Laura's Supper Club: Let's Do Lunch!

a spring menu for four

On Monday, I went out to lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen since before COVID. The cozy pub we chose was uncrowded and our request to have the music turned down was accommodated, so we were able to talk. And talk we did. Over beet salad, seared fish on lentils, and a bottle of Pinot Blanco from Alto Adige, we picked our way through the challenges and highlights of the past few years and came up with all sorts of brilliant ideas to pursue in the near future. “You see?” said my friend, high on a particular solution he’d come up with to a problem of mine. “This is why people should have lunch!” 

A generation ago, businesspeople considered lunches indispensable to their career success, and crucial for connecting with key people, building trust, and making deals. When and why did that tradition stop? No doubt some shortsighted person in accounting came to the bright conclusion that going out to lunch was a waste of money. Much more sensible for everyone to stay chained to their desks all day and communicate over email. But let’s be honest, we all know how much faster things can be accomplished when people get together in person. I’d even argue that, nine times out of 10, the real work that needs to get done (i.e., clear communication, understanding, and trust-building) happens more efficiently and effectively around a dining table than it does around the boardroom version. A boardroom table always has an agenda laying out what will be talked about, which restricts imagination, whereas at a dining-table conversation is wide open.

Of course, the term “ladies who lunch” has always been a putdown, dismissing women of this ilk as spoiled, bored housewives with nothing better to do than Manolo their way across town to Boulud so they can kill a couple of hours before it’s time for their Botox appointments.