Last Thursday, I believe that I witnessed a tradition’s genesis in real time: KP Restaurant. My night at Kilpatrick House’s restaurant was like none other in recent memory—the common room, not usually the cleanest, was utterly and inarguably transformed into the perfect space for a candlelit dinner. The restaurant was manned entirely by the house’s residents, all in the name of fundraising for Kilpatrick’s annual St. Patrick’s Day soiree, St. Kilpat’s.
I, along with my party of five others, were greeted merrily at the lawn-side entrance by a remarkably professional hostess, who checked us in and brought us to our table. I must say, my party was stunned into earnest silence at the sight we beheld: three long tables with impeccably pressed white tablecloths and napkins (courtesy of our friends at the Dining Hall), beautiful table settings, ornately designed paper menus, and countless votive candles spread across the room. The lights were dimmed, jazz played softly in the background, we were served drinks and warmed bread: the night was poised to begin beautifully—the butter was soft enough to spread! We attended the second seating of the night; it was clear that our cooks, Head Chef Ananda Liveright, and sous-chef Hayden Solomon, as well as our KP servers, had already completed the first seating and were ready to stick the landing the second time around. There was to be a total of three courses, as well as a live performance between our main course and dessert from an elusive “woman from Australia.”
For the first course, we were served kale salad; the servers descended from the kitchen and entered the dining room in a fashion that was almost as if choreographed. There was a solid 2:1 staff to patron ratio. At our table, there was a merry debate over the state of the dressing on the salad—too much, not enough, etc.—and a toast given by a friend, sitting at the head of our table. He said, “[I would like to give] a token of gratitude to the space’s complete transformation,” and described the dinner overall as “stupid good.” We toasted to that. I, also around this time, caught the head chef and house chair, Ananda, for a short quote, given in the restaurant’s dining room. “I thought we’d be a lot more stressed,” she began. “We already had our first seating, and now we’re in our second seating, and it’s still going well. It’s pretty packed right now, we’re feeling blessed, we’re feeling grateful for everyone, feeling good! This pasta is going to be pretty fabulous.”
And fabulous it was. After my short exchange with the head chef, our entree, Rigatoni Alla Vodka, came out quickly. The pasta was steaming hot, tasty, and beautifully presented. A server came around the table with a sizable block of parmesan, grating over our plates, saying “tell me when.” The servers checked on us often, kept our glasses full, and even delivered us a second basket of bread. And though the pasta was amazing, the highlight of the night was surely the drag performer, Bridget Tunnel, who came all the way from Australia and performed for us a live rendition of Lorde’s smash hit, Supercut, wearing a long, blonde wig and sunglasses indoors.
At this point in the night, staff could be seen taking cigarette breaks in plain sight outside, plates were dropped and broken, people were tripping on the stairs, and I hadn’t seen the bottom of my glass all evening. The night was already a resounding success by the time Bridget Tunnel called out, “who’s ready for dessert?”
There were two dessert options at the KP Restaurant: freshly baked Strawberry Shortcake with plentiful cream and fresh berries, and a beautiful brownie with St. Patrick’s Day sprinkles on top and whipped cream in the shape of a shamrock. At the end of the night, after we’d enjoyed our desserts and people were beginning to meander out, we were reminded that yes, in fact, this beautiful dining experience was ultimately a fundraiser—my plate was fifteen dollars toward the party fund—when were were given our checks, small swaths of receipt paper, beckoning us to “Green Out for St. Kilpatrick.”
The restaurant was an unequivocally delightful experience overall—an evening so good, I believe there’s no option but to do it again.
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