Alumni Channel Inner Iron Chefs with Supper-Club Contest

What happens when you get MIT students together for weekly roommate dinners? If you're foodies like Mark Watabe SM '10 and Tiffany Chu '10, the casual affairs turned into opportunities for spirited competition with fellow MIT students one-upping each other in pursuit of delighting friends' palates.

So fond were these memories that Watabe and Chu decided to take the idea public. Earlier this year, the duo launched Social Colander, a supper club cooking contest. Here's how it works. Each month, three pairs of amateur chefs prepare a dish based on a theme. Previous themes have included "I Love Your Tasty Puns" (edible puns), "Tea-ny Delights" (food miniatures paired with tea), "Interracial Marriage" (a fusion of different ethnic flavors), and "When a Twinkie Dreams" (a gourmet re-envisioning of cheap, industrial fast food).

Some 20 guests enjoy the food and vote on their favorite dish. Think Iron Chef or Top Chef minus the commercials. And unlike the TV contests, the cheftestants are given ample time—weeks—to plan. “We want our chefs to come super prepared and bring their best game,” Watabe told online news site BostInno.

The winning chefs claim a gift certificate to a local restaurant and a chance to wear the prized trophy: a green colander hat.

Tickets aren't easy to come by, and you have to sign up for the email list to be considered. The monthly club is currently based in Cambridge, though Watabe and Chu are hoping to expand to other cities nationwide and are currently shooting a Kickstarter video in preparation for fundraising.  The next dinner will be held Oct. 20 with the theme "Heaven & Hell," which requires the chefs to combine spicy and soothing flavors. View the menu.

Watabe and Chu both studied architecture at MIT and work as designers by day. Chu is also an avid blogger and photographer and regularly contributes to online design publications such as Dwell and Core77.

Cheftestants from the "Summer: a Short Story" dinner, which required dishes based on an original poem, story, or song with a summer theme. One member of the winning team, center, sports the prized green colander. Social Colander creators Mark Watabe SM '10 and Tiffany Chu '10 are in front. Above: the dinner's winning dish, called I Scream You Scream. It includes three savory scoops served in a waffle cone with all the tasty toppings: Swedish meatball with lingonberry sauce atop polenta, homemade pickles sprinkled with dill, and rainbow beets sprinkled with lemon zest.