AVONDALE — It's fit for kings and presidents, but on Tuesday, the Palmer House Hilton's Empire Room hosted a slightly younger cohort.
Fifty students — two dozen from Von Linne Elementary — dined Continental style at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel, 17 E. Monroe St., treated to a kids-inspired four-course "Preparing for Greatness" menu.
"It's giving children that same experience right now when they're young, where they can get a taste — literally, right? — of what could lie ahead for them if they allow themselves to dream big," City Clerk Susana Mendoza said.
Mendoza partnered with late Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, Common Threads and Hilton to create the Culinary Kids program in 2013. Since its launch, the program has helped infuse culinary arts and nutrition education into schools like Von Linne.
"Our vision is to educate the whole child, and we really need to retrain our kids to be healthy. It's just an important facet of their education," Von Linne Principal Renee Mackin said.
In between courses, students got tips from etiquette consultant Barbara Finney, who detailed proper procedures for sipping soup, picking the right utensil and signaling the end of a meal.
Executive chef Stephen Henry described each course, starting with a tomato bisque poured over grilled cheese croutons and a fruity salad of golden kiwi, melon and spinach. All were served on the Empire Room's priceless 24-karat gold china, originally used at the Palmer House during a 1879 banquet with President Ulysses S. Grant after the Civil War.
"I'd recommend this to anyone. [The food] is delicious. The decor is beautiful and elegant," said Kamari Morgan, a fourth-grader at Von Linne, who visited the Empire Room for the first time Tuesday.
After an English muffin pizza entrée and a creamy cheesy ditalini, the kids finished up with Bertha's Famous Brownie — a salted caramel version of the first brownie ever made.
"Preparing for greatness is what you do, it's not what you have. If you bring your heart to work, if you bring your heart wherever you are going, you will be successful," Henry told students.
While kids like 7-year-old Elijah Martinez aren't always keen on fruits and vegetables, the dinner was still "opening another door," said his mother, Lizette Martinez, a Palmer House employee attending the luncheon with her children. Beyond learning how to behave at a formal function, Common Threads at Von Linne has helped her children in other ways, too.
From grocery store field trips to after-school family courses,"It really helps to broaden, to open their eyes a little. They brought home food they ordinarily wouldn't touch," she said.
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