Georgetown Restaurant Reverie Opens Pay-What-You-Can Reservations | Eater DC

"In Georgetown, I learned that Reverie, led by Johnny Spero (who appeared on Netflix's The Final Table), is launching a pay-what-you-can tasting program called “Friends of the House” that seats just two customers per night at a mandatory 6 p.m. counter seating facing the open kitchen. For each reservation Spero and his staff will personally deliver and explain a nightly set menu of snacks plus six courses — about 85% experimental dishes not found elsewhere on the menu and sometimes made with tiny-quantity ingredients (he cites days when his seafood purveyor can only offer three abalone) — and at the end diners receive a blank receipt to write in what they'd like to pay (drinks are not included). Reservations go online today at noon and the service begins Thursday, December 13; Spero says the program is meant to give young chefs, college students on a budget, and nonprofit workers access to fine-dining experiences, and that the idea grew out of a partners' retreat with the Drink Company team (Derek Brown, Angie Fetherston, JP Fetherston, and Paul Taylor). He acknowledges the risk that some customers could pay far less than they can afford but doesn't expect the two-seat program to cause a major financial hit — though it might hurt emotionally — and notes that Reverie, opened in October to apply fine-dining techniques to new American cooking while removing exclusivity, already keeps a majority of main courses under $30; the restaurant also presents itself as both a bar and a restaurant." - Gabe Hiatt