Every month, The Alt Table pulls up a chair at someone else’s table. I sit down with a new featured person, listen to the stories behind the food they love, and create recipes inspired by those memories. Here’s who’s at the table this month, and everyone who’s joined us so far. Every Featured Table comes with one extra recipe that never appears on the site. It goes only to newsletter subscribers.
October 2026: Quinn’s Table
From a spotless kitchen in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, to a backyard chili party in Osceola, Wisconsin, this month’s recipes celebrate family favorites, happy accidents, and the joy of feeding the people you love.
About the Bonus Recipe
Each month, one story from our guest’s table doesn’t make it into the posted article. Maybe it’s a dish a grandparent made only once a year, a late-night meal from a first apartment, or a recipe everyone asked for but no one ever wrote down. I save that story for the newsletter, develop a recipe around it, and send both straight to subscribers’ inboxes. It’s the part of each feature you won’t find anywhere else.
[Subscribe to The Alt Table newsletter] so you don’t miss the next month’s Featured Table.
This Month’s Table
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Cream Cheese Marbled Gooey Butter Cake Bars
This dessert bar is a direct inspiration from my Great Aunt Kathy’s butter cake, which I only recently learned is actually a classic St. Louis butter cake. Growing up, it was simply our family recipe. I loved helping my mom make it: pressing the yellow‑cake‑mix crust into the pan and spreading the rich cream‑cheese topping…
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Hearty Tomato Beef & Sausage Chili
Every fall, my husband and I host our annual chili lawn party. A tradition built on one simple promise: everyone gets a truly delicious bowl of chili. That means every year I have to deliver, and every year I try to make it better than the last. Chili is one of those dishes that rewards…
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Caramelized Onion & Sausage Mac and Cheese Bake
This baked mac and cheese is my take on the dish my mom made for every birthday, holiday, and family gathering. It was the kind of creamy, cheesy pasta that everyone went back for, and it’s still one of those recipes that instantly brings me home. Her version was rich and nostalgic, with full‑fat mayo,…
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Lemon-Garlic Shrimp Scampi
There are certain recipes that become part of your relationship’s lore — the meals that show up in stories years later, usually accompanied by laughter, a little embarrassment, or both. For my husband and me, one of those dishes is shrimp scampi. When we first started dating, I wanted to cook him something impressive but…
