supper club

March 2024

Chicago Tool Library

What is a community if not a complex network of sharing. Of gift and exchange, borrow and return. It’s one of society’s most ancient practices, before every potential offering became commodified, diminishing accessibility and shifting to transactional systems of value.

March Supper Club will be hosted by the Chicago Tool Library. Since 2019, the Chicago Tool Library has sought to provide equitable access to tools, equipment, and information to allow all Chicagoans to learn, share, and create. Located in West Garfield Park, the non-profit lending library houses thousands of items ranging from basic hand tools and table saws to ice cream makers and camping equipment (and everything in between), with the hope of reshaping the city’s relationship to ownership, consumption, and creativity. We’ll be dining in their lofty warehouse space amongst their aisles of incredible inventory. 

The beauty of borrowing—of lending and return—is that objects get a kind resurrection. Another life, a second act. So for this dinner we’re delving deep into the draft notes of dish ideas, exhuming from the piles of old, unrealized fragments, or perhaps an early iteration of a dish, and giving it a second night on stage, re-envisioned, borrowed from the past and made new again. 

February 2024

SPOKE & WEAL

This dinner will be in SPOKE&WEAL’s crisp and glossy Lakeview salon. Here, their approach is about responding to the intrinsic qualities of each individual’s hair, amplifying the inherent body and movement, its texture and form, and doing so with a commitment to the health of both mind and body through using natural, responsibly-sourced, plant-based products. Because we, too, believe that the individual good is essential to the good of the community. And falling in-step with this core tenet of S&W’s ethos, we’re planning another all plant based Supper Club. One whose menu will be focused on highlighting the essential qualities of the ingredients we use and techniques that showcase them.

You can expect some warm, wintry flavors and preparations like coconut-creamed mustard greens with perilla leaf and water chestnut; glazed and slow-roasted carrots with pomegranate, fresno chili, and walnut; and a plantain carmel with fragrant black jasmine rice.

January 2024

See You Soon

This month we are back with our dear friend, Clayton Hauck. One of Chicago's favorite food & bev photographers in his most recent space & project : See You Soon. This sun-soaked studio brings artists, photographers, and community members of all kinds for events like markets, pop-ups, classes, dinners, weddings, commercials, film screenings, and so much more.

It is January, named for Janus, after all, the god of doorways, most commonly depicted as having two faces, one in the direction of the past, the other toward the future. And there we are, standing in the present: one foot planted in history, the other outward, forward, advancing toward what will become. We know a water’s parting by its wake.

I grew up on southern food. My deep love for sweet tea and collard greens will expose any culinary misgivings about where my true heart lies. So January Supper Club will be an exploration of foods of the African diaspora and its indelible influence on southern food, with some uniquely TXA TXA twists and turns. A dive into the roots of this rich, culinary heritage of casseroles, stews, and slow cooking, and to its source, for which southern food is greatly indebted. You can expect some fresh takes on both southern and African traditional dishes, like deviled crab with ras el hanout and persimmon kosho; chicken yassa lacquered in a deep, onion caramel; or rich and peanut buttery sweet potato maafé.

December 2023

TXA TXA Club Studio

Stare at a fixed point in the distance, for instance a building, and extend a finger in front of your eyes, holding on to both sides of things. It’s in this way you begin to understand what it means that finding balance never comes without extreme effort.

The sciences provide many varying definitions of symmetry, much more than the common reflexive or rotational symmetry that we associate with optical mirroring from a central axis, or the functional symmetry of bathroom tiles—no matter which way you turn the tile, the piece fits the pattern.

In physics, symmetry is an organizing principle that allows physicists to understand and categorize phenomena. An unchanging set of rules. A system. A constant. But there are also ‘hidden’ broken symmetries that produce new perspectives, new states of mind and understanding.

For this dinner we are exploring ideas of symmetry (and broken symmetry), creating dishes whose point and counterpoint are abstracted yet still strive for an agreement in dimension, a harmonic arrangement of parts, a sense of balance.

Simply put, these dishes will feature various ingredients and how, through a kind of breaking of symmetries, their functions are dynamic. Each dish will contain a different application of an ingredient from another dish. A different technique rendering an abstraction its initial purpose.

November 2023

COE

Description goes hereIn a time marked by global uncertainty, two visionary individuals, Jean Cate and Julie Purpura sought to make a difference. Their mission was to help others prepare for the end of the world. They envisioned equipping people with the resources and tools needed to thrive in an ever-changing landscape, as well as an underground bunker. To bring this vision to life, they established an organization known as The Center of Order and Experimentation (COE).

