DYNAMIC DUO: Pop-up Dining at Detroit Underground Omakase

The sign on the door lays it all out on the proverbial table: Welcome! Please remember that, as you dine tonight, you are in the chef ’s hands.

This is no time to be a picky eater or to expect to peruse a menu to select what tempts your taste buds. This is DUO—Detroit Underground Omakase—a pop-up dining experience where guests eat a multi-course meal conceived by Chef Jeremy Abbey.

“He was competing nationally and internationally and talking about wanting to get back to cooking, but that he didn’t have a place,” explains Eric Abbey, who along with his brother is the brains behind DUO. He’s also the front-of-the-house face. “We wanted to do something that was a rave or underground.”

Jeremy Abbey, WCMC, CEC, CEPC, CCE, CCA, was director of culinary programs at the American Culinary Federation in St. Augustine, Florida, spending much of his time on the road, before he returned to Detroit to be executive director of Soil2Service, which owns and operates the Detroit Institute of Gastronomy.

"The whole idea of this is to cook my food, to take the menu back from the customers. at’s the driving force,” explains Jeremy Abbey, adding that ne dining once was about experiencing a chef ’s food.

In 2015, the Abbey brothers made the initial investment in cookware and serving ware to be able to serve 30–35 guests roughly eight times a year. (They bump the cap to 50 on holidays.) DUO relies on word of mouth, with events released via e-mail and Facebook usually selling out 18 hours to a week aer posting. Most are $50 per person.

As part of the pop-up nature, diners purchase a ticket before receiving an invitation revealing the whereabouts. In June, that meant 32 guests gathered to experience a 12-course meal at a residence in Detroit’s University District. Abbey and his support crew fit into the late-1920s home’s wood-paneled kitchen, but barely. They work like a finely tuned machine.

Eric Abbey, Chef Jeremy Abbey and Chef John Piazza

"They call it the brigade system, where each person has their specific responsibility,” explains John T. Piazza, CEC, CCA, who alongside Jeremy Abbey cooks and plates the five to seven components of each course.

Piazza attended DUO’s first event as an invited guest and has worked almost every one since. Years ago Piazza hired Jeremy Abbey first as an instructor and then as an associate director at Dorsey Culinary School. Now Piazza is hard at work launching Soil2Service with Abbey. His wife, Julie, a personal chef, is support staff too, continuously washing DUO dishes. Daughter Marella Piazza joins Eric Abbey in the front of the house. Private chef Amy Hang also lends a hand cooking and plating for this June event. Work like this—following someone else’s direction—is unusual for culinary professionals at their level, but they welcome the chance to pitch in, says Jeremy Abbey.

"They get an opportunity to just be workers. A lot of chefs miss the simplicity of washing dishes. I miss being told what to do, like what we came up doing,” he says, explaining how well they work together. “You get to put your best food forward for somebody else.”

“Here we go,” belts Eric Abbey, when the doorbell rings. Diners with wine bottles in tow greet him and each other, clearly excited for the gastronomical journey ahead. “You found it,” a woman exclaims to a friend walking in and starts explaining that some of her “foodie friends” will be joining them. Someone wonders if there’s a theme. No, but meals often reflect Jeremy Abbey’s extensive international travels. The kitchen and staging area are a flurry of activity plating the first courses as guests take their seats.

Soon, they devour everything from grapefruit and turmeric shooters to bami sticks, a Jamaican delicacy made from cassava root served with banana cream, to potato bread with mushroom pâté alongside two styles of radish. e monikers on the menu, like “Forest” or “Sprummer,” give no hint about what’s to come, fueling the inherent unpredictability.

Jeremy Abbey recalls one dinner that included courses dubbed Celery 1, Celery 2, Celery 3, Celery 4: “Two guests came in and said ‘I thought I hated celery and you changed my mind.’”

“When you look at most of the menus we have, there are often surprises. Things that look like one thing, but taste like something else. It’s kind of the DUO effect,” says Piazza.

Chef Amy Hang

Brian Radloff of Farmington Hills first gave DUO a try in February 2016 and counted June as their 17th. He and his wife, Debbie, instantly became fans. They love the food, the atmosphere and getting to know the Abbeys, and often invite friends or their college-age children to join them.

“We love not knowing what Chef Jeremy is going to put together for us,” says Radloff, calling the food innovative. “We love seeing all of the interesting techniques he uses to pull it together.”

Radloff particularly enjoyed a Salvador Dali–inspired dinner.

“It was fantastic. Most folks don’t know that Dali was an aspiring chef and published a cookbook,” says Radloff, explaining how Abbey built the dinner based on his interpretation of Dali’s recipes. The dinner included cards of Dali’s work expressing their influence. “It was spectacular.” While it seems high pressure, Jeremy Abbey insists he isn’t worried about whether people like his creations or not.

"There’s no stress, no pressure really. It’s cooking,” he says. “I’m good at what I do."

The chorus of “wows” dappled among the clinking of silverware on plates seems to back him. The end of the meal even brings applause as Jeremy Abbey prepares to talk about each dish and answer any questions. "They’re in the adventure with us,” he says.

• Learn more about DUO on their Facebook page: Facebook.com/DetroitUndergroundOmakase/