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Promontory Eases Into Hyde Park with Dinner for KAM Isaiah Israel

By Sam Cholke | April 10, 2014 8:31am
 The chefs from the Promontory, which will open on 53rd Street early this summer, will prepare all the food and drinks this year for the KAM Isaiah Israel fundraiser.
The chefs from the Promontory, which will open on 53rd Street early this summer, will prepare all the food and drinks this year for the KAM Isaiah Israel fundraiser.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — Diners eager to get a taste of the Promontory before it opens on 53rd Street this summer can get an early taste at KAM Isaiah Israel’s annual fundraiser dinner.

The Promontory has agreed to cater the April 26 fundraiser for the Kenwood synagogue at 1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd.

“We wanted to do this last year, but we weren’t far enough along,” said Empty Bottle owner Bruce Finkleman, who is opening the restaurant and music venue with Longman and Eagle chef Jared Wentworth at 1539 E. 53rd St.

Finkleman said the food would not be pulled from the Promontory’s menu because the menu was not set yet, but the restaurant would serve some of the punches that were to be a signature of the new restaurant.

“This won’t be a preview,” Finkleman said. “It will just be a chance for us to get to know our neighbors down there.”

The Promontory was expected to open this spring, but zoning issues have delayed opening until the early summer. Finkleman said the back patio was already built when the owners and their landlord, the University of Chicago, realized they needed a special-use permit to allow people onto the porch.

“I don’t think the university knew it needed to be done,” Finkleman said.

He said he was eager to start getting to know the people in Hyde Park who would help set the tone for the live entertainment at the venue when it opened in the summer.

For the KAM Isaiah Israel dinner, the Promontory’s chefs will be paired with South Side jazz.

Members of the synagogue coaxed jazz vocalist Tammy McCann to come up and perform.

“When we found out she lived in South Shore and graduated from Kenwood, we got in touch with her and she generously agreed to perform for our fundraiser,” said Bob Drinan, one of the organizers of the fundraiser.

Richard Steele from WBEZ will also talk about the history of jazz in Hyde Park and on the South Side. Judith Stein will also be on hand to tell the story of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival.

The fundraiser will also include a raffle with items including four tickets to a taping of the public radio program “Wait … Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” cases of beer from local brewer Revolution Brewery and a host of items from Hyde Park restaurants and businesses.

Tickets for the fundraiser start at $150.