Four-hands dinners pair two chefs to create limited-time collaborative menus that attract diners and command a significant mark-up. High-profile pairings this summer included Anne-Sophie Pic joining Marcel Ravin at Blue Bay in Monaco. The format is not new; Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz staged a notable collaboration in 2008. The format provides diners with culinary novelty and bragging rights while also serving as on-the-job training for service teams and chefs through skill exchange. Upcoming collaborations include Noël Bérard with Maxime Gilbert at La Bastide de Capelongue and Mark Birchall joining Jean-Philippe Blondet at The Dorchester, with lighter options also appearing in London.
Hence the four-hands dinner, a dining experience that involves two chefs working together to create a special menu for a limited period. This summer has seen a bumper load, a highlight of which was Anne-Sophie Pic joining Marcel Ravin at Blue Bay in Monaco. And although this is by no means a new concept - back in 2008, Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz collaborated on what may well have been the culinary event of the decade - this fall it's in danger of jumping the shark.
Until it does, however, the four-hands dinner remains a boon for diners, providing (at a considerable mark-up) a culinary experience and bragging rights in one. But according to Howard Chang, owner of NYC's L'Abeille, which hosts these gastronomic pile-ons, "The dinners also offer huge benefits for our service team. They allow chefs to learn easily from each other, in a familiar environment. It's an exchange of skills for all involved."
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