Thursday, September 13, 7:00 P.M.
Members $95, guests $120

Chef Peter Hoffman of Savoy has an idée fixe, and in his skillful and dedicated hands that turns out to be a very good thing. Hoffman is obsessed with using local produce, encouraging sustainable agricultural practices, and preserving the fishes in the sea. (He recently produced Seafood Solutions (Chefs Collaborative), a guide for chefs who want to buy fish without contributing to overfishing.) But Hoffman won’t beat you over the head with his ideology, oh no. His gentle persuasion is of the culinary variety, and it’s far more effective. You’ll feel his commitment in every "eclectic and interesting" forkful at this cozy SoHo spot (Moira Hodgson, New York Observer). "Dinner at Savoy is the ultimate therapeutic experience," wrote Time Out New York. For this special dinner and workshop, Hoffman will be culling and cooking from one of his favorite haunts, the Union Square Greenmarket. Hoffman has been on the Greenmarket advisory board for some 15-plus years, and he shops there every day it’s open, often using his bicycle (specially rigged to carry flats of vegetables and fruits) to purchase the raw materials from which he builds his menu.

Hoffman and his wife Susan Rosenfeld met while working at Hubert’s, the happening restaurant of the late ‘80s. He studied under Madeleine Kamman, pedaled around Southern France to check out the local produce, worked in kitchens in Tuscany and Languedoc, and in New York at the Quilted Giraffe and La Colombe d’Or; she put in time at Sarabeth’s and Le Madri. Some ten years ago, they opened a place of their own. Gourmet described it as a "small, cozy, very personal, and slightly eccentric restaurant," a place for "diners with the urge to explore." In a two-star New York Times review, Ruth Reichl wrote that "Eating at Savoy, you get the feeling that the people who run it like food, like themselves, and like what they are doing." Saveur also felt this warmth, listing it among their Places We Love. "We always find something good, and unexpected, in this warm, tiny restaurant in lower Manhattan," the editors wrote. New York reviewer Gael Greene agreed: "Everything on Hoffman’s menu is tempting." Tempting you at Hoffman’s Beard House dinner will be a menu carefully chosen to maximize the best produce Indian Summer has to offer. (He is even using the honey from his rooftop hive in SoHo for dessert.)