Let's just get this out of the way: You want to come to the Pre-PAX Dinner. All the cool kids are doing it and don't you wanna be a cool kid? Of course you do. So, just go ahead and dig through your pockets, pull up couch cushions, go to the street and beg if you have to. You need $17 and you need to be 21+.
Why!?
Tickets are now SOLD OUT!!!
YOU CAN NO LONGER REGISTER HERE!!!! http://prepaxdinner2011.eventbrite.com
HOWEVER!!!
You may want to check out the *POST* PAX Party, which will also be totally bitchin'.
Post-PAX Party Info can be found here. Contact Arco for more info!!
All of the information you need to make your decision is at that link. Act quickly though, as
we have only 120 spots available for the Pre-PAX Dinner this year. Due to limited space, there will be *no* attendee only tickets.The What: The Pre-PAX Dinner 2011 Edition
The Where: Barca Vodka Bar and Lounge - The Mezzanine (located on beautiful Capitol Hill)
The When: Thursday, Aug. 25th, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
As always, I am charging the very least amount I can. I am making absolutely zero money off of this, the dollar amount associated is meant to allow us to break even. Any extra money will go directly to Child's Play.
I just finished talking with our caterer, Chef By Requests'
Patrick Fagan, and we just completed the menu!! Do you want to know what kind of delicious foods you could be sampling if you join us at the Pre-PAX Dinner!? Of course you do, you silly goose (goose is not one of them)! Try these on for size:
DELICIOUS MENU OPTIONSPulled Pork -
Meat Group (or as I will be referring to you: Ol' Dirty Swines)
Smokey BBQ pork shoulder, served with potato rolls and pineapple cole slaw.
Stuffed Chicken Florentine -
Poultry Group (Delicious Chocobo-y Goodness!!)
Chicken breasts filled with spinach & cheese, topped with chablis mushroom sauce.
Baked Tortellini -
Veggie Group (Pasta POWER!!!)
Three cheese tortellini baked in roasted garlic marinara & topped with still more cheese.
All dishes come with a side of:
Mixed Greens Salad
Organic lettuces & local vegetables, served with local vegetables, herb vinaigrette & cucumber-wasabi dressings.
I don't know about any of you, but these all look pretty damn good to me and I'm really excited.
So, there we have it. Your food options for the Pre-PAX Dinner. All very different, all very good and all for YOU!!!
Now, you may be asking yourself "Self...this sounds rad, but how much might one pay for something of this nature? A Pre-PAX Dinner? What is the cost of this fine product!??" , in answer to your question...give me a few hours to finish out the numbers. I can tell you all this though: We are going to be $20 or LESS.
WHAT!? You read that right!! < $20!!!
You may also ask yourself "Self, where would a Pre-PAX Dinner be located?" Well, yourself, I will tell you.
We will be commandeering the mezzanine at one of my favorite bars in Seattle,Barca! Yes, this means the Pre-PAX Dinner is 21+ so for all of you all-agers, I am sorry. For the rest of you, this means that you will be able to buy booze at the Dinner (no, we will not be providing a drink with your ticket)!
We will have the entire mezzanine of Barca all to ourselves, with our very own bartender providing you with soda and water (Those are included in your ticket) as well as a server who will take alcoholic drink orders (Those are NOT included in your ticket. You pay for your own drinks).
Tickets will be on sale very soon, at the latest, by the end of the day tomorrow. I hope to have them going in short order here.
I hope you're all as excited as I am!!
UPDATE
Alright everybody, here's the deal.
I've talked to lots of different venues in an attempt to make the Pre-PAX Dinner the best I can. There are a lot of factors that go into setting something like this up and I've run out of both time and options. I have a lot of different things to consider when I choose a venue and while I've tried to please everybody, it's just not possible. Honestly, this is the best I could do.
For the past 2 weeks, I've had 2 venues that were still in the running from both a price and location perspective. One of them wants to charge a good chunk of money. This goes directly towards ticket prices, which means more expensive. The other doesn't want to charge nearly as much, which means cheaper prices. Based on discussions I've had with both venues, space wise for food and drink and how they're willing to work with me, the one that happens to be less expensive is most certainly the winner (for numerous reasons, the inexpensiveness seems to be a perk right now). HOWEVER, there are 2 problems with the venue and they're both problems I tried very hard to resolve, but frankly, I couldn't.
