Ruffino/ Gourmet Magazine Event at Vivo/Vice

I love wine, Gourmet magazine, Italy, Italian men, olive oil, the West Loop, Kate & John Cicela and the rest of the Gallagher clan. So I guess it makes pretty good sense why I might have forgone packing last night to attend this Ruffino event at Vivo, one of my favorite spots in the city. VNA actually attended the opening of Vivo's lounge, Vice, back in June as a fluke.

We were on a gallery walk/ cocktail hop on Randolph when the skies opened up in a way that only a Midwestern summer can allow. We ran for cover under the nearest awning and fell upon the owner of Vivo, Jordan the wine director, Michael the head chef and 5-6 good friends of theirs celebrating that they had just received the liquor license for Vice after a rather harrowing battle with the city. Since all three of us are pretty adept at sweet-talking, we were there until 2am drinking the best in the house. It was one of those really great Chicago nights but unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to go back since then (shame on me).

Fast forward...Kate's cousin Pam (the one that put Dustin, Cooper, Lauren Mit and I in Men's Health last year) has just started working on the Event team for Gourmet magazine- a bit of a change from Men's Health! I'm actually thinking about having her guest-blog one day to give us the scoop on what it's really like in the lunch room at Conde Nast! I digress (always), Gourmet, Bon Appetit!, and Conde Nast Traveler co-hosted a great event last night for Ruffino wines and Academia Barilla. Delicious doesn't quite cover it.
I learned how to properly taste good olive oil from none other than Iron Chef America judge Mario Rizzotti and tasted a Super Tuscan that Gourmet wine & spirits editor Michael Green (second from right) wanted to wear as cologne. And did later in the evening. The hot Ruffino heir, Francesco(far left, top), was also in the house so if anyone wants to go back to Firenze, we have a standing invitation to stay at the vineyard. You can have the guest house:)