COE, though sometimes misconstrued as a cult, stands as a beacon of hope and preparedness. At its core, COE is dedicated to providing resources and objects of exceptional utility, making it a unique and valuable institution in these times of uncertainty.

While physically located in the vibrant West Town neighborhood of Chicago, COE's impact transcends geographical boundaries. It exists in a realm where order and experimentation harmoniously coexist.

October 2023

A MOVEABLE FEAST

For this month’s Supper Club, we’ll be returning to A VERY SERIOUS GALLERY for a showroom feast. The menu will be inspired—somewhat—by the theme’s resonances of Paris’ generation perdue, taking a few new spins on various French classics. The dinner is also a preamble to the gallery’s feast in situ exhibition for the weeks following the dinner.

Let’s glitz and glam over a spread of black soy bourguignon, green curry cuisses de grenouilles, and other iconoclastic riffs on classic plats pariesien. Come for the art and stay for the food. Or vice versa.

September 2023

AGLIO E ZAFFIRO (GARLIC & SAPPHIRE)

Run by radical transformers of space and place, Lola and Nathan Wright, NULUUM is dialed in to its own genius loci—spirit of the place—where outside and inside, the sacred and secular merge into harmonious balance, perhaps similar to Eliot’s still point of the turning world, where time is suspended, and one is surrounded by a grace of sense and a sense of grace.

We’ll be dining al fresco, pebble pathed and lantern lit, with ingredients and dishes that tell the story of place and experience. We are calling this dinner AGLIO E ZAFFIRO: garlic, as it’s best planted in early fall, and sapphire, believed by many to usher in spiritual enlightenment—as well as September’s birthstone.

AUGUST 2023

The rumors are true: August Supper Club will be totally vegan. But don’t let that deter any of you bien fang-ed beasts of prey—grill season will be in full swing, and we have a menu that is tout à fait toothsink-worthy. Like charred broccoli with green romesco, cured apricot, and koji pangrattato; or grilled spaghetti (yes, you read that right) with seaweed and sweet corn.

For us, vegan food isn’t simply about the omission of meat and animal derivatives. It reflects an environmental consciousness and a dedication to sustainability that demands formidable ingenuity—seeking creative resolution outside the mainstream—to arrive at an ingredient’s most inherent and essential characteristics. Think: preservation. Think: distillation.

So it’s fitting that this month’s Supper Club will be hosted by Rhine Hall in the heart of Chicago’s Kinzie Industrial Corridor. At this woman owned distillery specializing in fruit brandy, Jenny Solberg is no stranger to ingenuity, as she used a bike-powered apple chopper for crushing fruit to begin the business just over a decade ago. (You might recall the spoked wheel in their logo—an homage to the brand’s resourceful beginnings.)

JULY 2023

2 years of supper club!

You can’t think about food without thinking about form. The form, nearly always, informs how to prepare it, how to consume it.

I often return to Munari’s musings on the form and function of the orange: “The orange is therefore an almost perfect object in which one may observe an absolute coherence of form, function[,] and consumption. Even the color is exactly right.” And corn, too–perhaps Munari would agree–displays a beautiful cohesion of form and function in food: each kernel arranged in an architecture that allows for consumption with minimal (if any) supplemental equipment, and held together by a central column; a fine silk that polishes each kernel to a smooth, granular morsel; a husk that not only protects the fruit but may also aid in various preparations (wrapping, steaming, etc); and a stalk that operates as a handle, making the delightful treat easily portable, handheld, no plateware required.

For July Supper Club we will be at Sarah Montgomery's studio in Logan Square. And so thinking about design and its relationship to food, we’ll be exploring corn in many of its myriad uses, its form and functions, from nixtamalized and crushed, from juiced to grilled, and even making use of the wild delicacy of its heavy rain-induced fungus of huitlacoche.

JUNE 2023

Chrysalis: the layer between forms, thin interstice of shelter during a period of growth. An indication of a work in progress, a developmental stage of growth and formation, of becoming and emerging form.

This very special supper club will be hosted in the new Parker Karlov warehouse space, a place of young and early transformation and growth, with sound and visual installations by artist Catieo and will feature a dinner of skins, shells, veils, and hulls, an invitation to the threshold of unveiling, a peeling back, a revelation.

Originally constructed in the 1950's as a steel forging factory then later turned fine carpet & rug repair warehouse, Parker Karlov was established to support creation and conservation. Converted into a mixed use space, the walls continue housing the process of development and the celebration of heritage through specially selected events focusing on music and art.