1) Age restriction. For the first time, the Pre-PAX Dinner will NOT be all ages. It will have to be 21+. I am incredibly disappointed in this, but both the owner and I spoke with the WA State Liquor Board and they will not bend in any way. There aren't any loopholes we could find...it is what it is. For all of you non-21+...I sincerely apologize. I did not set out to put an age-limit on the dinner, I put in a lot of effort to find a neutral place to have the Dinner that wouldn't be exorbitantly expensive and I met with quite a bit of difficulty (to make this clear, I even spoke to the venue from last year and they wanted nothing to do with us. We were very cordial, cleaned up after ourselves and left the place looking exactly as we found it, but we're not 'classy' enough for them.)
2) Wheelchair accessibility. Last year, some of you might remember, it was an issue. I had said that in the future, I would make it a priority and I did. It was actually the #1 thing on my list, but as it turns out...a lot of places aren't as wheelchair friendly as you'd think. Now, that's not to say anybody in a wheelchair can't come...they absolutely can as this venue has 2 floors HOWEVER, the top floor is where most things will be happening, I believe. Now, unlike last year, it's not a huge flight of stairs, but there are stairs and there's no way up without them. I am, honestly, very, very sorry for this. Again, I tried my best, but for the location, the price and what the venue was willing to work with me on...it was the right place to have the Dinner.
So, those are the big issues. I'm not thrilled about either even having to be mentioned, but I want to make everybody aware of these things. I've already had some questions and comments about this and I assure you that I really did try, guys. I want to make sure the Pre-PAX Dinner is a lot of fun, that it's a great experience for everybody and that everybody who wants to attend can. Unfortunately, not everybody who wants to attend can, this year and it saddens me.
Bottom line is this: Putting on a dinner of this size (anywhere between 100 - 200 people) is difficult, especially in trying to make things work for the various other events (most noticeably the TWDT in the case of the dinner). I have gone over everything we could to figure out the best way to make the Pre-PAX Dinner happen in 2011 and this is the end result.
The Pre-PAX Dinner is for *YOU*. I don't gain anything by trying to get this Dinner off the ground and planned out, other than the joy of meeting fellow PAXers. So I leave it in your hands. At this point, I'm gauging interest. Are either of these (or both) issues deal-breakers for you?
I need to get ticket sales going by the end of this week if you guys want the Dinner to occur.
So, I says to Mabel I says, "The Pre-PAX Dinner for PAX Prime should get a thread!"
Here is that thread.
I have been hard at work for the past few weeks in getting the Pre-PAX Dinner off the ground. There have been trials and tribulations, there have been arguments and hugs and there have been, most certainly, tears and laughter. While I have very little news to provide you with right now, I wanted to at least let you wonderful PAXers know that there is still hope for a Pre-PAX Dinner and if things continue to fall into place, I will have more information for everybody very soon.
In the event the Pre-PAX Dinner DOES happen, I'm going to send a call out for volunteers, much like last year. I will need help with a variety of things, I'm certain, but what exactly that entails I have no clue as of yet.
Some basic information I do have is this:
~ I have a caterer. He's a damn good one too and makes amazing food (I've had a variety of his dishes and they're *all* great). We will have 3 entree options, 1 being vegetarian.
~ Pricing is looking to be on-par with last year (between $25 and $30), but I won't have that nailed down until a few other things fall into place.
~ I have a few venues that are contention. If any of them work out, tickets will go on-sale as soon as possible (which I'm hoping will be in the next 2 weeks or so).
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask (this does not include what the entrees will be and/or what the venues are...when I have things defined, I will make sure to post about them.)
I look forward to Dinnering with you all again. Last year was good, but this year is going to be a LOT better.
This thread has been brought to you by the letters "P" "P" and "D" and the numbers "2" "0" "1" and "1".
