Grand Central Market Movies – Big

Zoltar has spoken, and your wish has been granted: yes, you can watch ‘Big’ on the patio at Los Angeles’ Grand Central Market while sampling from Horse Thief BBQ’s menu of Texan meats and veggie-centric sides. We promise that the magic of the evening will be restricted to the movie’s storyline, Tom Hank’s performance, and the restaurant’s non-Hollywood dishes like brisket, apple and pomegranate salad – that is, of course, unless you decide to try your luck with an unplugged fortune-telling machine, in which case, see you at FAO Schwartz on the human sized piano. Wednesday, August 3rd at 8pm in Grand Central Market, Downtown LA.

More Dinner Places

Dinner | Themed

Guild of Cookery

You know how much we love film and TV inspired dinners. Graham Bellefeuille and Ty Cox are cut from the same cloth. They created Guild of Cookery based on the medieval meals you’d find in Game of Thrones. Sans blood, gore and beheadings of course. They honed their craft in some of the best kitchens in SF. Most notable, for us, Foreign Cinema. A place that inspired our supperclub. Given the impending new Game of Thrones season, we’re betting tickets will go quick.

Dinner | Charity

Small Business Saturday X The Infatuation

Wait! Don’t go shopping today. Wait until tomorrow. Same goes for eating or at least eating out. Regular readers of FT know we’re buddies with The Infatuation crew. What you might now know is we’re equally long term fans of American Express. That’s why this collab was a must post for us. Plus, It’s innately a good thing to do. The Infatuation has curated some of the best deals on the Shop Small American Express site to get you both great (in many cases, hard to get) food while helping your local small biz stay in business. The team is hosting #DineSmall events at some of their favorite local restaurants in NYC, LA, DC, San Diego, Chicago and San Fran. Stay tuned November 26th as they open up the ticket sales. Saturday, November 26th from 3-6pm in various cities.

Dinner | Themed

Kraken’s Perfect Storm Dinner

Kraken Rum decided to serve dinner during a Caribbean storm that they created from scratch. Outlandish experiences that also resonate with the core of a brand are few and far between in the days of color museums and monochrome candy galleries. When I was a kid my parents orchestrated a Halloween/Birthday party that might have sparked my love of experiences. (My Birthday is end of October) The crescendo peaked with a “ghost story” that included a full-blown storm. My dad recorded the shower running and then played it back through his speaker system. He used a piece of sheet metal to simulate thunder and his Nikon flash popped every few seconds to create lightening. All this while my mom told the ghost story dressed as a witch. I will never forget this as long as I live. Those details make a huge difference and turn something simple into a remarkable moment. Kraken had a bigger budget than my parents in bringing their storm to life. We think eating inside their dark storm is going to be epic. When we say dark we actually mean black. The darkness rain show that kicks off the evening gives up a little when you reach the storm’s eye, then dinner is served…all black. Nori rolls, squid ink linguini and black garlic gnocchi accompany their iconic black octopus. The storm only lasts a few nights so Londoners grab your seats before they ship off. Sorry, a sailing pun was inevitable. July 12th and 13th in Charing Cross, London.

Dinner | Restaurant

The Best Classic Italian Restaurants in America

Ahh, yes. The red sawce joint.

If this is the first time you are hearing this term or discovering my map, I suggest you start HERE for some background and then return to this post.

There's nothing like sliding across that squeeky, fifty year old, red leather banquet as you temper your anticipation for the abundance when classic Italian-American dishes start hitting the table. The bubbling mozzerella on the veal parmagiana with wild spirals of spaghetti marina poking out from all sides. A spicy red curtain coating a bowl of uncle Vinnie's (or Joe or Sal or Paulie's) scungilli fra diavlo. Clams casino. Linguini vongole. Eggplant rollatini. Chicken saltimbocca. Nonna made tirimisu. The hits are all there. Too many, in fact, to make a decision. That's why you decided to bring a group. Part family, part friends, ALL FRAMLY. I've been feeling nostalgic lately, hence my TikTok, and learning more about how Italians migrated to America. This packs some very interesting, and some rarely told, stories. Many of these tales led me to an Italian restaurant story. This in turn sparked the idea to map the best of the classics, starting with New York and continuing across America.

The below map will evolve as I learn and catalog newly explored Italian-American neighborhoods. Take a peek and let us know any we missed.

More Dinner Places