For this dinner we are exploring the idea of chrysalis as the incubation of ideas and identity, curtaining the stage of transition and formation, the potential becoming realized. A metamorphosis.

MAY 2023

This sun soaked studio sits at the edge of West Town,…

This sun soaked studio sits at the edge of West Town, hosting world turning views of a perfect Chicago skyline. We knew this was a big chance to run wild with the tale of sisterhood and that's what this menu holds.

Helmed by trendsetting stylists Kelly Bush and Emily Katz, GOLDUST WOMAN grinds against the grain of the commonplace hair salon. Emily and Kelly have been glamming up babes since 2011 and are tapped into the deep pulse of connection and creativity, crafting their studio to foster meaningful and transformative experiences, both in and out of the chair.

For this one we are paying some homage to the razor cuts and shags Kelly and Emily are known for. We are starting the night with a razor clam escabeche packed with lemongrass, zippy raspberry, and sweet coconut with nothing better or more fun than a brush full of crudite for plucking and dipping. For dessert, we are digging deep with clouds of floral, funky, and smokey notes. Each dish has a story, we will let Emily and Kelly tell you this one...Marigold ice cream, sencha granita, smoked tomatoes with a generous dusting of white chocolate.

APRIL 2023

What we do, how we live, who we are—these are informed by impressions left on us from our experiences and, in turn, are demonstrated by the impressions we leave behind. It seems fitting, then, to be hosted by Tatine—a house of wax—whose remarkable portfolio of fragrance serves as a complex catalogue of experience translated through scent, and perhaps nothing holds an impression quite like wax. This month’s menu, too, will be crafted through a lens of impressions left on us during our recent travels to Sardinia and Bangkok, as a way to convey experience though taste, texture, and aroma, in a mood set by the tiny flames of Tatine. So come, enjoy, and be transported with us.

MARCH 2023

This month is gearing up to be super special. We were away in February and so much missed the gathering of friends, new friends, strangers, laughter, chatter, adventure, vibration, and everything that makes supper club, supper club. We are so grateful you will be joining us on our return.

And what better return than with our new friends over at Color Club. If you don't know them or the space, you are in for a treat. Owners Abby Monroe and Josh Dihle have cultivated a splendid creative space for artists, performers, and community members of all kinds for intentional and meaningful gatherings.

Our menu for the evening is a play on the waning of winter and the invitation of spring color. After months of grey-white boulevards, bare trees and colorless urban vistas, we’re ready to bring some color back into our lives. We’re planning to plate some end of season fennel with a cardamom-cashew milk, rose water, and sesame; we’ll offer a late winter salad of pear, parsnip, and pecorino, with bright bursts of kumquat and ginger; a dish inspired by our recent trip to Bangkok of poached daikon with a tomato & peanut relish, tamarind, and pork sung; and a sweet finish with black sesame tang yuan dumplings with coconut and hibiscus. We are taking homey soups, cozy broths, and roasted roots and zipping in citrus and tropical notes to awaken us from our winter doldrums. This contrapposto is going to be delicious and surprising.

JANUARY 2023

This month will be all about persimmons. With this juicy, sweet, sometimes tanic, fruit's season rounding off to an end, we are going in for a deep dive. Diospyrios, or “Zeus’ wheat,'' will be showcased in comfy dishes like a cauliflower and persimmon cannelloni; and tactile applications like crab tostada with kumquat and coconut; and a fried rice with hoshigaki and peanut.

This month we are hosted by A Very Serious Gallery, surrounded by their Winter Dreams exhibition, a narrative group show embracing the realism of winter and surrealism of dreams, and will include a live session painting throughout the dinner.

DECEMBER 2022

Back when TXA TXA Club was just an idea and a couple of words that seemed half like a dance, half like a clerical error, Letherbee Distillers asked us to make some party food for the release of their seasonal 2019 autumnal gin. And so we did. A rambunctious crowd of spirit enthusiasts and industry die-hards gathered at Lula Cafe for the release, and we came with crates of squid ink tortillas and tuna ceviche, crispy spring roll-wrapped fried pickles with casino sauce, and arancini with nori and wasabi bechamel. We slung snacks while the gin flowed like parade confetti. Good times were had by all.

Letherbee gave us a chance when we had nothing but a wok fryer and a legal pad of snack ideas. And now we are thrilled to host a Supper Club in their very own distillery space. Our December dinner will be at Letherbee Distillers in the Workshop 4200 building, with a menu highlighting the breadth of their spirit portfolio. You’ll find pairings like confit fennel with besk and kumquat; lima beans and absinthe; and grapefruit and nori, and their flagship gin.

