East Village Restaurant Feast Builds Communities Around Its Family Style Menus

Focusing around family-style themed prix fixe menus, Feast hopes to create dining experiences that encourage conversation as much as satisfy palates. “When we started, we were thinking about the ways that we like to go out and eat, and how we are always about sharing and ordering a bunch of plates and enjoying the whole spectrum of the menu,” owner Brian Ghaw explains. Blending ideas from high-end prix fixe dining experiences and traditional family-style restaurants, Feast allows customers to select a handful of dishes off the restaurant’s rotating seasonal menus and create their own dining experience for a set price.

With over one hundred million photos on Instagram under the hashtag #foodporn at the time of publication, it is clear that technology is playing a large part of the culinary experience. In a time where people are more engaged with how their food looks on Instagram as opposed to just how it tastes, Feast aims to create an environment that calls for diners to set their phones down and interact on a personal level. This emphasis can be seen in the large banquet table that serves as the focal point of their rustic dining room.

“It’s all about bringing the dinner party back,” Ghaw says. Feast is not about the glam that characterizes much of the Manhattan culinary scene, but rather the casual and relaxed vibes of eating with a group of good friends. Using food to unify strangers and acquaintances alike, Feast sits diners side-by-side, so everyone can chat over the diverse dishes on the table. The post-meal goal is for people to leave with stronger bonds than they had before they entered Feast’s doors.

Check out our Feast cocktail series:

How To Make Feast Restaurant’s Vision Beta Cocktail
How To Make Feast Restaurant’s Peace & Amity Cocktail
How To Make Feast Restaurant’s False Travels Cocktail
How To Make Feast Restaurant’s Moon Gate Cocktail
How To Make Feast Restaurant’s Modern Times Cocktail