Some time around March of 2014 I said to my friends, “Hey.
Do you ladies like food?”
And so began the journey of The Dinner Club.
My name is Annie and I am an East Nashville resident by way of New York City as of May 2013. Back in New York, where I lived for a handful of years, my friend Margaret would tell me tales of what she called a dinner club which consisted of a group of lady friends who would take turns choosing a new restaurant each month. They would meet together, eat, drink, review, drink more, eat dessert. She’s a brilliant woman.
Cut to 2014 in Nashville, TN. As my community grew in the
workplace and in the city, I was gathering all sorts of tidbits of information
about my new friends. One had been a professional cheese monger. One was from
Cajun country and made a mean gumbo. One had an impressive sweet tooth. One grew
a thriving garden. You get the picture. So I said to them, “Hey. Do you ladies
like food?” And guess what. They all said yes! Some more enthusiastically than
other. And by some I mean me, which was only a little embarrassing considering
I was the one who asked the question.
The proposition was as follows: Each month we would draw a
name and the chosen gal would select that month’s restaurant. It was best if it
was a place that none of us had been to before. It was also best if it happened
right after payday. And let the hungry games begin!
Dinner Club started out with five founding members. Over the next five months, we ate our way
through Two Bits on Demonbreun, Thai Esane in Edgehill, Acme Feed and Seed
downtown, Adele’s in the Gulch, and finally, The Treehouse in the heart of East
Nashville. Suffice it to say, Dinner
Club was a success.
Once we had rotated through all five members, we decided it
might be nice to extended the Dinner Club offer to other friends and family.
Remember my sister Mary? She also likes food. So does my sister Sarah. And as
it turns out, so did five other local ladies!
Dinner Club now weighs in at a robust twelve members. And
yes, some meals leave us more robust than others. This site will be all about
recapping the eats, drinks and merriments of The Dinner Club. If
anything, this will be a place to keep record of where and what we’ve been
eating in a city where there are at least as many new restaurants as there are
churches. And if you’re not from around these parts, trust me. There are a lot
of churches.
Recommended listening for The Dinner Club kick off:
Food, Glorious Food - Lionel Bart