Two of the more established supper clubs in Sacramento right now take almost opposite approaches to that idea. Good Wilma\u2019s<\/a> is a wine-filled dinner built around big shared plates, cooked by five friends out of an apartment. Dinner with Old Friends<\/a> runs an individually plated course-by-course menu, led by a fine dining duo and backed by investors from the start. (Each has its own house dog mascot, Wilma at one, Mezcal at the other.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Whichever style pulls you in, both aim to send guests home the same way: exchanging Instagram handles and having made friends they did not have three hours earlier.<\/p>\n How it started<\/p>\n Jasper Nahid and his fianc\u00e9e Jessica Parsons run Good Wilma\u2019s alongside Esther Kaminsky, Audrey Pardini and Malik Bynum, their friends in Sacramento\u2019s food and beverage scene.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all realized that we loved food, and wanted to do something creatively, but not work a line cook position or a traditional restaurant back-of-house job,\u201d Nahid said. \u201c\u2026 Together we are the limbs of an octopus of one really talented chef.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe started hosting elaborate themed dinner parties for our friends, and our organization and development really stems from that,\u201d Parsons said. The current version came together once close ones started flooding their DMs asking to come over.<\/p>\n Derek Sawyer and Yessenia Ochoa-Sawyer, a husband-and-wife team, got the idea for Dinner with Old Friends from an existing habit. They and their friends used to cook with each other once per month, switching the hosting home with each meal.<\/p>\n The name reflects what the couple wants every guest to feel by the end of a dinner.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole idea about Old Friends is that you come in as a stranger, but you\u2019re going to leave as a new friend at the end of it,\u201d Ochoa-Sawyer said.<\/p>\n The format<\/p>\n At Good Wilma\u2019s, guests start with a welcome cocktail and appetizers laid out on a table, giving them room to mingle before finding a seat wherever they like. The apartment\u2019s living room turns into a run of four-top tables for the night, each set with a printed menu pairing every course with a wine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was our kind of DIY style,\u201d Nahid said. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to trick you into feeling like you\u2019re in a restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n The structure of a Good Wilma\u2019s menu stays the same: a soup, a raw cold course, a run of hot dishes, then dessert. But the dishes themselves change constantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n This past summer\u2019s menu ran from a sweet corn soup with saffron to a smoked trout churro with cherry mostarda, ending on a stone fruit karpatka (a Polish choux pastry cream cake).<\/p>\n The crew\u2019s own history shows up throughout every now and then. A golden borscht (a beet soup) traces to Kaminsky\u2019s Ukrainian heritage, a kuku sabzi (a Persian herb frittata) to Nahid\u2019s own.<\/p>\n Dinner with Old Friends welcomes guests with bubbles and a few bites before they find a seat. The 12 seats split across two four-top tables, one in the living room and one in the dining room, plus four more at the counter. Diners bring their own wine; Sawyer tells them one or two bottles is plenty.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single course, the music stops,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cWe give a brief description of why we put this on the menu, who the farmers are that we\u2019re using.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The menu changes seasonally. This past summer\u2019s version ran from a \u201cfarmers bouquet\u201d with three kinds of peas to a \u201cFrito-less Frito pie\u201d built on pork, chicharr\u00f3nes and a Mexican-inspired slaw. Versions of Ochoa-Sawyer\u2019s family recipes show up along the way, drawn from her father\u2019s Mexican restaurant in Santa Rosa.<\/p>\n The price<\/p>\n At Dinner With Old Friends, a seat runs $175. Sawyer points to where the money goes first.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re dealing with these farmers that aren\u2019t making a ton of money off of us getting like four or five tomatoes that are perfect,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to cheap out on that either.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That same instinct extends to the equipment, too. Two investors covered startup costs such as chairs, linens and Gabriel-Glas<\/a> wine glasses used at every dinner.<\/p>\n A seat at Good Wilma\u2019s is $150, tip appreciated but not expected, and staff get paid roughly $40\/hour. Twenty guests would be more profitable than 16, Nahid said, but the smaller number gives him more time with each person.