Waking up the morning after Dîner en Blanc Philadelphia is like waking up from a glowy, glorious dream. It’s hard to get back to reality after a night spent all in white with more than 2,500 friendly strangers, aglow themselves with the magic that happens during Dîner en Blanc.
For those that don’t know about this “chic picnic in a public space,” Dîner en Blanc started in Paris 25 years ago and is an event that recalls the elegance and glamour of court society. Thousands of attendees, from diverse backgrounds, wait patiently for the secret location to be revealed, and then arrive dressed all in white, with their picnic dinners, conducting themselves with the utmost grace and join together for a magical evening that reflects their love for beauty and good taste.
This wasn’t our first year there, which made our preparation much easier. Because we didn’t have to acquire all of the materials this year, I was able to spend a little bit more time on menu planning and food preparation. I wanted something easy to prepare and transport, but still something that felt a little bit fancy. I decided on salmon with a dry-rub recipe my mom found a few years ago and angel hair pasta with olive oil, pepper and shredded pecorino romano. Sophisticated but simple, and something I’d still be willing to eat if it got a little cold on our way to the secret location. I also picked up a couple dulce de leche French macarons from Whole Foods for dessert. By “a couple,” I might actually mean “four.” I can never be accused of not having enough dessert.
It had poured earlier in the day, but thankfully the evening was spared from continuing thunder showers. Our pedestrian group met at the 30th Street Station, where we waited longer than scheduled due to some set-up delays caused by the earlier rain. My husband had just enough time to second guess the amount of wine we had with us (just one bottle), and ran to Old Nelson Food Company to grab a bomber of Victory’s Golden Monkey, just in case.
We soon learned the reason for our wait was that the location for this year’s event was just beyond the doors of 30th Street Station, where we had been waiting. After meeting our group members and waiting much longer than we expected, our group leader led us outside to the John F. Kennedy Bridge, where hundreds of other party-goers were already setting up.
Fitting more than 2,500 people on a bridge is a pretty impressive feat. The bridge didn’t lend itself to an after-dinner meander around the tables like Logan Circle did last year, but there was something different about eating a fancy picnic in the middle of what is normally a heavily trafficked area. The bridge was peaceful, even with taxis flying around 30th Street, and just as I had hoped, the earlier rainstorm gifted us with a rainbow, contributing to the magical light at dusk and amplified by a couple thousand people dressed to the nines in white.
During dinner, we met new friends and traded food, wine and stories. After dinner, we hit the photobooth, a new feature this year, and danced until almost all of the tables had been packed up before reluctantly packing up our own.
Although waking up and starting work the next morning was difficult, I did take a moment at breakfast to savor the one last dulce de leche macaron that remained. Until next year, Dîner en Blanc friends. Meet me in white at some undisclosed location around sunset, and we’ll do it all again.
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- Photography: Lisa Yoder
