The Muse
We’re on a mission to enjoy every bite of summer.
Summer has a way of disappearing before we realize it, and this celebratory dinner is our small attempt to slow it down.
Inspired by sun-kissed days spent near the water, our most playful menu of the season celebrates the anticipated time when new-shell lobster, wild chanterelles, sweet corn, and summer berries arrive all at once.
We imagine this dinner unfolding slowly: warm bread passed around the table slathered with butter, the satisfying crack of lobster shells, sweat dripping down chilled wine bottles. Whether you gather outdoors or picnic inside, we hope this dinner captures the feeling of midsummer at its very best.
Bring the Lobster Picnic Menu to your table at home.
Available Friday in July for pickup & delivery in the Twin Cities.
The Menu
This is a “party of the year” menu - relaxed, fun, and full of truly stunning flavors.
Serve the soup as a plated first course, but present the bread whole so guests can pull it apart and pass it around the table. Shift into generous family-style platters for the haricot vert and watermelon salads. Continue that easy, abundant feel with large platters of lobster and clams and a big serving bowl for the potato salad.
The pavlova is the course that will surprise everyone. It’s delicate, summery, and absolutely delicious, so I recommend plating it individually for each guest.
After dinner, set the cheese on a sideboard and let everyone graze while the sun sets.
xo,
Jamie Malone, Founder, Paris Dining Club
The Recipes
If you can’t get Paris Dining Club delivered, Chef Britt shares simple recipes to recreate the experience yourself.
If there was ever a menu that I would want to eat as my last Paris Dining Club dinner, it might be this Lobster Picnic. When Jamie and I were writing this menu together, we couldn’t wait to share it with you, and now we can’t wait to share these recipes, too.
I find summer recipes to be the easiest to translate from restaurant cooking to the home kitchen because they use seasonal ingredients: sweet corn, lobster, and summer berries. Each recipe begins with an ingredient at its peak; and then steps back to let them shine. I wrote them to teach you how to cook, not just what to cook. Along the way, I’ve included a few tips that can make all the difference, giving you the confidence to know what you’re looking for. They’re recipes that celebrate the best parts of summer and the joy of gathering both in the kitchen and around the table.
xo,
Britt St Clair, Chef de Cuisine, Paris Dining Club
Email me with any recipe questions: britt@parisdiningclub.com
The Atmosphere
Our July table was styled by Liz Gardner inside Maison Bodega, her creative home in Minneapolis.
She captured one of summer’s loveliest rituals: stepping into a cool house after a sun-soaked day- with bare feet on the tile floor and a drink in your hand while dinner comes together.
The Playlist: Bar Agnes
“I’m interested in how music can gently guide people through an experience without interrupting it. I also love the moment when someone hears a song they haven’t thought about in years and lights up. There’s something nostalgic and connective about that.” - Liz Gardner
Dinner Party Tips
Set your table like this: Entree plate at each setting, with a salad plate on top (stacked plates look so pretty on a table). When you serve the soup, place the bowls on top of the salad plate. Then, when you are ready to clear the soup course and serve your gorgeous plattered salads, your guests have a plate ready, and so on with the main course.
Also, preset empty bowls in the middle of the table so guests can easily discard lobster and clam shells. And I love a bowl of hand towels with a little ice water and lemon so guests know it’s just fabulous to eat the lobster and clams with their hands.
This is a really fun time of year to play host, so make sure to enjoy all the lovely moments you can create. Everything should indicate “we are celebrating all the lushness of the season, but nothing is fussy.” Do you have wildflowers growing in the yard? Snip a handful and let them tumble into a simple vase. Even a few little dandelions tucked at each place setting can feel unexpectedly charming.
Our summers are so fleeting; moments like that bring me back to the wild, lingering, limitless summers of childhood.
July’s most beautiful ingredients:
Tomatoes
Sweet corn
Haricot vert
Strawberries
Chanterelles
Halibut
Lobster
Peaches
PDC’s favorite July flowers:
Smokebush
Raspberry Foliage
Dahlias
Delphinium
Foxglove
Nigella
Scabiaso
Garden Roses
The Lobster Picnic Dinner Party Box is available Fridays in July. Order now →
xo,
