The New Supper Clubs

Pop-up dinners amuse and educate their adventurous diners

Whether they’re called underground dinners, pop-up feasts or clandestine dinner clubs, there’s a wave of dining quickly becoming the next “must-try” foodie experience. Some won’t divulge the location publicly, rather, they deliver emails day-of; others reveal dates/times but keep the menu a surprise; some require an excursion for a communal dining extravaganza. In all cases, food lovers and curious gourmands willingly relinquish control over menu choices in exchange for an element of surprise.

For starters, there’s Xmarx, where seven to 15 course BYOB pop-up dinners are often held in art galleries. Often serving up to 40 guests, Executive Chef Abraham Conlon and Chef Adrienne Lo scour local farmers’ markets for the seasonal ingredients to craft their five-course dinners. Perfect strangers then bond over a communal dining experience, tasting the same dishes at a single makeshift dining table. The chefs pop out between courses to describe each “on the spot” dish. An ultimate foodie discussion generally ensues; for $50 a person, it’s dining and entertainment rolled into one.

Former engineer Efrain Cuervas’s Clandestino Supper Club is one of the earliest underground concepts that emerged in 2007. It thrives today under the same principles of secrecy. Registered diners, who reserve online, aren’t privy to the dining location until 24-48 hours prior to the event. Venues vary, from art galleries to barns or urban rooftops. Mr. Cuervas, committed to seasonal local ingredients, has a farm in St. Charles and supplements his bounty only with “ingredients picked, harvested or slaughtered when the farmer knows they’re ready,” he says. Clandestino currently offers two dining tracks: the Whole Artist Series and Eating Vincent Price Series, emulating recipes of the namesake’s cookbook. When Mr. Cuervas isn’t hosting these dinners, you’ll find him cooking organic breakfasts and lunches for children at the Academy for Global Citizenship.

In the same spirit of clandestine communal dining is Valerie Bolon’s Culinary Speakeasy. After a stint on Top Chef Season Four (the same one which fellow Chicagoan Stephanie Izard took the gold), Ms. Bolon introduced her dining concept to celebrate food and wine. After more than a decade cooking in renowned kitchens like Gordon, Spring and Hot Chocolate, Ms. Bolon spent a year with French Creole Master Emeril Lagasse at Emeril’s in New Orleans. She now focuses on her underground dinners, and also does charitable culinary work. The donation for each five course meal is $85.

In keeping with the surprise element of underground dining, Iliana Regan’s One Sister pop-ups keep diners wondering more about what she’ll find than where they’ll dine. The name pays homage not only to sustainability and respect for the earth but also to Ms. Regan’s sister, who passed away a decade ago. Growing up on a small Indiana farm, Ms. Regan was familiar with foraging and gardening. In Chicago, she started her spontaneous cooking at local farmers’ markets, selling on-the-spot food to patrons who never quite knew what she’d whip up. Next, she moved into hand-crafting pierogi, but as a fifth generation cook and restaurateur, she longed to cook more than a single product.

“I needed to show people that I knew what I was doing in the kitchen, but didn’t want to do it in the kitchen of others,” she says. She launched One Sister with a mission to incorporate as much local, organic and sustainable ingredients as possible. Her almost weekly pop-up meals consist of 12 to 17 whimsical courses served to a dozen participants. Ms. Regan forages from a series of unlikely places in the city (down alleys in Wicker Park and along neighborhood streets), and also grows most of her own green in a small urban garden.

Finally, in the farm-to-table vein, Cleetus Friedman’s City Provisions has hosted a series of traveling farm excursions since 2009. Aiming to “enlighten, educate and entertain,” these dinners focus less on the surprise element and more on connecting diners to their food/beverage sources. A celebration of the seasonal foods, the trips are a breath of fresh air for city dwellers and generally guarantee a delicious, fresh multi-course meal, including artisan spirits and beer. And for those unable to make the trip, many of the ingredients are stocked at City Provision’s delicatessen (1818 West Wilson Avenue) for purchasing.

Take your pick, but be sure to give these spontaneous and tantalizing dinners a try. You’ll certainly be in for a surprise of one form or another.

Pictured: Chef Valerie Bolon plates dishes for a Culinary Speakeasy event.

Tagged as: food and wine, restaurant, restaurants and chefs, Valerie Bolon, Efrain Cuervas, Clandestino Supper Club, Xmarx, Abraham Conlon, Adrienne Lo, Culinary Speakeasy, Iliana Reagan, One Sister and Cleetus Friedman