Chef Black Box Dinner

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the Chef Black Box Dinner hosted at the iconic Coeur d’Alene Resort — where the menu wasn’t planned by the chefs, but by the guests themselves. Watch as top local chefs rise to the challenge, crafting unforgettable dishes using surprise ingredients chosen in real-time by each table. With creativity, chaos, and culinary brilliance all in one night, this experience breaks the mold of traditional dining.

Brought to you by: Quicksilver Studios

Chef Black Box Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:30:05

This dinner is unique in the way that we wanted to put the power in your hands. Each table will pick two ingredients. You can pick anything you want. All 12 ingredients. And you guys select have to be used in this course. Dinner. There may be more than three courses, so just buckle up and be hungry. Like I know we have like a structure.

00:00:30:05 - 00:00:49:12

Like we may just like throw some food out and have fun with it. We'll do some extra, so it'll be fun. Yeah. So when we first opened the box, I think that was the biggest shock. It was just seeing all the proteins they selected. We kind of just all had a blank stare at first, until we really got to the kitchen and started put the pencil to the paper.

00:00:49:14 - 00:01:04:06

Once the ingredients were selected, it was a blur and felt like news was everything was so fast and the guests in there and you lose all track time.

00:01:04:08 - 00:01:23:17

So I originally came up with the Black box dinner concept, just because I wanted an opportunity to be able to cook with my fellow chefs. I was really, really happy with how this event went. I think the guests in general are so stuck in the mindset that they're going to come into a restaurant and be told what they can order or be given a menu of things that they think they can order.

00:01:23:19 - 00:01:40:17

So by putting the power in their hands and giving them the opportunity to do something unique was really, really special. And I think that it was unique to the area. Nothing like this had been done out here before.

00:01:40:19 - 00:01:55:13

And the message I sent to the chefs kind of going in, they all kind of had these ideas of what they wanted to do. And I said, really think on your feet here because I need any idea how it's going to go out the window as soon as we open that box, as soon as we open that box, it was okay.

00:01:55:14 - 00:02:16:23

Now we got to start from scratch. The guests really enjoyed it. We got standing ovations. They had so much fun being able to interact with us and and see us think on the fly like we do in real, real time in these kitchens here at the resort.

00:02:17:00 - 00:02:33:22

But moving forward is just really you make some noise from the culinary side. We have a big opportunity where we're out here on the lake, and I think that we are going to have a ton of fun putting together some fun, unforgettable events. We're already got some things in the works, so you can definitely stay tuned for that.

00:02:33:22 - 00:02:52:02

But putting the Cortland food scene on the map, that's our goal. 

The Chef Black Box culinary experience has been brought to you by Quiksilver Studios, the creative agency to take your business to the next level.