Chef Meg & Company: A Commander’s Palace Dinner Series kicked off this evening with a culinary collaboration between Commander’s Palace’s Executive Chef Meg Bickford and Serigne Mbaye, Chef of Dakar. The event takes place again on September 13 with Michael Gulotta, Executive Chef and Partner of Maypop, MoPho and the highly anticipated TANA. Tickets are priced at $165 per person, and a portion of proceeds benefits Café Reconcile. We talked with Chef Meg about the series and collaborating with local talent.

Commander’s Palace Dish (©Carey Ford)

Chef Meg & Company: A Commander’s Palace Dinner Series

“I love inviting other chefs I respect into our restaurant to cook with us. I get to introduce my staff to chef friends in the industry and their food. Hosting and entertaining is what we love to do, so it is very exciting to have the opportunity to cook with other chefs that I have so much respect for,” Chef Meg told us when we asked about what she loves best about the dinner series. “Extending our hospitality to our guest chefs is my priority, and it is an honor for me that they take time out of their schedules to join me at Commander’s. I am committed to showing our guest chef and our guests a good time! It is a lot of fun to collaborate and combine the different styles, flavors, and techniques of our cooking to create a unique dining experience for our guests.”

The dinner series supports Café Reconcile, a local New Orleans foundation that assists youths and young adults from 16-24 with workplace training and development in allowing them to be better prepared for the workforce. The program is designed to empower them and set them up for success. “Café Reconcile is our neighbor just around the corner, and we admire the service they provide to our community,: Chef Meg explained. “We believe in that organization and the young people who are in it, so we want to support Café Reconcile however we can.”

Don’t sleep on purchasing tickets for the next event—the dinner series is always a good time. “The relationships and celebrating togetherness,” Chef Meg told us of what she’s most excited for diners to experience. “The comradery and bonds in our industry are so strong. We aren’t competitors; we are supporters of each other, and inviting our guests to experience that in person is a beautiful thing.”