Cincinnati Supper Club: The Fifth

Wow, what a night! Joe Wessels and his friend Mike, in town from California, put together an awesome spread and a fantastically relaxed atmosphere for everyone.

We ate kidney bean, yam, and soy sauce burritos, which may sound strange, but are unbelievably good. With them we had all the necessary sides – rice, guac, salsa – and a rich salad of field greens, gorgonzola, pear, and caramelized walnuts. For dessert, I finally got to try that ’80s classic, dump cake, for the very first time. I couldn’t help but go back for seconds. (Perhaps the entire pound of butter it contained was what I found so moreish…)

There were plenty of cameras on the scene, and I’ll post links to photo collections as they go online. For now, mine are here.

UPDATE: Bob 5chw4r7z’s pics are here. Thanks, Bob!

Stay tuned for details of the next supper, which will be up on Monday!

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The fourth

Massive thanks to John Spencer and Ken Cunningham for putting on a stupendous, beautiful spread of food for us last night in their gorgeous, cozy Over-the-Rhine home. Once again, I couldn’t help but be full of gladness for the number of times I heard people comment on what a fun night they were having, how great the food was, and how much they enjoyed the company. Lucky us, eh? (My photos are here, and Bob has more pics here.)

Details of the next supper are coming very soon indeed…

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The third

Huge thanks to Michelle Lightfoot and Chad Munitz for hosting our third Cincinnati Supper Club meal. Check out all the photos here.

Michelle is a beloved gastronome here in town, so it’s no surprise that she came up trumps with the food: Fried tilapia and carnitas for assemble-your-own tacos, spicy rice, corn, perfect guacamole, salsa, and even homemade tortilla chips were on offer. Michelle also laid on not one but two desserts, chocolate chip brownies and strawberry shortcake. (I tested both thoroughly and can confirm that each was excellent.)

Just as great was the company and conversation, so thank you also to everyone who joined us.

I’ll be announcing the details of June’s supper very soon, so watch this space…

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The second

Many thanks to Blake Fox for hosting us all at his super-sweet home last night for our second Cincinnati Supper Club meal! It was great fun, and we had some new faces (Chad Munitz, Michelle Lightfoot, and Kari Wethington) this time around, too.

As for the food…Oh, man. Blake laid out a buffet of greens, cut vegetables, and a variety of cheeses and dressings so we could each build our own salads, which were followed by his absolutely incredible beef stroganoff served over hot egg noodles. (I heard somebody say they could have crawled into the pot and eaten their way out. That person definitely wasn’t me. I swear!) There were also huge loaves of freshly baked bread, along with butter that Blake had thoughtfully softened for us. Finally, we had crème brûlée, which was made for us by Michelle Lightfoot, the culinary powerhouse who owns the hugely popular Deli720 on Pete Rose Way.

Thanks, everybody, for a great evening. My pictures from last night are here.

Readers, I wish you could have been there. Speaking of which…

We now have confirmed hosts for the next three months’ worth of supper club meals. Considering how scared I was that this idea wouldn’t take off, being as it was started by a complete newcomer to town (me), I could not be more pleased with how much people seem to be enjoying themselves.

Details of May’s gathering of the Cincinnati Supper Club will appear soon on the blog. Watch this space (I highly suggest subscribing to the RSS feed so you know as soon as news hits the site)…

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The first

Thanks to everyone who came over to my place tonight for our first supper! I was really pleasantly surprised that we filled all available slots our first time out, and happy to get such a great mix of fine locals in my humble abode. (In the photo, from left: Ken Cunningham, John Spencer, Renee Jackson, Edward Staples. My pics from the night can be found here, and I’m hoping Joe Wessels breaks down and gets a Flickr account so he can share his with us!)

So…what’d we eat? I’m so full right now that I feel uncomfortable just thinking about it, but here was the line-up:

Red Thai chicken curry
Chickpea curry
Couscous with toasted pine nuts
Roasted broccoli and cauliflower with pancetta and parmesan
Spinach salad (spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, capers)
Strawberry shortcake
Chocolate chip cookies from Silverglade’s

Plus way too much in the way of tortilla chips with various salsas and dips.

I’ve got a ton of leftovers, so if anyone wants to sample anything listed above, drop me an email! Blake Fox has graciously offered to host next month at his awesome pad (it’s not like Ken badgered him into it or anything…no way), so I’ll update soon with the confirmed date for that. Thanks again for coming, guys!