How To Create A Restaurant Feeling At Home

The ambiance, the cocktails, the menus…

I miss going out to eat! I will say though, the one thing I don’t miss is getting dressed up. Being able to eat at SF’s finest restaurants in my sweatpants feels like a dream come true. Each Saturday night, two girlfriends and I (who are in my social bubble and I know are being diligent and getting tested) get together to create a restaurant feeling dinner. It’s the one night a week, I live it up!

Here’s how I do it…

The Meal

The planning starts early in the week when we decide where we’re ordering from. Big decision! Also, a lot of these nicer restaurants sell out fast. You want to be sure you can get your order in early in the week. Plus, it gives you something to look forward to all week. This week we ordered from Rich Table, California fare using local ingredients. The actual restaurant itself (which I’ve never been to) seems to have a casual relaxed feel that has an open kitchen concept.

The Setup

From placemats to bread plates to cloth napkins, I took it out. This is the time to use all your entertaining goodies you’ve been saving all these years. I wanted the decor to also match the theme of the food and with Rich Table having a new American relaxed vibe, I thought neutral colored Gerber daisies, tea light candles (If I learned anything from my wedding planner- lighting is everything!), and of course a playlist that went perfectly with the food. It’s all in the details!

The Drinks

For the pre-dinner drink, I had Aperol Spritzes waiting for everyone upon arrival. They are super easy to make with 3 ingredients: Aperol, Prosecco, and club soda. I even had time to garnish with an orange slice. They’re light, refreshing, and everyone seemed to love this cocktail! For dinner, I served Decoy’s Cabernet Sauvignon. I knew the meal had red meat in it, so I wanted everything to mesh together as much as possible.

This was a really fun way for me to connect with my friends that made us feel like we weren’t in a pandemic, even if it was just for a couple of hours. No face masks, no worrying, no COVID talk, just good food, good company, and fun times.

The dishes at the end of it were totally worth it!