Tiger Moon Market was organized in just three days and sold out in a week and a half.
"It's pretty incredible," said Ed Marszewski, founder of Bridgeport’s Marz Community Brewing Co. and one of the organizers of Tiger Moon Market, taking place Monday at Bridgeport's Ramova Theatre.
He calls the event a "foodie's delight and dream."
"It's a group of 40 or so Asian-American restaurateurs and chefs who got together to use the format of a night market where you can eat food and drinks as a way to share our solidarity with those groups that are being targeted by members of the Trump administration, essentially people being targeted by ICE and other federal agencies," he said.
He said all the proceeds from ticket sales benefit local organizations supporting immigrants, including the ACLU of Illinois, Redline Service, Organized Communities Against Deportation, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
"We just wanted to act in solidarity with fellow immigrants in Chicagoland and show that we support their right to habeas corpus, so their civil rights, their basic, general human rights in the city of Chicago, and the groups that we're working with fight on their behalf," he said.
It's a cause Marszewski said is important to many restaurant owners in Chicago. The idea for the market came about during a gathering of Asian-American chefs at Maxwells Trading in the West Loop to celebrate the Korean holiday Chuseok.
He said everyone was on board.
"It really happened out of a bunch of chefs just hanging out together," he said. "I think getting together for any kind of action, or benefit, or solidarity or neighborhood group is something that we all need to take part in to be active participants in a democracy while we still have it," he said.
Restaurants that will be featured at the market include Michelin-starred Kasama, Bayan Ko, Adalina, Lilac Tiger, Lao Peng You, Maria's and Maxwells Trading.
Marszewski said it's the perfect type of food for a fundraiser for Chicago's immigrant community.
"Many of these restaurants also represent how different immigrant represent their cultures and their communities through eating, and that's essentially how most people from different cultures are introduced to each other," he said. "Restaurants, in general, play a major role in acculturating themselves in mainstream society."
He said he hopes the event reminds the community that there's "strength in numbers."
"And that together, we can help and each other and show solidarity to each other, as easy as just tasting something at a table," he said.