Alexandra Kennon
Pompano lightly fried with masa atop a miso corn broth with wild mushrooms, white hominy, collard greens, and Fresno chilies
Imagine hosting a fine, four-course dinner party—including wine pairings—out of your own home. To some of you skilled culinary show-offs, this may sound like a regular Saturday night. To most of us, it sounds like a massive pain in the ass—mandating a probably-minimum of seventy-two hours of menu planning, shopping, preparation, and clean up.
Recently, I experienced the ultimate dinner party fantasy: I held an elaborate, four-course, high-end, wine-paired dinner in my own home, for my own friends. And I didn’t have to buy a single ingredient, toss a salad, pour a glass of wine, or wash a dish. I owe it all to the crackerjack culinary team at Fishhawk: a popup fishmonger business formed by Luci Winsberg, Tyler Correa, and Gina Mazitelli during the height of the pandemic in October 2020, which has expanded from their farmers’ market offerings to cater private dinners.
Alexandra Kennon
Roasted eggplant with tahini
The idea of having a private dinner catered in our house still feels unattainably fancy (to be candid, the experience was a gift I loved but would not have sprung for myself). Even presenting such high-caliber food and wine, Winsberg, Correa, and Mazitelli from Fishhawk made the experience feel easy, laid-back, and not at all awkward (as I’d imagine being served in your own home could totally have the potential to be). “Co-Chefs” Winsberg and Mazitelli handled the food, while Correa (Winsberg’s partner in Fishhawk and in life) kept the wine flowing.
Winsberg emailed me menu options beforehand, which included three distinctly-different choices for each of the courses. It didn’t appear that we could go wrong, but we chose what sounded best to us: most of our choices were Latin-inspired, with a middle course of a Middle Eastern-leaning roasted eggplant with tahini, just because we thought it sounded good.
Alexandra Kennon
Seared scallops atop a salsa verde piled with local greens
I wasn’t sure what to expect, so was pleasantly surprised when Winsberg told me she and the team would arrive around 6:45 pm for a 7 pm seating—they do all of the prep work on their end, and only needed to utilize our stovetop and oven to cook the fish and scallops fresh. Our first course of seared scallops atop a bright, fresh salsa verde was piled high with crisp, subtly-bitter local greens. Next was the roasted eggplant, dressed with wilted baby kale, roasted pumpkin seeds, tomato confit vinaigrette, and a homemade tahini so lusciously creamy we all but licked the plates (a bit emboldened by being in the comfort of our own home, no doubt).
For the main course Winsberg recommended leaving it up to her to select the freshest fish of that particular day—which I excitedly agreed to; I trusted her judgement and had also assembled a group of adventurous eaters. The result was the freshest pompano I’ve encountered, prepared in a dish credited to Mazitelli’s culinary mastermind: the fish was dusted in masa and lightly fried, set atop a miso corn broth containing delicate wild mushrooms, white hominy, collard greens, and thinly-sliced Fresno chilies. The beautifully-colored result rendered the previously talkative table speechless—or at least unable to discuss anything besides the glorious fish at hand. My partner Sam’s food writer dad obsessively zoomed in on the photo we sent him, making an astute observation: “Plenty of people are great home cooks, but you can tell this dish was made by someone with culinary training. It’s just another level.” Of course, he’s right. It was a next-level meal, enjoyed comfortably atop our own dining room table.
Alexandra Kennon
Café aul lait ice cream-filled profiteroles
For dessert, we felt kind of bad choosing the café au lait ice cream-filled profiteroles, knowing they would have to transfer the frozen filling to our house on a hot summer day. But, they were among the menu options, and clearly the Fishhawk trio is not deterred by tricky dishes, so we sprung for them, and were the opposite of disappointed—whole leaves of fresh mint and a rich tempered chocolate sauce made the ice cream-filled cream puffs all the more decadent.
On top of all of the incredible food and not having to drive home, we thoroughly enjoyed getting to gush about how much we loved everything to the small team as they (graciously) cleaned up our open kitchen behind them. Since then, we haven’t stopped talking about how much we enjoyed the whole experience—our only complaint is that now, hosting dinner parties the old fashioned way will never feel the same.
Read about two other unconventional New Orleans dining experiences featured in our July 2022 issue: Black Roux Culinary Collective and Rabbit Hole Supper Club.
