Secret Suppers: Rogue Chefs and Underground Restaurants in Warehouses, Townhouses, Open Fields, and Everywhere in Between

by Jenn Garbee

It’s happening in attics, garages, living rooms, parking lots and wine cellars across the nation – underground restaurant chefs are taking the food scene by storm, one dinner at a time. They’re throwing fabulous dinner parties at the drop of a hat for a hodge-podge of guests in offbeat, roving locations. They’re evading the cops, enticing the food-obsessed, and making headlines ("Restaurants on the Fringe, and Thriving"!). In short, they’re reinventing the dining experience. No wonder foodies are falling hard for the underground eating experience. And in Secret Suppers, LA Times journalist Jenn Garbee takes readers into this underground gourmet world as it’s taking place in Seattle, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Manhattan, Des Moines, Austin, and Sonoma County. Whether it’s steaks prepared in the parlor fireplace of a townhouse, or bacon-wrapped-bacon served on the deck of a charming little house in a sunny Seattle neighborhood, or a white-tablecloth affair set in an open field in Santa Barbara—chefs and food lovers are circumventing the restaurant altogether to cook what they want, to reinvent the serving ambiance whenever the whim strikes, and to attract the most adventurous diners. Sort of akin to speakeasies from an earlier era, some underground restaurants are the best-known secrets in town.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Cooking

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Journalist and editor based in Los Angeles. Likes: farmer's markets, classic jazz, fruit-genre desserts (crumbles/crisps/pies), offbeat museum exhibitions, interesting but not expensive wines, dark chocolate--preferably all on the same day. Dislikes: Encountering sidewalk-stranded earthworms.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its best, this book is like certain frothy movies made in the 1930s for the contemporary US audience -- a pleasant diversion from everyday cares, featuring prosperous people, apparently not worrying too much about the future, indulging themselves in an endearing manner. At its worst, this book made you want to take up knitting in the shade of the guillotine.

Although an easy topic for ridicule, well-heeled foodies are people engaged in a quest for the beautiful, so maybe they should be cut some slack. As it is, the author engages in several cheap shots against people who welcomed her into their homes or tried to engage her in friendly conversation, apparently to amuse us with their banality. Her editor should have told her to knock it off.

New topic: factual errors in non-fiction books are like cockroaches on your kitchen counter. If you see one, you can be pretty sure there are others you can't see. In this case, the author writes: “...he's become the go-to mixologist (the fancy new word among foodies for bar chef...”. A few seconds' Internet searching would have yielded the information that the first documented usage of this word was in 1948.

The author was interviewed on "The Splendid Table" of 28 November 2009.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a lot of great recipes and lovely descriptions of the underground dinners going on. There's even a chapter about Creche in Seattle! But I was quickly bored to tears reading about people eating, so I skimmed after the first two chapters.

Em, there was a recipe in the first or second chapter that I think you'll like, but I've already returned the book and have no idea what it was anymore. Yay for helpfulness!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about what rich foodies can do. I like the idea of these, and like the rogue concept but do not like the exclusivity and cost many of them require. Still I want to go to a dinner at the farm next summer and eat several courses over a few hours.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book but wish it were more down-home. There are lots of books about pretentious foodies; I'd love to read about the secret suppers with moonshine and pig pickin's. Another book I should write!

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic, but shallow treatment. Perhaps, suggesting that the underground restaurant scene is still underground? And, even though I am a fan of ambitious cooking projects -- the included recipes were beyond me. I guess I won't be opening my own secret restaurant.

[Pangolin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only interesting if you're a food geek.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

semi-entertaining. i found it ironic that even the author seemed a little uninterested in the subject.