"Sunday Supper" at Makers Central
There's nothing quite like Sunday supper - the tradition of gathering around the dinner table with family and friends at the end of a long, busy week.
This past weekend, I attended "Sunday Supper" at Makers Central in nearby Tarrytown, New York. Makers Central is a group of talented artists and entrepreneurs who create handmade goods for some of the best restaurants in the country - items such as ceramic plates, wooden bowls, knives, and much more. Several times a year, Makers Central transforms its bustling workshop into a beautiful and thoughtful pop-up restaurant, and invites a well-known chef to prepare signature dishes for a long table of guests. This dinner was made by celebrity chef and restaurateur, Christian Petroni. He prepared a delicious menu including escarole and iceberg salad, fried meatballs and vinegar peppers, pasta e patate with mussels, beef braciola braised in arrabbiata sauce, creamy polenta with farro, and for dessert - olive oil cake with zabaglione.
Enjoy these photos of "Sunday Supper" at Makers Central. And please go to the web site to learn more about its Makers.
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- For “Sunday Supper” the crew at Makers Central transforms its active workshop into an elegant dining room complete with white tablecloths covering one long community table. (Photo by @sagehundgen; Makers include @connormcginnstudios, @medgemontdesign, @c.loscarpentry, @batflowerpress, @Pivot_Concrete, @makerscentralny)
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- Above the table is a giant handmade wreath full of foraged spring flowers.
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- Each place setting includes a menu card and message from its hosts. The table centerpieces are floral arrangements by Michelle Edgemont Design. All the Makers contributed their beautiful creations to the event. (Photo by @sagehundgen)
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- Each menu was also handmade on recycled paper by Natalia Woodward from Bat Flower Press. Natalia has a work space at Makers Central. I got to see her printing press as well as some of the other types of handmade paper that she makes.
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- This is Connor McGinn, co-founder of Makers Central. He is opening his ceramic kiln so it can be used to make Chef Christian Petroni’s signature meatballs. Just hours before the meal, the kiln was filled with plates made right in the studio. Connor and Christian fired it back up to cook much of the meal. (Photo from @connormcginnstudios)
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- Here are some of Connor’s handmade ceramic plates displayed prominently on the shelves and used for “Sunday Supper” meals.
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- Two Makers helping with dinner – concrete maker, David Puchalski and woodworker, Carlos Chimborazo. Both are former bartenders from Blue Hill Stone Barns. They are teaming up once again behind the bar to create craft cocktails for Makers Central’s Sunday Supper. (Photo by @lexymonaco)
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- Here I am with knife maker, Matt Yazel. Matt made this group of knives for the event. (Photo: @connormcginnstudios; Maker: @yazelknives)
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- Matt and I talked about the beauty of hand crafted kitchen knives.
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- I also took a small tour of the workshop – here are shelves filled with Connor’s plate ware – cups, bowls, plates in a variety of light hues.
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- Here are more of Connor’s creations stacked nearby.
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- Before dinner began, I took this snapshot from one end of the table. It was fun to meet so many interesting and energetic people.
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- And here was the first course – plated escarole and iceberg salad with red onion and creamy labneh yogurt and pecorino vinaigrette dressing. Chef Christian also topped each salad with parmigiano cheese. (Photo by Clarence Morey III)
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- Next, Chef Christian’s meatballs – fried and served with vinegar peppers. These meatballs were set family style, so everyone could get seconds and thirds.
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- Here’s Chef Christian putting the finishing touches on the main course – pasta e patate con provolla e cozze, or mussels. Chef Christian shared stories of visiting his grandmother in Italy as a child. Pasta e patate was an old peasant dish she used to make. At the end of every week she would empty out the bottom of the jar of pasta on the counter. All of the little broken pieces of spaghetti, the stray bowtie or zitti, the crumbs of pasta flour, it all ended up in the pot with a handful of potatoes and some garlic. She would cook it down until it all melded together into a porridge.
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- Here is a closer look at the giant bowl of pasta – it smelled so delicious.
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- The pasta was plated on lathe turned wooden bowls made at Makers Central by Carlos and Elena of C-Los Carpentry. Carlos gets all of his wood from local trees downed by storms. I told them they’d have to come by my farm to pick up some of the ash trees I had to take down and turn them into more bowls.
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- Here, Chef Christian prepares his toasted farro polenta. To add a bit of extra nutty earthiness he toasts it until it is nice and deep golden brown. “Right on the edge of being burnt so it brings out all of those beautiful nutty flavors”. Then he put into a spice grinder and pulverized it before adding it to the stone ground polenta served with the third course – beef braciole braised in arrabbiata sauce. He said it was an experiment, and it worked like a charm. (Photo by Clarence Morey III)
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- Chef Christian and Connor spoke to all the guests. They’ve known each other for years and enjoyed sharing stories fro their early restaurant days. (Photo by Clarence Morey III)
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- They both agreed there was no better purpose is in life than to make people happy with food. (Photo by Clarence Morey III)
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- Here’s the creamy polenta and kiln roasted braciole served on Connor’s ‘Trash’ plates. Each of these plates was made out of recycled clay. (Photo by Clarence Morey III)
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- We all watched as dessert was prepared.
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- Chef Christian brought in the most delicious crumb cake from his friends at Galloways bakery. He soaked it with brown butter simple syrup and fresh bright green olive oil. (Photo by Clarence Morey III)
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- After it was baked in the kiln, he topped it with zabaglione, a a rich Italian dessert custard made with eggs, sugar, and sweet wine.
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- The dessert plates are some of Connor’s “misfit samples.” Connor makes custom plate ware for some of the top restaurants in the country. He told us about the piles of beautiful designs that didn’t quite make the cut for one reason or another. Making art for a functional purpose like a restaurant has to be done within certain guidelines. They have to stack nicely, fit in a dishwasher, be ergonomic and easy to lift from the table with one hand. Most of these pieces didn’t make the final cut, but are perfect for “Sunday Supper.” And each guest picked out their favorite dessert plate to use. (Photo by Clarence Morey III)
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- It was a lovely event and a delicious meal. I hope it helps bring back “Sunday suppers” in everyone’s home. Thank you Makers Central. And please visit the web site for more information. (Photo by @sagehundgen; Maker: @connormcginnstudios, @capelilyflowers)
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