What are 3 good dinners from Burgos Spain's restaurants?

Are "underground restaurants"/"underground dinners" illegal in San Francisco, CA?

• Are there city, county, state, and/or federal laws prohibiting people from operating underground restaurants in San Francisco? Are there health regulations against it? See and http://www.7x7.com/eat-drink/dining-dl-citys-underground-dining-clubs for more info on underground dinners.

• Answer:

  The short answer is "yes, sort of" but not for the reason you may think.  I've been involved in several and helped people get started doing them.  My first experience with the so called "underground dinner" was with the Ghetto Gourmet and a seriously brilliant guy who started it named Jeremy Townsend.  The Ghet started doing dinners in Oakland and grew in popularity from there. They were at one point probably the most successful and popular of all of them.  Working with The Ghet we ended up producing dinners in at least 8 different cities and multiple states. Here are some of the legal issues that arise: It's not necessarily illegal to throw a dinner party and charge people to attend.  If you throw dozens of consecutive dinner parties at the same location then it could become a zoning issue. There is of course the safety and sanitation issue.  Well, what if you have the dinner party "catered" by a private chef or catering company?  You sort of pass the buck there as most of those entities are "Food Safety and Sanitation Certified". In reality its a bunch of people getting together and pitching in on a private chef. They just happen to be strangers. Collecting money for tickets, accepting tips, etc then becomes taxable income.  At least in the US, if you don't report taxable income that can become an issue. Doing "business" in a city or municipality without a business license can be an issue too.  You might be surprised at how many of the "underground restaurants" have business licenses though. The whole thing is really kind of a grey area which is why the default answer from almost any authority is "yes they are illegal".  The concept is somewhat strange and exciting at the same time.  You meet someone on the internet or some other means.  You go to their house or a place of their choosing.  You give them money and you consume things they give you.  This is about everything your parents told you NOT TO DO! In reality most "underground" dinners are not as clandestine as they seem.  It's just an outside the box way of dining.  Some restaurants get upset thinking it is taking business away from them.  If they have a solid product they shouldn't be concerned. A lot of the underground endeavors that I know of are often as legit as they can be without having a traditional space to consume the food.  Another thing to keep in mind is alcohol.  If you don't have a beverage license then you can't serve it.  People can BYOB though.  As with anything there is a certain amount of risk and liability assumed on both the producer of the event and the attendee. They are really special however and a great way to do something completely different.