NOVEMBER 2022

Yield, a giving over, as well as a giving into. To make an allowance for. Also, a quantifiable product. Its meanings are myriad and we intend to create a menu that speaks to them all. As this dinner falls just after Thanksgiving, we are also thinking about the idea of leftovers, or as the Italians say, gli avanzi, that which is pushed forward. Our pantry is replete with all kinds of avanzi—dehydrated red perilla leaf used in the process of making umeboshi; charred eggplant ash from when we made baba ganoush; fermented mustard green powder that we use for late nite popcorn cravings—by products of culinary processes that will move to the forefront of the menu.

We are beyond grateful to host this event at the Parchment Studio in Logan Square. A stunning event space helmed by renowned photographer and prop stylist Johanna Lowe. Parchment is a massive converted warehouse space with a gorgeous prep kitchen that Johanna uses for food and styling shoots. Vast but cozy, this space's charm is undeniable. Take a sneak peak of her work and the space here.

OCTOBER 2022

The idea behind October’s Supper Club dinner “Disco Aperitivo” comes from a recent PUNCH article. The concept is a portmanteau of sorts, smashing together the liberating sensation of a glittery, greasy-bodied disco dance floor with the pre-dinner hour of the sessionable tipple. What these have in common is a moment of transformation and revelation, a “celebration of self-expression and inclusion.”

You can expect some vibrant colors and flavors paired with transformed ingredients, like house-made ume vinegar and yukari seasoning (from the process of making umeboshi), as well as riffs on kitschy classics, as the menu will feature dishes like a smoked beet (not beef) carpaccio with grilled romaine and spruce; glazed carrots glossed in a fish sauce caramel with bee pollen and crispy amaranth; and campy “campfire” potatoes dressed in a blistered shishito gremolata with fresh horseradish and black garlic. It’ll be a celebration of the autumnal hinge into winter, bracing ourselves as we hunker down for the colder months ahead.

For this one we got super cozy at the Land and Sea Dept headquarters, right under the disco ball…

SEPTEMBER 2022

When it comes to flavor combinations, though, we can’t think of many that rival one of the most sublime pairings of all time: peanut butter and jelly. The idea isn’t new to our repertoire, as we’ve centered dishes around pairings like blistered grapes and brown butter; pistachio ice cream with vanilla poached sungold tomatoes; pumpkin panang curry with pepitas and gooseberry; the list goes on and on.

So our September menu is simply inspired by a nostalgic love for the iconic childhood sandwich. But in lieu of peanut butter and jelly, you can expect to find things like liver and plums, short ribs and kiwi, or sunflower seed and radicchio, dishes that represent a contrapposto toward fall with the back to school feeling of equal parts nostalgia and anticipation for the new season ahead.

Lastly, we are heading back outside for this one, folks! We have been invited by some friends over at Zachary A. Designs to soak up he last bit of summer utilizing their outdoor studio. ZAD will be setting the stage with with their unexpected and playful pieces for this menu alike. This space is a stunner and their furniture is spectacular; the perfect aesthetic combo for the last supper club of the season.

AUGUST 2022

This August we are taking supper club to the Kimball Arts Center and bringing the secret garden with us. In collaboration with Clayton Hauck and the See You Soon space we are excited to explore a TXA TXA club meal in new spaces with new friends.

Join us for a virtually organic transformation of space and atmosphere. Watch as this late summer bounty of a menu unfolds with hearty summer salads, comforting Spanish tortillas, tin fishes, and baked breads. Think picnic by candle light meets secret garden video installation.

JULY 2022

one year

It's hard to believe July marks one year for Supper Club. One year of dreamy dinners. One year of ever-changing and evolving dishes and pairings and experimenting. Our home and yard full of laughter and chatter and tasting and slurping and cheers-ing. One year of so many new friends. Thank you to all of you who have trusted us and leaned on us and challenged us. Thank you for coming to us for something new. We hope you found what you were looking for—we know we sure have, and with that, we are excited to keep looking and growing and asking the universe for more. This month also marks the first of many changes for TXA TXA Club's Supper Club series. We will find ourselves in new locations, spaces, and concepts asking for more but also asking what more can we give back? How can we learn more about ourselves through others? So, thank you for joining us on the first leg of this wild ride.

