The Riverside Supper Club: Creating Community Through Cuisine

In a bright studio in Riverside, Yolena Ramirez and Adrian Gamero are creating something special. The Riverside Supper Club, their monthly themed dinner event, has become a gathering place where tickets go quickly and their reach has grown beyond just Riverside, recently being joined by guests from Los Angeles and even as far as Las Vegas.

When she opens the door Yolena is wearing red and white checkered pants, they remind me of a tablecloth, one you might see in a hyper fictionalized version of a vibrant trattoria where the only song playing on the jukebox is "Che La Luna". I learned later that this was intentional, in theme. The studio where the dinners are held is bright and welcoming, and there's a beautiful collection of alcohol bottles shelved at the end of the room, the windows are open and the rumble of Riverside traffic can be heard below. We talk over popcorn and orange wine.

The Supper Club's menu changes monthly, each highlighting a different country and its cuisine. This month it's France, and preparation for May's Italian theme begins today with homemade limoncello made from lemons Ramirez gathered from her backyard trees.

"Accessibility is very important," Ramirez says, explaining her approach to sourcing ingredients. She uses what's available locally whenever possible, noting any coffee used in her projects comes from Back to the Grind, less than a five-minute walk away. This community-focused approach benefits local businesses while simplifying her process – something Ramirez, a business owner and mother of two, appreciates.

With 147,000 Instagram followers, one might wonder if Ramirez considers herself a content creator.

"No," she replies. "I'm just making content to sell tickets."

Her real work, she explains, is creating "community driven experiences" that she believes are necessary for people "stuck in an everyday cycle... events like this are good for their mental health."

Chef Adrian Gamero is ambitious. He's self taught and he began cooking at 10 years old, and remembers his first creation to be "pasta al pomodoro". We talk as he cooks now, as he browns little floured slabs of beef. The aroma begins to fill the air. He lists what's on the French menu, smoked salmon, lamb meatballs, and braised pork shoulder. The mouth can only water. I take a sip of orange wine, he reaches for white wine to deglaze the pan.

"I've got about seven menus to think about right now... and about 90 hours of work a week," Gamero says.

One of these projects is his catering company, Inner Pizza, which serves about 100 pizzas every Friday at the Devereaux House on Nelson Street. In their earliest collaboration, Gamero and Ramirez traveled as a "traveling circus" – he taught customers to make pizza while she provided cocktails.

When asked why he maintains such an intense schedule, Gamero reflects: "Honestly, I don't know... it's about feeding others and it's worth it when you're feeding people that care about the same things you do."

Though their current setup is "unconventional," Gamero envisions eventually opening a storefront where they can expand their cuisine. "As long as we can maintain the success and people keep coming, we'll ride the wave," he says.

The first Riverside Supper Club gathering was called "Dinner for Desconocidos," bringing together family and friends who hadn't yet met. Since then, their popularity has grown beyond Riverside, attracting guests from as far as Las Vegas.

Ramirez doesn't need to play matchmaker to facilitate connections. "We just cultivate the environment and people naturally gravitate toward each other," she explains. "It's a communal dinner where people hand each other plates and ask 'could you hand me that?' or 'would you like some of this?'"

To Meat or Not to Meat

While some social media followers request vegetarian options, it's not currently a priority for the young supper club. Ramirez, who grew up in a "ranchero" lifestyle where her family raised their own animals for food, brings that resourcefulness to her preference for local sourcing.

Interestingly, Gamero himself is currently a pescatarian and has previously been vegetarian. "I love animals so much. I would be scared to slaughter one, but I understand why people do it," he says.

He's open to menu expansion but notes economic realities: "We just haven't made room for them yet... we have to keep the consumer in mind, but we also have to think about our resources, we're funding all this ourselves."

A First-Person Experience

We entered through Lemon Street— a couple of other guests and I. There were already a dozen or so people there when we reached the studio. The space was as I remembered, bright and welcoming. Yolena and Adrian were already hard at work and a friend of theirs, Val, offered us complimentary wine as she seated us. We sat on pillows on the floor. I sat criss cross applesauce, and although I'm fairly active I definitely felt it in the morning. Candles and fiery colored flowers adorned the table. The plates were handmade of red clay with even more flowers painted on them along the perimeters.

Ramirez circulates taking cocktail orders. The Avocado Dreams cocktail is sweet with only a hint of avocado, brightened by citrus and tequila. The Limoncello Pina Colada was by far the most popular cocktail among this particular group. It was a dessert before the dessert - light, fluffy, creamy, tropical fun and a great pick-me-up before the heaviest course of the night.

The meal begins with smoked salmon rillettes on crostini, followed by vichyssoise (potato leek soup) that Gamero notes is "the soup Remy first makes in the movie Ratatouille."

By the third course it was dark outside and everyone was feeling pretty good, myself included, I laid back a little and closed my eyes listening to the music, I noticed some people took their shoes off, and the vibe was a lot more relaxed and I felt at home. The space was darker and the candles began to really do their thing now, there was a warm glow on everybody's face and in the distance under pink and yellow lights you could hear the shake shake shaking of an ice cold cocktail being made and the clinking and clanking of metal spoons and spatulas banging against pots and pans as our hosts and their helpers all moved in unison preparing the next dish. Lamb meatballs in tomato fondue, seasoned with herbs de Provence, are served family-style, encouraging interaction. "Echale," says one guest to another, passing the plate in a gesture reminiscent of family meals.

The most substantial course features braised pork shoulder cooked in dry apple cider alongside pomme puree. The pork was juicy, sweet, and tender, and it fell apart with ease. It was the main event. I ate until I had my fill and then I had a bite or two more. Sucking on that pig juice, I was a happy man. The meal concludes with raspberry rose sorbet.

After thanking guests for participating, Ramirez encourages everyone to linger: "This is your space." The evening winds down gradually as guests depart with tummies full, with new friends, happy no doubt – exactly the community experience the hosts envisioned.

By Ivan Elizalde

More information: Tickets are still available for the upcoming June suppers. To purchase tickets and learn more, visit kandycocktailevents.com/supperclub.