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SPONSORED LISTINGS
Dining In Is Cool!!!
- by aliciak
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- August 15, 2009
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In case you haven't heard, New York is chock-full of restaurants, including the sit-down, take-out and delivery varieties, and no matter what holiday it is, there still remain more options you'd ever know what to do with. Variety is nice, but as many New Yorkers can attest to, it's also about convenience: no lugging of groceries, no difficult cooking in "kitchenettes," no dirty dishes to be done in your miniscule sink (dishwasher? Yeah right!) But there are still a bunch of us, myself proudly included, who LOVE to cook and dine at home. And it's anything but anti-social or lame.
But WHY, Alicia???
I’m not going to lie, I took my cooking skills to the next culinary level because of a boy. But ALSO because I had a gigantic kitchen in Brooklyn at the time, with a dishwasher, a huge refrigerator and tons of accumulated utensils and cooking ware from past roommates. I was in cute little Park Slope with a flea market where I discovered vintage aprons and a nearby kitchen store. I realized my year in the East Village did not involve any home-based baking, which, if you know me at all, does HORRIBLE things to my mental clarity and overall state of happiness. Take Alicia out of the kitchen and you will be left with a sad and hungry little monster.
All of the necessary ingredients for becoming a tried and true domestic were in place. I bought cookbooks and READ them, put on the aprons, perused the oven mitt selection at Williams-Sonoma, and as I fell in love with said boy, and the pink KitchenAid Mixer he’d get for my birthday, that’s when it hit me: I LOVE dining in. And you know what, my food is often better than what I pay upwards of $15 a plate for at restaurants.
I am not alone in my love for home-cooked meals and good company. Behold, a plethora of supper clubs.
Honeycrisp Apple Crisp, of course. I can’t resist fun names like that.
Not Eating Out In New York
“…there’s a certain culture in this city of eating out your every meal, and that, to me, grew stale. Sure, it takes precious time away from that which you would spend busy at work. But I’m with those who think it’s their best time spent.”
*Supper Clubs*
They’re baaaaaack. Were they ever gone, or just underground? Or just not “well-documented” because the internet didn’t provide that service as of yet? Well, they are here and they are popular.
Supper with Strangers
Sounds dangerous! Kidding. Two ladies cook this monthly dinner for 8 lucky guests at a time. Four courses, including a delectable dessert, and accompanied by a complimentary cocktail, and wine or beer make for a happily stuffed evening.
Supper is based on what’s in season, but always centers around a key ingredient like “tomato” or “apple.” Yum.
1/2 of Supper with Strangers blogs here
She consistently updates with thorough restaurant reviews, tons of pictures, and writes about another home-cooked food project a la Mother Hen—cooking lunch once a week for her office!
Whisk & Ladle Supper Club
Brooklyn, NY 11211
“All things civilized and debaucherous find common ground on a dining room table.” Need I say more? Okay, I will! Five courses! Cocktails! It takes place in someone’s loft apartment in Williamsburg, but there are 3 chefs on hand and 1 professional bartender. I.e., this ain’t no grade school bake sale.
The Whisk & Ladle Scene
Brooklyn Food Group
Hmm this one was only updated last in March. What gives, Brooklyn Food Group? On hiatus?
The Ted Allen and Amy Sedaris Supper Club
CARLTON AVE, BROOKLYN, NY 11205
No, sadly Amy Sedaris is not involved in this one; rather, it aims to attract people who would dig a supper club named after Amy Sedaris and Ted Allen. Mmmkay. Amy may be one of my culinary muses as well, especially when it comes to cupcakes and sweet things.
This Fort Greene supper club is also responsible for the annual hot-dog cookoff, which I sadly missed this year.
Their logo is the cuuuutest!
I am a sucker for personified edibles. Oh. my. God. I’m getting goosebumps out of sheer joy just by looking at the above little guys.
Print Takes Notice
The Anti-Restaurants (also NYTimes)
Sounds so harsh. Go NYT.
Supper Clubs Cont'd
Grub
338 Flushing Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11205
Remember the Seinfeld where George plucks the eclair right out of the garbage only to get subsequently caught? Admit it, we’ve all done it. No? Er…I’m gonna go over here………it still had a wrapper on! Partially. Nevermind.
Grub is the supper club for those of you who like to scavenge for food out of the garbage. You give it a name and an address, and suddenly it’s a respected and organized event.
Foodie
Food + wine in an “elegant loft space,” with not surprisingly, SIX courses! Notice how the number increases as this guide goes on? When I start my own supper club, there are going to be 37 courses, just to be safe. No one will surpass me!
Anyway, the $85 price tag is not exactly in my budget. Do you know how many dollar-menu items that is? 85. EIGHTY-FIVE. Yeah.
Homeslice West
The Southern supper club! Mmmmm. If buttermilk biscuits, crabcakes and chocolate bourbon cake get you salivating, these Upper West Side ladies won’t disappoint.
A Razor, A Shiny Knife
Pictures on site not for the faint of heart! Ewwww animal parts. My shelved vegetarianism may need to come down…
A Razor, A Shiny Knife claims to be “an education, social and theatrical culinary experience.” I’m not sure I want to know what that means. Can’t a gal just get a home-cooked meal without the drama?
What about a cafeteria-style supper club?
Solely to utilize these citrus-hued trays.
NY Bite Club
$150 a pop, but it’s called a “donation.” Not sure you can get away with scamming for free a la Metropolitan Museum (don’t make eye contact, grab your museum pin and go).
Diners at the NY Bite Club have impressively included a Nobu chef and Food Network producer. Whoa!
Good Eating, Good Peeps
Want to start your own supper club?
Get started with a few guides.
Organize NOT-summer BBQs like I do!
It’s still home-cooked even though it takes place in a park!
Legality Issues
Soooo, sorry to burst the foodie bubble, but a lot of these supper clubs are technically, well, illegal. Illegal smegal I say, but if you’re wondering why addresses remain secret until you’ve paid for your supper or why names (esp. last names) are curiously absent from a lot of the sites, it’s because serving food to the public in this manner requires a permit and must meet certain health codes.
I’m fairly sure Grub is violating the don’t-serve-people-out-of-the-garbage rule. But, who cares! If you get food poisoning, well, that sucks. Plus, home-based supper clubs would lose some of their grassroots effort luster if there were a lot of red tape and paperwork (other than menus) involved. Keep up with the breaking of the law, cooks! I fully support it. Feed me for free? I will bring dessert, vintage aprons and a whole lot of charm.
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