Dinner Parties

How Del Posto’s Josh Saffer Makes Dinner for 12 — in a 350-Square-Foot Studio

The pork had been brined for a day, then roasted and carved.
The pork had been brined for a day, then roasted and carved. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

“When you’re throwing a dinner party for 12 people in a studio apartment, you need every inch of space you can get,” Henry Harper explains. “So for this one, my mattress ended up in the hallway.” Making do is part of the fun for Harper, who throws a semi-secret invite-only roving dinner series known as Sylvie’s. He started these pop-up dinners about a year and a half ago, collaborating with sous-chefs from the city’s top restaurants to create meals for groups of ten to 50 friends, and friends of friends, at whatever Airbnb, garage, or rooftop he can finagle his way into—and, from time to time, his own studio. For this evening’s festivities, he enlisted his frequent collaborator Josh Saffer, Del Posto’s sous-chef. The menu featured a lot of items that didn’t need to be cooked (raw oysters, prosciutto and figs) or could be prepared ahead of time (like the pork). Reheating all the eggs and cooking the mushrooms and chicory in the teeny-tiny kitchen were the trickiest tasks. But by balancing pots on top of the fridge, boiling water in a teakettle, and plating courses on cabinets, Saffer was able to pull it off. “I didn’t want to make the dinner seem too fancy,” he says. “I wanted it to feel like going to your parents’ for the holidays—but without the parents.”

The Menu:
Wellfleet oysters with plum mignonette

Prosciutto di Parma and black mission figs with balsamic

Wild mushrooms, chicory with poached egg, and salumi vinaigrette

Roasted pork and pan gravy

Fresh-corn polenta

Mustard green, pear, and matsutake salad

Spiced apple trifle

Saffer carrying boxes of supplies, plus a cooler to hold the oysters.
Saffer carrying boxes of supplies, plus a cooler to hold the oysters. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

There wasn’t a pot big enough for the eggs, so Saffer boiled water in a teakettle, put all the eggs in a Pyrex dish, and then poured hot water over them.
There wasn’t a pot big enough for the eggs, so Saffer boiled water in a teakettle, put all the eggs in a Pyrex dish, and then poured hot water over them. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Counter space was limited.
Counter space was limited. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

The pork was heated in a disposable, folded-in-half aluminum pan.
The pork was heated in a disposable, folded-in-half aluminum pan. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Saffer spooning soppressata sauce over the wild mushrooms and chicory.
Saffer spooning soppressata sauce over the wild mushrooms and chicory. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Saffer serving some post-dinner fruit.
Saffer serving some post-dinner fruit. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Photo: Jeremy Liebman

“When I got to Henry’s, I said, ‘Can I put my coat in the bedroom?’ And he said, ‘This is the bedroom.’” —Saffer
“When I got to Henry’s, I said, ‘Can I put my coat in the bedroom?’ And he said, ‘This is the bedroom.’” —Saffer Photo: Jeremy Liebman


*This article appears in the November 10, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.

Del Posto Dinner for 12 in a Studio Apartment