VINGT Paris News: Hidden Kitchen

By Matthew Rose.
Dinner began promptly at 8 at Hidden Kitchen, an innovative dining experience created by a pair of Americans known only as Laura and Braden (their last names are secret!) out of their apartment on Blvd Sebastopol. The two twenty-something foodies from Seattle have outfitted their spacious dwelling for a unique dining concept and a regular Sunday night gourmand experience that brings 12 people together for an underground nine-course experience of food in the extreme.

I was invited by Bonapart Consulting, to spend Sunday night with several other friends - Italian filmmaker, Dariana Cardilli and incurable epicurian and interior designer Christiana Konstantinou, as well as some perfectly lovely strangers who heard about Hidden Kitchen through the Paris grapevine. Why so "hidden"? Says Laura, "Our efforts here are not to be famous, but to be a part of the the food scene here in Paris and to provide an intimate setting for our peers."

The evening progressed with well-timed drinks and courses: Upon entering the flat, we were handed iced Lillet as an apéritif, chatted in Laura and Braden's foyer, then took our places at the long dining table - candleabras, pitchers of iced water and cucumber slices. Music played lightly from an iPod, and the room was sparse save for two Jacques Tati posters, a large mirror, a few candles and a sixth floor terrace that opened up onto Etienne Marcel. Hovering above the table is a very cool chandelier made from what appeared to be mini-chemistry flasks.

For three and a half hours our animated dinner conversation was punctuated by mouth-watering bite-sized jewel after jewel - beginning with an amuse of a tiny BLT and shot glass of gazpacho, then on to corn soup with black bean salsa, skillette cooked chantrelles with mascarpone farro, seared salmon (or salmon tartar) with horse radish cream and dill, malibu fish tacos. We took a break here, finished our Rieslings and Chardonnay, refreshed our palettes with an "orange Julius" cleanser, then moved on to the barbecue ribs, succotash and pickled green beans, headed into the clubhouse turn with an heirloom tomato salad with chilled mozzarella fondue. Desserts followed: a NY-style cheesecake with roasted nectarines and finally, coffee with petit fours served in a silver box. Each dish was beautifully thought out for both aesthetics and appetite - just enough to satisfy you as the evening clicked forward. Braden gave a little description of each course before we lustily began each stage of the repast. "It's far more enjoyable to see art or taste fine food in the intimate setting of the host's own home," said Susie Hollands. "I loved the metal box containing the exquisite petits fours - a peanut brittle, rice krispie cube, chocolate truffle and raspberry goodie."

Christiana, herself intimately involved in food preparation and presenation, wants to come back. "The whole concept is absolutely fabulous, the hosts adorable, the outcome up to expectations," she said. "Launching a business like this might be a little tricky though, especially in France. You have to maintain that mystery and convince the French administration exactly what you're doing. Hidden Kitchen addresses a vast niche and has large success probabilities."

Chocolate & Zucchini food writer, Clotilde Dusoulier, a 27-year-old Parisian, gushed about the experience: "This was a highly promising dinner, each dish tastefully plated, well balanced, and clean-flavored, projecting an energy that, to me, epitomizes contemporary American cuisine... a cuisine that focuses on the quality of the ingredients and the precision of the techniques, but also likes to play around with some of the best loved elements of the American food culture (here, the BLT, the crab cake, the steak and onion rings, the handpie and rootbeer float, or the petits fours)."

The idea of moving small enterprises - design ateliers, art galleries or even restaurants - into apartments for a unique experience seems to be taking off in Paris. Offering an intimate experience around the table or in the salon for a select audience has distinct advantages: No huge overhead, total environmental control and RSVP from the get-go. French-American art writer, Annoucka Roggeman recently launched a gallery in her own apartment off the Quai Valmy; Ex-pat Jim Haynes, might be the contemporary original (after Gertrude Stein) - he has long held his Sunday night dinners in his flat near Alesia. Clearly the future in Paris is taking place at home, now an open secret.