Fourk yeah!

A four course meal for $49—yes please.

Fourk Kitchen is a new concept for the Reno dining scene, opened at the end of April in the old We Olive spot. Located at 4991 S. Virginia St., Suite B, it’s the second location of the brand—the first one being over the hill in Lincoln, California.

So what exactly makes Fourk so special? In addition to offering a prix fixe, four-course dinner Thursday through Sunday, the restaurant only does one seating per evening. The doors open at 5:45 p.m. and dinner starts promptly at 6:30 p.m. Everyone—although seated at separate tables with just their group—eats their courses at the same time.

In between plates, the chef and owner Paul Jansen chats with patrons and makes announcements, and the whole experience feels like an intimate dinner party with strangers and friends, complete with a cozy fireplace, plush couches and modern fork artwork adorning the walls.

At Fourk, the menu will change monthly after the first run, but the current offering is available through the end of June.

The meal starts with a soup course; a silky cream of asparagus soup, topped with crispy smoked bacon and arugula microgreens. The soup was easily my favorite course of the night. Chopped spears of asparagus add complexity, and the bacon a bit of saltiness that plays off the vegetable-heavy fare.

The next course is a burrata caprese salad made with basil herb oil and balsamic reduction. It’s very similar to a caprese salad, but the burrata is a modern twist that plays to the culinary industry’s current obsession. Burrata is an Italian cows’ milk cheese made by combining mozzarella and cream. For this salad, it’s served atop a large slice of tomato and finished with smaller heirloom tomatoes topped with a house-made balsamic.

The main course is a beef Wellington, cooked medium rare to medium. Each individual steak is wrapped in a cozy puff pastry. Chef Paul gets creative with his rendition of the classic, serving a mushroom sauce over the Wellington and potato puree. It is all topped with a cabernet reduction that plays well off the umami flavors of the sauce.

The final course is dessert—a port macerated strawberry poppyseed shortcake. Again, nothing is strictly as it appears. Instead, the shortcake is made of cornbread and topped with fresh strawberry slices and served over a spattering of homemade whipped cream. The cornbread makes the dessert less sweet than you would typically imagine, though the cake also comes across a bit stiff due to the change-up, as well. It’ll likely be one of those desserts that is perfect for some and just so-so for others.

When it comes to drinks, there is an option to add a line-up of tastings to each course, perfectly paired to go with each including champagne, white wine and red wine. Or, you can select wines by the glass or bottle to enjoy throughout the meal. If you show up early (as early as 5:30 p.m.) you can enjoy a happy hour with 24% off of glasses of wine until 6:15 p.m. The dinner officially begins at 6:30 with a speech from the chef and a hearty “Fourk yeah!” chant to start off the night.

If you want to experience Fourk, you’ll need to sign up quick. The Lincoln location typically has a two-month wait list for reservations thanks to a good local reputation and five-star Yelp review. To sign up, head to the website FourkKitchen.com, or make a reservation through Yelp.