Fall and winter exude dinner party sentiment with the sensory notes of the season driving the menu. To help you really lean into the season’s dinner party vibes, we asked some Flavor Creators in the food and drink industry to offer some guidance on your next dinner party.
Chef Michael Reed and Pastry Chef Karolyn Plummer joined forces to build a menu around not just the season, but the personalities of the people sitting around the table. To do this, Chefs Reed and Plummer met with dinner party host Indy Srinath to take the menu of a dinner beyond just pairing food to time or place. They decided to go deeper and really look at the personality of everyone around Srinath’s table to build a menu that spoke to the nuances of those people. From there, they consulted our Spirits Editor Zach Jack Johnston, who worked to pair Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple cocktails with the food and the vibe of the party.
As with any party, each guest brought their own charisma to the table. Their energetic, bold, and adventurous personalities gave the chefs ample inspiration to then craft a three-course menu with cocktail pairings. And right there, that’s enough to start building a menu of cocktails, appetizers, main dishes, and a big finale dessert.
Check out the video above to see the dishes that these guests inspired and how the Jack Apple cocktails paired with them for a night to remember. Hopefully, you’ll be able to take some tips from the pros in this video and our recent guide when you plan your next dinner party around your crew.