Allison Katz and Fritz Beckmann — chefs, partners and Mattituck residents — run Ali Katz Kitchen (55 Middle Road., Mattituck, 631-298-7694; alikatzkitchen.com), a bakery and gourmet food shop tucked into the shopping center on Sound Avenue and Cox Neck Road, where they’ve been open since 2018.
The business started as a wholesale kitchen that morphed into a retail shop. The duo makes value-added food products for local farmers and small businesses and also tends to a growing number of regular customers shopping for soups, fried chicken, noodle bowls, pastries and cookies, desserts and fresh or frozen takeout meals.
The couple’s Black Cat Supper Club series — three or four curated dinners held at the shop in late winter/early spring each year — offers a different way to enjoy a meal: new dishes prepared by the couple with wines selected by a local winemaker, served in a communal setting.
Katz had read about supper clubs popping up in Brooklyn and thought it would be fun to try her version of one. It also was a chance to get creative, and in 2019 it all came together. “The first Black Cat Supper Club we did (and many of our beginning dinners) were done with Robin Epperson McCarthy of Saltbird Cellars … we cooked for 28 people and sold out,” says Katz. They eventually capped the total attendees at 16, due to their shop’s limited space.
Menus consist of a welcome drink and three courses and dessert, all paired with a local wine. “Really, it’s about us having some fun with what we are making and trying things that are new or [prepared] in new ways,” Katz says.
While there is a dearth of North Fork-grown produce at this time of year, Katz and Beckmann do use local ingredients wherever possible and have cultivated relationships with many local producers, like Wowak Farms, Bayview Market and Farms and Wickham’s Fruit Farm.
“We buy fish from both Braun and Southold Fish Market, and a lot of our meat from Cromer’s Market in Sag Harbor, which source from farms upstate,” Katz says. “And of course, if any bread is needed, we work with Aiyana at 1610 Sourdough. We work with all of these people because the quality is great, they are all small business owners like us, and we like that we are all helping each other’s businesses to grow by working together.”
Katz continues, “we feel the same about the winemakers! It’s what we love so much about the North Fork — the community of business owners, our customers, the compatibility of the food and wine here on eastern Long Island. It’s like all the stars align.”
Black Cat Supper Club delicacies. (Photos Courtesy of Ali Katz Kitchen)
That sentiment is appreciated by Katz and Beckmann’s customers. The couple thinks that the Black Cat Supper Club introduces people to food and wines they haven’t tried before served up in a slightly different setting than usual.
Besides appreciating the collaboration between ingredients, chefs and winemakers, “I think people these days love the openness and communal experience where they might meet someone new or have a good meal with a nice group of people,” says Katz.
The couple decides on their menus by bouncing ideas off each other, maybe discovering a dish from something they’ve read or somewhere they’ve travelled to. “Sometimes there are heated discussions and sometimes it is easy,” Katz remarks. When the menu is set, it is sent to the winemaker, and the trio meets for a tasting and chooses the wine pairings. “One of the things I love so much about these relationships with the winemakers is how passionate they are about what they do and how knowledgeable they are about their craft,” Katz says.
Besides working with Epperson McCarthy of Saltbird Cellars, Katz and Beckmann have collaborated with Alie Shaper of As If Wines and Allissa Goodale from Borghese Vineyard & Winery. In 2025, the supper club did a women winemakers series with Epperson McCarthy, Goodale and Kelly Koch of Poppy & Rose Wine Co.
The first Black Cat Supper Club dinner of 2026 is on March 28 and is sold out. But never fear — a second date with the same menu has been set for May 16 at 6 p.m., with a mushroom velouté with sourdough croutons as the first course, herb and harissa-spiced lamb in pastry with roasted eggplant, kasha and caramelized onions as the second course, lemon-tahini drizzle tuna with farro and roasted broccoli as the third course, and a labneh cheesecake with roasted fruit for dessert (all paired with Borghese wines).
Planning is underway for another dinner on April 25 with owner and brand manager Renée Fondacaro of Suhru & Lieb Vineyards in Cutchogue.
The series does not continue past May, as once the season starts “there’s just not enough hours in the day for any of us,” Katz says.
For more information on the Black Cat Supper Club or to make a reservation, follow Ali Katz Kitchen’s social media or call 631-298-7694.
