I've Gone Rogue!

I live in Southern California. Orange County, to be precise. There are lots of rich and famous -- and really cool -- people down here. I am none of those. In fact, my motto has always been: “In a town with so many somebodys, it’s nice to be a nobody.”

Last weekend, I finally became a somebody. I was invited to my first-ever underground dinner in Studio City, the precise location I am not allowed to reveal for fear of either being killed, or worse, never invited back. But I can tell you that the dinner was not at a restaurant, but rather, at the home of LA-based chef named Amy Jurist. That’s Amy, below, standing in her kitchen.

About 50+ people gathered at her home in the hills, her “rogue restaurant,” most of them strangers, and all of us lovers of great food and wine, for one of Amy’s Culinary Adventures. As Amy puts it, “Underground dinner parties are like food raves. Bootleg restaurants in apartments, houses and other private spaces, where you get to dine with other fellow foodies, at locations you don’t find out about until after you’ve paid the entrance price.”

Pretty cool, huh?

Chef Amy has been hosting underground dinners for five years to rave reviews. She calls her special cooking style “yummy decadence.” Each dinner has a special theme. The dinner I attended was called “The Mushroom Experience,” and every dish was made from – you guessed it -- a different variety of mushroom. None of them hallucinogens, sorry.

Here’s a sampling of the menu:

Appetizer: Curried mushrooms in filo with crème fraiche
Dinner:
Soy-glazed Asian mushroom stir-fry
Grilled portabello mushroom pizza with goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, caramelized onions and spinach (my favorite!)
Mushroom, caramelized onion and chicken cannelloni with fontina and parmesan cream sauce
Porcini-crusted hanger steak with red-wine mushroom sauce

Here’s what the portabello mushroom pizzas looked like:



What I really enjoyed is the eclectic mix of people there. I met an Internet entrepreneur, an event planner, an artist, a public-relations professional, a mother of twin teenagers, a decorator and a lifestyle guru. Meet Lauren and Shanna of Purry Communications Group, holding their mushroom lamps made out of paper mache:



If you’d like to be on the inside of the “It” dining experience, log onto The Ghetto Gourmet,” a pirate restaurant project that started in 2004, whose website lists the more than 100 underground restaurants "in hiding" all over the country.

I’m a big Italian food fan, so you just may see me at Amy’s next underground dinner, “One Night In Italy,” on July 11th at a beautiful private residence in Santa Monica. (Click here to learn more about it.)

Did I mention the decorations were spectacular, too, thanks to a really creative guy named Jonathan Fong? Here’s one of his mushroom bubbles that was hanging over every table (is that a gorgeous sunset, or what??):