Chef Nia Spencer
A carbon steel pan on a honed stone counter in a modern kitchen

The chef behind the table

Meet Chef Nia Spencer.

Private chef dinners in Chicago homes — designed, cooked, and cleaned up by Nia personally.

Chef Nia Spencer leaning on a kitchen island in her whites and apron, beside a bright flower arrangement

A Note From Nia.

I’m a private chef based in Chicago, creating intimate dinners for birthdays, anniversaries, date nights, celebrations, and the moments that deserve more than a restaurant reservation. My goal is simple: to give you an evening where you can be fully present with the people you invited.

Every dinner is designed around your occasion and your guests. I create the menu, shop for every ingredient, cook everything fresh in your home, serve each course, and leave your kitchen just as I found it. From the first conversation to the last dish, you’ll work with me personally.

My cooking is inspired by global fusion cuisine, classic French technique, and the flavors that have shaped my career. I love creating food that feels refined without feeling intimidating — meals that spark conversation, bring people together, and make the evening memorable long after the last course.

A few of her plates

Crisp shrimp over a coconut curry, finished with scallion, chilli and cilantro
Shrimp and agnolotti in a saffron-herb sauce with pea shoots and lemon zest
Seared halibut with beet purée, herb oil, micro herbs and edible flowers on a fluted dark plate
Crisp-skinned chicken over rice in a red curry with lime, chilli and herbs
Mussels in green herb broth, the crown of flowers and micro herbs rim-lit against a dark background
Braised short rib with romesco, herb purée and a panko-crusted onion ring on cobalt, seen from directly above
The coconut curry set small and low in a wide frame, a long soft shadow across pale stone
Filled pasta, shrimp and pea shoots very close, one sharp plane falling away to soft focus

In the detail

Edible flowers and micro herbs crowning the mussels
Romesco, herb purée and a panko-crusted onion ring
Red chilli, scallion and cilantro over coconut curry
Mussels open in a green herb broth
Pea shoots and lemon zest on saffron-herb sauce
Filled pasta and shrimp under herb sauce
Chef Nia Spencer seated in her whites and apron, smiling

“My favorite moment of any dinner is when the host forgets I’m there — because they are finally at their own party.”

Chef Nia Spencer · The Intimate Table

A Professional Operation, Start to Finish.

A proposed menu within 48 hours

Every inquiry gets a real reply — a full tasting menu drafted around your occasion, not a form letter. That 48-hour promise is the first thing Nia protects on her calendar.

Your date held in writing

Once you approve the menu direction, a deposit holds your date and the details are confirmed on your own private menu page. No verbal maybes — you can see exactly what your evening is.

A menu built around your table

Allergies, dislikes, the guest of honor's favorite dessert — the menu starts from your notes, not from a fixed list. No two dinners at The Intimate Table are the same.

The kitchen, left clean

The evening ends with dishes done and counters clear. It is the most concrete promise of the whole experience, and the one guests mention most.

Bring Her to Your Table.

One experience, everything handled — beginning at $900 for up to 8 guests, seasonal ingredients billed at cost, in your Chicago home.

Nia takes a limited number of tables each month.