Instead of flying to Paris and paying $360 per person (without wine) at a fancy Parisian restaurant like Le Cinq , you can have the same experience for $90 per person (with wine pairings for every course). Best of all, y...

I have to admit that I have a soft spot in my tummy for octopus. Of all the different ways to prepare octopus, the grilled Greek version is my absolutely favorite way to eat this delightful sea creature. Every reputable Greek eatery worth eating at has this dish on their menu, and ever since discovering this dish in Chicago's Greektown restaurants decades ago, I have been religiously ordering it as a starter for every Greek meal. Deceptively simple to prepare, this dish delights all the senses -- from its smokey aroma to its garlicky tongue tickling zing, to the refreshing lemony acid infused dressing to the crispy charred crunch to the irresistible chewy texture -- I could go on. All I can say is that if you've never tasted this dish, you haven't really lived.  In the coming weeks, I'll be making this dish twice: once at our upcoming " Greek Sunset in Santorini " pop-up experience on September 17, and then again at Common Ground's Greek Meze Dinner co...

Pinchos are small finger foods served at bars and taverns throughout the Basque Country straggling the border between Spain and France. In the center of Basque country is San Sebastian, a world-renowned culinary destination with the second most Michelin stars per capita in the world (after Kyoto, Japan). The city is also known for pinchos (or "pintxos" in Spanish) which are found in the bars of the Old Quarter and elsewhere in the city. Similar to tapas, pinchos have a strong socializing component and are are usually eaten in bars as a snack with wine, sangria or sherry. So what is the difference between pinchos and tapas? Pinchos (literally "spike" in Spanish) uses a toothpick to skewer the goodies to a slice of bread. No spike? Not a pincho, just a tapa.  We'll be making a lot of pinchos and tapas at both our upcoming Spanish Tapas Feast cooking class and our Barcelona pop-up dinner event. Unfortunately, the cooking class is already sold out, but seats are st...

Well, it depends on who is doing it. This is how we do it: We dream of international destinations where there are lots of good eats (the more exotic the better). We fantasize what the ultimate menu might be at this destination. We research what wines and beverages might pair well with these dishes. We set a table for 10 people and have one hell of a dinner a party!  This is what makes us different: All of our pop-up events are all-inclusive prix fixe dinners. This means you get a multi-course dinner complete with wine and other beverage pairings all evening long for one fixed price. Unlike at restaurants, all taxes and tip are included as well. Since we're only inviting 10 people, these are small intimate affairs where you can easily meet other like-minded foodies and make new friends. Yes, it's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun. We just pulled off a 10-course Japanese tasting menu around the theme BULLET TRAIN TO OSAKA. We're looking forward to exploring France...

Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake similar to the Korean pajun. Made with eggs and flour, this giant omelet is similar to a French quiche or an Italian frittata, but it's all made in a pan. In fact, flipping this pancake is the most challenging part of making this dish because of its sheer size.  Like an omelet, you can pretty much put anything you want in an okonomiyaki pancake. Although traditional ingredients might include seafood, ginger, and scallion, the most common choice of vegetable to add to this pancake is shredded cabbage. Surprisingly, Worcestershire sauce is favored as a seasoning instead of the traditional soy. But everyone's favorite condiment for this dish is Japanese Kewpie mayo which is generously squirted on top. Kewpie mayo is the top-selling brand of mayo in Japan and it's a little sweeter than the American version -- and a little thicker because it is made with egg yolks (instead of whole eggs).   Often served as a street food snack in Jap...

A new pop-up dinner experience has been scheduled for Sunday, September 17, 2023. This time, we will be visiting the Greek Island of Santorini for a six-course meze dinner complete with imported wine pairings all evening long. This pop-up dinner is part of our on-going series of international prix fixe experiences complete with wine pairings all evening long. Since the recent closing of Chicago's legendary Santorini in Greektown, it's becoming even more challenging to experience authentic Greek food the way it's meant to enjoyed — random morsels of tasty bites served in no particular order along with some great Greek wines and a shot of Ouzo. In Greece, this is called a meze dinner -- a complete meal of small bites or appetizers without any main dishes.  Tonight's fantasy Greek meze dinner takes place on an imaginary terraced restaurant overlooking the village of Oia on Santorini, the most picturesque and most visited of all the Greek islands. Imagine a table full of...