ben and greg's renegade lunch project

pechakucha night revisited

2009-06-08T06:43:00.001-07:00

hi everybody! sorry it's been a while since we've posted but marigold and spice of life have both been really busy. the boys from pechakucha night finally put up pictures of the moca event, so we thought we'd share a co

uple featuring ben and greg giving what was reported to be, with all due respect to the other presenters, the highlight of the night. we're particularly proud of the shot of

ben's beer can balancing on the music stand (as shown here):

in other important renegade news, we'll be throwing our biggest lunch

ever this thursday, june 11 on mall b. the lunch will benefit the good work of cleveland public art, the organization responsible for doing so much to beautify our fair city. if you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and join us.

beyond that, we're looking forward to a busy and rewarding summer and a couple of cool renegade lunches at places like star plaza at playhouse square and somewhere near the rock and roll hall of fame.

food fotos

2009-05-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

hey folks! we've gotten a couple of nice food shots from renegade sent our way recenty, so i thought i'd share them here. i figure they might inspire you to join us soon or, at the very least, prove that we're not just serving sandwiches and potato chips at these things...well, not yet anyway. we'll be posting soon to talk about our june location. until then- b&g

lunch accomplished!

2009-05-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

thanks to everyone who joined us for lunch today! we met some new friends, reconnected with others, served some lunch, and raised money for making strides against breast cancer. a pretty good day to be sure! in no particular order, our next lunches will be at mall b, star plaza, and the rock and roll hall of fame. we'll keep you posted and hope to see you there!

lunch tomorrow! tuesday, may 12, 2009!

2009-05-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

we're busy getting ready for tomorrow's lunch to benefit making strides against breast cancer. the menu's all set, the food is being prepared, and all of our stuff is ready to be loaded into the van. this picture is meant to be a pretty obvious hint regarding location. hope to see you there!

pechakucha night at moca and may renegade...all in one week!

2009-05-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

hi everybody! well, we're going to be having a busy week here in ben and greg's renegade lunch land! this friday, we'll be among the 14 presenters at pechakucha night at cleveland's museum of contemporary art. ben and i are currently working out our schtik for the evening and are hoping for the best. admittedly, i think it's a little intimidating to get up in front of a big crowd of artists and other creative people to talk about how two knuckleheads from cleveland cook lunch...but it's gratifying to have been invited to join and we're really looking forward to it.

as if that weren't enough excitement (especially with the addition of our busy day jobs), we'll be throwing down a lunch next tuesday, may 12th! the lunch will benefit and be held in conjunction with acs' making strides against breast cancer walk AND will be our very first outdoor lunch of the year. hint: look for it to be somewhere very, very near the house that james built. hope to see you there! cheers- greg (and ben)

another successful lunch!

2009-04-28T12:07:00.001-07:00

today's renegade lunch found us in the lobby of one of cleveland's classic department stores from a bygone era, the halle building. ben called at 7 a.m. to tell me that he'd been up all night with flu so we tapped our trusted longtime friend and culinary companion, ryan bennett, to fill in for the day. we cooked up some chili pepper and scallion egg rolls with lime ginger soy dipping stuff and a tasty thai beef and fried noodle salad with warm vinaigrette. thanks to our generous guests, we raised $800 to help the puppies and kitties (and bunnies) at the cleveland APL. see you all in may!

renegade tomorrow!!!!

2009-04-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

howdy everybody! tomorrow (tuesday, april 28) will find ben and greg cooking lunch and helping the APL! the asian/thai-influenced menu will feature chinese egg rolls with soy-ginger-lime dipping stuff and a thai beef and noodle salad. if you'd like to join our merry little band, we'll be at the halle building on euclid and you'll recognize us by the white-clothed dining tables, 24 chairs, and the two idiots trapped in the middle of it all. : )

renegade lunch to benefit the puppies and kitties!

2009-04-13T05:32:00.000-07:00

our next renegade lunch is an official 100% go! on tuesday, april 28, we'll be cooking another tasty two course lunch, this time to benefit the cleveland animal protective league (apl). due to the placement of the next renegade lunch, we're going to announce the location a couple of days ahead of time, so keep an eye out here or on facebook. see you there!

renegade lunch 03.23.09

2009-03-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

howdy folks! this past tuesday we were lucky enough to get to throw down another renegade lunch right by the fountains in tower city, during the international film festival. we served some of our housemade matzoh with lowcountry-style pimento cheese, potato and roasted pepper soup, and red beans and rice with brined and smoked chicken, pickled chard and bread and butter pickled cucumbers. the lunch raised $2300.00 for the rape crisis center and was, by all accounts, another success. see you in april!

next tuesday!

2009-03-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

here's a picture of our lovely and talented spice of life event planner, jess andjeski, who also takes care of all of our logistics for renegade lunch. this was taken during the walk-through for our lunch next tuesday to benefit the rape crisis center. can you guess where jess is? we'll be there soon. on an unrelated note, the random dude in the background must have sat down 10 seconds prior to our taking this shot, so i guess i should give him photo credit too. so, ladies and gentlemen, here's a picture of jess and random, tired dude at the site of the next renegade lunch.

it's almost that time again...

2009-03-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

tuesday. march 24, 2009. to benefit the rape crisis center.

thanks michelle!!!

2009-03-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

extra special renegade lunch thanks go to michelle vocaire venorsky for her great post about us yesterday on her excellent and highly influential blog, cleveland foodie. check it out at http://clevelandfoodie.blogspot.com.

houston, we have a problem...

2009-02-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

ok. so, it appears that our location for the renegade lunch scheduled for tomorrow has flamed out due to administrative/logistical challenges on their end. boo! we're already busily working on a replacement site for early in march, which will have us busting out two lunches in the same month. i am happy to say that our second march location and our april location are guaranteed already, so there should be no further difficulties. anyway, we'll let you know how this whole thing pans out and see you for lunch before too long.

oh, and by the way...

