One of the most “so hot right now” restaurants in New York City isn’t actually a restaurant. It’s the dorm room of Columbia University econ student Jonah Reider.
Reider began serving prix fixe meal to groups of three to four people on the weekends at his supper club, which he calls Pith. As its popularity grew, he started to host dinner parties on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and reservations are already booked up through December, when the semester ends.
His roommates seem cool with it for now, but that’s probably because they also get to eat there:
“It’s definitely a lot of fun,” says [architecture major Jordan] Walters. “But it can be a strain since we have to study. I guess now with his fame, we’ll have to have a discussion.”
The hottest table in town is in a Columbia University dorm http://t.co/XphydWuB36 pic.twitter.com/UAkRganwdK
— New York Post (@nypost) October 8, 2015
Columbia hasn’t interfered yet with Reider’s project, but that might be because he’s not actually turning a profit. (Running a real business out of a dorm room would be against university rules.) Each meal is around $15 a person, give or take, because it’s based entirely on the cost of the ingredients for that night’s menu.
Dinners are five to eight courses and have been known to include artisan cheese plates, lamb chops, red kale soup, Mahi Mahi ceviche, and even cocktail and wine pairings. Reider doesn’t follow recipes and hasn’t eaten at some of the more exclusive five-star New York City restaurants he’s basing his dishes off of. He’s just loved cooking since he was a kid and likes feeding people. He told Fusion:
“Eating ended up being a really important part of my social experience because I love cooking for people and my friends were always happy to come eat my food.”
If you’re looking for decor and ambiance — maybe don’t, because it’s a dorm room. There’s probably a Goodfellas or Scarface poster on the wall. Still, the popularity of the dorm room eatery is soaring (NYers love this type of stuff): Reservations are booked (someone even tried to book Thanksgiving) and people are now begging for a spot to get in.
Not surprisingly, Reider is hoping to one day open his own restaurant — a “snack bar” that combines art and music into a small space. Being that he’s a senior, that day may come soon.
[via New York Post]
