CHUBBUCK — Gentle piano music plays in the background as patrons begin to take their seats at The Hive venue, eagerly anticipating the night's offerings.

Golden fine dining cutlery sits adjacent to clean white plates which are awaiting the first of seven gourmet dishes that are rooted in Idaho cuisine. The first dish is akin to a small appetizer, local sourdough and a compound butter trio of lemon dill, sage and fried bay and Calabrian chili.

The gastronome, which are comprised mostly of date night couples looking to expand their palate, chatter excitedly among themselves as the next course is announced. The dish is a medley of colors, the deep reds of roasted beets hidden among a clump of leafy greens and punctuated by a splash of braised shallot vinaigrette.

These exotically crafted courses and a host of many more are the creation of Black Bison Dining Club's owner and chef, Tyler Despain, who also owns the barbecue fusion truck Wild Noodle BBQ.

Despain wanted to recreate the fine dining clubs and food pop-ups that he was immersed in during his time living in Utah.

“There wasn't really anything like that around here,” Despain said. “I felt like it was a good fit. I also wanted to do it because I wanted to challenge people's palates.”

Taste buds were certainly tested during the evening with offerings like an Alderwood smoked sturgeon that was paired with an arancini, a stuffed Italian meatball that is breaded and deep fried, and a steamed egg custard topped with caviar. The small black fish eggs, which are considered a delicacy worldwide, are eaten with a tiny, mother of pearl spoon and have a soft and salty taste to them.

“(I want to) introduce things that people have never typically tried, even though this whole dinner tonight was based around Idaho and its hidden industries,” Despain said. “A lot of people do not realize how much caviar Idaho produces. They don't realize how much bison farming we do around here and some of the unknown or not as well-known industries.”

Local Bison was indeed on the menu that night, glossed with a bone marrow demi-glace and Calabrian chili gastric sauce on which cuts of the bison rested. The flavors were sweet, mildly spicy and indulgent enough to want to lick the plate clean.

“We just tried to find fun and kind of exotic, not well-known ingredients,” Despain said. “Like for this one, we had caviar and bison. Our potato dish was Idaho russet cannoli filled with Yukon mashed potatoes and topped with pickled red potatoes. It's just a play on Idaho's whole potato industry.”

Despain continued, “The majority of our ingredients and everything like that, we try to source locally because we love to support everything local. Our coffee tonight was from Glean Coffee. Our bison was from a farm in McCammon called DP Grassroots Bison and the caviar is from an Idaho Springs caviar farm in Filer, Idaho.”

Other mouthwatering delights for the evening included a savory black chanterelle and morel mushroom soup that was surprisingly light and palatable.

Specialty mocktails were also concocted such as cranberry and ginger sparkling tea and pomegranate watermelon bitters sparkling lemonade adorning the meals throughout the evening.

The final dish of the night was an Italian biscotti tiramisu made with Glean Coffee Roasters Brazilian blend, a spiced rum reduction, mascarpone and free-range eggs.

“Our purpose for this is we want to do fun dinners once a month, maybe once every two months and to have a brand-new menu every single time and just play with it," Despain said. "We have a few ideas we want to do for fun, like just play on high-end sandwiches and do a tasting course for that. We're excited for the future.”

The cost for the first Black Bison Dining Club dinner was $125 per person but the prices are entirely reflective of the cost of ingredients and have some variance. According to Despain they will range from $60 to the higher end of $125. Seating is also limited but expanding to host a larger dinner may be possible in the future.

“Right now, we're doing typically only 20-25 seats,” Despain said. “Down the road as we grow, we want to get probably to a max of 50 seats, as we get better facilities and things like that. We want one set price for everything. Tips for our servers, helpers, workers and everything like that are included in that. Just everything (as one cost) so it's just easy. Buy a ticket, come and everything's taken care of.”

A few theme ideas and plans are being considered already for future Black Bison Dining Club dinners such as a northeast seafood theme, gluten-free, high-end sandwiches, and even geeky food motifs like Dungeons and Dragons and an anime food-centered evening.

For Despain, everything he does is spurred by his passion and fervor for food. Every flavor is meticulously planned, each plating an artistic expression, each day a culinary adventure.

“I'm passionate about food,” Despain said. “That's just who I've been my entire life. I absolutely love food. I love playing around with it. This (club) is (about) being able to get creative, truly step out of the box and play around with stuff to create exciting dinners and exciting experiences.”

To stay up to date on the latest for Black Bison Dining Club and Wild Noodle BBQ you can check out their website, wild-noodle-bbq.com