The Worst Meal Ever

Last night, I attended a fundraising function for Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Five hundred bucks a plate - - it did not come out of my pocket.

It consisted of a glitzy awards banquet in which past Olympians were inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame. Michael Johnson, Picabo Street, and lots of other noteworthy athletes were there, most of whom I knew very little about.

Peter Vidmar and Bart Conner, the gymnasts, were there. Remember them?

I was there along with 3,500 other guests. It lasted five hours, well past my bedtime on a school night.

I am so tired!

Yes, there were 3,500 people there for a banquet dinner. At 500 bucks a pop, I was really curious as to what we were going to be served.

We arrived to find our tables already set with individual teeny-weeny shrimp cocktails served in glass thimbles along with anti-pasta type things on skewers.

I was really looking forward to see how they were going to pull off serving 3,500 meals in one go.

Out came the servers with trays of dinners. The plates were unveiled in front of us and there it was - - - the ubiquitous grilled chicken breast, (Dad? Are you surprised?) along with a fillet of poached halibut, marinated vegetables and rice pilaf.

I took one bite and was astounded.

It was stone cold.

I’m not talking about “not hot”. I mean, it was served chilled -- as in 38 degrees – And I’m not talking Celsius – I’m talking Fahrenheit.

The other nine people at my table were equally astounded. A server was summoned. She said something in Polish and quickly scuttled away.

Then we noticed on the program that it really was a “chilled entrée”. Seriously.

It’s bad enough to serve a grilled chicken breast, but to serve it chilled?? If they wanted to serve a chilled dinner, why not serve things that were meant to be served chilled?

Vichyssoise, gazpacho, veal in aspic readily leap to mind. A terrine medley would have been nice. Hell, a chicken salad would have been more appealing.

But a grilled & chilled chicken breast? Cold rice pilaf?

Oh my goodness, it was sooooo bad!

(It’s too bad Brian Boitano wasn’t there. I would liked to have seen what he would do.)

Oh, and you’ll be able to view the whole event on TV. Just tune into NBC on Saturday, September 5 at 2:00 pm Eastern and Pacific (1:00 pm Central) and you’ll notice 3,500 people with 3,500 uneaten dinners in front of them.

I suddenly have a craving for gazpacho.