At The Table With: Katherine Lewin
Ft. lemon granita and some great advice
At The Table With is a monthly interview series that explores the ideas of creativity and personal taste through the eyes of my friends (or people I would like to be friends with.) This month’s guest is the queen of thoughtful dinner parties and founder of Big Night, Katherine Lewin!
Two Junes ago I was in New York City to finally visit my best friend after two years of very little fun. A month before I’d had to delay the trip thanks to a sore throat that turned out to be Covid, so by the time I got to her place in Greenpoint I was desperate for a long day of wandering around town, multiple iced coffees, and a 5 pm dinner (all of our favorite things.) She had told me about this shop that opened in her neighborhood called Big Night that she thought I’d like, so we put it on our list.
Unsurprisingly, she was right—I loved it. Big Night’s whole thing is that they sell everything you’d need to throw a great dinner party, which is frankly very Ali LaBelle coded to begin with. It’s a pantry shop, yes, but it’s also a treasure trove for anyone who loves to host: cheese knives in every color, little bowls and vessels for serving, table linens, and an entire shelf labeled “Women in Olive Oil”. It was unpretentious and clever and just had the best feeling about it.
Which makes sense, because Katherine Lewin, Big Night’s founder, is also all of those things. Just under two years after that first visit I hosted my first Pasta Girlfriend event at Big Night’s new West Village location and got to meet Katherine in person. She’s obviously super smart—someone who just gets it—but she’s also generous and has really good taste, two things that no doubt make her the ultimate dinner party host. She treats every aspect of what she does—her shops, her brand, and her new cookbook—as if you’re a guest in her house, where you’re greeted with an ice cold martini and told to make yourself at home.
Big Night, the cookbook (take a shot every time I write “Big Night” and see how far you get into this newsletter) is the perfect example. The book is broken up by season and features recipes, stories, and tips for hosting that meet you where you are at, no matter where you fall on the Ina Garten scale. Its thesis—that “anyone can be a host, and any night can be a Big Night”—is proven over and over again through product recommendations, checklists, personal anecdotes, notes of encouragement, how-to guides, and more. It’s honestly already one of my favorite cookbooks, and I can’t wait to make recipes like “Artichoke Dip—For Dinner” for whoever comes over next.
I asked Katherine a few questions…
Ali LaBelle: Tell us a little about yourself!
Katherine Lewin: I was born in Los Angeles, but when I was little, my mom and I moved to Austin, Texas. I would go to LA to visit my Dad frequently, so I like to claim both cities as a version of home. After college, I immediately moved to NYC, and I’ve been here since! So that’s the third city I now claim. Although “claim” feels like the wrong word, because really it’s the other way around—I feel like this city claims me! For the first couple of years of living here, I thought, At some point I’ll leave, move, maybe go back to California. 12 years later and with two brick-and-mortar shops… NYC and I are going very strong.
In college I thought I wanted to be in fashion. My sophomore year, I landed an internship in the LA offices of Vogue, which led to a chance encounter with Jenna Lyons at that year’s CFDA awards, which eventually led to an internship at J.Crew, which led to my first job out of college there—I was a merchandising assistant in menswear. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, that was basically my retail grad school, where I learned so many of the fundamentals that would end up being instrumental in opening Big Night. At the time, though, it felt all wrong! I hadn’t taken a single math class in school and suddenly I was deep in spreadsheets, in way over my head. I started slyly emailing the marketing department, basically campaigning to make a lateral move over to copywriting. I loved J.Crew, loved the brand, loved the clothes, the people behind all of it, and I wanted to tell those stories. After an edit test I will remember for the rest of my life, I got the job, and was able to make the move over to the other side of the building. That copywriting job was another grad school, this time in brand and product storytelling. How to describe a color, a fabric, a fit. How to name a collection. How to write a subject line that would make people want to open an email.
At the same time, I was (irresponsibly) spending my entire copywriting paycheck dining in NYC restaurants. That was my way into really beginning to learn more about the city—through its food and dining rooms. I was starting to wish that I could be writing about these experiences, maybe even for work. The Infatuation was one of my restaurant bibles, a site I would read daily and use as a checklist for where I should be dining. Through yet another chance/fateful encounter, I found out that they were looking to hire another editorial person. I was the fourth employee, spent the next 6 years there, and as Editorial Director led a large team of writers and editors around the country. It was a total dream job, the kind of job I would not think about leaving unless I had a really, really good reason to…
Deep in the pandemic lockdown, during the holidays of 2020, I had the idea for a dinner party shop. It sounds counterintuitive in a moment when none of us were dinner partying, but I personally was fantasizing about them. I was watching myself and everyone I knew, and everyone on my Instagram feed, cook more than ever. But none of us were able to share that cooking, that food, with anyone beyond our immediate pandemic pod. It struck me how much I missed gathering my friends at home, around the table, just like I missed walking up to a restaurant bar and ordering a martini. I started to feel really strongly that dinner parties were one of those experiences we were all going to be so excited to have again, when it was safe enough to do so.
It was just an idea for a few months, until it became more. I found the perfect tiny little vacant shop in my neighborhood. I called the broker’s number on the window. And that perfect tiny little vacant shop became Big Night, just a few months later.
AL: What was it like to develop the concept for Big Night? The brand has such a strong visual identity that shines through both stores, the website, your Instagram, and now your new book. What were some of your inspirations when you were just getting started?
