Tuesday, July 28th, 2015
Location to be announced
For more info and photos of Dîner en Blanc events from around the world, visit the official website dinerenblanc.info.
To keep up to date on event announcements for New York City, follow us on:
Diner En Blanc – New York
@DinerEnBlancNYC
Hashtags: #dinerenblanc #dinerenblancNY #DEBNYC2015
America is, quite simply, fascinated by food, and it cuts across generations. We have become a nation of “foodies” who celebrate food and share our passion with friends and family. We’re turning into gourmets in the kitchen, enroll in cooking classes in record numbers, and share recipes and photos on social media platforms. Today’s food landscape is as much about a shared social experience as it is sustenance. And at the vanguard of this social experience is Le Dîner en Blanc, the must-attend event for food lovers in the U.S. and around the world.
On July 28th, New York will host the largest Le Dîner en Blanc event stateside when a record 5000 guests dressed in elegant white gather at a secret landmark location to dine under the stars.
Le Dîner en Blanc is the world’s first and largest viral event, part spontaneous picnic, part pop-up mystery tour. Launched in France 25 years ago, the storied Paris tradition today attracts close to 15,000 people. After Le Dîner en Blanc’s U.S. debut in New York in 2011, the event exploded in popularity with requests to host it pouring in from around the world. This year the event is expanding to 55 cities across five continents, from Paris to Johannesburg to Montreal to Tokyo to New York to Chicago and Miami, with another 100 on the waiting list hoping to join in on the fun. The event has proven so popular that many cities have large wait lists, including New York, which often exceeds 30,000 people.
A smash success last summer in New York, celebrity chef and four-time James Beard Award winner Todd English returns this year by popular demand to curate special dinners for those guests who order through Le Dîner en Blanc in New York. This year Le Dîner en Blanc and Todd are offering guests a special opportunity via Le Dîner en Blanc’s social media platforms: one lucky guest will win a Todd English crafted dinner for four, complete with caviar and Todd English specialty creations from Ça Va Brasserie, delivered on site. Todd will present the dinner at the winner’s table in person, a once-in-a-life opportunity to meet the world renowned chef and pose for photographs with him. Culinary heaven!
Every summer in cities around the world, thousands of people dressed entirely in white descend on a landmark public space with everything they need for an elegant soirée in tow, including folding table and chairs, gourmet picnic food, fine china, silverware, and tablecloth. They first meet in groups of between 100 to 300 people at designated spots in the city and follow group leaders to the appointed location. The exact location remains a secret until the moment guests arrive, creating an air of mystery and excitement. It’s a magical moment in time — from different points throughout each city, thousands arrive at the same moment, at the same place.
Over the course of the evening, the diners eat and celebrate amid live music, dancing, complete with festive white balloons. Many spend weeks in advance planning their menus. Guests also use the venue to express their unique fashion and design style; the often elaborate and creative outfits, fantastical hats, and decorative table settings are always a fabulous spectacle.
Visually breathtaking moments include the waving of thousands of cloth napkins to mark the beginning of the dinner, as well as the lighting of sparklers to let participants know they are now free to mingle. When the trumpet call sounds the end of the evening, guests pack up their crystal, dinnerware and tables, pick up all their litter and head into the night, leaving behind no sign of their elegant revelry.
To maintain the uniqueness of Le Dîner en Blanc as well as staying true to tradition, guests must observe certain requirements and follow a few key rules:
- To participate: previous year guests are automatically invited or a registered member from the previous year may invite a new member or get on waiting list via the official Le Dîner en Blanc website.
- Once confirmed, each guest’s participation becomes mandatory, regardless of weather conditions. This is a rain or shine event.
- Dress code: elegant and white only. Originality is encouraged as long as it is stylish and tasteful.
- Table setting: all white!
- To ensure that the location secret is kept undisclosed until last minute, guests meet at assigned departure location and are escorted by a Dîner en Blanc
- In order to leave the event location as clean as when they arrived, guests are required to leave with all their belongings, leftovers and litter.
Guests must bring
- A table, two white chairs, white tablecloth.
- A picnic basket comprising fine food and proper stemware and white dinnerware.
- A catered picnic basket option, which can be picked up on site, are be available for those who do not wish to pack their own. Guests wishing to do so must reserve online through Le Dîner en Blanc website during the initial ticket registration.
- Champagne and/or wine. Beer and hard liquor are prohibited.
Apothic Wine is proud to be the official wine sponsor of the 2015 US Dîner en Blanc series. Dîner en Blanc – New York gratefully acknowledges Perrier-Jouët as the official champagne sponsor for the 2015 edition of Diner en Blanc in New York and Miami.
About Dîner en Blanc
Launched in Paris in 1988 by François Pasquier and a handful of friends, Le Dîner en Blanc has become a worldwide epicurean phenomenon. Le Dîner en Blanc – Paris now attracts nearly 15,000 people each year. What was a “friends and word-of-mouth only” event has grown into an international sensation celebrated on five continents. While the technology behind the event may have changed over the years, the principles fuelling this fantastic event have not: guests continue to gather at a secret location for the sole purpose of sharing a gourmet meal with good friends in one of their city’s most beautiful public spaces. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Dîner en Blanc International is responsible for developing this secret posh picnic in over 50 cities in more than 20 countries around the world. Each event is headed by passionate local organizers who fell in love with the concept and wanted to bring it to their city, giving this rendezvous a local flair.
About Todd English
Todd English is a renowned chef, restaurateur, author, entrepreneur, and television star based in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City. English is a four-time James Beard Award winner and inductee into the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who in Food and Beverage in America.” Todd has authored four critically acclaimed cookbooks, created the record-breaking housewares line, The Todd English Collection, and hosted the Emmy-nominated PBS travel series Food Trip with Todd English. Todd English Enterprises includes over twenty innovative restaurants spanning the country and abroad.
About Apothic
Embrace the intrigue of the unexpected. Apothic® White, the official wine of Dîner en Blanc, blends Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Grigio to create a refreshing, medium-bodied wine with flavors of peach and apricot, that leads to a crisp, balanced finish. Named from the 13th century European Apotheca, where wine was blended and stored, the wines of Apothic fuse Old World intrigue with modern sophistication. Our winemaker, Debbie Juergenson, crafts unique, captivating blends that create layers of complexity. Taste a White with Darker Motives and revel in the intrigue of Dîner en Blanc.
About Perrier-Jouët
Perrier-Jouët is an iconic champagne house with an exceptional vineyard. It is known for the finesse, floral and elegant notes of its wines, fashioned with the expertise of only seven Cellar Masters since its foundation in 1811. Since its 1902 collaboration with Art Nouveau pioneer Emile Gallé, creator of the anemone design for the house’s Belle Epoque prestige cuvée, Perrier-Jouët has commissioned work from established and emerging artists including Daniel Arsham, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, Miguel Chevalier, Makoto Azuma, TordBoontje, Studio Glithero, Simon Heijdens and mischer’traxler.
For all official videos of Dîner en Blanc around the world, visit YouTube Le Dîner en Blanc.
Leave A Comment