The dinner party trend is all the rage. In case you haven’t already heard, take it from social media. TikTok currently has more than 98 million posts related to the term “dinner party.” Pinterest’s 2024 Summer Trends Report found a more than 6,000 percent increase in searches for the phrase.
Graci-Lane Brooks’ Rogue Dining brings the dinner party trend to the Central Coast with its one-night-only events.Ā
The last Sunday of each month, Rogue Dining’s supper club treats guests to a welcome drink and an opportunity to mingle before they sit down for their seven-course meal. Brooks, who started the supper club in Hawaii during the pandemic, said she either works with a winemaker or provides BYOB pairing options for each course.
“I noticed this divide between people, but I [also] noticed there was a means to bring people together in a different way,” Brooks said about creating the supper club. “Growing up in a family that always sat down on a Sunday, caught up, and shared a meal together, I wanted to bring that sort of sentiment back.”
Born in Ojai, Brooks said spending her adolescence working in restaurants all over the Central Coast gave her an insight into the hospitality industry she was able to store in her back pocket for future opportunities.
“I was originally raised in the North Valley. I grew up on the back roads of East Templeton,” Brooks said. “Around 2018 I just needed to get out. I took off with $300 on a credit card to Kauai with a one-way ticket, and somehow I made it.”
Brooks said she was working as a chef in an Italian restaurant when COVID struck the island. Coming from the food industry, she noticed local people were looking for a place to eat with restaurants closed.Ā
She started Feed Kauai Soup, offering weekly menus with two options. Her Feb. 10, 2021, menu lists a smoked tomato and chipotle turkey chili as $12 for 15 ounces and a roasted mushroom and garlic bisque for a dollar less.Ā
The online pop-up was a hit. People loved the food, she said.
Time moved on. Pandemic restrictions were lifted, and the island was opened back up to tourists.Ā
But the restaurants were still closed. Brooks noticed the tourists had nowhere to eat, so she started hosting private dining events with custom menus. With that, her supper club was born.
Again, Brooks found a hit. Tourists loved her hospitality skills and the fine dining experience she provided.
“Rather than going out to a dining experience that was very touristy … I was able to kind of explain to tourists like, ‘No, this is where we get everything from, and this is how our land works,'” Brooks said.Ā
She enjoyed another few years of success before a housing crisis on the island led her to bring the supper club back home to Paso Robles.
Brooks said she usually sells 10 to 15 seats. Her April supper club cost $130 per seat.
Brooks said she usually posts the supper club menu, which is different each time, on Rogue Dining’s Instagram page the day after each month’s dinner ends. She said interested customers should reach out to her to purchase seats, which usually sell out quickly.
The location, on the other hand, is a surprise. Brooks said she usually shares it about a week before each dinner.
“Usually, the locations are interesting terrains or beautiful properties,” she said, “It’s always a homey, intimate experience. The last one was actually held in my own backyard.”
Dedicated to sustainability, Brooks said she uses Halcyon Farms in Arroyo Grande, Etto Pasta in Paso Robles, and Ben’s Custom Meat Cutting in Atascadero, along with Brannum Family Farms‘ microgreens and Sinton and Sons, for ingredients.
When preparing meals for the supper club, Brooks blends her French heritage with the love of Asian cuisine she gained in Hawaii.Ā
“In Hawaii, you see Japanese food, you see Filipino food, you see Vietnamese and Thai food,” Brooks said. “However, I am French, and my culinary training over the years has been via more classical French, European techniques. Over the last two years, I’ve been able to kind of marry the two.”
The second course of April’s menu consisted of charred octopus, harissa macadamia nut pesto, pickled red onion, Brannum Family Farms microgreens cilantro, and calamansi jam. A menu in August listed a course of cola marinated beef, jalapeƱos toreados, cotija, arugula, pickled red onion, chicharonne, and micro cilantro. Last Christmas, she served a chocolate orange tart with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and candied oranges for dessert.
Brooks said one of her most popular dishes is chawanmushi, a Japanese savory egg custard, filled with chicken, kamaboko fish cake, and mushrooms.
“She calls it pan-Asian. I honestly don’t know if I could call it anything because of the unique way she’s able to make this all come to life,” Rose Mills, Brooks’ sous chef, said about the cuisine.
For April’s supper club, Mills said Brooks spent hours preparing gummy bear take-home gifts.
“She did these beautiful little molds, got these fun little baggies, wrapped them up, and presented them in this hollowed-out book,” Mills said. “That book was a wine book. One of the people at that dinner works at a local winery. She goes amazingly far out of her way to make sure each person has a unique and positive experience.”
Looking forward, Brooks said her June 1 supper club will consist of a “more Latin-based menu,” and she hopes to do one in July that will be “completely plant-based.”
“You never really know what exactly you’re going to get with me,” Brooks said. “You just know that it’s going to be good, sustainable, organic, and well-curated.”
And she doesn’t just cook. Brooks said she also has a music project coming out around August and is currently starting a podcast, Bitch in the Kitch, about being a woman in the restaurant industry.Ā
“I’m not just another chef in Paso Robles serving the wine country and doing private dinners for Airbnb tourists,” Brooks said. “I’m Chef Grace. If you can’t digest that, don’t sit down and eat.” Ī
Sun Staff Writer Reece Coren, from New Times’ sister paper, will sing for his supper. Send sheet music and foodie tips to rcoren@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Summer Guide 2025.