1. Culinary Speakeasy has only one password: YouSwoop<br />Chicago’s most innovative deal-a-day site offers exclusive ‘Top Chef’ meals<br />For Immediate Release – Chicago is home to a new kind of speakeasy, with gourmet food prepared by celebrity chefs as the draw rather than bathtub gin, and there’s only one password you need to know: YouSwoop.<br />YouSwoop.com is the exclusive seller of tickets to three special Culinary Speakeasy brunches this summer by “Top Chef” contestant Valerie Bolon and Personal Chef Rachel Winpar in Ravenswood. Each of the brunches will be limited to 75 people and cost only $65 – a 35 percent discount from the normal $100 price of previous Culinary Speakeasy events.<br />“We normally seat only 35 people for our Speakeasy dinners, so we wanted to give more people a chance to enjoy the experience,’’ said Bolon.<br />The first brunch is on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 20, the second Sunday, July 25 and the last is Sunday, Aug. 29, all from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ravenswood Event Center, 4011 N. Ravenswood. Tickets will be available for purchase on www.YouSwoop.com Sunday, but only as long as they last.<br />Be aware, this is a speakeasy in more than just name. Each brunch will feature a well-known mixologist pairing a special cocktail to the meal, either John Kinder of Death’s Door Spirits or Adam Seger of Hum Spirits, and a regional brewery will pair draughts with each course, Goose Island at the first two, Three Floyds at the third.<br />“YouSwoop is about giving people the opportunity to try new things,’’ said CEO Alexander Lurie. “In this case we are letting our customers get something that not only is new and unique, but a very rare and exclusive opportunity.’’<br />Bolon, who was featured in 2007 on season four of “Top Chef,’’ earned a culinary degree at Kendall College in Chicago and has worked at Chicago restaurants Gordon, Spring, MK and Hot Chocolate, as well as Emeril’s, New Orleans. She cooks for a variety of charitable organizations and events such as Paul Newman's Painted Turtle, Common Threads, and Meals on Wheels.<br />YouSwoop is a deal-a-day website that offers significant discounts on products and services – up to 95 percent -- to Chicago-area consumers every day, from restaurant meals to salon treatments and beyond. <br />-30-<br />