At this gourmet restaurant in Sunrise, the four-course Tuscan dinner starts with potato and pumpkin pasta. The main courses include a seafood stew and Porterhouse steak with rosemary, sage and romesco sauce.
Everyone watches the chefs work their magic in the fancy demonstration kitchen, and questions about cooking techniques are encouraged, as are photos and social media posts. Communal tables stimulate conversation with new foodie acquaintances. Wine and tip are included in the price, which funds programs to help the developmentally disabled.
What is this well-kept secret? It’s a Chef Experience Dinner at the Emeril Lagasse Foundation Innovation Kitchen at Arc Broward, where the disabled learn life skills at little or no cost.
One of Arc’s training programs teaches culinary skills, and this enterprise appealed to Lagasse, the celebrity chef whose foundation helped pay for the demonstration kitchen and dining venue for 49. The kitchen, designed to help Arc bring in new sources of revenue, is centered around a 15-seat Chef’s Table, where diners can watch the frying, sauteing, mixing and baking up close.
Making good use of this fancy kitchen, Arc Culinary has been offering Chef Experience Dinners at least twice a month to the public for the past two years. As Craig Zeleznik, Arc’s director of culinary enterprises, gives his pitch to diners about Arc’s importance to the disabled community, he makes sure they know that about 1,200 people not only get job training through Arc Broward but also receive help with physical impairments, finances and personal care at the 16-acre site and its satellite offices and group homes.
At each dinner, he asks participants how many have been to a Chef Experience meal before.
“It’s about 50-50,” Zeleznik said. “About half have been to a previous dinner. Once you start coming, you keep coming.”
Each supper has an original menu, and themes have included Murder Mystery Night and Lavender Haze, a Taylor Swift-inspired meal that included tomato basil soup from her Red Era and Tay-Tay’s Favorite cheeseburger (with truffle aioli and grilled asparagus).
Zeleznik said newbies typically approach him after dinner in awe of the creativity and energy of the enterprise.
“I get a lot of, ‘I didn’t know this place existed,’ ” he said. “They realize they have become part of something larger than a typical dinner out.”
Here are some of the upcoming dinners. Most cost $89 for communal seating or $99 at the Chef’s Counter. All dinners are at the Emeril Lagasse Foundation Innovation Kitchen, 10250 NW 53rd St., Sunrise. To sign up, go to arcculinary.com/chef-experience-dinners.
Murder Mystery Dinner
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25
ON THE MENU: Caesar salad, grilled chicken, penne pasta and dessert
Under the Tuscan Sun 4-Course Experience Dinner
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16
ON THE MENU: Potato and pumpkin tortelli, Tuscan seafood stew, bistecca alla Fiorentina, and Bombardino Tiramisu
Breakfast for Dinner
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6
ON THE MENU: Buckwheat and wild mushroom crepe, salmon gravlax carpaccio, filet mignon, and coffee-flavored mousse with mochi donut holes
Winter Wonderland Dessert Experience
WHEN: 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14
ON THE MENU: Not yet posted
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