Family Meal Supper Club
Intimate Seattle pop-up demonstrates the harmony of Brazilian and Vietnamese flavors
What do eight strangers sitting around a table on a March evening in Seattle have in common? Why, of course, the food we gathered to eat.
And when that food included instruction, a jovial bit of rapport began to build among my dining companions. The same kind that surfaces when crawfish must be twisted and sucked out of their shells, ssam must be assembled with rice, meat, and kimchi, or injera must be torn and dipped into stews of lentils and vegetables. Those new to an experience soaked in encouragement from the initiated—yes, yes, their smiles said—emboldening us to try what became our favorite part of the meal.
Forging this shared understanding with a stranger, as ephemeral as the evening, was what struck me at Family Meal Supper Club, a dinner series from Vietnamese comfort food pop-up Ba + Mẹ headed by Lisa Bi, Seattle-based chef, writer, recipe developer, and teacher. After all, what bonds strangers more than discussing the best way to gnaw on a stick of sugarcane?
Previously an EMT and paramedic, Lisa forayed into food fueled by her desire to connect on a deeper level—with her family, her Vietnamese culture, and her community. At Family Meal Supper Club, which in March took place at Sophon, food acted as the vessel through which strangers became friends for an evening, curiosity about culture was welcomed, and local Seattle artisans and creatives were celebrated as an integral part of the story.
Lisa designed it as a space to play, emphasizing the “beautiful” and “explosive” outcomes from collaboration among creatives of her genre. She dreams that the concept will take shape as a future brick-and-mortar in conjunction with a Vietnamese deli and bakery and become a third space for the Seattle community where these types of creative collaborations live full-time.
My friend and I scooted into a wooden banquette seat and reviewed our menus listing six courses that knit together Brazilian and Vietnamese flavors. Lisa’s co-chef for the evening was Emme Ribeiro Collins, who runs Afro-Brazilian street food pop-up Baiana, hosts the Dishing Up Diaspora Podcast, and was named a 2021 Food Network Chopped Champion. After introducing ourselves to the six other strangers at our table, we all shared how we happened to end up there, along with our anticipations for what the chefs had prepared.
The restaurant glowed with warmth and the first drink feature settled brightly into my senses. This was a Chahn Muối Caipirinha, topped with a burnt salted lemon and freckled with basil seeds. It tasted like lemonade, but with a spirited body from Avua Amburana and Fast Penny Spirits’ Americano Bianca. I delighted in its texture and the delicate sparkle it left on my tongue.
Every Family Meal Supper Club so far—this evening was the third—has been a highly collaborative affair for Lisa, her team, and the dinner’s co-chef. To find the guest chef for each supper club, Lisa leans on the old fashioned cold-call (she is a proud and, evidently, effective cold-caller). Over dinner with this person she admires, she’ll invite them to collaborate with her on the menu for the upcoming event. “I want the co-chefs to stand out,” said Lisa. “It's not just my dinner, it's both of our dinners. I really want people to be educated on whatever culture it is, whatever the intersection.”
With a co-chef on board, the event team then collaborates through rigorous R&D to design a unique menu, alcoholic and N/A drink pairings, music, and decor. All aspects of the experience are created with the intention to not only foster connection among strangers, but honor and complement the stories of each chef. “I take time to understand not just [the guest chef’s] cuisine, but their upbringing, the memories, and most importantly the love that has shaped their relationship with food,” said Moni Mitchell, a photographer and creative director who supported the bar, service, and decor. “From this place of understanding, we co-create a color palette, choosing tones, florals, and edible centerpieces that resonate with the heart of the meal, reflecting its origins and flavors.”
Partnerships with local food and beverage companies helped reinforce one of the dinner’s original raisons d’être: supporting local businesses. “I hope that featuring these brands will make people spend a little extra over [here] and save a little on the quick and easy things. I really do want people to expand their horizons. If not culturally, at least locally,” said Lisa.
Products from partners Fast Penny Spirits and Jacobsen Salt were present in our dishes and drinks, as well as on lovely display at the bar. Each guest also walked out the door crackling a cellophane goody bag: inside a canned Fast Penny decaf espresso martini and a Jacobsen Salt mini sea salt slide tin. Local amaro company SennzaFinne Libations was also a previous Family Meal Supper Club partner.
The tune of dense conversation personified the momentum that this concept continues to have. Alongside Lisa’s homestyle Vietnamese flavors, previous dinners have featured chef collaborations with Jose Garzón (of Garzón Restaurants), who brought Ecuadorian influence to the menu, and Alex Dorros (of Siembra), who brought in Peruvian and Colombian flavors. “It’s cool because it makes you realize how expansive culture is,” said Lisa. “There are things in certain dishes that Alex told me about that I’ve never had, and [they were] Vietnamese. Same with him, there [were] some Peruvian items that I found that he’s never had. We’re experimenting together and developing what we think the menu will look like.”
Previous dinners included conversation cards or food served family style to foster meaningful interaction between guests. This night, while still abundant in conversation, had a more fine dining feel to it: The chefs emerged from the kitchen as small plates were set before each of us to describe the flavors we were about to experience. “I already kind of knew from eating and enjoying Vietnamese food that the tastes are similar in a way,” said Emme. “It’s different, but I can still kind of taste home a little bit too.”
