If you ever needed an excuse to eat your way through Chicago’s best Asian restaurants, here it is. On November 3, the Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport will transform into Tiger Moon Market, a one-night food fair eaturing more than 30 chefs cooking for a cause.
Organized by neighborhood fixture Ed Marszewski (of Maria’s Packaged Goods and Marz Community Brewing fame), the event unites a dream lineup of James Beard Award winners, Michelin-starred talents and beloved mom-and-pop spots. The likes of Kasama, Lao Peng You, Thattu, Perilla and Kimski will serve up tasting portions alongside newcomers such as Ghin Kao and Lilac Tiger. Cocktails come courtesy of local bar pros and a karaoke lounge plus live DJs promise the kind of after-hours energy you don’t usually get at a benefit.
Tickets—$100 for 7pm entry or $150 for early bird access at 6pm—include unlimited bites and drinks. One hundred percent of proceeds go to immigration-rights organizations, including Red Line Service, the ACLU of Illinois, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
Marszewski told Eater that the idea started almost accidentally, during a Chuseok celebration at Maxwells Trading. “The conversation shifted to the idea of creating a large-scale Asian American market,” he said to the outlet. “This is what the Chicago community does; people get involved. It’s been really incredible just to see what a community can do under a time of duress.”
That duress isn’t hypothetical. Recent federal immigration raids have rattled Chicago’s hospitality industry—where nearly 40 percent of food-service workers are immigrants, according to the Illinois Restaurant Association—and many restaurant owners are scrambling to reassure staff. Against that backdrop, Tiger Moon Market reads as a joyful act of resistance: chefs feeding the city while raising funds for those most affected.
“It shows that there’s a way for people who are often working seven days a week to try to lend their time and donate their creative skills to benefit causes,” Marszewski added. “They’re not alone, and there are people everywhere who support them.”