“How y’all doin’ tonight?” called Sarah Simmons, the founder of City Grit, which originated as a private dinner club and has evolved into a reservations-only “culinary salon” in Nolita. We were fifty-some-odd strangers gathered in a back room of a defunct Catholic school, now an antique shop packed with weathered tables, mismatched chairs, and assorted bric-a-brac (funky lights, funky cabinets). Simmons, who grew up in North Carolina and was formerly a retail strategist and an avid home cook, hosts dinners made by different chefs several nights a week. That evening, titled Collards and Carbonara, was named after a cookbook by Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, the owners of the Memphis restaurant Hog & Hominy. Before even one boiled peanut hit the table, Ticer and Hudman, friends since high school, took the floor, and stumbled charmingly through an unpracticed speech about the roots of their Italian cooking with a Southern, nose-to-tail twist—essentially, “We were inspired by our mawmaws.”
The dishes that followed were more sophisticated: mini duck-ham biscuit sandwiches with hazelnut honey, seared shishito peppers with bits of homemade beef jerky. Short rib with radishes was a little tough, but Brussels sprouts with speck were roasted to peak sweetness in a lovely red casserole. The marrow risotto was one of those genius dishes that makes you wonder why you’ve never seen it before. All this was shared, family style, with a pretty accountant and her app-entrepreneur fiancé at one end of the table, and a banker and his Southern-transplant fashion-publicist girlfriend at the other, all young, all repeat customers. Everyone loved the individual Mason jars layered with whipped salted peanut butter and banana pudding.
Another night, another chef, and there was no getting around eating with your hands. For Butts, Legs, and Sides, Simmons herself prepared an expert bo-ssam feast—crispy-crusted pork shoulder roasted until falling apart, served with fried oysters, kimchi, rice, and a spicy dragon sauce, all to be wrapped in lettuce leaves—followed by a platter of excellent brined, then fried chicken legs and Hoppin’ John fried rice, bright with young ginger, mixed with fluffy scrambled eggs and black-eyed peas.
City Grit is not a secret, or exclusive—anyone can log onto the Web site and pick a dinner. Once you pay, you’re in. After signing up, you might start to receive copious e-mails trying to garner excitement for regional chefs—“NOLA’S. JOHN. BESH.”—and the dinners are often connected to a cookbook publicity tour. But the excitement in that room full of strangers is genuine, and infectious, and you might just hear a story, at the table or in the food, that you wouldn’t have otherwise. ♦
Visit citygritnyc.com for scheduled events. Dinners $45-$95.
