Behind the Table · The Private Dining Life
The Art of the Bespoke Menu
Written by Debra Malota · Chef Francis — Private French Dining, Manhattan
Every dinner Francis cooks begins the same way — not with a knife, not with a market visit, not even with a recipe. It begins with a conversation.
When a new client reaches out to book a private dining experience, Francis’s first instinct is to listen. Not to the occasion, not to the guest count, but to the language they use. Someone who says “we’d love something elegant but not too heavy” is telling him something entirely different from someone who says “my husband is obsessed with truffles.” These are the signals he is trained to hear, long before any ingredient is purchased.
This is the part of his work that most people never see — and it may be the most essential. Crafting a bespoke menu for a private dinner in Manhattan is less like writing a recipe and more like tailoring a suit. The measurements come first.
"A bespoke menu is not a list of dishes. It is a portrait of the people who will sit down to eat them."
The consultation usually unfolds over a phone call or a carefully worded email exchange. Francis asks about the occasion — anniversary, birthday, a quiet celebration, a business dinner meant to impress. Then he asks about the guests. Are there children? Someone with a shellfish allergy? A guest who keeps kosher or simply dislikes the taste of fennel? Each answer narrows the frame, and within that frame, the creative possibilities for a bespoke menu begin to sharpen.
Then come the questions clients rarely expect. What is the energy of the evening meant to feel like? Intimate and romantic, or convivial and lively? Should the meal tell a story — moving from bright and light to rich and enveloping — or should it feel like a single long, generous note? Francis is, in some sense, composing music before he has touched an instrument.
There is a particular tension in this bespoke menu process that he has come to love. He is designing a meal and a bespoke menu for people he has not yet met, in a kitchen he has not yet entered, around an occasion whose full emotional weight will only reveal itself on the night. The bespoke menu must be specific enough to feel personal, yet flexible enough to breathe. A dish that is over-engineered on paper rarely survives contact with a real table.
Once he has enough to work with, Francis begins sketching. Not recipes — impressions. A cool, acidic opener to wake the palate. Something slow and textured in the middle that gives the table a reason to linger. A cheese course that makes the transition to dessert feel unhurried. He thinks in seasons first, then in technique, then in contrast. A menu without contrast is a melody without dynamics — technically correct, but forgettable.
The wines come last, but they are never an afterthought. Without a sommelier or a cellar program, Francis is the one who must ensure that each pour lands at the right moment — that the progression from Champagne to Burgundy to Sauternes mirrors the arc of the evening itself. The wine must be as bespoke as the food is a bespoke menu.
Below is a menu Francis recently composed for an anniversary dinner for six — a couple celebrating thirty years together, with adult children flying in from Paris and Los Angeles. She had grown up on the Riviera. He had fallen in love with Burgundy on their honeymoon. They wanted something that felt like France remembered, not France performed.
Un Dîner sur Mesure
A Bespoke Menu for Six · Spring in Manhattan
Amuse-Bouche
Gougères au Comté & Blinis au Caviar d'Aquitaine
Warm cheese puffs with aged Comté; house-made blinis with crème fraîche and domestic caviar
◇ Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs NV — Champagne. Chalk-driven effervescence that lifts the salt and cream without competing.
Première Entrée
Velouté de Petits Pois, Huile de Truffe & Crème de Chèvre
Silky spring pea velouté, white truffle oil, whipped chèvre, pea tendrils
◇ Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Théo 2021 — Alsace. Its mineral precision and faint sweetness echo the green freshness of the peas.
Deuxième Entrée
Saint-Jacques Poêlées, Beurre Blanc à l'Estragon, Céleri-Rave Rôti
Pan-seared diver scallops, tarragon beurre blanc, slow-roasted celeriac, crispy capers
◇ Henri Boillot Meursault 2020 — Côte de Beaune. Burgundian Chardonnay with enough body to match the beurre blanc and enough acidity to cut through it.
Plat Principal
Agneau de Lait Rôti, Jus au Romarin, Gratin Dauphinois & Haricots Verts
Slow-roasted rack of milk-fed lamb, rosemary jus, classic potato gratin, haricots verts with almond butter
◇ Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Échezeaux 2018 — Côte de Nuits. A nod to their honeymoon village. Silky tannins, forest floor, and crushed red fruit alongside the lamb is the reason we do this work.
Fromages
Plateau de Trois Fromages
Époisses de Bourgogne · Comté 24 mois · Valençay — with honeycomb, fig conserve, and pain de campagne
◇ Continuing with the Échezeaux — or a small pour of Banyuls Rimage for those who want to bridge toward dessert.
Dessert
Tarte Tatin aux Pommes, Glace à la Vanille de Tahiti & Caramel au Beurre Salé
Individual upside-down caramelized apple tarts, Tahitian vanilla ice cream, salted butter caramel, fleur de sel
◇ Château d'Yquem 2017 — Sauternes. The great pairing of classical French dessert: Botrytis apricot and honey against warm caramel. There is nothing else to say.
Mignardises
Petits Fours & Café
Dark chocolate truffles with fleur de sel · Financiers aux amandes · Pâtes de fruit à la framboise
That evening, the couple’s daughter told Francis it was the most French her parents had felt outside of France in thirty years. That is what a bespoke menu is meant to do — not to showcase the chef, but to give the guests back something they didn’t know they were missing.
It begins with a conversation. It ends with that. A bespoke menu.
