ILM+E | WINTER 2019

Winter 2019

ILLINOIS MEETINGS + EVENTS MAGAZINE: IN THIS ISSUE

BLIND DRAGON’S MIDNIGHT WARLOCK

COCKTAIL pg 20

FEATURES

30

Chefs Tell All

From interactive F&B ideas to clever ways for introducing bold flavors to picky palettes, start here to reinvent your culinary strategy for 2019.

By Melissa Sersland

36

Budget-Minded Menus

Think creative F&B always has to be expensive? Think again.

By Brittany Trevick

DEPARTMENTS

6 EDITOR’S LETTER

20 TREND REPORT DMCs share their most innovative ideas for cocktail parties.

By Brittany Trevick

22 MEET & EAT Food halls are the perfect venues to satisfy a group with wide ranging tastes: Here’s why.

By Melissa Sersland

26 DESTINATION If you’ve never heard of Alton, it’s time to put this southwest Illinois town on

your radar. By Belinda Lichty Clarke

48 PEOPLE PROFILE Get to know Jill Torke.

By Kelsey Ogletree