Diary: Which Came First: The Eat Club Or WYES's Dinners?

Tuesday, October 12, 2017. Trinity's Chef Checks In. I feel minor chagrin in knowing that my idea for the Eat Club was superseded by WYES, the public television station, by at least half of a year. I've always considered our Eat Club dinners to be among the best ideas I ever had. We began holding weekly dinners in 1993 at the latest. But Channel 12 had almost exactly the same idea in 1991. The idea of "The Season Of Good Tastes" was to have chefs in excellent restaurants to prepare a multi-course dinner paired with wines. The chef and the wine providers gave short descriptions. All of this was presented with a good bit of formality. It was still unusual to find such food-wine events unless you were a member of a gourmet society. But the audience quickly became younger and more casual. It was also very popular, with reservations having to be planned well in advance. Most of that is also true about my Eat Club dinners. WYES, a non-profit organization, kept all the money for its worthwhile operations. Nor did I ever get a nickel from the Eat Club dinners. The customers paid the restaurants involved, although the bargains were very attractive to the customers. Our first dinner, at Bella Luna, involved a six-course dinner with wines for $40. The first course was fettuccine Alfredo, with fresh white truffles--among the world's most expensive foods--shaved over the pasta by Chef Horst Pfeifer. The only other major difference between Channel 12's dinners and hours was that we had dinners almost every week. WYES had a dozen or so dinners a year. For most of its history, the Eat Club was an every-week event, all year long. Sometimes we did more than one a week. One week we had four dinners. But I have to give WYES the credit for the innovation. At this time of year, they're doing more dinners than the Eat Club does anymore. The chef for WYES's next dinner was with us on the radio today. Michael Isolani is the executive chef at Trinity, the French Market-neighborhood replacement for the extinct Maximo's. This is one of the best of the many new restaurants to in that recently revived part of town. Although I've dined at Trinity a half-dozen times, this was the first time I'd met Michael. Doing so explained a lot of his menu and style. Little details like the house-baked bread, the lineup of many kinds of oysters, the open counter where you can watch all the cooking, and lively personalities among the servers. His menu sounds so good that I signed up for it. Tomorrow night, October 18, 6:30 p.m., $95 inclusive of tax, tip and wines (something else they have in common with the Eat Club). Here's the menu: Bay Scallops Corn broth, avocado, pickled red onion, basil Coffee-Rubbed Sticky Pork Belly Parmigiano crema, bitter escarole Half a Duck Seared breast, confit leg, foie gras, beets, parsnip crisp, jus Wagyu Ribeye and Marrow Truffle spicy sweet potatoes, pumpkin seed Warm Plums Honey crème anglaise Mint, amaretto crumbs, plum bubbles Dessert served with Community Coffee Reservations can be had (if they have any left) from WYES at 504-486-5511. Now: If anyone sits with me, will this be a Season of Good Tastes Dinner or an Eat Club event?