Dinner Lab now offers tiered membership plan - including a free option

Dinner Lab, the pop-up restaurant phenomenon that started in New Orleans and has grown to more than 30 cities nationwide, including Dallas-Fort Wort, is making it easier for foodies to join.

Dinner Lab features up-and-coming chefs who are secured by DL’s culinary scouts to create special meals, a secret location is secured and an email that introduces the chef and his/her menu is sent out to members, who decide whether they would like to attend. Those who wait too long to decide will be left out; events sell out quickly.

A second email is sent out the day before the event, telling members of the secret location, which has included art studios, rooftops and empty garages.

In the past DL members were required to pay an annual fee (about $125 in Dallas-Fort Worth), but effective immediately, that fee has been waived for basic memberships.

All you have to do is sign up at dinnerlab.com and you’re one step closer to one of the trendiest dining experiences going.

After joining, members will be alerted to upcoming dining events and given the option to attend for a cost of $50 to $80 for a unique and tasty five-course meal, including specialty selected wines, craft beers and creative cocktails.

Dinner Lab, based in New Orleans, will also offer a select membership with an annual fee of $175, which provides members special perks, such as being able to attend DLs in cities across the U.S.

So if you’re a member of DL Dallas and are going to be in San Antonio or San Francisco for the weekend and there’s a Dinner Lab you’re interested in, you can go.

Dinner Lab was started by CEO Brian Bordainick and his buddies in New Orleans in 2012 and has grown to include 31 cities across the U.S. More than 1,000 Dinner Lab events have been held, Bordainick said in an email.

“One of our main goals is to build community around food,” Bordainick said. “We want people young and old and from all different backgrounds, to come together around the Dinner Lab table to share the thing they all have in common: a love of food and meeting interesting people.”

The tiered membership plan allows more people to participate, he said.

While the basic membership is great for those interested in attending an occasional DL, the $175 membership is for hardcore foodies. Besides being able to eat outside their member cities, the select membership gives members early sign up options for events, seasonal parties and chef demonstrations and classes.

Among the chefs who has showed off his food — his lamb shank was incredible — in the Dallas DLs is Blaine Staniford, with the Grace and Little Red Wasp restaurants in Fort Worth.

“It gives chefs a chance to experiment outside of their normal kitchens and reach possible new clients,” Staniford previously told the Star-Telegram.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Dinner Lab now offers tiered membership plan - including a free option."