The third course placed before us was Bánh Hỏi Chạo Tôm, a Panko-crusted shrimp fritter wrapped around on a short rod of sugarcane, like a tiny and intensely flavored T-bone. We were encouraged to chew the sugarcane recreationally upon finishing, which stands out in my mind as I was a novice to such a pastime. The sugarcane also allowed the flavors of the dish in its entirety, the Bánh Hỏi rice noodles with a passionfruit nuoc mam and herbs, to linger pleasantly until the next course arrived. It indeed became my favorite dish of the night.
As with any well-executed, highly detailed culinary event, each dinner has relied on the energy and strengths of every person on the Family Meal Supper Club team. These events, Lisa emphasized, would not be possible without the talented creatives working alongside her to breathe life into them. “This is really a community thing,” she said. “Community in a sense where nobody wants anything from it, except a good old time. I'm very lucky that these people did it. If I didn't have them, none of this would happen. It would not be possible. It would not be the same experience. I’m very lucky.”
Further, it was clear in conversation with team members that they sought to engender a kinship among all guests who entered the space, and in doing so, transport them. “You got to be in this beautiful alternative reality for an evening where there's so much possibility,” said Dylan Cate, food filmmaker who documented the first dinner in this series. “You're learning, you're having deep meaningful connections to the people around you [and] with Lisa and her team through the food that you're eating. It's like traveling … [to] this incredible escape and a version of the world that you wish you could live in all the time.”
A sauce resembling the color of ripe peach flesh cuddled fried fish, sticky rice, and a homemade sesame cracker in the fourth course, Chả Cá Lã Vọng Moqueca. As a fusion of the Vietnamese dish of marinated fish in turmeric and galangal (chả cá Lã Vọng) and a Brazilian seafood stew (moqueca), this course—replete with turmeric, dill, and lime—had seamless synergy. “I was really excited to [make] the moqueca because although it’s a very Brazilian dish, I just knew [the flavors] would marry very well,” said Emme. It offered contrast to the one that immediately followed, Porco Com Tutu, of braised pork belly, refried cassava beans, crispy collards, and a cumin demi-glace. Where with the former lit my senses with a curiosity for the interplay of flavors, the latter imbued me with the hearty comforts of dining in someone’s home.
Looking around the room and seeing every pair of eyes focused on the chefs describing their creations, I felt affirmed in the belief that food is a tool for curiosity, connection, and community. The dinner was a social experiment of sorts, as its purpose was encouraging guests to step out of their comfort zone: Eat something new, maybe make a friend, or at the very least, have an interesting or memorable evening. “It’s like a blind date minus the romantic parts,” said Sehee Kim, who supported videography and interviews throughout the night. “But the best part of the blind date, without the awkwardness. You get to talk about food and culture and get to know each other. After the pandemic, I think everyone misses that but they don’t know where to begin.”
Through their own lenses, Emme and Lisa drew parallels between Brazilian and Vietnamese flavors in this meal, speaking to the intention of each ingredient or dish on the menu. It reinforced to me the most fascinating quality about food when thoughtfully prepared: its ability to express both cultural similarities and distinctions at once. The result of the chefs’ R&D were flavor couplings that proved to be deeply harmonious—and it imbued me with renewed hope that two strangers, with the same intention to connect through this curiosity, can achieve the same. While reality doesn’t always feel as resolutely rosy, this response suggests that food can give us that bit of optimism we desire, and a path to better understand one another in a world that feels as if division is dosed as daily bread. “It’s not just about the meal, it’s about the energy, the laughter, and the connection,” said Moni. “There’s something truly special about creating a space where everyone can share in that joy and leave feeling nourished in more ways than one.”
Family Meal Supper Club was a space where a group of strangers connected over shared dinner conversation extending from recent travel destinations to personal cooking tips, and these may seem like trivialities. But these are the stories that endeavor to bridge our divide and, at the core, give each of us greater insight into the many cultures that comprise our community, which has never been more important.
As I fell into a deep slumber, my impressions of the evening remained: Presence is highly undervalued, food and culture and community will forever be intertwined, and that the single memory of a person, of a meal, captured at a specific point in time is a kind of sacred gift. A gift I will open now and then if only to wonder, Will sugarcane ever taste as sweet?
Contributing Creatives to Family Meal Supper Club:
Nick Kono, wine service and pairing
Moni Mitchell, bar, service, and decor
Basquiat Vigil, bartender
Fabienne Vigil, front-of-house service
Jae Hamano, back-of-house service
Mary Trần, back-of-house service
Jonathan Jacobson & Sehee Kim, videography and interviews
Dylan Cate, videography
JN Bautista, photography
Mike Guevarra, music
Felix Tran, logo and branding
Follow Lisa & Emme to support future pop-ups!
Lisa → @yourcousinbi + @bamepopup
Emme → @chefemme_ + @baianaseattle
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I love a supper club! cheers
Such an interesting menu! And that cocktail looks delish!