BAY CITY, MI - One of Bay City’s newest restaurants is reaching far into the past to honor a local piece of history. MI Table will host a recreation of the original 1908 opening celebration of the Wenonah Hotel.
The event will take place on Nov. 9, exactly 111 years since the Wenonah Hotel opened its doors.
The event hearkens to the grand opening of the Wenonah Hotel where an elaborate 10-course meal was served to 1,000 people to celebrate the opening of the then top-of-the-line facility. According to MI Table Owner Amberlyn Hales, the 1900s event was black tie, with strict instructions, had live music, and four separate seating times to serve guests in shifts.
Hales was inspired by her love of history. She came across an old newspaper article that detailed the Wenonah Hotel’s grand opening and set out to bring that era back to life.
“It’s another one of those iconic things in Bay City that I feel like we shouldn’t forget about," she said. "At that time, Bay City was growing faster than Chicago and it was one of the biggest and best hotels in the state of Michigan.”
Hales has carefully crafted her event to be a close replica of the original one. She’s resurrected the original menu for the event. MI Table’s event will also be black tie, will have live music, and will have the four original seating times, which are 6, 7:45, 9:15 and 10:45 p.m.
“We want to replicate their experience to the best of our ability," she said.
Tickets for the event are priced at $111 to match the 111th anniversary date. There also is a full cash bar.
MI Table is located at 213 Center Ave., which formerly was a Chemical Bank. The building has retained some of its original features, such as the bank vault.
The bank vault will be home to the chef’s table, which is opening to the public for the first time during the Nov. 9 event. Diners will be surrounded by the vault’s glimmering copper-colored lock boxes while having a premiere view of the kitchen. The chef’s table meal for this event will include an enhanced 12-course dinner and only six seats are available for each seating time. The meals are $222 each.
While the event is a black tie affair, Hales said that attendees are more than welcome to wear period clothing.
The 10-course meal being served in the main area of the restaurant allows diners to travel back in time through their taste buds to try foods that have disappeared from the modern palate. The 111-year-old menu for the event is as follows:
First Course: Blue Points Oysters
Second Course: Creole Chicken Gumbo
Third Course: Olives with Salted Almonds and Celery
Fourth Course: Fillet of Trout, Sauce Normanidie with Parisienne Potatoes
Fifth Course: Creamed Sweetbreads, Macedoine Style
Sixth Course: Frozen Orange Baskets
Seventh Course: Roasted Imperial Squab with French Peas
Eighth Course: Waldorf Salad
Ninth Course: Meringue Glace Assorted Cakes
Tenth Course: Dinner Mints, Fruit, Roquefort Cheese, and Demi Tasse
Sourcing the ingredients for a 111 year-old menu proved to be a bit of a challenge for Hales and her team. Some of the items on the menu are rare and have few suppliers. Imperial Squabs, which are a type of pigeon, and sweetbreads, or lamb thymus, proved to be the most challenging to find.
The menu also presented its own challenges for Hale. Language and dining customs have changed over the last 111 years. But Hale did her research and deciphered some of the more unusual menu items, such as the “frozen orange baskets.”
According to Hale, frozen orange baskets are a type of citrus sorbet that are meant as a palate-cleansing course.
Being able to preserve this portion of Bay City history and to bring it back to 2019 for modern diners to experience is something that Hales is excited about.
“There’s been so many changes in Bay City, we’re rebuilding, and I feel like we’re back to a place where Bay City is growing and exciting things are coming," she said. "Why not showcase some of the awesome things that we already had here?”
https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2019/10/bay-city-restaurant-to-recreate-10-course-meal-that-opened-wenonah-hotel-in-1908.html 2019-10-26 12:49:52Z
0 Comments:
Post a Comment