Local group sets moveable feast in motion

Erin Meyer with Chef Lalita Kaewsawan at the Al Fresceaux Thai dinner. (Photo by Deb Levy)

Last summer, Erin Meyer was looking for a way to do more farm-to-table dining while showcasing the skills and creativity of the city’s chefs.

“So I got a few of my friends and we’d have what we called ‘fancy dinner parties’ and invite people and see if we could get chefs to cook for us,” said Meyer.

The concept blossomed into Al Fresceaux.

“It’s a roaming dinner party,” she said. “Every month we have a different chef in a different location with a different concept, and we invite 25 to 35 people per dinner, depending on the space.”

The meals are generally six-course tasting menus, and the dinners are usually at private residences throughout the city.

Braised pork belly, hard boiled egg and pickled mustard greens waiting for its shiitake mushroom broth (Photo by Deb Levy)

Last month featured Chef Lalita Kaewsawan’s modern twist on traditional Thai dishes. Last fall, the group had an Oktoberfest dinner prepared by Chef David Anthony Temple, aka Chef DAT LLC, that included lobster bisque, wild boar and kobe oxtail carbonara, black garlic ice cream.

And Saturday night, Al Fresceaux convened to celebrate Louisiana’s winter seafood with the following dishes prepared by Chef Jacqueline Blanchard:

• Yellowfin, strawberry, pinenut, corriander
• Brown shrimp fennel cucumber, samphire
• Blue crab, yard egg, truffle, tarragon
• Crawfish pansottie, sunchoke, tendrils
• Snapper, buratta, pierre part caviar
• Meyer lemon ‘tarte citron’

Soon after its inception, P.J. Rosenberg of Rosenberg Wine Consulting joined Al Fresceaux, “taking our wine pairings to a whole new level,” said Meyer. “I’m really excited we met him.”

To be a part of a future Al Fresceaux dinner party, Meyer invites you to join the group’s mailing list. “We email out the dates and the times, and whoever responds first gets the seats.”

Just email eat@alfresceauxnola.com, or visit the website, (www.alfresceauxnola.com) or Facebook page.

The next Al Fresceaux event will be Sunday, March 23, with invites going out about two weeks prior.