This month's meal will take place at The Joinery and is going to be a knockout! We are embracing the heat of July with some spins on some cool-down summer classics. We are going on a bit of a journey with dishes like tuna aguachile with watermelon and pink peppercorn; a refreshing ham and melon soup with a prosciutto and pecorino dashi, honeydew, and elderflower; grilled bbq octopus with gochujang, fava beans, and a red olive & orange blossom salsa.

JUNE 2022

Here at TXA TXA club we love getting the question, "What are your favorite foods to cook with?" And love taking it to the expreme---straight to the lonely island; if you could only take one...Cabbage has always been a top contender for us both. Its versatility and durability make it choice for a multitude of preparations and seasons, both as the star and main supporter. With so many of its cousins coming to season, we thought we would explore the whole family tree (take the pun as you wish): brassicas. Known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plants, and sometimes called cole crops—derived from the Latin caulis, denoting the stem or stalk of a plant. Almost every inch of these species can be celebrated. From the roots, the stalks, the buds to the flowers. And what better way to celebrate than by keeping things simple with a vegan menu.

We are absolutely bubbling with excitement to share this month's dishes with you: A kohlrabi carpaccio with compressed honeydew and fermented mustard greens; grilled broccoli rabe with a vegan XO sauce; cabbage in several iterations; and a rutabaga ice cream with passion fruit, a crispy daikon cake, and fragrant oolong cream, to name a few.

MAY 2022

For May Supper Club we’re leaning into a dinner that’s Mexican-inspired and showcases fresh masa with dishes like banana leaf-wrapped tamales with locally farmed black oyster mushrooms and a habanero and white chocolate pípian; a bright and zingy ceviche glossed in leche de tigre—a citrus and chile-based marinade—and coconut milk; clam and chorizo-stuffed chile rellenos; and a nod to our favorite industry staff meal: “taco bar”—serving a side of fresh blue corn tortillas with slow-roasted pork shoulder and a smattering of various salsas and pickledy accoutrements. We’re planning on auspicious weather for our seasonal return to backyard dining at its best and hope you’re here to join in the revelry with us.

APRIL 2022

This menu has some strong Mediterranean vibes. Fried little fishes, crispy snapper, charred veggies, and some rosie and fragrant saffron ice-cream. Oceanic, floral, and spring ready.

MARCH 2022

The vernal equinox is upon us, and we are going to turn our clocks back and run right toward it. This month we are wishfully and willfully ready to celebrate fun takes on spring classics like white asparagus and green almonds, tea-time treats and turf ‘n surf handmade pasta. We are ready for spring, so we are gonna cook like it!

FEBRUARY 2022

For February we’re going totally vegan for Supper Club. Exploring a wide range of versatile ingredients like tea, nuts, and winter root vegetables, and relying on both modern and ancient cooking techniques, we’ve created a menu that draws on deep flavors and myriad textures for a full-sensory dining experience.

JANUARY 2022

For our January menu, we decided to highlight one of our favorite families of ingredients: the Rutaceae. Better known as citrus.

Whether used for their fragrant oils, sweet flesh, tart rind, or bitter mesocarp, citrus fruits are extremely versatile ingredients that can provide both depth and acidity, brightness and balance, to almost any dish. And we hope to showcase just how large a role these modest ingredients play in our own culinary repertoire.

“The orange is therefore an almost perfect object in which one may observe an absolute coherence of form, function and consumption. Even the colour is exactly right.”

—Bruno Munari, Design as Art

Thursday 12.28.21

DECEMBER 2021

We’re wrapping up this beast of a year with an extra special menu dedicated to new beginnings, with some twists on seasonal classics like cheese balls and caviar—not together (although don’t put it past us); brussels sprouts and pasta; duck breast and profiteroles. You’ll find some recognizable txa txa flavor combinations, to be sure, along with some new and surprising pairings (anchovy and green grape, anyone?) and an additional plated course.

Tuesday 11.30.21 / Friday 12.03.21

NOVEMBER 2021

Unquestionably, one of our favorite meals—no matter the occasion—is Chinese take-out. Chinese-American food is a pillar of American food tradition, and we want to celebrate our love for it by opening our home and sharing this meal with you.

We think of Chinese take-out as a commemorative event, a nóstos, a kind of homecoming.

Whether after a return from a holiday away, or a long day of moving in someplace new and sitting cross-legged on the floor and dining by candlelight, there’s nothing more welcoming and unceremoniously ceremonious than indulging in a humble and satisfying spread of Chinese take-out.

