Festivals, Fairs & Special Events
Lunar New Year Lunch 2025 February 9
🥟 🏮 🐍 🥢 Lunar New Year Lunch 2025 🐍 🥢 🏮🥟
Sunday, February 9 at NOON
$68 per person (includes restaurant tax and gratuity) + $6.41 Eventbrite Fee
TICKETS HERE:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lunar-new-year-lunch-2025-tickets-1116789390129?aff=oddtdtcreator
Cai / Imperial Restaurant
Second Floor of Chinatown Square Plaza
2100 S Archer Ave
Chicago, IL 60616
🏮 There is a paid parking lot across the street.
🏮 Please allow an extra 30 minutes for parking and traffic. Chinatown is always bustling on the weekend.
🏮 After lunch we’ll enjoy a brief walking tour.
🏮 Wear red for luck!
Menu
- Crispy Shrimp & Chives Puffs
- Pan Fried Stuffed Veg Bean Curd Skin
- Pan Fried Pork Pot Stickers
- Crystal Dumplings or Shrimp and Chive Dumpling
- Giant Oyster
- BBQ Pork
- Peking Duck (served two ways)
- Fish Filet with Wood Ear Fungus
- Crispy Garlic Big Lobster
- Pea Tips Stir Fried with Garlic
- Soft Noodles w/ Chicken and Cabbage
- Stir Fried Beef with Mushrooms
- A special surprise for dessert
BYOB Beer/Wine
Lunar New Year is celebrated by many East Asian cultures, including Koreans, Vietnamese, Tibetans, and others. 2025 is the Year of the Snake—the wood Snake to be precise!
农历新年
Happy Year of the Snake!
More than a lunch, this event will feature the following cultural programming:
Chicago is fortunate to have a thriving and robust Chinatown. The Chinese community established its hub on Cermak Road around 1912 when rising rents in the Loop made this area appealing. Unlike the Chinatowns in New York and San Francisco, Chicago’s Chinatown has experienced less gentrification, and as of 1990, 10,000 Chinese-American still resided there.
🍄🍄🟫🐛 Mushrooms and other medicinal foods used in Chinese cooking 🍄🍄🟫🐛
Rebecca Fyffe, former president of the Illinois Mycological Association, and former executive director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival will help separate folklore from fact. She will describe historic uses of mushrooms and other ingredients regarded as medicinal in Chinese medicine, and will let you know which of these ingredients have proven efficacious in modern peer-reviewed medical and pharmacological research. Rebecca will bring her private collection of Chinese medicinal mushroom specimens and will also offer an apothecary tour of the apothecary located directly below the restaurant after lunch.
🐲🐲Origin of the Chinese New Year story and the Chinese Zodiac 🐲🐲
One legend is that thousands of years ago a monster named Nian would ransack villages at the beginning of each new year, but the monster was afraid of loud noises and the color red, so drums, fireworks, and wearing red for luck became the new year tradition.
A legendary race between animals is said to have founded the Chinese zodiac. Hear the story about how the animals competed to reach the finish line first. Learn which animals were virtuous in the race, and which ones cheated. And you’ll also learn why the cat is not a symbol of the Chinese zodiac. Then, we’ll visit our own Chinese zodiac signs in the plaza, a fun photo opp.
🚞 Getting there 🚞
The CTA’s Red Line stops at the Cermak–Chinatown station located at Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue, just one block from the restaurant.
🎫 Cancellation Policy – Tickets are nonrefundable 🎫
Once a guest purchases a ticket, if they cannot attend the event for any reason, they may transfer their ticket to another individual, which they would arrange privately. There will be no refunds made if a guest cancels for any reason. If the restaurant or organizers cancel the event, all monies paid will be fully refunded.
If the restaurant substitutes dishes or ingredients due to quality or availability, this is outside of the control of the organizers, and no refunds will be made.
This event is organized by volunteers. No proceeds are taken by organizers for this event. All monies paid go directly to the restaurant. Tax and gratuity are included. Water and hot tea are included with your meal. If you purchase other drinks from the restaurant, you must pay the restaurant for the additional drinks directly. Please remember to add additional gratuity to your drink tab. THIS EVENT IS BYOB. You are welcome to bring your own beer/wine.
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