A venue must be private, equipped, and anonymous. Most interesting spaces fail at least one criterion.
Private means no public access during the evening. No restaurant buyouts where staff might gossip, where the kitchen is shared with regular service. We require complete control of the space from setup to breakdown.
Equipped means a functional kitchen. Not necessarily a commercial kitchen—we can work with residential equipment in the right circumstances—but gas burners, adequate refrigeration, and counter space that allows a small team to execute a multi-course dinner. Many beautiful spaces have decorative kitchens. We cannot use them.
Anonymous means the space itself does not overwhelm the evening. A famous restaurant is not anonymous. A celebrity's known residence is not anonymous. We want spaces that are remarkable but not recognizable—places that guests could not Google, could not photograph meaningfully, could not reduce to a location tag.
We have visited forty-seven spaces in six cities. We have confirmed two. The search continues.