Underground supper clubs have been springing up like porcini mushrooms in foodie towns like Toronto, Vancouver, New York and San Francisco. These events, which typically involve talented young chefs taking their skills beyond the restaurant kitchen into a private space, often combine three separate trends: a growing interest in gourmet food, people connecting online over shared interests and, last but not least, frugality. At a recent underground supper club in Brooklyn, simply called Supper Club, I paid $70 for a five-course meal washed down with copious microbrews and cocktails. While the labour involved was extensive, the price tag covered only the evening's costs. As I staggered home, I wondered: If it doesn't turn a profit, why do it?
Supper Club's organizers are 31-year-old graphic designer Caroline Hwang and 33-year-old magazine editor Lisa Butterworth, who have thrown three of these events together. They say their reward is the pure pleasure of it all. "Sharing a meal is just such an intimate thing," Hwang says. "The bonding is amazing," Butterworth agrees. They enjoy fostering a sense of community. Supper Club, like many underground dining events, occupies a middle ground between a traditional dinner party and a restaurant meal, but with a few key differences - mood and money. For guests, the mood is intimate, the bill significantly cheaper. And the food? For chefs and guests alike, the grub is the raison d'être.
At the one I attended, the chef was Corey Chow who works during the week in the kitchen at Per Se, a Michelin-rated restaurant in Manhattan. Hwang and Butterworth persuaded him to spend a weekend cooking up a dinner for 26 guests, an endeavour that began with scouring markets for ingredients and ended over whisky, mingling with guests. For Chow, the thrill was in the experimentation Supper Club afforded him -here was the chance to try a new menu of flavours that don't appear on the menu of his day job.
Great food aside, the best feature of the underground supper club is the random social mix. Breaking bread with strangers can be a delight. In fact, it is the very opposite of what many of us do on Facebook and the like. Instead of "friending" acquaintances in cyberspace, supper-club aficionados use online networks to meet real-life people and have real experiences.
It took a mere 10 minutes into the evening to get my first business card. My new friend and I figured we lived in the same neighbourhood and should stay in touch. Food, booze, conversation, new friends. Underground supper clubs may not stay underground for much longer.