{"id":9860,"date":"2011-05-21T09:21:02","date_gmt":"2011-05-21T14:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/?p=9860"},"modified":"2011-07-16T17:07:42","modified_gmt":"2011-07-16T22:07:42","slug":"underground-dining-comes-to-memphis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/21\/underground-dining-comes-to-memphis\/","title":{"rendered":"Underground dining comes to Memphis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday night I had the pleasure of attending the first Clandestino Dining<\/a> event in Memphis. Clandestino is a Chicago-based underground supper club. Attendees view a 7-to-10 course gourmet menu and RSVP and pay in advance, and the venue is not announced until the day before. Venues are usually cool spaces like art galleries and warehouses.<\/p>\n

The people who operate Clandestino are on my BBQ team, the Ques Brothers. On Tuesday, they sent out a message to the group, saying they were looking for a photographer who would work for food. I stepped up. They gave me permission to post some of the photos I took on my blog, so here’s a look at what we had to eat:<\/p>\n

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We began the evening at Art Village Gallery at 410 S. Main for cocktails.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Guanciale-wrapped grilled strawberries were the hors d’oeuvres at Art Village.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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We then moved down the street to a second location that had been kept secret from the attendees – the back room of Earnestine & Hazel’s – for dinner.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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As the first course was being prepared, guests were entertained by a honky tonk band.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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The theme of the menu was the Seven Deadly Sins. The first course, “Greed,” was a Chicken Fried Oyster Po’ Boy, housemade bretzel roll, harissa remoulade, pickled green tomatoes, and watercress.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Second course, “Sloth,” Pea, Mint, and Pork Trotter Soup w\/ water cracker.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Third course, “Envy,” Baby lettuce and herb salad, honey vinaigrette, local cheese tasting.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Fourth course was “Lust.” Maize Sope w\/ Trout Gravlax, pickled ramps and rhubarb, and fresh strawberries.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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At that point we had a palate refresher, Cucumber Oregano Sorbet or as one guest called it, “a cucumber popsicle.” Here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Course five, “Greed,” Foie Gras French Toast w\/ Maple Gastrique and Peach Compote. The Nuh-Uh Girl enjoyed this course so much that she came back to the kitchen to see if there were leftovers.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Chef Efrain, in Clandestino-logo apron, carrying the sixth course, “Wrath,” Mustard Green Pappardelle w\/ Braised Oxtail Ragu.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Seventh course, “Pride,” Chocolate Basil Ice Cream, Honey Panna Cotta, Chocolate Meringue Cookie, Mexican Chocolate Truffle, and Strawberry Fizz.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

When Clandestino Dining started in Chicago, it was originally a true underground dining club, flouting the city\/state licensing requirements. This is why venues are only announced the day before the dinner. A few years ago, they went legit, acquiring a catering license. In Memphis they partnered with Circa<\/a>\/Bar None<\/a> chef John Bragg to make things all nice’n’legit.<\/p>\n

Additional photos will be on the Clandestino Dining website<\/a> soon. The dinner seemed to be well received, and I know they are contemplating a return to Memphis. If you’d like to see them come back, get on their site, shoot them an email and let them know.<\/p>\n

Thanks so much to Efrain and his crew for letting me shoot photos, hang out in the kitchen, and eat. It was an experience I’ll never forget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday night I had the pleasure of attending the first Clandestino Dining event in Memphis. Clandestino is a Chicago-based underground supper club. Attendees view a 7-to-10 course gourmet menu and RSVP and pay in advance, and the venue is not announced until the day before. Venues are usually cool spaces like art galleries and warehouses. … Continue reading “Underground dining comes to Memphis”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9860"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9860"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10269,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9860\/revisions\/10269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}