Return of Florida State's prized Little Dinner Series: A journey of tasteful adventure

Florida State’s exclusive, fully “immersive experience” for your tastebuds is back this semester with a taste of the Nile River, a trip through Pandora and a sprinkle of Neverland.

The Little Dinner Series, four-course themed dinners hosted by Florida State University students and instructors from the Dedman College of Hospitality every semester, returns on Oct. 19 with new themes and menus.

The long-held Dedman tradition carries on its 66th year of providing hundreds of Florida State students enrolled in its catering management course with the hands-on, real-world knowledge they need to serve the Tallahassee community’s profound love of food.

The months-long prep for the 10 dinners starts in the classroom.

Each semester, nearly 80 graduating seniors are divided into five management teams — general manager, bar manager, executive chef, sous chef, and service manager — on the first day of classes.

“They get the experience of seeing an event go from an idea to a real thing that we serve to real paying guests,” said Zach Weston, chef and director of the Little Dinner Series for the last 12 years. “That's really the point that we want to drive home is, you know, you all are unfamiliar with this process but with some coaching, you are able to be successful in doing this.”

The students work within their teams to brainstorm, plan and execute the quality dining experience.

Under the leadership of Weston and Program Coordinator, Lacey Wallheiser, the hospitality students are encouraged to explore the realms of food and dining services to come up with new themes.

“We really shoot for an even mix of regional classical themes and whimsical wild themes,” Weston said.

Branching out from the highly anticipated themes of New Orleans or a Taste of Italy to ideas like a "Feast on the Nile” – the first dinner of this month’s series and the first of its kind for the series in general ‒ is all a part of the student’s learning experiences.

The Egyptian-themed dinner, where you get to enjoy your night as a pharaoh, offers “drinks of pharaohs” for cocktails, hors d’oeuvres including the “Egyptian Feta Bites,” appetizers, salads, a King’s dinner of filet mignon, pomegranate reduction, and hot white bean salad as an entrée. A dessert caps off the night, with the hope that “your hunger rests in eternal slumber.”

Another theme the students are excited to execute is the “Little Dinner Eeries” which falls on Halloween for the first time in years.

The eerie dinner offers “Deadman’s Blood” cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, including the “Devil’s Eyes” deviled eggs, “Witch’s Stew,” a “Skeletal Delight” dinner of filet mignon and “Graveyard Special” dessert.

The courses aren’t the only things that are themed.

“We actually have a handful of guests who will dress up on theme for every event that they come to,” Weston said. “We have a few couples in particular, where they will like make outfits.”

Weston recalls a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" themed dinner where a couple dressed in Willy Wonka attire with long coats and tall hats, or their “City of Love” themed dinner where a woman came in with a sequined headpiece to match her partner’s red velvet blazer.

The success of the dinners has grown over the years and Weston feels he has found his stride after inheriting the class.

The series was created by the late Ashby Stiff in 1957. Stiff was a beloved professor at the Dedman College of Hospitality for 44 years and served as a director for the Little Dinner Series for 25 years and as a food critic for the Tallahassee Democrat for over two decades. In his time, Stiff gifted hundreds of students with the tools they needed in order to be successful in the service of hospitality.

“It felt like it happened overnight in some ways,” Weston said. “Like we went from kind of struggling to sell out all the events. Like we would sell out on a really catchy tagline, like if there was a theme called 'Tuscan Vineyard,' it would sell out instantly.”

Weston said themes without buzzy themes initially wouldn’t sell as quickly, but for the last couple of years things have changed.

“It’s like no matter how many tickets we launched, they are instantaneously gone,” Weston said, adding that one semester it only took two minutes for the 800 tickets to sell.

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The $80 tickets for the 10 dinners this semester will go on sale on Eventbrite at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 6. Tickets may also be purchased through the Little Dinner Series website.

The waitlist, which is open until Oct. 13, will operate as a lottery to ensure fairness.

There is a dress code that will be enforced, blazers will be required for men and cocktail attire for ladies.

The dinners start Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m. for the cocktail reception and 7 p.m. for dinner at the University Center Building B.

Democrat writer Kyla Sanford can be reached at ksanford@gannett.com.

Little Dinner Series Lineup

Oct. 19: A Feast On The Nile

Oct. 24: Jimmy Buffet - Son of a Sailor

Oct. 31: The Little Dinner Eeries

Nov. 2: Lost in Neverland

Nov. 7: Yellowstone National Park

Nov. 9: The Blues Basement

Nov. 28: Under the Banyan Tree

Nov. 30: Glamping in the Smokey Mountains

Dec. 5: Crème de la Crème

Dec. 7: Avatar: Experience Pandora

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tickets go on sale Friday for FSU's popular Little Dinner series