A small group of just 15 east and west coast event planners gathered together for one of Jove Meyer’s Planners Dining Club dinners at Le Fanfare in Greenpoint. A tiny, jazzy joint on Manhattan Avenue, Le Fanfare sets a scene that’s cozy, beautiful and even more aglow with beautiful flowers, lighting and the buzz of a gathering. It’s just the right size for an intimate dinner where the craft cocktails flow and guests can mingle both indoors and out in the courtyard. Plus, with one of the owners being a jazz musician, there’s nearly always some live music in the mix.
For this event, Le Fanfare showed off the best of their relationships with local farmers and purveyors, serving a menu that included grilled octopus with fingerling potato, homemade pappardelle with Crescent Farm duckling, Creekstone Farm hanger steak, and finishing the meal with handmade cannolis. We’re catching up with Jove below for all the details of the menu, the guest list and all the details that make this charming Italian restaurant come to life. The best detail of all? Jove and team prove that you really don’t need to add much to this already gorgeous space to create an event that’s totally unforgettable.
Tell us about this dinner – we heard it was casual and intimate!
It was super casual and one of our more intimate dinners with less than 15 people. Since Le Fanfare operates as a restaurant, and has such a beautiful ambience, we let them do their thing and they showered us with Italian hospitality, including so many craft cocktails and such delicious food! Having such a small group, all at one table, really made the evening super special as everyone could really connect with one another, including some planners/designers in from California!
How did you decide on Le Fanfare?
They had reached out to let me know they host intimate weddings and wanted to have me in for a meeting and tasting, I one upped them and asked if I could bring in a dozen of my planner friends and they were delighted to host! 
Were there any design elements you incorporated?
We really wanted to embrace the minimal and chic design of the space and let it shine, so we did not go insane with decor. Beautiful and seasonal flowers matched with craft menus were the only touches of design added to the evening. The furniture they have is so pretty as is the overall ambience, so we did not want to take away from that, and we wanted to really focus on the copious amounts of food that was planned. 
What was the menu like? Any favorite dishes?
The food was fantastic! You could feel the love cooked into it. This was easily one of the most delicious planners dinners we have had to date. It is so hard to pick just one favorite as it was all so good. The Octopus was amazing as was the pappardelle! The steak was like butter, perfectly cooked and so flavorful!
– Multigrain bruschetta with fava, mint and pecorino
– Supplì (fried risotto balls with mozzarella filling) and marinara
– Meatballs in a white wine glaze with lemon and parsley
– Grilled octopus with fingerling potato, celery, Castelvetrano olives and paprika vinaigrette
– Burrata with local tomatoes and peaches, basil oil and pignoli
– Whole wheat pappardelle with Crescent Farm duckling, parsnip, oyster mushrooms and Grana Padano
– Sicilian eggplant agnolotti with roasted sungold tomatoes "puttanesca" (anchovy, caper, taggiasca olive, mint)
– Creekstone Farm hanger steak with duck fat potatoes, cipolline agrodolce and black garlic jus
– Pan roasted asparagus with 6 minute eggs, orange curd and bottarg
-– Handmade canollis 
What was your favorite aspect of working at the venue?
I LOVE that this was a family owned and operated venue, you can feel the passion from them in all aspects of the business! They are so proud of what they have created and it shows. The ambiance is amazing and the food is so so good! Le Fanfare is is located in Greenpoint Brooklyn, on the main busy road and once you step into their spot everything fades away and you are relaxed by the sounds of a cocktail being shaken and the smells of fresh Italian food being made.
Who was involved and invited to this dinner?
This was one of our more intimate dinners with less than 15 seats at the table, so we kept the guest list tight and filled with those planners I know very well. It so happened that a dear friend and amazing designer, Jesi Haack, was in town from California so when one of the original planners cancelled last minute she was able to join us and network with east coast planners. At that time Jason Mitchel was also based in California, it was so fun to have event professionals from both coasts enjoying an amazing dinner together!
Book your next event at Le Fanfare →
Credits
Planner/Designer: Jove Meyer Events | Venue & Catering: Le Fanfare | Photography: Chaz Cruz Photography | Florals: Designs by Ahn | Stationery: Lion in the Sun
