Dining Outside the Box
Michael Easton’s Supper Club Soirees
DOUGLAS MERRIAM
Not that anyone can ever truly get bored with the Santa Fe dining scene. There are, after all, more than 200 eateries in our food-fab city. Occasionally, though, an unexpected, spontaneous dining event is called for. This is exactly what new-to-town chef Michael Easton offers with his bimonthly La Lucciola Supper Club dinners. Easton, who was born on the East Coast but raised in Albuquerque, has returned to New Mexico after a 10-year sojourn in Seattle, where he honed his skills in both classic French and Italian restaurants. Clever chef that he is, Easton hatched the project as an alternative dining experience for fellow foodies, which allows him to share the foods he loves—mostly from Southern Europe, all prepared with a bounty of local produce and ingredients, and served outside the traditional restaurant setting.
Held in a variety of changing locations around town, including Easton’s South Capital casita, the dinners bring together friends and strangers at a table for 12, for a gourmet five-course meal (with wines)—dishes Easton keeps under wraps until the food is served. The element of surprise and the novelty of sharing great food with new comrades make the evening a hot ticket for epicurean-savvy Santa Feans. Easton promises “a momentous evening of soulfully prepared food, great wines, unbridled revelry, and sparkling conversation.”
La Lucciola, Italian for “the Firefly,” is a symbol that summons up for Easton visions of a fabulous patio dinner on a warm summer night. Regardless of the season, this gifted chef puts a festive impulsiveness back into the art of dining well. Never one to rest on his laurels, between gigs Easton is also the new chef de cuisine at Louis Moskow’s recently reopened 315. To join one of Santa Fe’s hottest new culinary concepts, go to lalucciolasupperclub.com or call 206-387-3556.
