Underground Supper Clubs are all the rage and we’re here to keep them a little less…well, underground. Here are our picks for the top, super-secret, highly-exclusive (and elusive) Underground Supper Clubs in the city.
Clandestino is a ‘wandering urban culinary experience.’ Uber mysterious and highly intriguing, the all-online reservation department will not reveal the location of their seasonal, monthly dinners until after your reservation is complete. Efrain Cuevas, Chef and Founder, creates said dinners from artistic inspiration, and performance artists frequently entertain diners. Clandestino dinner and cocktail parties begin promptly at 7 pm unless otherwise noted.
Cost: Cocktail parties range from $39-$49; the more formal dinner parties range from $79-$99. BYOB.
How to reserve: Click the RSVP tab on their website and follow directions until you receive a confirmation.
This subterranean ‘revolution in BYOB’ is located in the heart of Logan Square. The seasonally-inspired menu is meant to pair with your favorite wine, your favorite friends and/or your favorite family members (choose wisely). The degustation menu (four, seven or thirteen courses), available Tuesday through Saturday, is personally created and coursed out by Executive Chef and Owner Shin Thompson. Their Saturday evening Underground Dining events, however, are a completely different (and invitation only!) story. The founding chefs began this underground supper club in 2005 and are still continuing their grassroots efforts on a weekly basis. Menus change monthly and those lucky enough to score an invitation will enjoy a six-course tasting menu exclusive to that month.
Cost: $85. BYOB.
How to reserve: Sign up for Bonsoiree’s mailing list where you will receive information on how to begin planning your VIP experience.
Valerie Bolon’s Culinary Speakeasy
Valerie Bolon (of Top Chef Season Four fame) and Personal Chef Rachel Winpar believe that food, wine, beer and people should be celebrated in every way possible. They logically, therefore, created their monthly culinary speakeasies, highlighting delicious food and wine, sustainable ingredients, local farmers and wine purveyors, and artists of all kinds. The six-course dinners are as varied as “Brunch n’ Brew” to grilled cheese to cheesy grits and doughnuts.
Cost: $100.
How to reserve: This one is simple: visit www.valeriebolon.com and follow the links to reserve.
This super-duper, uber exclusive underground supper club is not even open to the public. For 5 ½ years, Joshua Kulp and Christine Cikowski have hosted 5 to 10 dinners a month strictly via word of mouth. You have to be invited by one of Sunday Dinner Chicago’s owners or by someone who has been invited in the past. According to Kulp, “we cook for friends and friends of friends…it’s an intricate community of diners.” If you’re fortunate enough to score an invite, you will enjoy a local, seasonal, sustainable meal fit to your taste and to the taste of the season.
Cost: $30-$65. BYOB.
How to reserve: Invitation only.
X-marx Chicago has been an underground supper club with a non-pretentious approach since 2007. Ensuring a one-of-a-kind experience every time and rarely creating two dishes twice, X-marx features two tiers of events: the X-Market Dinners/Coma Toast Brunch/Family Style Meals, which are 5 to 7 courses, and the more laborious Junkets, which run 8 to 12 courses. Dinners and Junkets are hosted on Fridays and Saturdays and sometimes Sundays and Tuesdays (for a grand total of four times per week!).
Cost: X-Market Dinners, Brunches and Family Style Meals are $45-$55; Junkets are $70-$90. BYOB.
How to reserve: Subscribe to X-marx’s email list via their website to receive information on how to sign-up for events.
