Blind Pig Supper Club

The term “blind pig” originated in the United States in the 19th century; it was applied to lower-class establishments that sold alcohol during prohibition. The operator of an establishment (such as a saloon or bar) would charge customers to see an attraction (such as an animal) and then serve a “complimentary” alcoholic beverage, thus circumventing the law.

“In desperate cases it has to betake itself to the exhibition of Greenland pigs and other curious animals, charging 25 cents for a sight of the pig and throwing in a gin cocktail gratuitously.”

The difference between a speakeasy and a blind pig was that a speakeasy was usually a higher-class establishment that offered food and entertainment. In large cities, some speakeasies even required a coat and tie for men, and evening dress for women. But a blind pig was usually a low-class dive where only beer and liquor were offered.

We’re slightly different. Our itinerant is gastronomy, we throw in adventure, art and entertainment gratuitously and we allow you to bring your own ‘gin cocktail’…

Blind Pig is constructed of and supported by a reputable host of very talented chefs, cooks, servers, designers, artists, farmers, foragers and hunters. Our menu’s and dinner concepts are drafted upon ideas that inspire us, going beyond and above conventional standards and we intend to raise the bar on the creativity in the cuisine of Asheville. We have strict food philosophies as you will find the use of local and seasonal vegetables, and local, sustainable meats, fish and seafood on our menu’s.

Our purpose is two-fold. We intend to spotlight the creative talent that is unique to our city in the Southern Appalachians with food, art and music combined in one experience. We are also proud to raise awareness and funds for local and very important charities with each dinner concept. The Blind Pig Supper Club is fully licensed for business in the state of North Carolina and trademarked with all rights reserved. We are an exclusive, not-for-profit and private organization of creative and talented individuals motivated to organize and host dinner events fusing local art and local music with the talents of local chefs. We serve one dinner per month with a different concept, chef and venue. In the spirit of adventure, our menu and dinner location is kept secret to all ticket holders until the day of the event. A list of our local and national charities can be viewed at ‘Where we give’ on this site.

Find us on Facebook or Twitter today to stay current on our events, updates and activities.

About Us

The Blind Pig Supper Club is a fully licensed S Corp business in North Carolina, operates as a benefit fundraising event giving proceeds to various charities and is the intellectual property of Moore- Creativity, Advertising + Design. Registered trademark and all rights are reserved. You may view a list of other works in New York, San Francisco and Chicago under this exclusive creative team at the website: http://www.moorecreativity.biz/.

The first supper club in the United States was established in Beverly Hills, CA by Milwaukee, WI, native Lawrence Frank. They became popular during the 1930s and 1940s, although some establishments that later became “supper clubs” had previously gained notoriety as prohibition roadhouses.

The underground supper club venue became popular more recently in the mid 1990′s in the San Francisco Bay area. ‘Ghetto Gourmet’ is known by many to have been the first organization of cooks and chefs to establish a popularity with diners as they were organizing dinners in private homes, etc in Oakland and San Francisco, California. Unfortunately, many cities do not allow unlicensed food establishments for profit and many of these supper clubs have since been closed due to local laws. Underground restaurants are also popular in Latin America, where they’re known as either a paladar or a restaurante de puertas cerradas (closed door restaurant). Depending on local licensing laws, they may or may not be illegal; either way, they’ve been built into the culture for decades, and often have higher standards than many licensed establishments. They are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S.

The attraction of the underground restaurant for the customer is to sample new food, often at low cost outside the traditional restaurant experience, which can be expensive and disappointing—underground restaurants have been described as “anti-restaurants.” They also generally provide a more intimate, dinner party style experience. For the host, the benefit is to experiment with cooking, raise the bar on local culinary trends and sometimes to raise profits for charities without being required to invest in a restaurant proper. “It’s literally like playing restaurant,” one host told the San Francisco Chronicle, “You can create the event, and then it’s over.

The Blind Pig Supper Club started in Spring of 2011 after comprising a team of talented, young local chefs and cooks together in the Asheville area. Food events and dinners are open to the public and can be accessed by purchasing tickets through our website under ‘Next Events’. We are a social event and experience of the arts that brings the wonderful and unique community of Asheville together. We are professional chefs and cooks from Asheville area restaurants as well as a host of artists, musicians, farmers, servers, bartenders and all in all, great down to Earth people with one common goal in mind. At a Blind Pig Supper Club event you will meet and network with people that you already have a lot in common with- those having a fondness for good food, art, music and a bit of adventure.

The Blind Pig Supper Club was created to bring you closer to Asheville’s array of incredible talent. From chefs to farmers to foragers to musical and visual artists and dancers, Blind Pig dinners bring together the arts of our community that is truly one of a kind and humbling. Our cuisine is most often always local or regional, truly organic, unique and sometimes bizarre but always delicious. A dinner with us is an experiment in gastronomy. You should expect the unexpected and our one promise to you is that you will telling everyone about what you experienced on your plate.

Blind Pig supports, both monetarily and subjectively, a host of local and very important charities. We are a fundraiser raising awareness of our charity through what we do. We believe in absolute creativity, and we allow our featured chefs, often times collaborating with each other, to create a one of a kind menu and experience. As a diner, you will find experimentation and creativity with new dishes, food items and ingredients. Furthermore, we believe food is meant to be respected. We believe that local flavor has all to do with a vegetable picked hours prior to your meal and never refrigerated. We want you connect with the chefs that prepared your meal, the farmer that grew it and all the people that it took to make your dining experience wondeful.

We would like to open your eyes (in a very adventurous way) to agriculture, respectful hunting, environmentally and species sustainable fishing and wild back yard foraging and the philosophy of ‘waste not- want not’ when it comes to our food.

‘How does The Blind Pig  Supper Club work?’

New to the underground experience? It’s Easy. We host one event per month. Our dinners all have a singularly unique and creative concept which melds together a featured chef(s), artist and musician. Here are the steps to follow to be a part of the fun.

• You subscribe. At the (bottom right of our webpage) you will notice a tab that says ‘Follow’. Click on it and you will receive notifications via email every single time we update our site with new information or new events.
• Follow us on Facebook. You may also follow us on our Facebook page or Twitter as you can catch updates, info, etc from there as well.
• Find an Event. Want to find an event that you may like to attend?- click on the ‘Next Events’ tab on our website to see when our next underground dinner is planned. You’ll follow the Eventbrite link on the bottom of the advertisement and you pay for your admission ticket via Paypal.
• Purchase your admission ticket. Simply follow the directions with paypal to buy your admission tickets to the event. Paypal coincides with most credit cards as well as e-checks. Print your Paypal reciept and bring it with you as you will present it to the hostess at the beginning of dinner for your admission. Be sure to use an email address that you check often with paypal as we will email you the exact location of the event with further information the day of the dinner.
• Refunds of Purchase: Refunds are only given through paypal along with an additional service charge of $4 up until one week prior to any listed event. We will also be happy to help sell your tickets for you as we typically have a long waiting list for each event. You may contact us if you would like to sell your ticket to a waiting list attendee prior to the event.
• Ask us anything! You may also send us any questions, comments or concerns on the ‘Contact us’ tab of our website. Most of our events are BYO, and we are glad to keep your beverage cool (or hot) for you as we have a full staff of very eager servers ready to give you a wonderful dining experience similar to any great restaurant. Some events will additionally have a fully licensed cash bar as we will, from time to time, feature a custom craft cocktail menu. Some events, however, due to the venue and other circumstances will not be BYO, you will see this information on the event advertisement as well as on your ticket stub when you purchase. Please respect our BYO rules.

Are you ready for adventures in underground dining?