KL: I knew I wanted the brand to scream joy. I knew I wanted it to be extremely colorful. I knew I wanted it to feel warm and welcoming and inclusive. I felt like a lot of retail, especially in NYC, was a bit austere. I wanted to create a place, and a brand, that felt the opposite. That felt almost uncontainable, bursting from the seams. I hand-drew the double-i/exclamation point logo, and then once my graphic designer, Mia Johnson, saw that, we were off to the races. From there, she helped me put into visual language all of the words I was using to tell her how I envisioned the brand. Today, nearly three years later, the absolute best feedback I can get is when customers tell us that even just walking into the stores makes them feel happy.
AL: One of the many things I love about the book is that in it you embrace imperfection when it comes to hosting. For instance, there’s a bit about how no one cares if your flatware matches, but they’ll remember how you made them feel. What is the number one piece of advice you’d give the perfectionists among us?
KL: Remember that at the best dinner parties, there are rarely any “good” photos. People are too busy enjoying themselves—the company, the food, the drinks, the sparkly energy in the air—to focus on whether your tablescape is perfect.
And if you’re the kind of person whose tablescape IS perfect, it’s because that’s where you love to put your creative energy, and THAT is what your guests will notice—how you put yourself into that table.
At their best, dinner parties are a reflection of the person who is hosting: what you like to cook, to eat, to serve, and how you like to welcome people into your home. That can take so many forms, and a beautiful tablescape is just one of them.
AL: What came the easiest when writing the book? What aspects of it were the most difficult?
KL: The actual writing is what came the easiest. There were, and are, so many stories within Big Night, the shop, that I wanted to tell, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to share those—you’ll find a lot of personal stories across the book, stories that have informed so much of Big Night, the brand and shop.
But a cookbook is about SO much more than just the writing. Obviously, the recipes are crucial, as is the photography, and on both of those fronts I am so lucky to have had such a talented team. I worked with Rebecca Firkser to develop each of the recipes in the book; recipe writing is its own language, and it’s a language I’ve been able to learn only because I had her at my side.
Shooting a cookbook is also an endeavor unlike anything I have ever experienced—it’s just as much about logistics and planning and preparation as it is about intense creativity. The stakes felt so high! I had this wild opportunity to extend the brand identity from shop to book, and I am so lucky that the team I had around me saw the vision so clearly—shooting this book with photographer Emma Fishman, food stylist Monica Pierini, and prop stylist Stephanie De Luca was one of the most creatively thrilling and satisfying experiences I’ve had.
AL: What’s next for Big Night?
KL: I want Big Night to become synonymous with living the good life at home. There is nothing I love more than helping more people have more Big Nights.
AL: Let’s do a little visualization exercise! Imagine your dream dinner party. You can invite anyone (living or not, famous or not), serve anything, and host it anywhere. Where’s the party?
KL: At my apartment. Ok actually, not my exact apartment, but the penthouse unit of my apartment building (one can dream!), on the deck, overlooking the East River and the NYC skyline on a perfect warm but not-too-hot summer evening.
AL: What’s on the table? How are you decorating?
KL: I am definitely someone who sets the table based on my mood. Since this is a relaxed summertime al fresco affair, we’re keeping the table easy. A bright tablecloth, a few bud vases with pretty blooms, and plenty of room for all of the food we’ll have family-style. Also: place cards. I love to play matchmaker with who should sit next to whom, and place cards always make everyone feel, immediately, that they have a special seat at the table.
AL: Speaking of, who’s invited?
KL: I get this question a lot and the boring but true answer is: my friends! But for the sake of fantasy, here are just a few people that I would be absolutely tickled to seat amongst my friends:
Ayo Edebiri. Who doesn’t want to be friends with this woman?! She’s also my #1 personal style crush at the moment.
Nancy Silverton, whose career and cooking I admire so much. I had the chance to meet her earlier this year and she is JUST as cool as you would think.
Orna Guralnik, because I don’t know what to do with myself now that I’ve finished the newest season of Couples Therapy.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner, perhaps the greatest profile-writer of our time, who would bring the BEST stories.
AL: What’s on the menu?
KL: I want this party to last all night long—and for me to not have to run back and forth from the kitchen and miss a moment of conversation—so I am putting together a spread that can sit at room temperature without a care in the world. Heirloom tomatoes with tonnato drizzled over, a big summer bean salad with herby dressing, lots of burrata and prosciutto with crusty bread alongside, a peak-season corn salad with grilled shrimp. And lemon granita and whipped cream for dessert.
AL: What music is playing?
KL: Our Big Night Mix. It’s the 28-hour playlist that both fuels my actual dinner parties and is the soundtrack to our shops.
AL: Quick fire round. What’s your favorite scent or smell?
KL: A rotating crew of D.S. & Durga, sometimes layered on top of one another. I love Durga, Italian Citrus, and I Don’t Know What.
AL: Favorite artist?
KL: Garry Winogrand.
AL: Last thing you read?
KL: All Fours by Miranda July.
AL: Comfort food?
KL: Pasta of any kind.
AL: Thing you bought recently?
KL: We just moved into a new apartment that I am slowwwwwwwwly furnishing. Recently: a vintage burl pedestal for the entryway, a big haul at the Container Store, a midcentury five-arm standing arc lamp that I’m still trying to decide if I like.
I cannot stress enough how special this book is. Katherine, thank you so much for sharing it with me, and for allowing me to share it on À La Carte, and for passing all of your wisdom onto all of us. And for writing what I think might be the most perfect chapter in any cookbook ever, “An Italian Vacation Without Leaving Your House”.
Grab a copy of Big Night from Big Night (lol) or from anywhere you buy your books. And be sure to check out their online shop because it is a genuine joy to scroll through.
See you back here on Friday!
x
Ali
In case you missed it:
The guest list... perfection!
Love everything! The launch is the day before your pasta girlfriends party ;)
Two days partying in a row … Love it