Melissa Elsmo makes you believe you can enjoy every meal
just as she does: fully and enthusiastically. A trained chef and ardent foodie,
Melissa is an expert on cooking and dining with the following credentials:
• She is a regular food columnist for Chicago Tribune Media
newspapers reaching more than 500,000+ readers in the Chicago area via print
and on the Web. Her columns occasionally appear in the Chicago Sun-Times.
• Her food photos, shot with her Nikon D3100 in natural
light, are purchased weekly by Chicago Tribune Media for publication in tandem with
her food columns.
• As part of Chicago’s underground supper club scene, she
creates intimate 12-course dining experiences featuring her own recipes and
artful approach to plating. She hosts dinner parties four to six times per
month. Tables book six months in advance.
- As a result of her underground success, Melissa has been named to the staff of Field Trip Cocktails. http://www.fieldtripcocktails.com/night-of-the-calavera/#
Melissa gives back to the community through food in a myriad
of ways. She is sought after to cater charity events, including The Oak Park
Regional Housing Center, Infant Welfare Society and the historic Oak Park and
River Forest Day Nursery. Her one-bite appetizers give worthy organizations the
bang for the buck they are looking for.
As the development chair at The Day Nursery, a historic sliding fee-scale based child care program in Oak Park, Melissa organizes and executes pop-up dinner events to support the organizational mission and generate funds for this worthy cause.
As the development chair at The Day Nursery, a historic sliding fee-scale based child care program in Oak Park, Melissa organizes and executes pop-up dinner events to support the organizational mission and generate funds for this worthy cause.
Through regular cooking demonstrations at the local food
pantry, Melissa shares a healthy recipe, tasting portions and cooking tips with
struggling families so they can make nutritious meals on limited budgets.
An advocate for raising healthy children, Melissa partners with
the local school district to speak to parent groups throughout the Chicago
suburbs about how to reclaim the family meal. She offers easy recipes and
common-sense advice to help families nourish to flourish.
Melissa’s formal chef training began in 1997 and concluded
in 2001 when she earned her associate’s degree in the culinary arts from the
Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago.
