Inside Deacon Dining’s Latin Flavors Supper Club

September 15, 2026, Winston-Salem, NC

Supper Club is Deacon Dining’s excuse to slow dinner down, and last Tuesday’s Latin Flavors menu gave guests five courses’ worth of reasons to stay a while. Chef de Cuisine Levin Funes built the night around Mexico, with a few nods to flavors from across Latin America and Spain.

It all starts with corn

Corn has been a staple in Mexico since ancient Mesoamerican times, and it’s always been more than just food. It was woven into daily life, culture, and religion. In the Maya creation story, the Popol Vuh, the gods shaped the first people out of maize.

To honor that history, the kitchen made its own masa from scratch using nixtamalization, an ancient technique in which dried corn is cooked and soaked in limewater. The process softens the kernels so they can be ground into masa, the dough behind tortillas, tamales, sopes, and more. As Chef Funes points out, masa shows up in plenty of things we eat without realizing it, especially at your local taqueria.

Chips, salsas, and a whole lot of chiles

That house-made masa became the tortilla chips on the tablescape, served with smoked chiles, an esquites corn dip, and guacamole made right at the table. Esquites is a Mexican street snack of corn tossed with lime and chile, reimagined here as a dip.

Then came the salsa trio, each with its own personality:

• Salsa Verde: tangy and bright with citrus.

• Salsa Roja: tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños roasted over an open fire, then blended and cooked down for a smoky finish.

• Salsa habanero: onions, piña (pineapple), and habaneros braised in chicken stock, then blended and strained smooth.

To build all that flavor, the kitchen roasted and smoked a lineup of chiles, including poblanos, chipotles, habaneros, jalapeños, and guajillos.

A frozen first bite

The amuse-bouche was a paleta, Mexico’s classic frozen fruit bar. This one combined tamarind, coconut, and lime, and it was frozen with liquid nitrogen, which is cold enough (around -320°F) to set it almost instantly. Tamarind is a tangy pod fruit you’ll also find in Mexican aguas frescas and candies.

Soup, served cold

Next came gazpacho, a chilled soup from southern Spain, made here with local watermelon. It was topped with spicy pickled shrimp, crispy beet threads, charred green onion crema, and compressed tomato, which is vacuum-sealed to deepen its color and texture.

The main event

The entrée was barbacoa de borrego, or lamb barbacoa. Barbacoa traditionally means meat slow-cooked for hours, often in a pit lined with maguey leaves, until it falls apart. This version used lamb cheeks from Niman Ranch, a Certified Humane network of independent family farms and one of Deacon Dining’s trusted suppliers. The lamb came with a blue corn sope (yes, more masa), a thick base with pinched edges that holds its toppings. Alongside were a Vidalia onion stuffed with Oaxaca cheese and an ancho corn chimichurri. Oaxaca cheese is a mild, stretchy melting cheese named for the Mexican state it comes from. Ancho chiles are dried poblanos with a smoky sweetness, and chimichurri is the bright herb sauce Argentina made famous.

Dessert by the fire

Guests wrapped up with fireside hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows, plus local chocolate and a plate of chef-curated cookies.

Want a seat at the next Supper Club? Keep an eye on @deacondining for the next date!