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When Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste invite you to their home for a dinner party, don’t expect to sit back and enjoy the show. Sure, you’re in for a fun night when you hang with the best-selling author and the Grammy Award-winning musician, but you’ll be a committed participant, too. The couple’s hosting style is all about encouraging friends to be present. They’ll get you talking with a unique conversation-starter, won’t ever let you settle for a sad can of seltzer, and you’ll probably leave with a bundle of herbs from their garden.
For a taste of what it’s like to gather at the Batiste-Jaouad household, shop their new Anthropologie collection. The 46-piece assortment reflects Jaouad’s Tunisian roots, Batiste’s musical background, and their shared love of hosting with items like a cocktail shaker that reveals recipes as it rotates, a whimsical record player, and a custom conversation card set. If you’re ever so lucky to get an invite to their place, here’s what you can expect.
Our go-to welcome drink: I love making a cocktail that nods to my Tunisian heritage: something citrusy and fragrant, with orange blossom water, fresh lemon, and a sprig of rosemary or mint snipped from the garden. Jon doesn’t drink, so there’s always an equally festive mocktail on offer. I feel strongly that a nonalcoholic drink should be every bit as beautiful and considered as a cocktail. —Jaouad
Our ice-breaker for new faces: One I particularly love is: ‘What’s on your unofficial résumé?’ It steers the conversation away from job titles toward the things you’re secretly proud of that would never make it onto a professional bio. Maybe you’re an excellent parallel parker, or you once won a pie-eating contest, or you’ve become the amateur therapist to everyone in your friend group. —Jaouad
Our advice for picking music for the night: Consider the music another guest at the party. Chemistry is everything! Will this playlist bring pleasant surprises? Will this playlist bring out the best in the other guests? Will it potentially inspire some great conversation? The music should be a potential friend to everyone in attendance, and it should help define all the phases of the night. I read the energy in the room and am protective of the moments as they manifest. —Batiste
The table linens that make a dining room look put together: I’m partial to linen napkins that look like they’ve lived a little. I also love a slightly rumpled tablecloth. There’s something wonderfully inviting about a table that doesn’t look too precious to eat at. —Jaouad
Our favorite meal to make for family: Chicken tagine with preserved lemons and green olives, served with jeweled rice studded with pistachios, herbs, and dried fruit. For dessert, a lemon olive oil cake. My father’s Tunisian and Jon is from Louisiana, so between the two of us, we come from culinary traditions that take their spices, seasoning, and hospitality very seriously. (Also hot sauce.). —Jaouad
The tea on deck for morning guests: Fresh mint tea with toasted pine nuts, the Tunisian way. There’s something wonderfully ceremonial about pouring it into little glasses. —Jaouad
The platter that always makes an appearance: I’ve collected antique wooden trays and serving platters from all over the world, and I love thinking about the meals and conversations they’ve witnessed before arriving at our table. But my current favorite is the platter I painted for our Anthropologie collection. It’s functional, of course, but I also think of it as a little painting you can serve dinner on. —Jaouad
Our best-kept entertaining secret: Give your guests a job. Nothing too onerous, obviously, but I find people relax almost immediately when they’re invited to participate. Someone can tear herbs, someone else can light the candles, another person can choose a record. Suddenly you’re not hosting a performance; you’re making something together. —Jaouad
When it’s time to move from the dining table to the sofa: The plates have been cleared but no one has made the slightest move to leave. That’s when you know the evening has entered its second act. We bring out tea, something sweet, maybe another bottle of wine, and settle in. If we’re lucky, Jon ends up at the piano and the dancing begins. At that point, all bets are off about bedtime. —Jaouad
The song/playlist/album that always gets people dancing at the end of the night: James Brown is always a good move—the Godfather! Random Access Memories by Daft Punk. The Jackson 5 Greatest Hits. ABBA “Dancing Queen.” So many good choices. —Batiste
Recent cuttings from our garden: I love snipping a different flower or herb for each guest’s place setting. A sprig of rosemary here, a flowering vine there. My arrangements tend to be a little wild: unruly branches, herbs, flowers at various stages of bloom. I prefer my flowers to look as though they’ve just wandered in from the garden and made themselves comfortable. —Jaouad
If we’re not making dessert, we’re picking it up from: Honey Moon, my friend Beth’s bakery in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Being so close to a brilliant baker—both in proximity and to my heart—is a dangerous thing, especially for someone like me who can walk into a bakery for one thing and emerge with six. I’m particularly susceptible to anything involving lemon or pistachios and also a very good carrot cake. —Jaouad
Our parting gift for guests: Something from the garden, if it’s in season. A little bundle of herbs, a jar of homemade preserves, or, lately, a peacock feather. We have two peacocks at our farm, Dolly and Elvis, who shed the most extraordinary iridescent feathers. And if there are leftovers, you’re getting those, too. —Jaouad
The sign of a successful get-together: When people who arrived as strangers leave making plans to see each other again. And when the evening has gone so far off-script that you can barely remember what you’d planned in the first place. —Jaouad