Chez Le Commis Will Pop Up at Le Bon Cafe on Nov. 17

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Chez Le Commis is back, but now, the "underground" supper club is moving from founder and part-time chef Tom Madrecki’s apartment to Le Bon Cafe on Capitol Hill for a Nov. 17 dinner.

The reservations, which typically sell out within 30 seconds, will now be determined by lottery vs. first-come, first-serve. If you’re interested in the first seating on Nov. 17 (at 6:30 p.m.), you can email [email protected] between 6 and 7 p.m. tonight (not earlier or later!) to request a spot. Names will then be selected at random. The supper club will also have a second seating around 8:30 or 9 p.m. with no reservations—just show up. Wine will be available for those waiting in line. Each seating has room for about 24 people—double the number Madrecki could accommodate out of his apartment.

"The idea is to have something that's a little less formal and more available to people," Madrecki says.

Madrecki, who has apprenticed at Noma in Copenhagen and Le Chateaubriand in Paris, will prepare a four-course menu for $60 with natural/biodynamic wine pairings for $30. Bottles of wine will start at $40, and glasses will go for $10. Here’s Chez Le Commis’ tentative menu:

An Arpege Egg: Roe, Smoke, Maple, Vinegar
Black Cod, Cabbage, Ginger, Chicken Skin
Aged Beef, Fried Herbs, Raw Onion, Pickles
Tres Cremas

If you can’t/don’t feel like snagging a table, Chez Le Commis also plans to sell a $20 cassoulet for two and bottles of wine to-go.

Madrecki would like to again make the dinners a regular affair, either weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Whether he’ll continue to cook out of Le Bon Cafe or elsewhere is TBD. He says he will no longer host public dinners out of his apartment.

And as for a restaurant of his own?

"We're always open to the idea," Madrecki says.

Photo by Scott Suchman