Chez Le Commis is Back With a Lottery System

• October 28, 2014

by UrbanTurf Staff

Tom Madrecki at work in the Chez le Commis kitchen. Photo by Scott Suchman.

When Tom Madrecki, host and chef of one the area’s most talked-about supper clubs, Chez le Commis, hosted dinners at his Arlington one-bedroom starting in 2012, he would send out an email to about 1,000 subscribers announcing the dinner. In under four minutes, all 16 seats would be gone.

Madrecki has moved out of the Arlington one-bedroom apartment and decamped to Eastern Market. And the City Paper’s Jessica Seidman reported Tuesday that, rather than first-come, first-serve, there will now be a lottery system for a dinner he is hosting at Le Bon Cafe on November 17th:

If you’re interested in the first seating on Nov. 17 (at 6:30 p.m.), you can email chezlecommis@gmail.com between 6 and 7 p.m. [on Tuesday night] (not earlier or later!) to request a spot. Names will then be selected at random. The supper club will also have a second seating around 8:30 or 9 p.m. with no reservations—just show up. Wine will be available for those waiting in line.

When UrbanTurf covered Madrecki’s move to DC earlier this year, the chef noted that he was looking for another way to “channel the demand” for seats at his table.

“You don’t want to always tell people no,” Madrecki said. “Special and unique don’t have to be exclusionary.”

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/chez_le_commis_is_back_with_a_lottery_system/9154