Our Kitchen Program
Personal Story: I managed a bar in Federal Hill when I was in my 20’s and it changed the way that I see about the work that I do. In that situation, when people were my regulars and I was seeing them a bunch, it wasn’t actually a great thing for their life. It meant that they were staying out too late, spending too much money, drinking too much, and not eating particularly healthy. I don’t want my work to have a negative impact on the people that I care about’s life, I want coming to our club and eating here to make you feel better. It’s my hope that you eat more vegetables when I cook for you than you will in other places. I want to make your life better, not contribute to it being worse.
How the Thursday Menus work
Limited menus allow us to shop for ingredients and prep them in bulk and cut down on food waste. The Club offers one meal each week for Thursday Night Dinner, with options for different proteins, carnivore and vegan. Half and whole portions are offered to accommodate different budgets and appetites. Two different meals are rotated on alternate weeks for about three months before changing them.
Side Note: Dyson’s Seasonal Cocktails generally also change on the same schedule the kitchen menus, and we try really hard to match the flavor profiles to each other.
The Part That’s Capitalism
Limited menus allow us to shop and prep in bulk/ cuts down waste
Any time that you come to the Club, there will only be a single meal offered. We all know that being able to shop in bulk and that preparing food in bulk saves time, so this menu system is our way of doing that in this kind of setting. It also has the bonus of streamlining the kitchen’s prep lists and how we serve meals.
To accommodate for both how hungry people are as well as how much money they want to spend, we always offer half sized orders and full sized orders. They are the exact same meal, the only difference being the portion sizes.
Due to the rising cost of food and inconsistent availability of many items, I often need to be creative and combine a limited range of options into different meals. I work hard to keep the menu fresh and exciting by using different condiments and drawing on my knowledge of spices, cooking techniques, and flavor profiles from different cultures.
One of my favorite tools is using pickled and preserved foods in my meals. Some examples are (insert your list). Sometimes these items are even for sale to members to help raise funds for the Club and make their home cooking a bit easier.
The Part That’s Community
*Always vegan option
No matter the day, no matter the menu. If Amelia’s in the kitchen there is 100% a vegan meal and not just all the sides thrown together on the plate. The way that I cook means that almost all of my food is vegan except for the actual meats, cheeses, and dipping sauces. All I’ve got to do is leave those bits off, add some extra veggies, and bob’s your uncle: a vegan dinner that’s almost identical to everyone else’s. It’s not an afterthought, it’s baked into the menu from its conception.
Meals at the Club are easily adaptable for allergies, dietary restrictions and preferences–i.e. you can’t eat onions, you don’t like cilantro. If you’re a regular, Amelia probably knows your preferences, but please self-advocate by making these restrictions known when ordering if you’re new or haven’t been to the Club in awhile. You can always ask ahead of time if a given meal contains a certain thing i.e. “Does the meatloaf have mushrooms?” and Amelia will do her best to answer in a timely fashion.
Our Commitment To Sustainable Farming
I do my best to spend our money supporting farming practices that we want to see in the world.
Beef from Roseda Farms
Pork from Heritage Farms in North Carolina
Chicken from Allen Family Farm
Produce for George’s Farm Stand on Harford Rd
Waverly Market
Composting At The Club
The sheer amount of the Club’s trash became unmanageable and we needed a better option than the city trash pickup. Now, the Club is able to pay a service to pick up and compost our vegetable scraps and kitchen waste, which is also in alignment with our sustainability goals.
The Part That’s Creative
Cooking for a living is my dream, all I’ve ever wanted to do.
I have very clear memories of cooking and loving it as a young kid and I’ve always known that being a chef is the only career path that I’ve ever wanted. I started working in my first kitchen when I was 16 and I’ve never looked back. I’m so grateful to have the opportunities that the Club has allowed me to have. The ability to cook food that I find creatively satisfying and to cook it for a community that I appreciate and want to show up for. This is so much more than a job to me, it’s a calling, a craft and skill set, a brain teaser, an artistic pursuit, a point of view, and something deep from my soul that I feel compelled to share with the world around me. It’s a hard profession but I love food, ingredients, knife skills, flavors and there’s not been a single day in all these years that the act of cooking doesn’t bring me personal joy and satisfaction.
My commitment to making everything from scratch
Making dishes from real ingredients- fruits, vegetables, meats, is where the joy is for me. What we put into our bodies should come from the earth, not factories. When food is made exclusively in machinery and in giant production batches it loses its soul.
My commitment to vegetables
I’m a meat eater, I really am, I love it. Vegetables are my creative jam though! They’re so much more interesting: the colors, the textures, raw or cooked, there are just so many different ways to express myself with them. They are so much easier to use to set a tone and shot of inspiration. I always feel better when I eat vegetables, both body and soul, and that’s what I want to offer people who eat the meals that I create. I want to give you a variety of flavor sensations and personally, I find that easier to do with vegetables.