The Late Night Diner is an experiment in participation, collaboration, eating and being together.
Click to see any of the diners
>Get Lucky Diner @ Machine Project
>Secret Pancakes @ Machine Project Benefit
>Superstition Diner @ OE in Portland
>Opening Night Diner
>Potato Diner
>Art Therapy Diner
>Vegan Poetry Diner
>Jazz Diner
>Madness Diner
>Diner for the Birds
>Diner of the Dead
>Crit(ique) Diner
>Psychedelic Diner
>Star-Gazing Diner
>Metal Music Diner
>Futurist Diner
GET LUCKY DINER @ MACHINE PROJECT 2012
There are three Friday the 13th's in 2012, and this event anticipated the first, in January. You may not be superstitious, but you can never be too safe. Precautions included protective rituals designed by Sara Wookey and myself. I cooked pancakes resembling evil eyes that, upon eating, protect against the ill will and envy of others.
The event took place in Nate Page's Storefront Plaza at Machine Project.
SECRET PANCAKES @ MACHINE PROJECT BENEFIT 2011
This year's Machine Project Benefit had the unlikely theme of DMV: After Dark. In the back garden, behind a wall of bamboo and fairy lights, I served secret pancakes to attendees patient enough to wait in the cold. They were rewarded with their choice of a pumpkin or s'mores pancake (seasonal, kinda).
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SUPERSTITION DINER @ OPEN ENGAGENT 2011, PSU, Portland
For Portland State University's 2011 Open Engagement conference I held a Late Night Diner in PSU's Field Work space for conference particiapants and onlookers. The superstition theme was inspired by the event's date, the only Friday 13th of 2011. In recognition of this day of consequences, we read from the Oxford Dictionary of Superstitions and ate plates of lucky pancakes.Download the menu and list of superstitions (pdf)
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OPENING NIGHT DINER
The final installment of The Diner's run at Pomona College also conveniently overlapped with mybirthday. Thus the food was birthday cake. Thanks to Kim Hartung for baking 3/4 of those cakes. You can find her recipe for vegan red velvet cake is in the Diner Cookbook.
POTATO DINER
We made art and ate it for Potato Diner. At Pitzer we carved potatos and made prints with edible inks. After the creative energy was spent, we shredded the potatoes and turned them into fried latkes (potato pancakes).
Marnie Briggs was the printmaking maestro and Erica Reiss the fry queen.
ART THERAPY DINER
Angry? Stressed? Overwhelmed? Kenyatta Oaties led a productive session of art therapy to help us relax during a very stressful time of year. We drew our feelings while consuming Anna Maria Hall's therapuetic quesadillas and mexican hot chocolate.
VEGAN POETRY DINER
Poetry is the perfect literature for a diner because it can be recited while chewing. Thanks to Ronny Kerr for inspiring the poetry theme and to Nora Kuby for cooking a vegan scramble that made me forget eggs exist.
JAZZ DINER
We greeted the early hours of Sunday with the sweet sounds of The Komuso Septet and the savory tastes of Eggs in a Basket. For the passover kosher, and kosher-curious, unleavened treats were also available.
MADNESS TEA PARTY DINER
Tea was sipped, homemade scones and bread were consumed, John Muir and Lewis Carroll were recited, and madness ensued...all under the eye of tea master Carl Norlen.
DINER FOR THE BIRDS
The Diner for the Birds was held in the daytime hours so Charlotte Chang could lead a bird-centric tour around the Bernard Field Station. We replaced the usually pancakes and fried eggs in favor of bird-friendly, nuts and seeds-inspired menu of pb and j.
DINER OF THE DEAD
The Diner of the Dead was a candle-lit affair in Rembrandt led by ghost whisperer Andrew Halliday. Andrew led the diners in otherworldly communications through the ancient art of ouiji board and a late-night seance. Hannah Frederick helped the guests satisfy their more earthly needs as our first guest chef. In keeping with the francophile theme (seance is a French word), Hannah cooked some gourmet quality crepes.
CRIT(IQUE) DINER
During the end-of-semester art department critique, I attempted to ply my professors with pancakes. Watch as I try to simultaneously flip pancakes and defend my work.
PSYCHEDELIC DINER
Psychedelic Diner was an epic event thanks to Evan Stalker's interactive light and sound installation. Evan rigged the condiments so that diners could control the music and lights from the tables. The full effect could only be captured on video:
STAR GAZING DINER
Due to unforseen forces of nature (i.e. rain) the Star Gazing Diner had to be moved indoors. Fortunately, our resident star guru, Jen Wineke, set-up a magical night sky with a star-projector and an ethereal classical soundtrack.
METAL VALENTINE DINER
Metal Pancake Valentine was a dual-celebration of Valentine's Day, and the equally romantic passion of metal music fans. Diners could order a pink pancake of love or a black pancake of death along with a unique metal soundtrack. Eric Stutz and C.J. Verbeck (two committed metal fans) prepared a metal menu of about 30 genres, ranging from Melodic Death Metal to Second Wave/True Norwegian Black Metal to Eco-Metal (formally Pagan Metal).
FUTURIST DINER
The Futurist Diner was inspired by Cucina Futurista (The Futurist Cookbook), Marinetti's manifesto against the sacred culinary traditions of Italy. His bizarre recipes—which were deisgned as the antidote to traditional Italian cuisine—served as the inspiration for the night's pancakes.
