Chef Dinner is a Fun and Adventerous Dining Experience

I have wanted to attend a Chef Dinner since, well, since I knew they existed! For one reason or another I’ve never been able to make it to one until a few weeks ago. I was invited to attend a Chef Dinner at Adriatic Grill in Tacoma located at 4201 South Steele St. I’ve had dinner there a few times and enjoyed it so I was excited to try this out.

What is a “Chef Dinner"? I’ve heard them called other things but basically it’s a dinner where the chef chooses the menu and you get to eat whatever they make! Pretty straight forward. Sometimes the chef will prepare part or all of the dinner in front of you, sometimes you will help with part or all of it. Or sometimes you get to just sit back and enjoy the ride, like the one I went to.

The Adriatic Grill has their Chef Dinner monthly on a Sunday evening. Chef Bill Trudnowski gets to exercise his creativity with the menu and his wife, Monique, does all the wine pairings. At $65 per person (includes a five-course dinner, wine pairings with each course, tax and gratuity), it’s practically a steal. For anyone who enjoys good food, meeting new people and is open to trying new things, this is the dining experience for you.

Chef Bill creates the menu shortly before the dinner as he waits to take advantage of what is available and fresh right then. You won’t know ahead of time what you are having but that is part of the appeal to me. I get to try things that I might not try otherwise.

Here is the menu from the dinner I attended. The wines are listed second in italics and are all Italian wines.

First Course: Seared Fontal Cheese with Asparagus and Quail Eggs, Greco di Tufo, Feudi di San Gregorio 2007

Second Course: Calamari with Black Ink Sauce and Adriatic Polenta, Zenato, Lugana San Benedetto, Lake Garda 2009

Third Course: Cucumber-Dill Spritzer on Ice

Fourth Course: Roast JidoriTM Chicken with Balsamic Braised Artichoke Hearts, Lucilla, Castello di Farnetella, Tuscany 2008

Fifth Course: Chocolate Ganache Cupcake with Raspberry Liqueur, Raspberry Cocktail

The dinner takes place in the center seating area of the restaurant, and I estimate there were 30-40 people attending that night. Most people seemed to be regulars (I believe the technical term is “Adriaddicts”) so there was a great deal of familiarity and joking around between diners and the staff. The atmosphere was festive and comfortable.

The service was top notch and the food was beautifully plated. The first course included caramelized onions and a few dots of pesto. Not a combination I would have come up with on my own but it worked really well together. The second course was interesting. I’m not a big calamari fan and the black ink sauce turned some of the polenta an unappetizing gray.  While the flavors were good, this was my least favorite dish. The third course was a refreshing drink made with cucumber infused vodka. The main course featured a delicious airline breast of free range, organic chicken which was rubbed with chopped kalamata olives and capers. And the last course was a huge chocolate cupcake. Simple but delicious, it was rich while not overly sweet.

I loved the pace of the service. One of my biggest pet peeves when I am enjoying a nice dinner is feeling rushed. We were served a course, it was described in detail by Chef Bill and the wine was introduced by Monique. There was time to savor the food before plates were efficiently whisked away by the attentive servers. We had plenty of opportunity to get to know our table mates, sip the wine and compare notes while the next course was prepared. 

The portions were generous and thankfully I was warned by an experienced diner to pace myself as I would be stuffed halfway through. She was right but it was hard to restrain myself, especially during the first course.

I plan on attending more at the Adriatic Grill and would love to try some others. I’ve heard that here in Gig Harbor has had similar events in the past. Please let me know if you hear of any or have attended one you would recommend.

The next Chef Dinner at Adriatic Grill is Sunday, May 22 at 6 p.m. Reservations are needed at least a few days in advance. Contact them at 253-475-6000 or http://adriaticgrill.com/

Here’s a money saving tip: If you are a member of , you can purchase a $100 gift certificate for Adriatic Grill for $79.