Issue #1: The First Eden Dinner
A story on one of the most important dinners for The Eden Place and me, Abena.
Hello and welcome to In the Garden by The Eden Place, the in-house newsletter talking about all things Eden. While all of Eden’s events happen IRL, we want to use this space to share the people, places, and things that inspire our company. Expect to see recaps from dinners past, announcements for future dinners and events, personal essays from people in our Eden community, and guides on how to fall in love with food in all the ways.
Starting something new is hard. Like diving off the cliff for the first time, you sus out the landscape, mind your footing, and practice your running start enough that by the tenth try, you’ll finally take the leap.
That leap was hosting the first Eden dinner. Easier said than done, right? Just the idea of trying to host one really good dinner party left me in a bit of an anxiety spiral. Gathering people is a natural talent of mine. From rallying my camp bunk to sing an improvised tune to getting my 200 person company to participate in a baking contest for National Cookie Day, there is nothing I love more than seeing people interacting in a room with the help of my innate ability to connect with just about anyone.
Now this innate ability was tied to my job. I was now running a company whose whole mission was to connect people through food. If this goes south, what would this mean for a key part of my personality and also for this brand new company?
To the tune of Break my Soul (yes reader I know it come out months after this dinner), I released all the negative thoughts and got right into planning mode. How could I gather 21 people intentionally?
With my focus playlist in the background, I took to my trusted notebook, the Leuchtturm 1917, and started architecting this dinner. I wrote down a list of 30 NYC-based friends, or friends who happened to be in town, who I admired immensely and would be a key part in supporting me as I built Eden. To ask for help is a personal challenge but these were people who sat with me as I lamented on the anxiety of starting a company, helped me pick out restaurants for future dinners, offered fashion advice for event fits, and proofread emails that I sent out to guests.
With the busy schedules that we all had, l was beyond lucky to have 21 friends RSVP yes. With that first step done, we were onto our next challenge. Where can we all sit comfortably? I scoured through a whole list of restaurants sending persuasive emails to managers until I remembered a chance encounter with La Mercerie that lived rent free.
My friends Holyn, Stephen, Jack, & I stumbled into the Soho restaurant on a blustery January afternoon for light snacks and drinks. Heading to the basement level, you are greeted by this elegant dining room that feels like it was straight out of a Disney movie. The House of Bowls, the name for the dining room, had this dinner table that centered the dining room so beautifully. With just enough room for dishes, candles, wine glasses, and people to comfortably make eye contact, it couldn’t have felt more right for the first dinner. As luck would have it, they had a spot open on March 14th which got me one step closer to this perfect dinner.
With one task complete, there comes another one: the seating chart. Channeling elementary school teachers everywhere, I needed to create a vibe where every single person felt comfortable. Now while most teachers are creating these charts to prevent chatterboxes from talking through the day, this seating chart was optimized for healthy conversation where two different people can appreciate each other in a friendly way while digging into delicious food or libations of their choosing.
Setting the seating chart up was a bit of a group project. There’s nothing more painful than going to a dinner that your friend invited you to only to sit next to someone who clearly couldn’t care about your name. In desperately wanting to avoid this, I asked each friend to send me three topics that they were excited about when asking them to RSVP. It was a fun exercise in understanding the things that my friends were hyped and creating the right environment for fruitful conversations. It was really refreshing to see friends passionate about food talk about the exciting projects they’ve started at one end of the table while friends eager with ambitious plans to tackle climate change waxed poetic at the other end of the table.
In order to be a great host, it is important to not only to prepare yourself for a good night but also give your guests a small taste of what to expect while not giving too much away. About two days before the dinner, I sent every guest a little paragraph on the people they were sitting next to and any other expectations on what to expect from the night. I was a little nervous sending it to friends because who would want a dossier on the person next to them but much to my surprise all my guests were immensely grateful for this. I think it also gave my guests a sense that this was a special occasion to meet someone new, enjoy good food, and bond over celebrating a friend finally going for their dreams.
Like another day passing through, March 14th 2022 came in like a lion and out like a lamb. All I could think about that day was getting to that dinner table. Sitting through work meetings thinking about whether the restaurant would remember all the dietary restrictions I sent beforehand, writing emails hoping that all my friends could make it despite their busy schedules, and at the gym practicing my speech while doing lunges.
