SPICE Supper Club

Ben and Kelly were gracious hosts. First experience at a supper club, had a blast. The food was fabulous, wine pairing was excellent, could not have been better. Highly recommend.

Ben’s goal is to have fine dining in a casual setting, but failed miserably. Concept was there, but execution did not happen. Here’s the menu:
1) «Breakfast In Bed» A bite of bacon and bread, no comment.
2) «A Dozen Roses» Salad with rose petal, only part of the meal that I thought was good and flavorful.
3) «Steak & Lobster» NASTY. As my bf quipped, «We got gipped.»
It was not steak and lobster as the menu detail sent, it was steak and LOBSTER POWDER when we got there. It would be fine if the steak was out of this world. What we got was 3 measly pieces of sub-​par quality meat with a tiny dollop of mashed potato. My plate was cold, the fat was actually coagulating in my sauce. My BF’s dish was so lukewarm but extremely salty.
4) «Cupid’s Arrow» Grilled polenta and mushroom. Again the dish was cold and the grilled polenta was so dried and hard that it was like eating a rubber eraser.
5) «A Box of Chocolates» Inedible. Again cold. I had chicken mole before but this was yuck. The chicken was dry. Couple of limp shredded lettuce. The «tostada» that the chicken was sitting on was the worst part. I couldn’t chew it apart so I gave up and didn’t eat it.
6) A Secret Valentine’s Dessert. The pastry chef was a different person, but again a huge disappointment. It was supposed to be Valentine Explosion, but the presentation of the dessert was blah. The dish was Red Hots Ice Cream with a Blue Velvet Cake. I liked the Red Hots ice cream, but ice cream should not be served half melted. Even though we got a 2^nd scoop, it was still half melted. Blue Velvet Cake, I never had a velvet cake that tasted this bad. The icing was overly sweet and completely masked any other flavors.
The service was good though. Very warm and friendly. For $ 90 a meal, I expect a lot more. I don’t care if there is unlimited wine, food quality and execution should be there. We are here to eat not to get drunk. Or maybe that is the reason why there is unlimited wine, ’cause when your drunk than you will not have any recollection of how bad the meal was.

Went to my first SPICE event today at Dolores Park — a departure from normal Spice events. Not sure what was better — the amazing lamb sliders, corn on the cob with truffle oil or the even more amazing company. A great, eclectic group of people all brought together to enjoy company and good eats.
I appreciate groups like this that make San Francisco what it is: beautiful, delicious, and all-​around approachable. Thanks, Chef Ben.

Had heard so much about SPICE Supper Club over the past few months, and finally attended my seating last night. It’s clear Chefs Ben Long and Greg, along with Pastry Genius Emily Betty pour their hearts and soul into their food.
Walking through the doors, we entered some sort of culinary nirvana, accompanied by a group of 28 other relaxed and eclectic guests. Each of the eight (??) courses were equally incredible, accompanying each other perfectly. Butternut squash soup was an amazing start. The Mahi Mahi prepared in a banana leaf… amazing. Cabernet braised short ribs were the best I’ve had. And the capper — toasted marshmallow shake with togarashi graham crackers and chocolate… ridiculous.
And we loved the wine (which was plentiful) pairings. A memorable night — we’ll definitely be back — hopefully sooner rather than later.
If you have a chance, sign up and get on the list for the next SPICE.

This past Saturday was my first SPICE, and it was incredible. My expectations were exceeded in every way from the company and wines to the amazing food. I want to inject that sweet corn chowder with lardons into my veins it was so good!
Can’t wait for the next one guys. Keep up the good work and keep the deliciousness coming!!!

Spice Supper Club is the best dining experience I’ve had in a long time. The food is excellent (my shitake mushroom/​truffle oil soup was my favorite-​incredible) and Ben Long and the staff are very thoughtful about wine pairings and what goes together well.

