032: BE HOME FOR DINNER

Summer is in full swing and I love it mostly because that translates into ambitiously abundant schedules, weekends that usually start earlier / end later, maybe a vacay or 2, & for a lot of people, a time to do all the things they’ve been saying they want to do. Naturally, New York is beaming with pop-ups, small businesses in the streets, and communities committing to old + new hobbies. Truthfully, I love nothing more than watching people put their ideas into motion and create something that inspires them (if I could do anything for the rest of my life it would be passion projects all day, everyday).

Kendra Borden, who I met while dancing in Italy last summer (but lives in NY… I heart small world moments) and her friend/creative partner, Nico Lopez-Alegria, are my biggest hobby inspos, as of late. Be Home For Dinner, created by the two of them, is a community-sourced cookout by/with/for friends. I got to hear more about how it all sparked the other week and felt, subsequently, what better place to share my inspo than here :

Paella Party

Kendra & Nico, who met during their undergrad at Columbia, had backgrounds both together and as individuals that influenced Be Home For Dinner: working in cafe / restaurant settings, participating in pop-ups together, Nico living in special interest housing built around community meals at school, Kendra smashing grapes at age 2 to growing up and hosting dinner parties, etc, etc, etc…. It was a natural evolution of experiences, adorned with collaboration, that led them to creating BHFD.

While the first volume of BHFD happened in early May of this year, “paella parties,” somewhat of a foreshadowing to what would cultivate, had been happening for months. Nico had his dad’s paella recipe and a paella pan of his own, which made the most sense to utilize in the place NY’ers usually have the most space: their roof. As a dish meant to be shared, they invited all their friends and it became something that alchemized into a regular rooftop cookout (eventually nicknamed “paella party”).

When they moved apartments and no longer had roof access they started entertaining the idea of finding alternate spaces to keep the party going. This led them to consider how the friends who were attending were largely people in the food & beverage industry with connections to a range of resources: wine, coffee, olive oil, flatware, etc. Kendra & Nico illustrated the start of BHFD as something that really naturally consolidated.

Nico: "We’re not proposing a really novel idea as a dinner party but something that was exciting about making this was giving all these food and beverage people a platform to try each other’s produce in a very informal way.”

Scale, Sourcing, and Seasonality

The goal of BHFD was to create a low barrier to entry experience while also emphasizing a shared appreciation for quality, and because the event’s scale, their goal was obtainable.

Kendra: “It wasn't an extremely high input - high output setting, so producers could donate or sell to us at a much lower cost which also removed barriers of access for guests.... And because seasonality only makes things more available, we weren’t having to import anything from less sustainable conditions but rather we were able to get our hands on what was being grown by the farmers we partnered with.”

They traced where a seasonally-inspired-quality-menu X axis intersected with a we-could-make-this-or-know-someone-who-could make-this Y axis, and curated something that would be shared around a table. And while Kendra & Nico were really hands on with all aspects of the event, so much of it also operated from the kindred ideas of everyone involved.

Nico: “We had seen our friends do their shit so many times before, that we just implicitly trusted them.. We were like here, we will connect you with free this, free that, have a ball! And then the rum company, for example, was also delighted to have something they hadn’t seen before be made with their product.”

For $36 a head, BHFD presented a menu of 2 cocktails— one white rum, lemongrass, meyer lemon & one dark rum, mango, chile de árbol— a full wine selection, fresh sourdough, olives & olive oil, tarragon basil spring salad, carrot pistachio summer salad, land paella with chicken & chorizo, chocolate mousse, home roasted coffee, and biscotti.

Guest list

Kendra, a dancer, and Nico, a film maker, have recognized that there aren’t a lot of opportunities to connect and meet people beyond the super traditional ways, or ways that go beyond one field. They wanted BHFD to be different; a gathering for individuals to expand horizons, create connections, and enjoy new company.

Kendra: “I think the delight of having so many fields represented was that it wasn't only a dance event, it wasn't only a film event, it wasn’t only a food event… it was people from really diverse circles in New York.”

BHFD was an assemblage of chefs, growers, set designers, bartenders, servers, photographers/videographers, social media coordinators, dj’s, parents, kids, and friends.

Nico: “It wasn’t a clout thing, and when it came down to the event there wasn’t a division between who actively worked to put it together and who attended.”

I think there’s a lot we can learn from Kendra & Nico: they were resourceful, authentic in their approach, and rooted in the idea of community. Even the paella pan, which only seemed right to include in BHFD’s first edition, created a center of attention that people could coalesce around and use as an excuse to strike up convo with someone new.

While they anticipated the event to allow artists & artisans to network for new opportunities, at the end of the day, they wanted to create the tone of a family event.

Kendra: “Be home for dinner was something our parents would tell us, and now we’re kind of creating, hopefully, equivalent communities, even though we aren’t directly with our families”

Nico: “The menu and the space was also designed with that in mind. The plates we used were enamel tin plates — unbreakable but still elegant, it made it easy and unfussy.”

People they’ve lived with, people they’ve worked with, close friends, close friends of close friends, mentors, Nico’s mom,,, they all gathered at Baby Blue’s Luncheonette where Kendra & Nico used to lived 3 apartments down from, and now work together at on the weekends.

Kendra: “The coffee shop next door, Brooklyn Ball, was where we’d always sit to have our coffee, have our chats… so it was really cool to be next door to the space that would eventually host Be Home For Dinner. ”

Nico: “It did feel like home actually.”

Be Home For Dinner plans to host locally sourced community cookouts for each season — “but we’re going to tag on some more things.”

Partners: Space from Baby Blue’s, produce from Natoora, cookware from Falcon, rum from Ten to One, chorizo from Despaña, wine from Zev Rovine Selections, bread from Apt. 2, chicken from Foster Sunday, olives from Partanna, chocolate from Raaka, coffee from Saffmo, candles from Bodega Alchemy

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Kitchen tune:

Nico: “Italodisco”

Kendra: “Growing up, we’d always put on the buena vista social club CD by buena vista social club at the start of any party. The first song, Chan Chan, signals the start of hosting for me— usually the 5 min run-around and/or the snack and drink right before the first guest shows. But also I’ll listen to whatever I’m loving at the moment when I cook…depends on the weather.”

Dinner party necessity:

Nico: Friends

Kendra: Something for people to snack or sip on when they arrive

Inspo:

Nico: “Right now, the Tarlow family restaurants: Marlow & Sons, Marlow & Daughters, She Wolf Bakery, Diner, Achilles Heel, Roman’s”

Kendra: “Getting outside, meeting new people, and moving my body.”

Take Care,

Chloe