Empty Private Dining Room? Try This Brilliant Idea

So no matter how hard you try (or beg), you cannot get that private dining room full on Mondays or Tuesdays. You should try this chef night trend, Open ChefAMe.

Let Springwise explain:

“Through the participation of a few Philadelphia restaurants, Open ChefAMe offers what it calls an ‘open mic night’ for local aspiring chefs on one Monday each month. The chosen culinary talents for each event get to pick the menu for a three-course meal, take over the kitchen at the participating restaurant and then cook dinner for a crowd.

“The dinner in May, for example, featured the talents of local food blogger Felicia D’Ambrosio and pastry arts student Alyssa Shilliday; the menu included sweet corn soup with chives and bacon garnish, gougéres with dry-cured ham, watercress and Dijon cream, Moroccan spiced braised lamb shoulder with lentils and minted yoghurt, Thai watermelon soup, sake-poached halibut with marinated cucumber salad, and Korean style skirt steak with pears.

“After each event Open ChefAMe donates more than 25 percent of its profits to at least one charity, chosen by the night’s chefs.

“It’s not hard to see why aspiring chefs would want to cook for an Open ChefAMe event, since the opportunity would provide both exposure and a chance to try their hand at cooking in a commercial kitchen for a real crowd. For consumers, though, the potential benefits are equally compelling: fabulous food, creatively conceived and delivered; a novel, one-of-a-kind experience sure to inspire status stories aplenty; and the chance to be able to say, ‘I met [insert chef’s name here] back before she was famous!’ Hospitality entrepreneurs: a concept to try out in your hometown?”

Open chef night? Oh yeah sign me up, I have a killer grilled pizza that would bring anyone to tears, tears of joy that is.