We’ve been dying to go to SPICE since its opening and finally got to go this past weekend!
The minute we walked in we were warmly greeted, handed a glass of wine and showed to our table. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Our favorites were shitake mushroom soup with truffle oil and caviar and the roasted sea bass. We also loved the wine list — they had 3 different wines from Strange Wines. My favorite was the Vina Robles 2009 Sauvignon Blanc.
We dined for about 4 hours and could have sat there forever. Chef Ben Long came out a couple of times during the meal to see how everyone was doing. And the wait staff was charming and great at keeping our wine glasses filled!
We can’t wait for the next one.

Last weekend’s SPICE event was even better than the last, if that’s possible! I’m still actually thinking about the braised pork shoulder with creamy polenta… mmmmmm a-​mazing!!!
Reviewer Jaime is right, SPICE is an incredibly unique experience which is representative of San Francisco’s foodiness, but not food snobbiness. The food is delectable, the evening is relaxed and fun, and everyone had a rip-​roaring good time!
I literally cannot wait until the next SPICE! Ben, please please please serve the Tres Leches cake again. I’ve been dreaming about it…

Honestly, it’s events like this and chefs like Ben Long that make being in San Francisco undeniably unique!
Word of mouth turned me on to SPICE Supper Club, which is a «private monthly supper club.» I signed up via email and when the invite came, I hopped on it. It’s an amazing deal for flavorful and exciting courses and an endless wine pairing that had most of us floating out of the restaurant.
While I expected the food to be good (an expectation which it by far exceeded), I was surprised to learn how much fun it was to be seated with some like-​mindedly adventurous strangers who wanted to explore the experience. We laughed, cheered and even sang our way throughout the dinner, and battled one another for the rankings of our favorite dishes. (Mine was the deconstructed Caesar salad and pork with creamy polenta. Good LORD.)
I can’t wait to see what comes our way next month!

I had such a great time at SPICE Supper Club.
Overall, the various courses complemented each other very well and made for a delicious meal. The food was fresh and presented beautifully. Much attention to detail was evident in the various textures and flavors each dish provided.
The Zinfandel-​braised short ribs were definitely the highlight for me. I could have had another course of these for desert.
Can’t wait to go back!

I feel so special to be included in SPICE Supper Club events. Chef Bong Long has a love for food and he shows in his cooking. At his last event one of his many delectable dishes included fresh gnocchi with arugula and zinfandel braised short ribs… on my! They melted in my mouth and boyfriend has been raving about them for months. Check out SPICE if you can… its a classy event but comfortable at the same time.

I went to the first SPICE dinner event and it was amazing. First off, the event is a surprise location until you RSVP. I love the exclusivity of the dinner event only because you can take a real date and have some mystery to where you’re dining. The best thing about Spice is that there are no hard decisions for you to make. You get the tasting menu ahead of time so you literally go, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. There’s no fussing with a wine list, menu, or appetizer list. Sometimes, those can be overwhelming if you don’t know what you want. The food was absolutely amazing. The warm sugar pea soup in a shot glass was definitely different but surprising to the taste buds once the soup was met with the tender crunch of your marechal cheese mousse cone that it was paired with. The spherical caprese salad served in a Chinese dumpling spoup spoon had you slurping your salad. Sounds weird but it was soo good and kept you wanting more. My favorite dish out of the tasting menu was the braised pork belly with roasted fig and fennel salad. OMG. The braised pork belly was a taste I’ll never forget. The skin had a wonderful crunch and there was enough tenderness to give you a smoky chew. Best pork belly i ever had. I COULD NOT get enough of the pan seared day scallops with the sweet corn and bean purée. the warmth of the purée sitting on top of the seared scallops gave you a run for texture in your mouth. Please make it out to the next Spice. it’s a dining experience that will have you raving just like i am.

Chef Ben Long cooked up an amazing meal in the Spice debut. I was so impressed. Everything was cooked perfectly. My favorite was the homemade Gnocci with Zinfindel braised pork and arugula. The gnocci was perfectly fluffy and the pork and arugula were so tasty. I was disappointed that I couldn’t order more. Chef Long is an up and comer. I can’t wait to the next one.