Dinner Party Hosted by Oakbrook Center’s the District Food Hall

Disclosure: Dinner was complimentary. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

This past week I attended a lovely outdoor dinner party on the lawn at Oakbrook Center. Our dining space was set up under a tent with a beautiful table and pretty dishes with fun puffy pillows for seating.

The menu was made up entirely of food from The District Food Hall. We started out with cocktails - a Sangria, the Oakbrook Cherry Bourbon and a Gingertini and tried some bites from DMK Burger and Butcher + The Wok.

We sat down to a family-style dinner of passed dishes, starting with the Unami Salad from Freshii, Beijing chicken with burnt oranges and 8-hour braised short ribs from Butcher + The Wok and red skinned mashed potatoes, Portuguese rice and seasonal roasted vegetables from Nando’s. I’d been to a Nando’s before (LOVED them!), but had never tried Freshii or Buther +The Wok, so it was nice to sample some of their menu items. The dishes all melded well together and it was a fresh, filling, fabulous meal.

We also got to sample several dessert - Baklava from the Greek Kitchen, miniature doughnuts from Stan’s Donutes, Coconut Rice Krispies from Butcher + The Wok and Natas from Nando’s. It was a nice assortment - all were delicious. I think my favorite was the coconut rice krispy treat. It was so soft and light. It was hard to restrain myself from not eating more.

It was a lovely evening for our dinner - the skies looked iffy not long before things started and there were storms in the city, so we lucked out the perfect weather we had. I noticed that on Wednesdays, Oakbrook Center offers free movies on the lawn - kid-friendly stuff like Mary Poppins Returns and the LEGO Movie. It would be a great outing with the kiddos on a summer evening. Showtimes were early - at 7, so it wouldn’t require little ones to be out too late. Sometimes outdoor movies don’t start until it gets dark and they run late into the evening, long past bedtime.

The District Food Hall has a nice selection of fast-casual eateries and snack shops where you can quickly grab a bite, a cup of tea or a dessert. The Chicago Foodie Sisters visited Oakbrook Center last year when we met up for a massage at Mario Tricocci and grabbed some lunch at The District. Check it out of you are at the mall to do some shopping. For a full list of eateries at The District, visit oakbrookcenter.com.