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Immigrant Chef Pop-Up Dinners Unite 'Demonized' Communities Through Food

By Ariel Cheung | February 3, 2017 8:34am
 A new diversity-focused pop-up dinner series will kick off at Southport & Irving with a Mexican meal. Profits will be donated to Mujeres Latinas en Acción.
A new diversity-focused pop-up dinner series will kick off at Southport & Irving with a Mexican meal. Profits will be donated to Mujeres Latinas en Acción.
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Provided/Southport & Irving

LAKEVIEW — A new pop-up dinner series in Lakeview will offer perspectives from immigrant chefs across the city at a time when some believe immigrant communities are being "demonized."

Southport & Irving will host its first of six planned "Unity in Diversity" pop-up meals at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23, at 4000 N. Southport Ave. Each chef will design a menu drawing from their family recipes, offering tastes of home-cooked meals from Mexico, India, Ireland, Iraq and Poland — many of which have thriving immigrant communities in Chicago.

"No matter your upbringing, there is togetherness in food and sharing a meal with others," said Ardit Dizdari, the restaurant's general manager. "Through food, we learn about culture, and through culture, we learn about the lives of our fellow humans."

February's pop-up will feature a Mexican meal by Berta Navarro, who "helps out" at Southport & Irving, Dizdari said.

Navarro owned Cafe 28 in North Center for 17 years until it closed in 2013. She was born in Guadalajara in the Mexican state Jalisco and moved to the United States when she was seven years old.

Her five course, $55 dinner includes mini chorizo sopes, or small flatbread sandwiches, flan and tres leches. Entrees range from the pozole pork stew to the slow-cooked, fragrant birria on housemade tortillas.

And hailing from Jalisco — the state where all tequila is made — has its perks; the Feb. 23 dinner will begin with a cocktail hour featuring tastes of tequila cocktails and appetizers.

Profits from the informal, family-style dinners will go to the chef's chosen nonprofit. Navarro selected Mujeres Latinas en Acción, which provides services to Latina women like counseling, parent support and leadership programs.

"We are a nation where a multitude of ethnicities, backgrounds and flavors all melt together, and these dinners are intended to showcase that zest of life," Dizdari said.

To make a reservation, call Southport & Irving at (‭773) 857-2890.