2009-02-19T09:38:00.001-08:00

here's a swell overhead shot of the january renegade lunch at the galleria, courtesy of the lovely and talented jess andjeski, event planner extraordinaire for spice of life catering co.

we're on fire now...

2009-02-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

hello children. uncle greg here. sorry we haven't posted anything in awhile, but i've been out of town since the day after our last lunch at the galleria. we threw down a tasty lunch for 24 of our newest friends and, in the process, raised enough money for the cleveland foodbank to supply 800 meals. awesome! that said, we've already got locations around town for february, march, and april and are starting to work on summer ideas. february's lunch is going to happen on wednesday the 25th and, as promised, we'll drop the location on the morning of here and on our facebook page.

incidentally, a big part of cooking is not being afraid to play with fire. ben, as you can see above, is pretty comfortable with the concept. who wouldn't want this guy to cook him/her lunch?

today is the day...

2009-01-27T06:33:00.000-08:00

galleria at erieview. 12 o'clock noon.

beer-cheese soup with crouton and chive.

house-made matzoh.

open-faced sauerbraten samich.

warm german potato salad.

braised red cabbage.

see you there, cats and kittens.

...here we come.

2009-01-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

it's officially on. tuesday. january 27. location to be announced.

a little help from our friends...

2009-01-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

from last wednesday's cleveland scene, courtesy of mr. douglas trattner:

Don't be surprised if, in the coming weeks and months, you stumble across an unexpected gourmet luncheon, complete with china, glass and linen, in the lobby of the Terminal Tower. Or smack dab in the middle of Public Square. Or perched atop a HealthLine station. "The weirder the better," says Greg MacLaren, chef of Marigold Catering (216.566.5400) and co-conspirator of the nascent Renegade Lunch Project. A cross between performance art and community outreach (with a soupicon of PR), these first-come, first-served plated lunches are designed to bring people together in a deliciously spontaneous way. And while not required to pay a cent, diners will be asked to contribute at meal's end to a charity or cause. "A few weeks back, I had this crazy idea," explains MacLaren. "What if Ben [Bebenroth, of Spice of Life catering] and I started doing random, free, plated lunches around town? Cleveland needs more interesting and strange things happening." Recently, a dry run was held at the Marigold Catering kitchens, both to test the waters and to enlist partners who might assist with the logistics of pulling off such feats. One of those in attendance was Greg Peckham, executive director of Cleveland Public Art. "This concept totally appeals to me," Peckham says. "In the same way our organization attempts to bring people together through desirable public spaces, they are trying to activate public spaces by bringing people together with food." Regardless of the location, the two-course meals will be prepared on the spot by MacLaren and Bebenroth, whose easygoing chemistry encourages conversation among participants. "These events foster interaction between people who may never have occasion to meet," adds Peckham. "It was a moment of brightness in the day. And the food was spectacular." To keep the monthly events as spontaneous as possible, dates and locations will be released last minute.

pretty awesome mention...and as it happens, i think you'll be seeing one early next week. yay!

help!!!

2009-01-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

hey everybody!!! we're trying to line up lunches for january, february, and march and we need some locations, ideas, or suggestions of people we can contact to get us lined up somewhere. we're ready to roll, so help us get this show on the road!

ben and greg in black white

2008-12-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

someone sent us this swell black and white picture from the foodbank demo. i feel it depicts us as serious culinary professionals engaged in our craft. this depiction is of course wrong. when this was taken, we were drinking apple cider martinis, beers, and trying to avoid starting to clean up.

ben and greg's renegade lunch launch lunch

2008-12-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

whew. well, we did it. today at noon, we invited 30 lucky, select guests to marigold/spice of life HQ for a sample renegade lunch. the meal consisted of roasted red pepper soup and potato soup ladeled yin-yang style and a cleveland-tastic entree plate of our handmade gnocchi with sauteed cabbage, brined and smoked chicken, pickled fennel, and a paprika-cream sauce. the tasty lunch began with a cider spritzer and ended with coffee and some homemade mille feuille triangles glazed with turbinado sugar. hopefully, the guests will help us both get the word out about the project and open some doors for us to actually host these things around town. we're still looking to do this in public sometime in january, so stay tuned. for the record, neither ben nor greg did anything to injure or embarrass themselves, so the lunch must have been a success! a very special and heart-felt thanks to brian, beverly, cheryl, dana, jess, and mable who all worked so hard to make the warehouse into a giant communal dining table with two fools like us for the centerpiece.

ben and greg at the foodbank!

2008-12-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

the boys were given the chance to bring their particular blend of cooking demo, comedy, and drinking on the job to the foodbank on friday, december 5th for a birthday party/benefit. the night was a blast and a big success. notice all of the liquor and sugar-free redbulls in front of greg. no wonder ben's the one who's sweating.

and so it begins...

2008-11-17T10:27:00.001-08:00

sooo...a few weeks back i had this crazy idea. what if, i thought, ben and i just started doing random free plated lunches around town? i know that times are tough for a lot of people in the working world and especially in our fair city and i also expect that morale can't be at its all time high. ben and i have always enjoyed the unexpected and more than a little chaos, so i figured we could combine that with food and come up with something unusual, exciting, and a little chaotic. hence, ben and greg's renegade lunch project. over the coming months, we hope to start having these unexpected, free plated lunches around town right where people are working. the meals will be for twenty unsuspecting, first come-first served guests and feature at least two courses of our locally-sourced, sustainably farmed tasty seasonal cuisine. we think of it as food as performance art and a little something to bring some added happiness into people's days. let the renegade lunch project begin!