In this 250th Year of America’s Birthday…

A super special barely known June food & drink related holiday date is JUNE 20TH: the anniversary of the Compromise Dinner of 1790 aka the Dinner Table Bargain — commemorating the night Thomas Jefferson hosted Alexander Hamilton and James Madison for a momentous, meal-based-meeting that decided the fate of this once fledgling nation. Famously depicted in the “Hamilton, The Musical” scene and song “The Room Where It Happened” what is not widely known is that a still enslaved James Hemings, America’s first classically trained chef de Cuisine is who made that multi-course, gargantuan problem-melting meal actually HAPPEN!…

He shoulda been (and still should be!) a character in Hamilton, The Musical:

• Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Directed by Thomas Kail; Choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler , and Produced by: Jeffrey Seller, Sander Jacobs, Jill Furman, and The Public Theater where the musical originally premiered Off-Broadway. The production’s Source Material is based on the biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. And on the Music & Design Team:

• Music Direction, Orchestrations, and Co-Arrangements: Alex Lacamoire

• Scenic Design: David Korins

• Costume Design: Paul Tazewell

• Lighting Design: Howell Binkley

• Sound Design: Nevin Steinberg

Why all this creative detail, you ask? Well….