Lex Eats Local — Mystery: It’s What’s for Dinner

It’s 6:28 p.m., and we’re parked on a dark street in Boise’s North End with our eyes on the clock.

“Should we go in?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” my dad says. “Maybe we should wait another minute.”

He, my mom, and I peer out the windshield and into the gloom. There are three other cars parked nearby, each one idling. We’re all waiting for 6:30 p.m.

‘It’s a Scam’

The anonymous email that brought us to this street — signed only “Under the Table Team” — included an admonishment: “Don’t be early and don’t be late!” Ordinarily my family wouldn’t obsess over an occasion down to the minute, but in this case it feels vital. After all, entry to one of Boise’s most exclusive supper clubs is at stake.

I discovered Under the Table Boise on Instagram (@under_the_table_boise), and was immediately sucked into their posting history. Beautifully plated dishes. Local food collaborations. Charity shoutouts. On Oct. 30, 2021, they’d hosted a “Coven Dinner’’ featuring squid ink pasta on black plates. Who were these people?

A list of upcoming dinner dates sent me down a rabbit hole. I ended up in @under_the_table_boise’s private messages.

“Hey there!” I typed on Nov. 11, 2021, “I just saw your post about the final dinners of the year. Where are tickets sold?”

The tantalizing “…” appeared.

“We book through here and email,” @under_the_table_boise wrote back. “And take payment through Venmo or Facebook Pay.”

I gave them my email, and minutes later, an invitation popped up in my inbox, complete with “Don’t be early, don’t be late!” a private home address in the North End and a Venmo handle.

“This has got to be a scam,” my husband said when I proposed we spend $130 on a mystery dinner. “Let me get this straight — you don’t even know what’s on the menu? And you just pay some guy on Venmo? No way. I’m not going.”

Fortunately, my parents are always up for an adventure. I sent the $195 and crossed my fingers.

The Truth

I have to be honest — I wasn’t that worried. The @under_the_table_boise’s collaborators included local brands I recognized and trusted, Molly’s Mills and Grand Teton Brewing among them. A popular Boise food influencer had posted about their dinners. Add in a bit of Instagram scrolling and Google sleuthing, and I uncovered the names of the two men behind the curtain.

“It’s not a scam,” I told my husband. “It’s going to be great.”

Nikia & Kiddo

That doesn’t stop my heart from pounding when the clock strikes 6:29 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2021, and the other cars on the block swing open their doors. Pair by pair, we step into the cold and head toward the house with the “Under the Table Boise” sign on its door.

Two rambunctious dogs meet us on the other side. Kiddo the dalmatian leaps up to greet me and Nikia the husky wags her tail. Beyond them are four beautifully set tables arranged in a square, and, welcoming us, the night’s chef: Adan David Callsen — hobby cook, dog dad and community engagement and outreach coordinator at Boise’s One Stone school.

The Main Event

Callsen has never cooked professionally, but after years working in hospitality as a front of house manager he knows his way around a menu. The night starts with champagne and an amuse-bouche of toasted baguette topped with gooey brie, thick-cut turkey, cranberry salsa and chives — a tantalizing riff on the flavors of Thanksgiving.

Over the next three hours, dishes continue to roll out through the kitchen doorway: farro salad with greek yogurt dressing; roasted red pepper soup with homemade focaccia and morsels of gnocchi hidden at the bottom; locally made pasta with lamb and pork meatballs, cubed butternut squash, and a sprinkle of sage; and finally decadent cookies and cream cheesecake topped with mocha porter whipped cream.

The portions are generous, and everyone at the table — an accountant, a student, a marketing executive, two startup employees, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and more — enjoys glasses of BYOW (bring your own wine).

Behind the Curtain

As Callsen tells us between courses, he and his now-husband, Kevin Blakeslee, started Under the Table Boise in August 2019 as a creative way to fund their wedding. They began by hosting pay-what-you-want dinners for friends and family inspired by the Netflix show “Chef’s Table.”

Callsen did the cooking while Blakeslee handled the bookings and helped source ingredients. Then, word got out about Callsen’s food. More than two years later, Under the Table Boise is still thriving in the Callsen/Blakeslee living room-turned-dining room.

And how does Callsen feel about the fact that the combination of Instagram, Venmo and Facebook Pay might make some people think his dinners are a scam?

“This little air of mystery is one of the things I love most about the experience,” he admits to me later in a phone interview. “Our guests are taking a huge leap of faith in trusting us that this will be an exciting experience. They’re paying in advance and just getting an address, date, time and where to show up. They don’t know what’s on the menu, who other guests will be, or what to expect.” This creates “an organic experience” of meeting new people and discovering new foods. Chuckling, he adds, “We do have a legal business and pay our taxes.”

Have Kitchen, Will Teach

Under the Table Boise isn’t just a business, though — it’s also a career builder. High school-aged students from One Stone can volunteer to help plan and execute dinners to complete their Summer Experience, honing their cooking, hospitality, or food photography skills along the way. Under the Table Boise offers the students 8-10 hours of work per week.

“After they’ve gone through the Summer Experience and gotten their credit for One Stone, they become paid employees and rotate through shifts. They’re paid an hourly rate and a portion of the tips, which are split between the students and a volunteer server,” Callsen says.

The students also experience giving back. Under the Table Boise regularly hosts or donates dinners to nonprofits including CATCH, Boise Period Project, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Eight kids have gone through the program so far.

Despite all of these official business trappings, Callsen and Blakeslee have no plans to quit Venmo and start taking credit cards.

“We like the idea of it being something that’s kind of exclusive, and if you don’t know about it, you don’t know about it,” he says.

I’ve already bought my next ticket.

Did you miss last month’s “Lex Eats Local”? Read it here.

This story was originally published by Boise Weekly. Read the original here.