Uncommon Tribute

Regarding the article on Uncommons [“Reed’s Underground Restaurant,” December 2010]: It looks like terrific and tasty fun is being had by many. Incidentally, it also reminds me of a similar one-off experiment some of us did in the fall semester of 1992.

We were a group of five or six friends who lived together in the French House and shared a love of cooking and eating fine food—and a desire to avoid the commons whenever possible. Deciding it would be fun to cook for others, we concocted a plan to sell lottery tickets at $1 apiece, with the winner to get a gourmet five-course dinner for two on the night of the winter social. The tickets would pay for the meal. In the end, we sold so many tickets that we cooked two dinners for two winners and their dates. The French House incidentally has two dining rooms and a massive double kitchen, so this was easy to execute. We served each couple (in their separate private dining rooms) a lovely multicourse meal (alas, I forget the menu now), with white tablecloths and candlelight, and offered an in-house sommelier for the wine selection, a pair of waiters, and even a live violin serenade. Then the winners toddled off to the winter social and danced off their dinner (as did we)!

Julie Landweber ’93

Princeton, New Jersey