Dinner Lab

Chef Csilla Thackray of The Vandal served some amazing Hungarian inspired by her grandmother tonight!
The first dish was a cold kohlrabi custard that had salted potatoes crumbles on top that gave it a salty crunch. It reminded me of mashed potatoes. I need the recipe!
The borage leves was a soup with an edible flower «borage». It’s was warm and flavorful. The sour cream was the star. The flower had such a neat flavor — it kind of reminded me of meat. I think it would have been great with a few more.
The poached catfish… the description my neighbor just gave was terrifying. I think I just ate catfish sperm…
Goose! Goose! I mean substitute duck! I just had a liver dumpling that made me stop in my tracks. YUM. I can’t stop. It’s just perfect!
Gesztenye Torta is such a beautiful dessert! The lingonberry brittle was delicate and softer than expected. The caje was super dense and the cream on tio was delish!
Great job tonight Chef!

So this was about the 7^th time I’ve been to Dinner Lab between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. For those not familiar, Dinner Lab is a «pop up kitchen» concept. The company brings in either a traveling chef or a local chef looking for an opportunity to showcase their talents. You sign up for an annual subscription and then pay the per dinner charge for only the events you want to attend. That said, a single membership provides the opportunity to attend events in any of the 31 cities they operate in. So you sign up for an event, you get to see the proposed menu in advance and then the day before you find out the location, which is always somewhere cool or funky. Some examples here is Pittsburgh have been the old warehouses in the strip district and The Mattress Factory on the North Side.
Besides the venue you then for a single fee get a 5 course tasting menu paired with specific drinks (for 2 courses), a specially prepared cocktail and an assortment of wine and beer.
For the meal, there are 2 seatings offset by about an hour, and each course is individually served about every 10 minutes or so. At this point, you eat and have a blast comparing notes with your friends and neighbors around you.
I can’t recommend this highly enough. Its a great opportunity to discover new chefs, try different cuisines and ingredients and flavors you wouldn’t normally try,

We went here on Saturday night for the second night of their opening event.
I really wasn’t sure what we were in for, but was excited to try out this new concept in pop-​up dinners.
When we arrived we quickly found a seat and began talking to our table mates. We were very lucky to have such wonderful company for the evening. Then we got a free drink a sake sangria that was out of this world and kept flowing throughout the night.
I won’t go into the specifics about the menu since each one is different, but I will say that the service was phenomenal and the food was out of this world. I can’t wait to go to another dinner and to try so many new dishes, though I am sad that I can’t just go out and order this menu again because it was so good!
I know that the $ 125 signup charge just to get the calendar of events seems outrageous, but it is worth it in my opinion. The dinner we went to was 60 or 65 a person (I can’t remember) and was inclusive of the five courses and gratuity for the amazing staff!
I wish I could have tipped more!
Overall I think it is a worth it investment and makes for a fun evening out with a wonderful communal vibe.
I can’t wait for the next one!