This month we’re taking a creative spin on a few of our favorites—crab rangoons, mongolian beef, orange chicken, to name a few—and plating them up with a few surprises for our fifth installment of Supper Club.

Tuesday 10.26.21 / Friday 10.29.21

OCTOBER 2021

These last few weeks we’ve really been feeling fall and all its quintessential flavors: dreaming of warm-spiced curries, rich and unctuous slow cooked meats, root vegetables, and handmade pasta.

We’re stoked on this menu that features a whimsical spin on zucchini bread and apple butter, a savory pumpkin curry, and plate of agnolotti—traditionally a pinched, meat-filled pasta from the Piemonte region of Italy—filled here with slow roasted pears and onions, finished with a little sweet-n-sour tamarind and bitter dandelion greens.

Come get cozy by the fire pit for likely the last backyard dinner of the year, and help us figure out how to properly pronounce “hygge.”

Tuesday 09.27.21

SEPTEMBER 2021

This month’s Supper Club menu is inspired by ingredients and flavors that we love using in our own kitchen—nigella seed, sumac, golden raisins—and spice blends like za’atar and baharat that are just as versatile as they are delicious. (Try sprinkling za’atar on watermelon, or substituting baharat to enliven a traditional Italian orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe.)

As we began playing with these Mediterranean flavors, we soon realized we were creating plates similar to some traditional dishes from The Levant, and decided to go in the direction of the foods of Syria and Lebanon. You’ll find a primarily vegetable-focused menu with lots of pomegranate, sesame seed, and aromatic spices throughout.

We love the idea of plates being passed, bowls being shared and circling in orbits across the table, so we typically begin with our dinners with table snack of this sort. For this dinner we’re plating a spread of muhammara, traditionally a pureed dip of roasted red pepper, walnut, and pomegranate molasses similar to hummus, but for ours we’re using charred sumac-rubbed carrots, walnuts, and pickled fresno chilis for a little pop. Although many of our dishes may follow some lineage to traditional ones of various cuisines, we like to make them uniquely our own, and hope you’ll find them as exciting to eat as we do to prepare.

Tuesday 08.31.21

THAI NITE

In December of 2019, we quit our jobs and decided to spend 6 weeks in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia, which left an indelible imprint on our palates as much as it did our passports.

We fell immediately in love with the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that all of Thailand had to offer. We had some familiar dishes, some lesser known, and some we’re still not sure what we were eating, but it didn’t matter; they were crazy delicious.

So for this Supper Club dinner, we wanted to create a full sensory affair that reflected a small glimpse of our Thai experience: its vibrant panorama of colors, aromatic explosions of flavor, and even the dulcimer and tinny ring of the stringed saw duang instruments, khlui bamboo flutes, and echoing chants of afternoon prayer—all of which we sought to incorporate into the table and soundscapes for the dinner.

We wanted to honor the humble culinary traditions that make Thai food so simple and craveable, represented by its utilization of the country’s abundant vegetation, ripe chilis, and pungent fermented pastes that lend the curries and stews their wild flavors.

Thai Nite was a night to remember, and one that will surely find its way back around to another evening at Supper Club. Be sure not to miss it.

Tuesday 07.28.21

JULY 2021

It was hard to know where to start for our inaugural Supper Club Dinner. Thai food? Homemade pasta? A ceviche or lightly cured seafood dish? What about dessert? These questions seemed too cumbersome to answer, so we just went with what we’d been making lately for ourselves at home.

Earlier in the summer I’d made an Ajo Blanco, a cool and refreshing soup from Andalusia that, quite honestly, was the best thing I’d tasted all summer. So simple, a perfect balance of cool green grapes and cucumber, the bright and musky acidic pucker from sherry vinegar, sweet raw young garlic (the dish’s namesake), a tinge of serrano chili heat, and rounded out with blanched almonds. So we decided to begin here.

Next we featured a super seasonal salad sourced from the local farmer’s market with grilled pattypan squash, succulent ripe plums, a tangy dollop of housemade ricotta, and a fistful of herbs from our backyard garden.

We served a mound of hand-cut pappardelle with a kombucha braised pork ragu and woody hazelnuts, cut with a punch of brightness from fresh parsley, some lemon zest, and a 12 year aged sheep’s cheese.

We wrapped up with a rich and silky bay leaf and buttermilk panna cotta, some nectarines from the farmer’s market, with a lavender and pistachio crumble.

These dishes we hoped would represent a blend of simple yet sophisticated flavors and technique, recreating the comfortable and elegant ambience of outdoor European dining right here in our own backyard.