After moving to Pittsburgh, I knew I wanted to create a version of Foghouse Supper Club for the Steel City, but the white tablecloth and formal supper club no longer fit what I aimed to achieve with these events. So, a new, more whimsical menu was created, this time dishes of my own creation, and an overarching, immersive narrative written to flavor the entire event: Rhonda’s Birthday! The hope, this time, was to create an immersive story surrounding the night so compelling (or absurd) that guests unknown to each other at the start of the night were bonded by the end. 

Each guest was invited to attend a thrown-together 31st birthday party for Rhonda, the mutual and fictional friend of each guest attending. If they didn’t bring a gift, no problem! We’ve got a gift for you to give when she gets here! Oh, she’s running late? No worries, we’ll go ahead and start eating! And by the way, she’s dedicated each dish to one of her friends, writing about her last encounter with Daniella and oysters but how she’s willing to try them again tonight or the strange experience she had with Brett, World of Warcraft raiding, and mushroom tacos that the dish had to be made a reality. At the end of the evening, with Rhonda a no-show, everyone was given a personal birthday cake to blow out a candle and wish well to their missing friend. 

Each dish was created with a story in mind about the associated guest’s fictional relationship with Rhonda using details gathered from social media and other public information with various stage elements throughout the night contributing to Rhonda’s absence. And the presents? An added bonus—cookies—for each guest to take home for sticking through it all.