Shortly after I moved to Los Angeles my roommates birthed the idea of a monthly dinner club. It was 2007, and I think it was Sari who suggested the name “Dinner Club For Day People.” The idea was that once a month a group of friends would go out to eat, and at each meal one member of the group was allowed to invite a “Day Person” as their plus-one. A “Day Person” was defined as someone who was not a douchebag, or the kind of person you might befriend randomly at a seedy bar or party (you know, a “Night Person”). Alas, Sari disappeared off the face of the earth, other roommates dropped out or moved away, maybe there was a n awkward breakup involved, and the idea languished in limbo. Finally in 2011, the newly rebranded “Dinner Club” came to live. As Louise put it, our group of friends consists of successful people who deserve to celebrate it. The rules of the new Dinner Club were quite similar to the original iteration. Once a month we would meet at a restaurant of one person’s choosing, and that person (the chooser) could bring a plus-one. The plus one must be vetted by the other club members before they can join in the fun. If all goes exceedingly well, the plus-one might even be made an official member of the club.
We managed to meet maybe three or four times back in 2011 before Dinner Club fell apart. And by fell apart I mean our email chains ceased to elicit responses. I guess you could say we got lazy.
Alas, Louise had the brilliant idea of re-starting Dinner Club in 2015, with a new structure and membership. For our first meeting a combination of new and familiar faces convened at Simbal Restaurant in Little Tokyo (Amanda’s choice – with no plus-one) for the official re-launch of Dinner Club. Here’s my wrap-up, combined with stray observations from Louise:
Nate was late, because he’s a busy successful person and that happens sometimes (also Nate rhymes with Late). As he found his way to our table we were being presented with the dim-sum style cart (kart?) of appetizers made special for that evening. The group chose two plates to share from the cart, one had ground beef (I think?) set atop tangerines and pineapple, the other was a spicy Thai-ish mushroom salad. Our lovely waitress recommended an Austrian white wine that we consumed with aplomb throughout the meal. There are no pictures of the appetizers or wine because the combination of Late’s arrival with that of the food cart’s cause some momentary confusion in regards to procedure. I had the tangerine with meat and it was a fine bite to start the meal. The mushroom salad was quite spicy, in the best possible way.
Marinated squid, cilantro root, chili sauce. I wanted a bit more heat from the chili sauce but this made for a good shareable starter. David was Johnny-on-the-spot with the lime all night, as Louise and I both noted.
Braised pork Belly, coconut juice, marinated egg. One of the standout dishes of the night was the impossibly light pork belly. A stellar example of a pretty ubiquitous dish.
Boiled black cod, ginger sauce. This was kinda tough to share among six people but it was still tasty. Light, perfectly cooked and heightened by the other elements on the plate.
Bone Marrow, grilled chili jam, scallions. Instead of toast we were given split Chinese donuts on which to spread the marrow. It was fatty and decadent and all the best flavors you usually expect. There was a tiny mound of salt hidden beneath the bone, which some diners missed. Always inspect the plate. The donut is something of a recurring theme at Simbal. You’ll see.
Lemongrass grilled pork ribs. As tender and the meat was (it didn’t need much help falling off the bone), we agreed these could have benefited by a sauce or glaze. Maybe a thin glaze. Right Nate? A thin glaze?
Hilariously, Louise noted in her Dinner Club minutes that only two of the six diners were smart enough to place their consumed ribs back on the original serving dish to be cleared; the rest of us heathens just let the bones continue to enjoy the club dinner on our plates for the rest of the meal. Good eye, Louise!
Beef tartare, larb seasoning, sesame bread. I love beef tartare and the preparation here was quite yummy. Not sure the bread here was a perfect match but it was an adequate delivery system for the beef. I think David and I kept picking little forkfuls off the plate long after the bread had disappeared. Yum.
Ginger caramel braised chicken thigh. I loved the chicken and especially the braise. I think results were mixed on this dish, with some of us loving it and some of us “meh”ing it. One of the rules of Dinner Club is that at the end of the meal everyone goes around and announces their favorite plate. No one picked the chicken thigh. I would have Top 3’d it if those were the rules, but they ain’t.
Seasoned rice, chili jam, salted duck egg, bonito flake, crispy garlic. Once again David exemplified his lime squeezing prowess as he seasoned the rice for us. It was a fine plate, but again rice is something that’s kind of hard to share among six people. You put a little scoop on your plate and you might not even get to taste a part of the dish. I for one, didn’t even know there was a salted duck egg involved until I looked at the menu just now.
Short rib pot pie, lemongrass, annatto, beef tendon. Another standout dish was the chef’s take on a pot pie, which had a delicious cinnamon-y or cumin-y essence permeating it. Also, what were those, carrots? After three bottles of wine (plus that free Moscato they gave us when they popped the wrong bottle of wine) our ability to keep track of everything and maintain order had lessened slightly. Pictures were still snapped of each dish – by two of us – but the care taken in capturing those photos had diminished.
Marinated duck, sesame oil, ginger. I think we were starting to fade by this point, but the duck was awesome. I’m an unabashed duck fan, and I quite enjoyed this preparation. Simple, clean and tasty. Notice David brandishing the knife in a threatening manner. You can also just make out my “young Hitler” haircut, as it was described at one point. Whatever guys, I shaved my head for the summer. So what?
Mussels, chili jam, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime, Chinese doughnuts. Louise pointed out in her notes that “Mark uses mussel shells as small broth dipping devices. Genius.” Note the Chinese donut. Note the don’t-give-a-fuck-I’m-full attitude towards photographing this dish.
After the mussels, the cool kids left the table to smoke while some of us stayed to finish off the wine. As the buspeople (is that the totally-PC, gender neutral term for busboys?) came to clear the table. When someone commented about the cleanliness of the table post-cigarette break I noted that we were not, in fact, clean diners. The table basically looked like Dresden after the bombing before the buspeople came around and straightened things out for us.
Guava cake with guava jam. Chinese donuts with coffee dipping sauce. Our desserts were comped due to the Moscato wine snafu, and although the guava cake was good the Chinese donuts were the standout dessert. Here they were almost Churro-like in their seasoning and texture, and the coffee was quite strong and was absorbed perfectly into the donuts. A sweet way to end the meal.
So concluded Dinner Club (2015 ed.) Meeting #1. What else was of note that I can point out here. Oh, Nate (ever the field producer) had our waitress bring back menus for each of us to hold while she photographed the table. After the other five of us refused to hold menus, the resulting photo was put to a vote and the majority chose NOT to post the photo on any social media service. I voted along with the other “nay” sayers because I looked terrible. A new rule will be instituted for our next meeting, which is “Dress For Success.”
Next month David gets to pick the restaurant. I think we agreed that we’re either going in alphabetical order or in reverse “noob” order, which means the newest member of the club picks first and then we’ll work our way back towards the OG, which in this case is Louise. I think. So I’ll either pick after David or five months from now.
To be continued.
Implodes – Don’t Leave The House [MP3]
