East Alder Table brings chef dishes to Walla Walla, without the restaurant

A new way to eat out has arrived in Walla Walla.

When former Walla Walla Steak Co. Executive Chef Rock Silva announced he was opening a new type of business in Walla Walla, it might have been hard to picture what he had in mind.

Now, it's open and people are experiencing it for themselves.

The East Alder Kitchen served its first meal, a private event for supporters, on March 29. It opened on April 3.

"Business is going great," Silva said. "We just celebrated our 30 days and couldn't be more excited of the way we're trending and looking. Just like any business, those first 30 days are scary. But we've had great response from both the local community and visiting guests."

East Alder Table hosts Supper Club dinners, cooking lessons and private events. It also sells chef-made meal kits to reheat at home.

Supper Club dinners are meals that members of the public can sign up for on the business's website. But unlike a restaurant, guests don't get their own table.

Instead, they are seated at a large table with the evening's other guests, where staff will serve them the meal the chefs made for that day.

There is no set menu, meaning the business can go from serving an Italian dinner one day, to an Asian meal the next.

And because of the group seating, guests are bound to make new friends.

"This isn't just putting food on a plate and serving it to you." Silva said. "This is more geared to be an experience. And part of that experience is the interaction between our team and our guests and between the guests and themselves, which I think is cool."

Silva said he has worked at many restaurants and loves restaurants. But he said he wanted his business to offer an experience people can't get at a restaurant.

"Our focus is … to bring back what to me dining should be, which is to gather around people, around great food, around great beverage, and with great hospitality happening around you," he said.

The business also offers hands-on cooking classes. All ingredients are provided. Participants will get into the kitchen and get hands-on instruction on how to make the meal of the evening. Staff will prepare additional dishes to complete the meal.

For example, at a recent chicken parm class, participants prepared a chicken parmesan filet and a salad, while the staff prepared fresh pasta, roasted vegetables and garlic bread.

Then, much like a Supper Club dinner, everyone sat down at a table and shared a meal together.

"The cooking classes themselves, the way I like to explain to people is if you want to come in and you want to take notes and you want to be hands-on with everything and really, really treat it like a class and go home and impress your friends, you can absolutely have that experience," Silva said. "If the person next to you wants to just hang out, be a little bit of a participant and just sit and have a couple glasses of wine and enjoy that part of the experience, that person is going to have a great experience as well."

Silva said he also enjoys the private events because he and the other chefs get to create something custom for each party.

"We don't have a set menu at our private events," he said. "What we do is we talk to our clients. ‘What do you want to eat? What's the vibe? What's the occasion? Is there something you're trying to accomplish in this meeting of friends?' We take all those things and then really curate a special meal with beverage pairings, all around exactly what they want."

Prices vary depending on the menu. Recent and upcoming Supper Club offerings include a Mother's Day brunch for $95, and prime rib dinners on Thursdays for $85.

Each cooking class currently on the calendar is listed at $140 per person. However, these prices already include gratuity.

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