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Every Saturday · 8 pm

Noir Supper Club: Seven
courses.One table.

Fourteen seats, one long table, a door with no sign. The address comes the Friday before.

Sat 21 Nov8 pm · 14 seats

3 seats left · $165 a guest

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Seared wagyu with morels and a melting quenelle of smoked butter on a black plate, a candle beside it, the long table in candlelight behind

Now showing Sat 21 Nov · Wagyu & Morels · 3 seats left Next Sat 28 Nov · The Day After · 8 seats Then Sat 5 Dec · One Black Truffle · 6 seats Always Fourteen seats · 8 pm · $165 a guest

The picture

Fourteen strangers, one long table.

A dinner party where you know nobody at eight and everybody by eleven. Chef Simone Ward cooks seven courses in a loft in the West Loop, Theo pours, and the candles do the rest.

  • 7courses, written for that Saturday and never cooked again
  • 14seats at one table. Come alone, come as two, sit apart
  • $165a guest, tip included. Wine pairing +$85
Fourteen guests at one long candlelit table in a dark brick loft, laughing mid-conversation
Saturday, 9:40 pm, a loft west of the river

Noir Supper Club presents

Wagyu & Morels

Saturday 21 November · 8 pm · fourteen seats

  1. The openingIOyster, green apple, dill
  2. The secondIIBeetroot, smoked eel
  3. The intervalIIIBread, cultured butter
  4. The turnIVTurbot, cider, mussels
  5. The featureVWagyu · morels · smoked butter
  6. The epilogueVIComté, burnt honey
  7. The endingVIIDark chocolate, rye, cherry
Cooked by
Simone Ward
Poured by
Theo Lund
Bread
baked that afternoon
Starring
fourteen guests, as themselves

Wine pairing +$85, seven pours · Zero-proof pairing +$45

Oyster, green apple, dill
IOyster, green apple, dill
Turbot, cider, mussels
IVTurbot, cider, mussels
Wagyu, morels, smoked butter
VWagyu, morels, smoked butter
Dark chocolate, rye, cherry
VIIDark chocolate, rye, cherry

The winter season

Every Saturday, a new picture.

Each Saturday has its own seven courses, written that week around what’s best and never cooked again. Same table, same fourteen seats, same 8 pm.

  1. Sat 14 Nov

    Smoke Over the RiverSmoked trout, celeriac, duck breast over embers, quince.

    Full house

  2. Sat 21 NovThis week

    Wagyu & MorelsThe seven on this page. Oyster to dark chocolate, the wagyu in the middle.

    3 seats left

    Reserve

  3. Sat 28 Nov

    The Day AfterThe Saturday after Thanksgiving, and not a bite of turkey. Scallops, chestnut, venison, pear.

    8 seats left

    Reserve

  4. Sat 5 Dec

    One Black TruffleA single truffle, shaved over all seven courses, even the ice cream.

    6 seats left

    Reserve

  5. Sat 12 Dec

    The Fish SupperSeven courses from the lake and the sea. Smoked whitefish, crab, a whole baked bass.

    14 seats

    Reserve

  6. Sat 19 Dec

    MidwinterThe longest night: everything over fire, mulled wine at the door.

    2 seats left

    Reserve

  7. Sat 26 Dec

    DarkNo show this week. We’re at our mothers’.

  8. Sat 2 Jan

    Season TwoJanuary’s programme goes to the list on 15 December, a day before anyone else.

    Soon

A black steel door open onto an alley at night, one bulb above it, the candlelit table glimpsed inside
7:45 pm. You’ll know it when you see it.
The long table after the guests have gone: candles burned low, empty plates, crumpled black napkins
11:52 pm

Running time 3 h 30

The night, reel by reel.

  1. Friday, 6 pmThe address

    A text with the street, the door and a name to ask for. Until then it’s “the West Loop”, and that’s all anyone gets.

  2. 7:45 pmThe door

    An alley, a black door, one bulb. Theo opens it with something sparkling and takes your coat.

  3. 8:00 pmSeats

    Place cards, written that afternoon. Couples sit apart and friends sit across. You’ll know four names by the oysters.

  4. 8:15 pmReel one

    Courses I to III. The oyster, the beetroot, the bread you’ll ask about. Simone tells each one in a sentence.

  5. 9:30 pmReel two

    The turbot, then the wagyu, carved at the end of the table. The room gets louder from here.

  6. 10:45 pmThe ending

    Cheese, chocolate, coffee, and the last pour. Phones come out for the first time.

  7. 11:30 pmLights up

    The door again, and a heel of bread wrapped in paper for the morning. Half the table goes on for a drink.