Posts
Didn't get the chance to go last year but I am coming down a day earlier so I'll be able to come! Just a question though... will this interfere with the pub crawl?
Serenity: This hasn't interferred with the pubcrawl in the past. In fact the houses meet up at the end of the night before going to the pub crawl. Last year the dinner was even close enough for almost everyone to walk.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
lol wut
Also, glad to see this is still happening. I was starting to worry yesterday lol. I'm sure my team and I will plan on attending, as usual.
1) On age restriction: Absolutely NO age restriction. All ages are welcome to the Pre-PAX Dinner!
2) On pub crawl: Absolutely not. In fact, the Pre-PAX dinner is a great start to the Pub Crawl as it will take place on the Hill, should be within walking distance of any starting bar (I assume) and will put food in your belly so that you can get all drank!
Yay.
I'll be the guy who's dressed vaguely like Hunter S. Thompson only in a green and silver motif. ^_^ (Yeah, that's totes happening everyone brace yourselves.)
Sir! You can't park here!
In other news:
I want to volunteer. I have 4 years of PAX dinner volunteering experience. You NEED me!
PS3: Mentok || Steam: mentok1982 || Diablo 3: mentok1982#1212
Links: GPUReview.com My IGN activity My IGN Blog [H]ard|Forum
"Pictochat? No. Dicktochat!"
Mostly I would like to know how I could reserve three spots at the dinner and how this dinner thing has been done in the past. I have never gone before but saw the forum for this too late last year.
How many people normally go to this out of curiosity?
Other than that I would like to know the simple things that I imagine will be posted here later like time, place, and cost. I will be a good forumer though and check back into this later.
"Pictochat? No. Dicktochat!"
Ok!
There will be a website which will allow you to purchase however many tickets you need, choosing which meal option you'd like and providing you with directions to the venue. You will need a paypal account (I am looking into other payment options, but I guarantee nothing)
This is generally how it's been done in the past, as well.
Between 100 - 150.
All of this is tenative, but it should be:
Thursday, Aug 25th from 6:00 - 8:00 at *VENUE STILL TO BE DECIDED*
Ticket prices will be between $25 - $30.
Another Update:
I've spoken to my caterer and have gotten everything locked down with him. Dinner is going to be delicious no matter which meal option you choose. I hope to have the venue locked down by this weekend and then ticket sales up next week.
We will have a cap on how many attendees can come, I believe it will be 130...I'm still working all that out, but do be aware that there will be a limited number of tickets available.
Now, I just need to start working on the Pre-PAX Dinner buttons...oi.
"Pictochat? No. Dicktochat!"
I have no artistic ability and would love some assistance.
Your friend,
Me.
Now what will people say about you if you do something inappropriate with meat before ba? You would have to be savage to do something like that. (Of course we do know that the meat group is where all the action is.)
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
All the cool kids eat meat, as you very well know Cronus
I'm going to update the OP soon, but I thought I'd bring you some more info now while I have a minute.
Unfortunately, it's looking like we've got a big choice ahead of us. We either go 21+ or we don't go.
Now, I'm very excited about the Pre-PAX Dinner and think it's going to be one of the best ones yet, the unfortunate thing is that the dinner has always been open to everybody. This year, however, due to time constraints, money constraints and trying to make the very best dinner possible...some things had to change.
I believe the cost per guest is going to be amazing (cheaper than I originally thought) and the venue is one of my favorite places in Seattle. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, it's a 21+ establishment and we've gone over every available option and there are no loopholes that allow under 21.
I have done the very best I could do with the best intentions for everybody. I'm deeply sorry that this event can't be all ages, but I've run out of options and this is the final result.
The food will be great, the company will be phenomenal, the venue will be sweet and the price will be right...I truly hope you all are ready for a great dinner.
I know I am.
I'm really very sorry to all the Under-21ers who wanted to attend.
For the rest of you, I should have ticketing info up by the end of the week.
"Pictochat? No. Dicktochat!"
Destiny! : Warlock - Titan - Hunter
twitter.com/Menolly07
It sounds like interest is still pretty high and that this should go on, yes?
Also, thanks for undertaking this on dude, I'd imagine it's not easy.