Her best friend Loryn Cook designed the space and oversaw a gut renovation in four months. In June of last year, Dinner Party opened, selling picnic-ready meals to go, adding seated dinners in August and indoor lunch this spring. “I would say that we did it on about $200,000 total,” Jetta says. While timelines and budgets for opening restaurants in the city range immensely, Jetta opened quicker and on a tighter budget than many. Just before opening, she told Eater: “Dinner Party is a restaurant for and by young people. … We’re either in for a rude awakening, or the time of our lives. Perhaps both.” Nearly a year later, she says, “It has absolutely been both.” The team, which started as six women, has largely stayed the same with one moving on (though she’s still in the group chat) and two more individuals joining. Everyone is 26 or younger and before this project, only two, including, sous chef Ryan Del Franco, had considerable restaurant experience. In some ways, Jetta sees her lack of experience as an advantage. She’s acted on instinct rather than following a prescribed way of doing things. The restaurant isn’t a co-operative, but she wanted to bring that spirit to the project - fittingly, everyone is tipped out. … I am technically in charge, but we’re all kids,” Jetta says. “For people of our generation, some of these things are just givens, which is so cool.” The whole team also has a say (if they want it) in the menu, which changes entirely each week. Leading up to the Ides of March, they imagined what Julius Cesar ate the night before he was assassinated, coming up with spring allium flatbread, whole roasted branzino with tapenade, and semolina shortcake with whipped ricotta and honey-poached dates.Īs the weather started to warm in early spring, the team assembled a menu of mostly plant-based Mexican-influenced dishes, including pan-fried plantains with green chickpeas, halloumi, and honey, and flautas filled with oyster mushroom and soyrizo. For inspiration, Jetta paged through the “ La Vida Verde: Plant-Based Mexican Cooking with Authentic Flavor” by chef Joceyln Ramirez, whom Dinner Party also tagged on Instagram. “If you’re cooking in a culture that doesn’t belong to you, it is important to acknowledge where you’re getting that from,” Jetta notes. There’s no recipe testing in advance of dinner service on Tuesday night. “ just flying blind,” she says half laughing. Treating it as a sort of dress rehearsal, Tuesday dinner is priced at $40 instead of $48 as it is during the rest of the week.īut, like its namesake, Dinner Party is about more than the food. Before the pandemic, communal tables at restaurants in the city were often considered the worst seats in the house. They served their function - to seat more guests - but rarely did New Yorkers talk to diners seated mere inches from them. At Dinner Party, guests seem more open to those interactions.
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