The first two are behind us, but have you heard of our “Fancy Dinners”?
Serving Breakfast and Lunch all the time is great – we get up early, see the sun rise, drink coffee with the A.M. regulars, get in a good day’s work and go home with plenty of time to fill up the afternoon and evening. But even so, we couldn’t help but go for it and give ourselves a bunch more to do in the form of intermittent, crazy-menu B.Y.O.B. dinners at the restaurant.
We chose to hold these special events on Mondays, an atypical ‘fancy night out’, but perfect for our friends in the restaurant biz who often find that their favorite places are closed on that day. So far, the style we’ve chosen for our dinners is inspired by small-plates/sharing-style restaurants like Toro (in Boston), Momofuku (in New York) and The Girl and the Goat (in Chicago). It’s a great way to get people excited about trying all different kinds of dishes, and when friends order something totally great you wished you had picked, the sharing really helps cut away at that “Restaurant Ordering Jealousy Syndrome” that we all face from time to time.
The cool thing about the occasional nature of these Dinners is that we have a lot to play around with; we’ve learned something new each time we’ve hosted a special event at the restaurant, and the time in between events allows us to sit and think about how we can adjust elements of the experience to make it all the more memorable. The variables can all be changed! We’ve already seen that our nighttime Taco Parties can be fun, and that people love an a la carte menu featuring our usual wacky flavor combinations, but what’s next? Maybe we’ll do a prix fixe tasting menu that showcases the flavors of our Southern roots, or an Americanized dim sum experience like they’re doing at State Bird Provisions in San Francisco. Maybe Fancy Dinner #3 will be “Dinner and a Movie”…who knows? What matters here is that we’re constantly thinking of new ways to get people excited (and that includes ourselves!) about eating out, and having a good time in the company of friends.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for further updates!
-jd