Lettuce Entertain You launches underground suppers

The Rabbit Hole, probably the most secretive of the underground supper clubs.

By now, everybody knows that when the term "underground supper club" is used, underground is usually the last thing it is. Oh, there's a range, of course. Yo Soy and Sunday Dinner have almost nothing secret or underground about them, whereas the Rabbit Hole,  X-Marx and Valerie Bolan's Culinary Speakeasy are marginally protective of where their dinners take place. Still, if you have a website, if you're getting press, if anybody can attend a dinner so long as they're willing to spend $100 or so—then, sorry, but you're about as underground as a cell phone tower.

All of this is to say that when I use the term "underground supper club" to describe Lettuce Entertain You's newest venture, I'm using it in the loosest of ways. The dinners will not be underground—they'll be at the Lettuce Lab, LEYE's test kitchen at 5419 N Sheridan Road. But the one-off meals will be announced in typical supper club fashion—that is, via Twitter or some other internet tool, and with only a few days notice—and tickets will be limited to about 30 people. "We want to keep it somewhat mysterious," says LEYE founder and chairman Richard Melman. Mr. Melman also noted that he'd probably be at the first few of these dinners. The other folks in attendance could be anybody—though Melman did say that he wouldn't want to see the room "filled with a bunch of restaurateurs and food writers." (And who can blame him? Those people are insufferable.)

Because of the undergroundishness of these dinners, I have no details about the first one. All I know are two things: 1. It will happen later this summer. 2. In what will surely be a relief to a certain class of supper club patrons, I think it's safe to assume that LEYE's clubs will not involve sitting on the floor.