Monday Night Dinner at Adam Schluter’s home is popular. Perhaps a little too popular. 

Scores of young and old eat, drink, talk, play games, listen to music and make new friends. It’s a laugh-filled, friendly affair that has grown since it began six years ago.

Sounds wonderful. And for the most part, it is. 

But for one thing: The estimated 150 people or more that show up has some folks missing those early days when the setting was a little more intentional and a little less crowded. 

“A lot of people don’t like the size of the dinners,” Schluter said. 

So he did something about it. 

Schluter started “Off-Monday Night Dinner.” It falls on each Monday between Monday Night Dinner. The idea is a smaller setting, with everyone sitting down for conversation and dinner at 6 at the same table in the backyard for 90 minutes and then enjoying a show as an engaged audience until about 9. 

In a word, it’s simpler. 

“It’s the answer for people craving more intimacy,” he said. “It could be a beautiful thing.” 

"I’m really hoping that really forms deeper relationships, deeper friendships and deeper conversations," Schluter added.

That means he'll be opening the doors of his Coeur d’Alene home at 1037 N. Third St. every Monday evening through October. All are welcome. 

“We’re never going to exclude anyone,” he said. 

The guidelines are pretty much the same for either Monday. Bring a side dish and a $10 donation for musicians and to help cover costs.

Schluter has especially high hopes for the next Off-Monday Night Dinner, which is this Monday.

Pivot, a live storytelling program based in Spokane, will be bringing some of its best storytellers to the dinner. Each will share tales of about 10 minutes. 

Spokane Public Radio described Pivot like this: "Every great story has a pivot. It may be the moment the stakes are raised, when you can't wait to hear what comes next. It could be the instant a story elevates from good to great, or the nexus at which a story reveals what it's truly about. It could be the way a great story can make you laugh so hard you can't breathe, and in the next moment, break your heart."

Schluter expects it to be “very powerful, very beautiful.” 

He’s also expecting a big crowd. 

“This is a special experience,” Schluter said. 

Ideally, the Off-Monday Night Dinner will have about 50 people. 

"We want that smaller setting some people are after," he said.

But no matter if people prefer the large turnouts of Monday Night Dinner or the intimate Off-Monday Night Dinner, the vision remains the same. 

“A way to bring this world closer together,” Schluter said.