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Residence hall dinners and supper club events are back, fueled by pandemic lockdowns that have kept people from dining out and connecting with others. How do you feel about this?
Dining at home, in event spaces, and sometimes in restaurants — like the one seen here at Grill 23 — is making a comeback in Boston. What do you think of this resurgence? Brian Feulner/Boston Globe
While the worst of the pandemic is behind us, one thing is clear in the restaurant world: more than ever, people want to connect over good food, and not just at restaurants.
It seems dinner is back, reborn a few years ago as a way to bring people together in a comfortable space.
This isn’t your parents’ dinner. The dishes are sometimes mixed or chipped, they are installed in cramped apartments without a dining room, and perhaps playfully call up a theme around a particular food, such as soup or canned fish.
Some people in Boston and other cities made a big deal out of it. Supper clubs are not a new concept and are slightly different from dinner parties – although these words are sometimes used interchangeably depending on the organizer. Dinner and supper clubs can be as casual as a potluck, or perhaps the host controls a more elaborate menu. Sometimes supper clubs are run by professional chefs, who prepare fixed-price menus in a rented space.
Also depending on the event and the host, it is an opportunity to meet strangers.
Harvard Crimson reported from the scene of a December supper club called Dinner with Friends in Boston, in which its host typically charges $30 for the seven or eight guests attending the intimate dinner.
There is also the Aperitivo Society, which helps people both host dinner parties in their homes and host private supper club events at restaurants. The latter is often organized in such a way as to bring together guests who do not know each other.
Then there are chefs like Kendall DaCosta, who hosts a monthly supper club called Out of Many One People, a way to cook creatively without a physical space.
If paying someone else to do the work isn’t what you’re looking for, there are plenty of tips out there these days on how to throw your own dinner party, from simple to elaborate. There are even stores and TikTok accounts that help people customize the aesthetic of a dinner party to their liking.
We want to know: Are you into this dinner or supper club craze? Take our survey below and let us know what you think in the form.
Have you been to any dinners or supper clubs recently?
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