Right as rain, every single guest showed up just as excited and nervous as I was. It was lovely watching old friends ease into conversation and new friends politely wading through small talk as they got to know each other. Finally, the time came to gather everyone together. I have this rule where I always have to start and end Eden dinners with a short speech. Gathering all my nerves, I stood up and talked about the journey of building Eden, the doubts and the triumphs, and also how this was the first step in figuring out we can bring Eden’s thesis of gathering people through food to life. It also allowed for an easy segue into giving everyone else the spotlight. I asked everyone to share the most important meal that they had in the last two years. I think the pandemic gave everyone a chance to come to terms with their relationship to food in ways that they wouldn’t have considered in the before times. It was beautiful to hear stories of friends cooking for siblings, meals discovered on travels, or immersing in the simple joy of fresh produce. Having everyone offer a small piece of their life story through the lens of food definitely brought us closer together.
With our hearts starting to fill up, it was time to fill our bellies. Calculating food for a group always sends my brain into overdrive. I think it stems from years of watching my mom plan church potlucks for 200 people or the summers I spent slinging snacks to hungry camp kids but I feel this deep passion for ensuring that everyone can enter a room and enjoy food regardless of an aversion or dislike. Immense blessings to the La Mercerie team because they really pulled through by curating an exceptional meal marrying French culinary techniques with the bounty of winter produce.
I was so engrossed in the food and company that my rule of camera eat first stepped off to the wayside and all the memories I have were from the printed menu I saved. Guests had the option of starting off with the Kabocha Squash Velouté, a warm soup topped with crème fraîche and just the finest touch of black truffle or the salade verte aux noix, a lightly dressed lettuce salad topped with crunchy walnuts and a tangy red wine vinaigrette. The grilled salmon paired with a creamy béarnaise sauce, warm spinach, and a savoury garlic nougatine was a baller main course. The other option was the confit de canard avec polenta crémeuse, a confit duck leg paired with creamy polenta and dressed with the most wonderful bigarade sauce.
To supplement these rich dishes were the most elegant sides: hen of the woods mushrooms sautéed in butter as well as Thumbelina carrots glazed with wildflower honey.
Julia Child famously said “A party without cake is just a meeting”. Following the Grand Dame’s advice, we ended the night with Apple Charlotte, one of the best French desserts known to man. Roasted and salted apples are cooked in cinnamon, placed in a cake of ladyfingers, and topped with powdered sugar. This is all sitting on a bed of warm caramel sauce. We couldn’t have asked for a better treat to go with deep conversations and the improvised seat swap that happens when people are ready to meet new pals across the table.
The dinner went smoothly without a hitch. So smooth that my type-A brain could hardly believe it. Everyone left feeling more full with all the delicious food and perhaps a new appreciation for gathering intentionally in community. I still see the impact of this dinner months after we all left that table. It’s in hearing Aleksija and Holyn bonding over crypto stuff, Ross and Sarah nerding out about how to make the food world better, or Elaine and Randa building incredible companies that are tastefully transforming NYC social life.
This dinner is the blueprint for all Eden dinners. Having a diverse set of people gathered around the table, conversation starters that prompt meaningful chats, asking dinner attendees about things they are excited about to seat them with people they could vibe with, and food that was delicious and hearty enough that they remember the flavours hitting on their tongue.
As someone starting something new, it’s always nice to have a first sketch to look at when building on your vision. On days where I’m struggling to find a restaurant, get seats filled, or even have the motivation to keep building Eden, I think of that dinner. It affirmed that I am loved beyond measure, connecting through food will be a forever passion, and the dinner party will be one of the heartiest ways to bring people together.
To Ankit Shah, Tina Zheng, Elaine Cheng, Rebecca Jacobs, Aleksija Vujicic, Esther Lee, Katie Chiou, Sarah Teich, Tash Doherty, Jack Cohen, Emily Bingham, Dave Ambrose, Naj Austin, Ross Chanowski, Holyn Kanakhe, Tamara Winter, Lauren & Stephen Wemple, Randa Sakallah, and Rachel Cantor, thank you for making the first Eden dinner so special. I couldn’t have asked for a better village to support me and support Eden on such an important night. Here’s to sharing all of life’s meals, big or small, together!
Thank you for reading this and I hope this inspires you to create your own special dinner or come celebrate dinner parties with us at The Eden Place!
Huge thanks to Holyn Kanakhe for her edits, Jack Cohen, Ankit Shah, and Sarah Teich for their photos!
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Shorter walls and longer tables are what it's all about.
We will never forget this wonderful dinner. Thank you for being you, Abena. Glad to know you.