The Long Table

The November 2009 issue of Food & Wine includes a short article about an underground supper club in Athens, Georgia, a unique take on the long table concept. Read Supper Club Confidential.

Like all good dinner parties, the inaugural Long Table dinner last Sunday at 3CUPS kept those of us around the table engaged in conversation and sated on good food and wine — witness the dearth of photographic evidence of the good times we all had. Lenore Ramm had the best camera, and so her blog post and food pics are the best record of the night; Bora blogged, but like me (a few photos posted to my Flickr page) he had a camera with dying batteries and wine-unsteady hand.

Suffice it to say, the night was a splendid success: 3CUPS was a perfect setting, the Moroccan meal by Sandwhich delicious (full menu below), and the 37 diners a perfect mix of old friends and new acquaintances. I suggested that there was a “thread weaving through the room, beyond these walls to worlds outside, and back again.

“You’ll notice we’re not wearing nametags. Many of us know each other, and we share connections. Others we’re meeting for the very first time, and we will discover the six degrees of separation that bind us to someone, something, somewhere, sometime.”

At the end of the meal, one of the diners leaned over to tell me she’d been one of the original participants in the famous Stanley Milgram study at Harvard.

“I am honored to know you,” I told everyone at the start of or meal. “Please meet, share your stories, enjoy the meal, revel in the community. If at any point tonight you feel inspired to share a memory, propose a toast, compliment or thank someone publicly, please do so.”

With that, we ate.

And then, with perfect timing, Claire Cusick stood up, recounted an experience about food and travel, and then asked others to share their own stories. And others did, cascading their anecdotes about eating kudu in Zimbabwe, running through the streets of Chicago in a blizzard after a night of molecular gastronomy, cooking for Julia Child, ordering the “disgusting menu” instead of the Spanish “menu degustacion” and more.

I sat back, pleased that the Long Table experiment was working just as I imagined it.

At dinner’s end, Christoph Guttentag rose to toast the Long Table initiative, and then asked, “Will there be another?” Yes, and soon.

After the dinner, Paul Jones perfectly captured the spirit of the night: “The Long Table is sorta the unconference version of a great dinner party.”

Thanks
A hearty thanks to all those who attended this dinner — your active participation in the evening made it a success.

Thanks also to Badi Bradley for opening 3CUPS to us.

And thanks to Hicham Elbetri, Naima Ejjouf and Soumaya Elbetri for preparing the delicious food, and to Janet Elbetri for facilitating the catering.

The menu
It was delicious.

Trio of Moroccan Salads

• Zaalouka (eggplant “caviar”) with tomatoes and peppers
• Moroccan Carrot Salad with lemon, garlic, cilantro and a dash of cayenne
• Beet Salad with onions, parsley, cilantro and light vinaigrette

Entrees

• Marka of stewed chicken with onions, raisins and saffron
• Braised Vegetable Stew – potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, tomato & herbs

Finish

• Moroccan “Baghrir” Pancakes served with butter and honey
• Cardamom sugar cookies with lemon-cardamom glaze
• Mint tea

Tom Haines, late of the Boston Globe, a two-time travel writer of the year and an inspiration for The Long Table (he and Julie, Erin’s cousin, hosted us in Paris on our round-the-world trip home from Vanuatu), shared these good-food/good-talk anecdotes with me recently:

One of my favorite days so far came in 1991 or so, in South Miami, at the home of the sister of a college friend. My friend, Nick, is the child of a couple from Uruguay, and his sister Victoria had married a man from Ecuador, named Enrique. Enrique is a carpenter, and they’d bought a small bungalow and out the back Enrique had built a long, shaded porch and on it, a hand-made wooden table that seated 20 or so comfortably. All family and friends knew that on Sunday Enrique cooked and that the door was open. We joined them shortly after noon for gnocchi and conversation. People came and went throughout the day, an hour or more between courses, as some would go lie in the shade, or stroll the neighborhood, or head indoors to read a book. Always, at the table, there was a core of conversation. Grilled chicken came later, etc.

I think, too, of a visit to the home of the parents of my friend Gabriel Dvoskin, in Lomas de Zamora, just south of Buenos Aires. Gabriel’s father, Victor, had built a quinxo out behind their simple home. A quinxo is a kind of grill house, with a brick grill. Victor had also built a high bar and a long table. He greeted each guest with “Bienvenidos Chori-pan” a “welcome chorizo sandwich” fresh off the grill. Over the next hours, in addition to Malbec, he served grilled steaks and ribs, sausages, sweet breads and more. But always he was talking, laughing, enjoying the conversation with friends. Which was his goal.

And finally, this from Solon. The reunion this year more or less wrapped up on Friday. Bill, John, Paul had all departed with their families. Mary and her family were in South Russell. Only Julie, the kids and I, and Dan and his three boys from Hawaii remained. The day before, Bill and Maire had bought a replacement dining room table at a house sale – there’s was worn and rickety – and so the rainy Saturday was devoted to moving one table out, another in. That was accomplished by 2 p.m. Maire and I sat in a joking way to “test” the new table. Bill walked up and said, “Tom, how about a nice Malbec.” Dan strolled by and took a seat. We sat with salted peanuts and red wine and turned the pages of an almanac, first to study Chilean valleys, then Hawaiian islands, and on. Dan said, “we need to eat,” so he and his eldest seasoned steaks with worcestershire and garlic, I sauteed onions to put on top, and headed upstairs for a Barbera I’d bought at a small vineyard in Russian River Valley. It was early for dinner, maybe 4, but we sat for a feast of food and conversation, and agreed the new table had been well christened.

Erin and Anton Zuiker invite you to the inaugural event of The Long Table, an initiative to promote good food, good place and good conversation.

Throughout the years, our experiences at family holiday meals, Vanuatu village “kakais”, restaurant farmers dinners and impromptu tea parties have fostered in us both a strong desire to gather with friends, enjoy a good meal and engage in long, leisurely conversation. It’s in the sharing of food and stories and place that the bonds of family and community grow strongest, we have learned.

Our new home in Carrboro will be one place for us to set a Long Table to share a meal with you. We also want to encourage the Long Table lifestyle locally and nationally — we’ll support locavore events, plan a few of our own, blog about regional sustainable agriculture and plug into national organizations with similar missions.

We’re kicking off this initiative on Sun, Sept 20 from 5pm-8pm at 3CUPS in Chapel Hill. Hich Elbetri, chef-owner of Sandwhich, and his mother, Naima Elbetri will prepare an authentic Moroccan meal, Badi Bradley and Jay Murrie of 3CUPS will choose the wine, and Erin and I will get the conversation started with a story or two. Tickets are $35 per person. Reserve your space by calling 919.724.4220.

We do hope you’ll be able to join us for this meal.

Read about the inspiration for The Long Table at mistersugar.com. The food blogging event with Michael Ruhlman at Piedmont two years ago was another precursor.

Twitter updates will be posted to @thelongtable.

And speaking of storytelling, The Monti is a Triangle-based storytelling initiative. Don’t miss its season opener on Sept 19th.