Welcome to Dream Dinner Party, where we ask notable figures to describe just that: the dinner party of their dreams.
He may play a fast food chicken magnate on AMC’s Better Call Saul, but Giancarlo Esposito doesn’t include so much as a drumstick on his ideal menu. As the Breaking Bad prequel enters its final season, we asked him what he’d want to serve at a dinner party, where he’d host, and which Star Wars character gets an invite.
If you could invite any three people to dinner, who would they be and why?
Three’s not enough! I want the last supper. I want 12 people. So I made lists, and I put combinations of people together because it’s important to have folks from different walks of life sitting next to each other.
Fair enough. Who makes it into this first grouping?
The top person on my list is Sidney Poitier because of his grace and his dignity and his intellect and the fact that he did so much during the Civil Rights Movement. He also had a restaurant on 127th Street in Harlem. He loved to make people happy through his cooking. Hedy Lamarr because she was thought of as just an actress, but in actuality she was also a scientist who had a hand in creating a radio guidance system. And Shirley MacLaine, who I’ve always wanted to meet because she’s the embodiment of inner power. She stands up for women’s rights, but she has a kookiness as well.
What do you talk about?
It would be about Sidney Poitier’s life and how the world has changed. The conversation between him and Hedy Lamarr would be important because she came up during the Nazi era, when the world was changing. Then you throw in Shirley MacLaine, with some spirit and some fun.
Where would you host?
In the Butchart Gardens in Vancouver, the most gorgeous garden I think I’ve ever seen. It has very deep greens and lavenders and violet colors. That would be wonderful.
What’s the vibe?
I want a formal dinner. We would have silver and china because we don’t really do that anymore.
What is on the menu?
I want to start with something that cleanses the palate and welcomes the next course, so I think of a pomegranate, Bibb and arugula salad. A little tart, a little bitter, maybe a little sweet. The next course is Japanese cod with a little salt and some toasted sesame oil on it to bring in a salty flavor, which works to spur the imagination and give you some grounding earthy minerality. There’d be an avocado purée on the side. Our main course is halibut with a cherry-lime vinaigrette. For our vegetarians we’d have asparagus with a dash of Himalayan salt. For our other folks I feel like I want to put a band of bacon around the asparagus.
And for dessert?
It has to be chocolate. Very rich, simple, dense chocolate ganache tartlets with really good Italian espresso to keep you going.
In my household you’re best known for your role in The Mandalorian. So I’m curious, if you can invite an extra guest, would Baby Yoda get an invite?
As I’m still trying to catch that little…[laughs]. Absolutely