March 5, 2024 – Salvador Dalí means a lot of things to a lot of people.
Something about his primordial mix of mustache and magic, abandon and self-promotion, performance, indulgence and time-melting imagery transcends any simple description.
Not that it stopped him from floating some out there.
From the treasure trove that includes pearls like “I am not strange; I am just not normal,” and “Give me two hours a day of activity, and I’ll take the other 22 in dreams,” the most Dalí Dalí-ism might be, “Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.”
For a special dinner now visible on the horizon (July 18), Dalí will mean a little bit of all of that, but mostly Dalí will mean delicious.
The band of Big Sur Food & Wine bohemians are currently conjuring the Dalí SURrealistic Dinner. It’s a direct eye-contact wink to a historic Monterey event from 1941, The Dizzy Dali Dinner: A Surrealistic Night in an Enchanted Forest, held at The Del Monte Hotel.
The lineup of chefs behind the six-course dinner would fit right in at one of Dali’s parties. Their playful intuition proves reliably artistic, with full flavor pop follow-through.
In alphabetical order they include Oscar Cabezas, Tim Eelman, David Frappiea, Colin Moody, Ben Spungin and Cal Stamenov.
Wise palates get that assembling them in one place would be tastebud theater enough. Add in Pearl Hour creator Katie Blandin and her own alchemical abilities—plus select BSFW-affiliated sommeliers—and it’s guaranteed that uncommon dimensions shall be unlocked.
BSFW Elsa Rivera and her team have been looking for a partner to pull off such a spectacle for more than half a decade. They found one in Events by Classic, which just so happens to direct gatherings at (among others) the singular setting that is The Barns at Cooper Malera, next to Spungin and Stamenov’s Cella Restaurant in Old Monterey.
“We humans want experiences, connection and to feel the texture of life through our senses,” Rivera says. “Dali exaggerated that desire not only in his art but his celebration of food and wine with his wife and friends.”
When BSFW posted word of the event to its subscribers, half of the 50 tickets sold in under 10 minutes.
So while the meaning of Dalí remains a self-determined mystery, the fact that the remaining tickets will evaporate quickly is certain.
Rivera, who will host in character as Dalí’s muse and wife Gala, adds a final arty element of the unknown ahead.
“So here we are, making merry with our creatives—chefs to cobble a sole for a different shoe, sommeliers to stream sun-kissed fruit into vessels and garden acrobats to enchant. Horse or human? Who will be serving your plate?” she asks, adding in Dalí’s native tongue, “Un río de sueños y pensamientos.”
More at bsfw.ticketsauce.com/e/dali-surrealistic-dinner.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
