We got the idea for this dinner on a road trip through Nevada, which surprisingly (at least to me), has a huge Basque population. Traditionally sheep hearders, the men would often live in Basque hotels when they were in town. These hotels survive as restaurants that still serve food in the traditional way.

Basically the idea is:

• Sit down at communal tables
• Order your entree (usually 3 choices, often with lots of lamb)
• They bring out the sides: Salad, Soup, Veggies, Rice, all served family style, to feast on while waiting for your main.
• The main course arrives: By this time you're half drunk on pincan punch, a really great Basque drink, and the feast continues.
• They serve dessert (at this point you're too stuffed to think about eating more, but the pincan punch helps with that, so you forge on).

One plate is all you need for the meal, everything is served family style, and everyone sits together at long tables. It's a lot of fun, and we met a lot of really cool people on our trip. We want to re-create that in SF. In partnership with Slow Food, we'll bring you communal tables, family style feast, and good drinks.