Fine Dining Club Ideas

[Georgia Avenue]

So me and a bunch of semi-broke co-workers and friends have been bitching about the lack of good food in our lives. We've been planning to start going out in a big group once a month to a rather expensive (thinking 20-30 a plate) place. We'd like to make it more $ but there aren't too many real gourmet restaurants in B-more!

Anyway, how can we alleviate the cost of this club? Would we be able to swing some kind of group discount from the restaurants if we called far in advance? I was guessing no, they'd probably try to fleece us even more! Could we pool our $$ in some creative way to save up? Naked carwash? <----Bad idea...

I'm thinking it'll be around 10-12 people.

I'm sick of Chipolte already...please help...

[jakethebake]

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a rather expensive (thinking 20-30 a plate) place.

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[Georgia Avenue]

Yeah, I know...but in Baltimore that pretty much covers the top 1/3 of restaurants. Life is cheap here, that's why we have so many murders...

[StevieG]

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Yeah, I know...but in Baltimore that pretty much covers the top 1/3 of restaurants.

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If you do tap out the good spots in Baltimore, you can always just hop it to DC or Philly (Susanna Foo and Le Bec Fin will shatter your $20-$30 range).

You can even combine it with [censored], head to AC, and try Ombra or others at the Borgata.

[tonypaladino]

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a rather expensive (thinking 20-30 a plate) place.

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[swede123]

If anything going as a group will give the restaurant a chance to include their mandated big-group tip, of 20-30%. Just have someone host the dinner for the group every other week or something. Have each couple be in charge of one part of the meal and go that way.

Swede

[Georgia Avenue]

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Just have someone host the dinner for the group every other week or something. Have each couple be in charge of one part of the meal and go that way.

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1. We're all terrible cooks.
2. That involves hard work.

The whole point of the project is to be able to eat food we can't make ourselves, not to just have a party with a bunch of artichoke dips. [Insert dipjoke here]

[StevieG]

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Just have someone host the dinner for the group every other week or something. Have each couple be in charge of one part of the meal and go that way.

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1. We're all terrible cooks.
2. That involves hard work.

The whole point of the project is to be able to eat food we can't make ourselves, not to just have a party with a bunch of artichoke dips.

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#2 is definitely true, but if you want to progress beyond #1, this is a great way to do it.

Hear me out. I feel strongly about this, so this post is long.

Learn from my experience.

When in grad school, a good friend got the same urge to learn more about good food. His solution was to get "Le Cordon Bleu at Home" , which features lessons from the cooking school for complete menus that introduce you to French cooking techniques. We then went through lesson by lesson as a group cooking the meals. <font color="white">The grad school buddy posts here, so we'll see if and how he responds.</font>


What went right:

Saving money. We ate some mad meals for less than what we would have spent at mid-range restaurants, let alone high end places.

Cooking as a group. There was no way we would have tried some of these things on our own. Souffles, creme anglais, etc., are not easy. But it helped to have people inspire your confidence, making it easier and more fun. Plus, it made the whole experience social.

Trying rich foods. Restaurant food tastes so good becuase they use plenty of fat and sugar. Most people cooking at home for themselves are afraid to do this. Following book recipes and not feeling guilty about it will produce similarly rich foods that you will feel great about cooking yourself. Smoked salmon crepes, swiss chard au gratin, chocolate mousse, duck were all huge hits from this cooking experiment.

Pairing wines. Restaurants are charging huge markup on wine. One huge advantage to cooking on your own is that for the same amount of money you would spend on wine in a restaurant you can go far crazier in a wine store. You can also feel free to get a wines to pair with each course.


What went wrong:

Cooking with too large a group, all in one place Grad school budget implies grad school housing and kicthen size. Not the best place for 4 people to try doing a multicourse meal. I would suggest 2 or 3 in one spot to inspire confidence in each other and divide tedious work. You can keep it soclial by having others over to hang out (and help with cleanup), but keep the cooks to a minimum. Also, use two kitchens, with one group in charge of appetizer and dessert, the others the entree and side dishes. The first group brings their prepared stuf over to the second group where you eat.

Starting too late in the day. We did this on Saturdays, but we were grad students, and dawdled. You do not want to spend a couple of hours cooking when you are already starting to get hungry. Figure out when you want to eat, then work back the times in the recipes and start on time, or close to it. Make sure to get a good jump on it, even if it means getting some or all ingredients the night before.

Our cookbook choice The food was very good, but it was really tough for first time cooks. You may want to start with Julia Child's "The Way to Cook" or something else first. Find something that has the food that will make you happy you made the effort (beyond artichoke dip) but that does not look so tough for beginners.

Going in order, all from one book The cookbook we used was divided in sections, like a lesson plan, to introduce techniques. We followed it like a course. Big mistake. Pick the recipes and meals you want to make. You must keep it fun. If that means using multiple cookbooks, pulling stuff off Epicurious, Food Channel, or blatantly ripping off menus from restaurants in town, then go ahead and do it. Keep it fun.

[Ulysses]

That sounds like a f'in great idea.

[poincaraux]

This is really the way to go. I think I've posted about this before, so I'll keep this brief. In college, three of us had a genius-level idea: we convinced the school to give us money for the Gourmet Cooking Club. By the end of my senior year, we were getting $800/semester. 6-15 people per meal, a few meals per semester, we paid for the alcohol out of pocket. This turned many of us into very good cooks, and it makes going to fancy restaurants much more enjoyable/interesting.

A few tips:

1) Before you make a dish, read through the whole recipe again. Chop everything up in advance, etc. When you're starting out, you probably can't handle doing three or four thigns at once in the kitchen, so don't. Read the recipe again and think about what you'll be doing and when.

2) We went with themes, rather than working our way through a cookbook. We'd put one or two people in charge of each dish and other folks would help out. This was a good way to pair up good cooks with novices, etc. It also meant that we could make any dish that anyone wanted. By the end, we had the "novices" in charge of most dishes and the more experienced folks wandering around and helping with everything.

3) Spend some time talking to the folks at the wine store. Tell them your whole menu, how many people you have and what your price range is. Ask them what they recommend and why. Take notes. Do this at a good wine store. Moore Brothers was good to us.

4) Keep the cookbook open and keep looking at the recipe. As long as you're willing to do this, you can make just about everything. The exception, in our experience, was dessert. Things that involve melting sugar and candy thermometers can be a lot tricker than you might think, so either start simple or be willing to try a couple of times.

5) Write trip reports and post them.