Indulgent six-course dinners at an elementary school? Fabulous meals created by top chefs that start with a welcome glass of champagne and end with expertly prepared specialty coffee? And dinners that also help raise funds to benefit chefs, culinary students and the community?
That’s exactly what happens at Paramount Schools of Excellence Cottage Home campus during the Culinary Crossroads Supper Club presented by Paramount Schools dinner series. Once a month on a Sunday evening, one of Indiana’s top chefs takes over the school kitchen to create an incredible dinner for just 30 guests. Ticket sales go towards compensating the chefs as well as supporting the Greg Hardesty Scholarship Fund at Ivy Tech Community College, Paramount’s Junior Chef Academy and Indianapolis Eastside community events.
Culinary Crossroads partnered with Paramount to create the dinner series following the school’s efforts during the pandemic to support local chefs whose livelihoods were affected by restaurant closures. Paramount CEO Tommy Reddicks and his late wife, Kelly Wensing, created “Bring Back the Chefs,” a pandemic dinner series with proceeds from ticket sales going directly to chefs impacted by restaurant shut-downs. Following Kelly’s death and an outpouring of financial support, a fund was created to continue the efforts to help support her passion for culinary and community events.
“We are so pleased to be working with Paramount Schools of Excellence to help create the Sunday Supper Club dinner series,” said Culinary Crossroads founder and director Larry Dickerson. “It’s a phenomenal series that spotlights some of the area’s top chefs, and we couldn’t be happier to help make it happen.”
The supper club launched in 2021 with a 12-month schedule and is back this year for six more months of dinners. The 2023 season kicked off in May with chef Tawana Gulley of Healthy Soul and continues through the summer with chefs Justin Miller of Ghost Mobile Kitchen, Ming Pu of Brooklyn & the Butcher in New Albany and Mike Gomez of Gomez Barbecue. The series also includes Paramount’s Perfect Bite Championship in conjunction with the school’s TURN Festival in September and wraps up with an October restaurant takeover at Tinker Street in Indianapolis.
Dinner tickets are $125 per person and are still available for June, July and August dinners. Purchase tickets here.