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I wasn\u2019t able to interact with each guest as well,\u201d he said of the larger count. \u201cWe\u2019ve always broken even. We\u2019ve never lost money doing it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The hospitality behind it<\/p>\n Sawyer\u2019s hospitality journey started with watching his family cook in New Mexico. Ochoa-Sawyer, meanwhile, watched her family run their restaurant for years.<\/p>\n \u201cI love taking care of people. I love getting to know people,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd (Sawyer is) so good at doing that with food and just making your belly feel like a hug inside.\u201d<\/p>\n Sawyer sharpened his culinary chops in lead positions of Sacramento fine dining restaurants Hawks Public House<\/a>, Allora<\/a> and Localis<\/a> before starting Old Friends. Ochoa-Sawyer, too, worked as Localis\u2019 guest relations and events manager before landing at the Sellands Family Group<\/a>, where she helps with catering and events.<\/p>\n Nahid and Parsons both cut their teeth as cheesemongers, Nahid at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op<\/a> and Parsons at Taylor\u2019s Market<\/a>, where she\u2019s now the wine department manager. Nahid went on to run the wine program at Ro Sham Beaux<\/a> and now works alongside Bynum at Majka Pizzeria & Bakery<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSince both Jasper and I have cheese and wine backgrounds, it\u2019s fairly effortless pairing the wines with our food,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cBut we\u2019re also not very dogmatic about it, and really we\u2019re just trying to show off wines that we really like.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou can be yourself here \u2014 we want you to be,\u201d Bynum said. \u201cAnd that can be hard to find when you go out to eat nowadays.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n Nahid\u2019s long game is a brick-and-mortar version of Good Wilma\u2019s idea, a small retail space built around an open pantry, wine hall and bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want to open a business where I can sit on a chair and just do that for the rest of my life and not have to retire and literally die there,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the litmus test.\u201d<\/p>\n Sawyer wants to take Dinner With Old Friends from once a month to once a week, reaching more people as a result. He\u2019s also thinking about something more deliberate for regulars, where repeat guests could get first access to supplemental courses beyond the standard menu.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI would love to be able to pour my soul into what the food could be with this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The supper club trend<\/p>\n Suppers clubs are intrinsically more intimate than restaurant dining, Ochoa-Sawyer said. The seat count is a major reason why, Sawyer added.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re literally doing something that you can\u2019t do for 100 covers anymore. You\u2019re doing it for just that 12,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bynum, from Good Wilma\u2019s side, points to the size of the city itself.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s news to nobody that Sacramento is a small city,\u201d he said. \u201cYearning for a dining experience that allows you to taste delicious new things and feel surprised time after time in such a disarming setting is a completely valid wish.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Good Wilma\u2019s<\/p>\n Location: Private residence, Sacramento (address shared upon booking)<\/p>\n Hours: Monthly, by invitation via DM<\/p>\n Price: $150 per seat, including wine pairings<\/p>\n![\"Dinner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SupperClub6_r-1024x683.jpg\")
Guests dine at Good Wilma\u2019s supper club on Dec. 15, 2025. (Anna Wick)<\/p>\n![\"Old](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Old-Friends-Supper-Club--e1788988864764-1024x576.jpg\")
Chef Derek Sawyer speaks with guests at a Dinner With Old Friends supper club. (Yessenia Ochoa-Sawyer)<\/p>\n![\"chicory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SupperClub5-1024x731.jpg\")
Chicory salad at Good Wilma\u2019s supper club on Dec. 15, 2025. (Anna Wick)<\/p>\n![\"Menu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OldFriendsSummerMenu--1024x683.jpg\")
A Dish of Several Fish at Dinner with Old Friends supper club. (Yessenia Ochoa-Sawyer)<\/p>\n![\"Cooking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SupperClub4-1024x683.jpg\")
Staff prepare dishes for Good Wilma\u2019s supper club on Dec. 15, 2025. (Anna Wick)<\/p>\n