Seven courses, seven rules

The rules of the table.

There aren’t many, and they’re the reason the night works. Read them once; Theo will remind you at the door.

  1. I

    Be on time.

    Doors at 7:45, seats at 8. The door closes at 8:15, and the oysters don’t wait.

  2. II

    Sit with a stranger.

    Couples are split up and friends sit across. It’s the whole point, and it always works.

  3. III

    Phones down until the chocolate.

    Take every picture you like after course VII. Before that, look up.

  4. IV

    Allergies by Wednesday.

    Tell us by noon and we cook around them so nobody can tell. Dislikes we can’t: the menu is the menu.

  5. V

    Black is customary.

    Not required. Come as you are, in whatever you’d wear to a good film.

  6. VI

    Don’t post the address.

    Post the food, tag us, bring a friend next time. Just keep the door a secret.

  7. VII

    The tip is included.

    So is the coffee. Leave with the leftover bread, and nothing else to think about.

Where

The address arrives on Friday.

Somewhere in the West Loop, up a flight of stairs behind a door with no sign. At 6 pm the Friday before, everyone with a seat gets the street, the door and the name to ask for.

Friday 6:02 PM

Noir, tomorrow at 8. 0000 W. Xxxxxxx St. Walk into the alley, the black door with the bulb over it. Ring once and ask for Theo. 0000 buzzes you up. See you at the table. — S.

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Somewhere in here West Loop, Chicago. A few minutes’ walk from the Green and Pink Lines. The door, by text on Friday. Open the map
Chef Simone Ward plating oysters with tweezers under a single pendant lamp in a dark kitchen

Behind the camera

Simone Ward, chef.

Twelve years in Chicago kitchens, the last four running a tasting menu for forty a night. I wanted to cook for fewer people and actually see them eat.

In the winter of 2021 I put one long table in my loft and invited fourteen friends for seven courses. The next Saturday they brought friends. By spring I didn’t know anyone at the table, and that turned out to be the best part.

Every Saturday’s menu is written that week, from whatever the farms and the fish market have, and cooked once. Theo Lund, who ran the wine at the same restaurant, pours. We still light every candle ourselves.

Simone

  • Since 2021every Saturday but Christmas
  • 240Saturdays, 240 menus
  • 3,300guests, most of them strangers

The critics

4.9 from 186 guests on Google.

  • ★★★★★

    “Better than any restaurant I went to this year, and I left with three new friends.”

    Dana R.Came alone, October

  • ★★★★★

    “The wagyu course alone is worth the $165. Then there were six more.”

    Marcus T.Seat 9, September

  • ★★★★★

    “I booked it as a dare for my fortieth. Now I go every month.”

    Priya S.Regular since 2024

Red wine poured from an unlabelled bottle into a glass at the candlelit table

Private screenings

The whole table, for your people.

Take all fourteen seats for a birthday, a team, a wedding party or a proposal (we’ve hosted five, all yeses). The same seven courses, the same candles, only friends at the table.

  • A Saturday of your ownAll fourteen seats, $2,310. Book three months ahead.
  • A weeknightTuesday to Thursday, eight to fourteen guests, from $1,650.
  • With the pairingAdd $85 a guest, or bring your own cellar for a $25 a guest corkage.
Ask for a date

Questions

Before you book.

What does $165 include?

All seven courses, the bread, still and sparkling water, coffee and the tip. The wine pairing is $85 more: seven pours chosen by Theo, from a dry sparkling with the oyster to a cherry-dark dessert wine. A zero-proof pairing of pressed and fermented juices is $45.

Can I come on my own?

Please do. About a third of the table comes alone, and they’re usually the ones still talking at midnight.

Can you cook vegetarian, or around an allergy?

Yes, with notice by Wednesday noon. Every course has a vegetarian version, and allergies are cooked around so nobody at the table can tell whose plate is different.

Where is it, roughly?

A loft in the West Loop of Chicago, a few minutes’ walk from the Green and Pink Line stops. The street and the door come by text on Friday at 6 pm.

What if I can’t make it?

Seats are refunded in full until the Tuesday before. After that, send a friend in your place: just text us their name.

Can I give a seat as a present?

Yes. Gift seats come as a printed admission ticket in a black envelope, good for any Saturday in the next twelve months.

Reserve

Admit one.Or two.

Pick a Saturday and how many seats. $100 holds them; the rest is charged on the Friday, with the address. Seats are refunded in full until the Tuesday before.

Seven courses $165 a guest · wine pairing +$85 · zero-proof +$45 · the whole table $2,310

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