Cooks Share Their Favourite Methods to Improve Their Dinner Events — And They’re So Straightforward to Do

In the present day, a number of the most magical eating experiences occur tableside. A cart is wheeled to your desk with a full T-bone steak — it’s expertly sliced, positioned in your plate, and completed with jus. Bananas are flambéed earlier than your eyes, the odor of rum and brown butter filling the room. Even the only motions — pasta getting completed with a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano or black pepper from an extra-large pepper mill — can elevate a dish.

“2025 restaurant tendencies emphasize creating areas designed for entertaining, and reworking eating rooms into atmospheric, partaking environments the place dinner turns into a efficiency that captivates everybody on the desk,” says Kris Padalino, govt chef of Brennan’s in New Orleans. “The theatrical facet turns an odd dinner right into a memorable expertise that friends will speak about lengthy after they go away.”

Tableside eating would possibly really feel like one thing unique to high-end eating places, however in actuality, many of those methods and flairs might be simply replicated at house. On the forty second annual Meals & Wine Basic in Aspen, chef and tv host Tyler Florence will likely be instructing attendees find out how to improve dinner events with the magic of tableside service. 

“I all the time attempt to save a bit of little bit of what I name the ‘razzle dazzle’ for when the friends arrive,” he says. From wow-worthy dish preparations to easy hacks, listed here are seven methods to include restaurant-style tableside eating into your subsequent feast.

Have massive plateware readily available

In the event you’re getting ready meals for a crowd, it’s all the time greatest to have a handful of dependable serving platters and bowls. Use them to current your meal household model, or to finish dishes in entrance of your friends. In the event you’re going to put money into one, jumbo-sized merchandise, Florence recommends getting a giant picket bowl. 

“Having a very good outsized picket bowl is a superb piece of apparatus to have within the kitchen. You possibly can go away it on the counter and fill it with lemons or apples, however whenever you want a presentation bowl for eight to 12 folks, you’ve received one readily available.” Florence makes use of his picket bowl to toss large-format salads, putting it atop a humid towel to stop it from sliding round.

For out of doors events, make the meat the primary occasion

At barbecues and out of doors events, Florence will typically grill a big lower of meat like beef tenderloin, then slice it in entrance of his friends. “I like serving beef tenderloin as a result of you’ll be able to make the most of 100% of it and it’s a showstopper piece,” he says. “Then slicing it into medallions or two-inch slices for everybody to seize a bit, household model, is admittedly enjoyable.”

For complete fish, de-bone upfront

A complete grilled or baked fish is one other large-format protein that’s certain to impress your friends. At Carne Mare in New York Metropolis, servers crack open and fillet a salt-baked seabass in entrance of friends. However slightly than coaching the servers on find out how to debone a fish on the desk, 2000 F&W Greatest New Chef Andrew Carmellini will scale the fish, and take away its backbone and pinbones upfront. “We then put the 2 fillets again collectively once more [with the spine] and a few lemons, lemon leaves, thyme, and rosemary, then bake it in a platter,” he says. “It nonetheless cooks properly since you’re cooking it in opposition to the bones.” When the server arrives to the desk, they open the ocean bass and plate the fillet over contemporary citrus. 

You possibly can simply replicate this course of by asking your fishmonger to debone and scale your fish — however to not discard the backbone bone and head. Then whenever you’re prepping the fish, you’ll be able to place one fillet in your baking pan, adopted by the backbone and head, after which prime it with the second fillet so the bone runs down the center and it appears like a fish, besides it’s already lower. With this method, you’ll be able to nonetheless dazzle your friends by plating a complete fish, with out the strain of eradicating the tiny bones. 

When you have a firepit, use it

You possibly can all the time grill, however cooking over a fireplace pit will carry the identical sort of drama indicative of tableside eating. Prime your fireplace pit with a grate to grill meats and greens, and if you wish to go all out, Carmellini suggests making paella. 

“If I’m entertaining at my home, we’ll cook dinner a giant paella over a roaring fireplace,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what I do — even when I put rosé and sherry cocktails on the opposite aspect of the yard — all [the guests] care about is standing across the fireplace and cooking paella with you.” Make the paella in a big, cast-iron enameled pan or, for the last word flex, a standard paella pan.

Discover ways to flambé (safely)

“Fireplace is all the time a showstopper,” says Carmellini. Among the most spectacular, conventional tableside dishes, like bananas foster and steak Diane, are flambéed, however deliberately igniting an open flame inside your property might be intimidating and, frankly, scary. 

In the event you’re making a dish like cherries jubilee — ice cream topped with cherries which were flambéed in brandy — there’s no want in your occasion to crowd round a sizzling burner. As a substitute, carry the cooked cherries on to the desk to flambée, then fastidiously spoon it over every visitor’s bowl of ice cream. “You simply should be sure to warmth the alcohol first,” says Carmellini, who makes cherries jubilee at his eponymous restaurant, Cafe Carmellini. He stresses the significance of utilizing a rum with a high-ABV, or else the alcohol is not going to catch fireplace. “And be careful for folks’s hair.”

When doubtful, make a Caesar salad

“Caesar salad is the perfect starter dish for house cooks to grasp tableside eating,” says Padalino. The Caesar salad at Brennan’s in New Orleans is among the restaurant’s most iconic tableside experiences, second solely to the bananas foster. “The great thing about the Caesar salad is it requires nearly no particular tools past what most cooks already personal.”

You can also make the dressing by hand in a bowl utilizing a whisk or two massive spoons, or pre-make it in a blender. Add the lettuce, croutons, Parmesan, and anchovies, and “toss with a dramatic aptitude,” Padalino says. At Miller & Lux, Florence’s San Francisco restaurant, servers are instructed to “stack it excessive and watch it fly.”

“The bigger items of lettuce and people act as a base, after which stack the leaves up like a deck of playing cards from massive to small,” says Florence. “Then with one scoop on the underside and the opposite holding the stack in place, you raise [the lettuce] up, and all of it will get dropped [on the plate] in a wonderful stack.”

End your dish on the desk

In terms of tableside eating, a number of the smallest touches make the largest affect. “It’s simply enjoyable to complete a dish in entrance of [your guests],” says Florence. “Grating cheese, drizzling one thing with olive oil, or tossing a salad with a French dressing comprised of scratch — these issues create a magical house.”