The hottest restaurant in New York City is inside a Columbia student's dorm room

Jonah Reider prepares a meal.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/myeatingbuddies)

Per Se is now passé — New York City diners are flocking to Pith, a small supper club operating out of a Columbia University student's dorm.

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Jonah Reider, a senior economics major, uses the communal kitchen to prepare his prix fixe New American meals — one recent dinner included seared lamb chops with paprika, barley with figs, snow peas with pancetta and mushrooms, house pickled red kale stalks with olive, and artisanal cheese. "I think of myself as better than the average college student but definitely not an amazing cook, so I'm pleasantly surprised by all the positive feedback," Reider told NBC New York.

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Reider charges $10 to $20 a meal, and takes reservations four nights a week through Pith's Yelp page, which currently boasts five star reviews. Since opening Pith a few weeks ago, Reider has served a few "randos," but most diners have been friends. Good luck getting a table if you don't have an in — Pith is booked through January, and because the health department is looking into whether it should be held to the same regulations as an actual restaurant, Reider said "I may have to cool down the acceptance of people who I don't know, or the frequency of which this is happening." Reider maintains that even though he is charging for food he cooks, Pith is nothing like a typical dining establishment. "The intention and the atmosphere is not one of a restaurant," he told NBC New York. "It's a collective experience of getting to know people."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.