Perfect series series of stories, which I only now stumbled upon - and I spend an inordinate amount of time on the NYT website.. read the all at one go. More, please!

Perfect story. You write like a dinner party gone well.

Dear Dorie and Michael. Good to hear from you even via the NY Times. Enjoy Paris Michael and Family

A wonderful article, beautifully written and all so true and evocative.

My wife and I offer dinner parties at our house as fund-raisers at silent auction programs at charities. For several years, these have been over-subscribed. For each party, we offer a theme: Italian (one time we did osso buco with risotto Milanese); French (centered on boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin); Norwegian (my wife's maternal grandparents were Norwegian; guess what the main course was); German (much time spent there); Sicilian (went to cooking classes there). In the new year we are offering an Austrian dinner celebrating Mozart's birthday on January 27th and a Greek dinner celebrating Greek Independence Day on March 25th. Based on our trips to Austria and Greece earlier this year. All with local wine pairings. Two more are yet to be scheduled. One maybe French. One maybe an updated 1950's theme (Kristine and I grew up in the '50's). How about tomato aspic salad, meatloaf with mashed potatoes, and pineapple upside down cake? And of course to start Old Fashioneds, Martinis, and Manhattans, with bacon-wrapped olives, broiled, and celery sticks stuffed with pimiento cheese? For dinner parties, the sky is really the limit! Stephen.

I also love giving a dinner party. Even though my friends and I are all gen X/millennials, for some reason when seated around a dinner table the phones get left behind. There's just something about sitting around a table that makes people love to chat, with food or without.

I think this is one of the most important articles in NYT in the last while. Yes, the news is ever present, issues in the Koreas, the President, and on and on. But the human connection is the reason why we are placed here, and the art of joining together is something that is honed not only by the host, but by the guests. We've found, across many small and large gatherings in our home (and back yard) that it takes many comings together of a core group of people for them to start to truly feel comfortable and fall back into human communication and communion.

A lot of dinner parties in Rhinebeck; less in Woodstock.

In my circle of friends, every invitation (to cocktails, to dinner, to a casual gathering) is followed by "... and bring a dish to share." At the last dinner party I attended, we (the guests) literally made everything but the tossed salad (the hostess' contribution), AND we brought the wine. Then there was the dinner party where the lone child (4 years) wanted to watch TV and so during cocktails all adult conversation ceased in favor of cartoons. My friends are surprised to the point of shock when I invite them to dinner and tell them to bring only themselves; consequently I have to fend off constant offers of side dishes, desserts, additional main dishes. I thought I was the only one who feared the demise of the true "dinner party." This article has made me determined to entertain more and despair less. Viva la dinner party!

Oh, how I enjoyed this article! Every delicious word.

This is the new morals of NYT writers? Should be ashamed. " ..furtively helping myself to the loose change left on the bureau. " I was shocked really to read this as if it is normal and no big deal. Stealing from one's parents? Huh?

Why aren't more people commenting on this article? It's brilliant and it's why I'm a subscriber. To read articles like this that elevate something that could have been a list-ticle to poetry. Gabrielle can write. You go girl, you multi-talented miracle, you. I can't get into your restaurant. E-V-E-R. So I bought your book and I am loving you here. Keep it coming for those of us not organized enough to get a reservation at Prune 3 months in advance.

My parents didn’t give very many dinner parties when I was a child, but they did have lots of evening “bridge parties.” I still remember going downstairs in the early morning with my sister and brother and eating any leftover salted peanuts which we then washed down with any beer we found left in the bottom of the glasses. Great memories!

I also hosted my first dinner party in high school. Luckily most of my guests these days are not glued to their phones. Thanks for the memories and a push to get back in the kitchen.

It's soooo satisfying to read my own philosophy in print! I 'jokingly' tell my guests that if you really care you'll never come early and please don't lift a finger to clear or clean. It's not part of the evening's entertainment. I also promise to treat them exactly that same way!

It's a lost art..........Your article summoned favorite memories! Giving dinner parties was my currency!

Wonderful article. I was at a friend's family house today and there was a guest book that had belonged to her mother in law now deceased. The book had all the dinner parties she had given in the sixties, seventies and eighties, with the name of the guests, the seating plan and the menu. Some dinners had comments about the conversation, the ambiance and so forth. It was incredibly fun to read through. And I thought to myself that the art of giving loving, sparkling, interesting and delicious dinner parties was a great one indeed that left an indelible mark in all of our lives, to those who gave the parties and to those who attended them.

Wonderful! Makes me want to have more dinner parties. Gabrielle's articles are always a treat.

When I lived in the U.K. until the late 70s, dinner parties were weekly events. I was really surprised when I moved to the States and found that in the suburbs of New York, they were less common. Then, when I moved to California it was barbeques and pool parties and dinner parties were a real rarity and a big palaver rather than just easy, pleasant dinners with friends and acquaintances where the talk was lively and we lingered at the table for hours. I miss that still.

Gabrielle puts it most articulately and says precisely what I do: I want you to be my absolute guest when you're at my house and I will do the same for you -- I won't do your dishes or even offer. I won't help you serve, or even offer, etc. Thank you, Gabrielle.

Fantastic article.

Fabulous!

Exquisite piece of writing. Thank you Gabrielle.

agreed!

Brava, Ms. Hamilton! You've hit the nail on the head. Now to deal with those who can't or won't eat this or that and go on about it -- I can tolerate the allergies, but the culinary Calvinists drive me over the edge!

This is absolutely beautiful

No matter how elaborate and well-planned are the present-day dinner parties, nothing is done well, unless the men wear tails and white tie, there are food servers, and someone at the table, who feels having been placed below his dignity, reverses the plate in front of him, while continuing to smile and chat amiably to his neighbors.

No time to write much, just want to say "Bravo, Gabrielle!" You took me back right along with you. I caught myself nodding and sighing and relating to so many of the things you wrote. Just wanted to thank you for once again writing a fabulous piece.

What a great, happy article! I'd love to be friends with you all, sit at your tables and have you at mine. Dinner parties have been a major joy for my husband and me for 55 years. Fewer now, as our stamina no longer matches our enthusiasm. But we still manage a few each year and reminisce about Thanksgiving dinners in Golden Gate Park with at least one newly arrived family every year. I cooked my way through Julia Child and the Time Life Foods of the World for friends. Formal and informal parties. Celebrations and cheerer-uppers. Dinners back to back to make the most of clean bathrooms and flower arrangements. Dinners for friends and dinners to make friends. Highlights, for sure. So lovely to read about contemporary approaches from other enthusiastic cooks who all love to share. Among the most civilized of pleasures!

thank you for this beautiful article!! i LOVE dinner parties, although I'm never quite brave enough to call them that. What can be better than my nearest and dearest, clustered around the long table in our front yard, drinks in hand and plates askew, while the baby sleeps in his cot and the kitchen cools off?

What a beautiful masterpiece from one of the most talented chefs in this country! I am not that old, early 40's and belong to the generation that grew up without any screen time. Forget about cell phones-there was no decent TV programming in our country! I also had my own dinner party in high school, it was my 15th birthday. My Mom made the food, I helped a bit and then my parents left our small apartment for a few hours to let me have time with my friends. There was no alcohol, no smoking, just talking, laughing, board games, movies projected on the wall. I host frequent dinner parties and summer BBQ's in our home and backyard and since my friends are all from the old country, there are no phones at the table. Our kids are another story, but lately, it is refreshing to see them being off the phones and playing basketball, jumping on the trampoline, talking and laughing just as we did.