Picture this: You’re sitting down at the table to share a delicious, chef-crafted meal with a group. But here’s the catch — you’re meeting the other guests for the first time. The concept has been popularized, mainly in large cities, through apps like Timeleft, but locals Marcella and Jack Kirakossian of Cook With K have created their own personalized twist on the dining phenomenon. They started the Dinner with Strangers series.
Marcella, chef and owner of Cook With K, began noticing that when she hosted cooking classes, some attendees were most invested in the social element of sharing food and learning about each other. During her time living in New York, she heard about the trend of strangers gathering for a meal. So in December 2023, Cook With K hosted its first Dinner with Strangers.
Each month, the husband and wife duo hosts up to 10 people for an intimate dinner at their 100+ year-old farmhouse. The menus, inspired by Marcella and Jack’s travels, change each time — themes have ranged from Greek, Italian, and Spanish cuisine to a 1920s murder mystery party.
The motto for the event is simple: “Arrive as strangers, leave as friends.”
And it rings true. “We had a group where three of them went and had lunch a couple of weeks later,” Marcella shares. “We do want to harbor friendship out of it, for sure.”
How to participate
If you’re itching to make some new friends and experience the community-building dinner for yourself, you can secure tickets for the next Dinner with Strangers on Saturday, Sept. 14. You’re in for a French treat, with dishes like ratatouille, beef bourguignon, and raspberry lemon pavlova on the menu.
Bonus: Cook With K also offers private chef services and cooking classes.
