UChicago freshman Robert Lipman, founder and chef of The Hearth underground restaurant, allows Shotosnap to follow him on his mad dash preparing a "Just Dessert" dinner for 10 lucky students.

 In preparation for his February dinner "Just Desserts" Robert Lipman peruses his cook books in search of the perfect recipes to prepare for his guests. He spends approximately five hours in C-Shop to do so.

                                       

After students register for a dinner on his website, he randomly selects students from the list, meets them on the Quad, and tells them when the dinner will be. He does not, however, tell the students the dinner's location.

For his February dinner, Robert had approximately 500 students sign-up. As he likes to joke, "It's harder to get into one of my dinners than it is to get into this school!"

In order to get the best ingredients, Robert travels downtown to the grocery store Mariano's where he and his grandmother, Marilyn Lipton, buy ingredients.

To kill two birds with one stone, Robert and his grandmother also add some items for home.

Mariano's is a high-end, Illinois-based grocery store.

After their shopping adventures, Robert always grabs lunch with his grandmother who lives in an apartment building next to Mariano's.  

Robert is the only member of his grandmother's family who lives in Illinois.  

Even if he is not preparing for a dinner, Robert still visits his grandmother every weekend.  

Despite the fact that his recipes often come from 5-star restaurants and require specific equipment, Robert cooks everything in his house's kitchen in the basement of Hitchcock.  

On average, Robert will spend 16 hours cooking and preparing each dinner.

Recently Robert purchased four new sets of dishes, allowing him to now serve ten people at his dinners.

Robert is a Questbridge student and puts every dollar students pay for the dinner into the ingredients.

When asked what inspired him to start the Hearth, Robert explains that his mother, who used to write cookbooks for a living, is the reason for his love of cooking.

Robert does not plan to cook professionally after school.  Rather, he is majoring in Economics in hopes of working in investments.  

After Robert prepares his meal, he packs his dishes and the food into his suitcase and hauls it to the dinners location.  For February's dinner, he selected a study room in the Regenstein Library.

Students hardly notice the dinner's set-up.  Robert even manages to sneak a mini-refrigerator into the Reg.

With the clock ticking down, Robert readies the room with custom menus and flowers then runs down to the lobby where he meets his guests.

At this point, none of his guests know exactly where the dinner will be held. 

Once the surprise of the location and table wears off, dinner guests quickly become acquainted with one another discussing majors, hometowns, and summer plans.  

The first course, Dry caramel and salt from the restaurant Alinea.

Since Alinea is one of Robert's favorite restaurants, he hopes to one-day host a dinner based on dishes served there.  

The second course, Valnødde pulver og is; Tørret fløde og tørrede bær, from Noma is a big hit among guests.

The "Just Desserts" dinner featured three separate ice creams made by Robert.  After tasting this dish, many of the guests described it as a cross between almonds, butter, and cream.   

Third-year Lauren Kelly-Jones, a student representing UChicago Admissions at the dinner, enjoys her ice cream. Continue reading on the next page -->

Lauren really enjoyed her ice cream.

For the next course, Robert serves a Chocolate wine he created using one of his professor's centrifuges.

“Millionaire Shortbread” accompanies the wine. 

Throughout dinner, Robert plates and explains each dish and does not eat with the guests.

 “Berry salad” inspired by Eleven Madison Park. 

Robert's dinners often last hours after the food is consumed, talking and laughing with full stomachs.

At each dinner, Robert often tries to throw in surprises for his guests.  For "Just Desserts" the guests are surprised with a performance by Unaccompanied Women.

Unaccompanied Women serenades the guests with an assortment of romantic and cheesy songs.

After their performance, Robert treats the ladies to some of his homemade ice cream and sherbet.  

The final dish in Robert's dinner, Chocolate Fondant with Coffee Cream and Chocolate Dentelles by The French Laundry, is Robert's favorite dessert.  As he confessed, the first time he tried this dessert, he cried it was so wonderful.

The aftermath of a successful dinner.  Clean-up takes an hour and a few trips to Hitchcock to complete.

Mounds of dishes are piled in Hitchcock's sinks where Robert determines he will do them after returning from a quick trip to fourth meal.  He has yet to have dinner.

Before making the journey to Pierce, though, Robert decides to take a quick breather on the floor.

Needless to say, organizing, preparing, and cooking one of Robert's dinners is exhausting work. To learn more about his restaurant go to: http://hearthunderground.com/