Special Lunch @ Private Social

This past Saturday we went to a very special lunch event at Private Social. It is the new restaurant in Uptown with Executive Chef Tiffany Derry from Top Chef Season 7 and Top Chef All-Stars. I loved her on the show and couldn't wait to go try her new restaurant. I'm so glad I came across this new event!!

"Chef Tiffany Derry is expanding her offerings at Private|Social by hosting uniquely themed lunches on the third Saturday of every month."

"The bar, featuring specialty cocktails by beverage director Rocco Milano, will be open for diners who wish to turn their lunch into a boozy one. Rocco will be creating a special batch of Philadelphia House Punch (rum, congnac, lemon, sugar, English breakfast tea, champagne) for the occasion."
This cocktail was pretty damn amazing in my opinion. If it wasn't lunch time I would've drank more. haha.

Private Social
3232 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, TX 75204
(214) 754-4744
http://privatesocial.com/
Price (for lunch): $$-$$$

I went with a large group of 12 people and we got a great table right in front of the kitchen viewing area. We could see her running around, super busy, doing every thing. :)

The lunch on Saturday offered:

Family-Style Pig Roast. It was so cool. We could see her carving a whole pig in the kitchen at one point. It was amazing to watch her at work.

The pork was nice and tender. I liked the seasoning on the skin.

But for our big group they only brought out 3 small plates of it (for our party of 12). It didn't seem like it was enough. We wondered if smaller tables got the same portion size... And the main dish wasn't refillable. :/

Served with bottomless sides (all farm-fresh):
- Kale Salad. Super fresh. I love the texture of the kale and it was slightly acidic from the dressing and also had buttery crouton bits and parmesan on it.

- Roasted Baby Fennel. This was my favorite side of the meal. The preparation was more like a gratin. The fennel was cooked perfectly with a slight char on top along with the breadcrumbs. I can eat just that! Good thing we can order as much as we want! haha.

- Braised Turnips with Tops. This was like braised collard greens with pork. It had a slight bitterness to it which I liked but overall pretty standard.

- Celeriac Purée. So none of us knew what Celeriac was. It's commonly misunderstood as celery root but it's actually also called turnip-rooted celery or knob celery. Everyone loved this. I loved it as well. I liked it better than normal celery root because it had less celery flavor. It was silky and smooth. And it actually paired really well with the kale salad because of the contrasting flavors and textures.

With choice of water, iced tea or soda for $20 a person. This was an amazing deal. We were there until things started running out. haha.

Since we didn't get that much pork, we kept asking for more sides. At one point the waitress said they were out of the fennel but were preparing Brussels Sprouts instead. Ooohhhh! Love Brussels Sprouts. It's currently my new favorite veggie.

- Roasted Brussels Sprouts. YUM!!!! They need to put more Brussels sprouts in the dish though. haha.

 

Several people came to check on us throughout the meal. At one point, one of my friends brought up the small portion size of the pork for our large group. So they went back to the kitchen and brought us another large plate of it. Wow... by then we were all pretty full but the pork was still delicious.

The place was completely full at one point. But we were one of the last groups to leave. It's not every day we get to all meet up and have a nice long lunch....with spectacular food, I might add. Also, we got to meet the Chef!!!!! They took a group of us into the kitchen to meet her. Chef Tiffany was soooo nice. Totally down to earth. She greeted us and immediately started chatting. She worked every station in the kitchen and even washed dishes at one point. I'm thoroughly impressed. The food was fantastic and so was her personality and work ethic. I will definitely be back at Private Social in the near future.

And another check on my list of Top Chefs to visit and meet!! Woot!! :D

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~