Fancy Feast Will Serve Humans Cat Food-Inspired Dishes at an Exclusive NYC Pop-up Restaurant

Canned cat food brand Fancy Feast is opening an ultra-limited edition pop up restaurant that answers the questions "What if our cat food was more like Italian cuisine?" and "What if we tried to feed humans?" For two days in August, the Gatto Bianco — yes, White Cat — restaurant in New York City will explore both of those ideas.

According to a release from the Nestlé Purina-owned company, the "limited time, Italian style trattoria" will celebrate the release of Fancy Feast's new Medleys line (for cats) by serving a menu developed by Fancy Feast's in-house chef Amanda Hassner and restaurateur Casare Casella (for humans).

The offerings at Gatto Bianco will start with a "culinary exploration for cat lovers," and later courses will include baked sea bass; an Osso Bucco-inspired salmon; Tuscan-style spare ribs; braised beef in a wine sauce; lemon panna cotta; and almond cake "studded with chocolate."

"Food has the power to connect us to others in meaningful ways and take us to places we have never been," Hassner said in a statement. "The same is true for our cats. The dishes at Gatto Bianco are prepared in ways that help cat owners understand how their cats experience food — from flavor, to texture, to form — in a way that only Fancy Feast can."

If this has gotten your attention (or if you just want to make your cat smell your tuna breath, for a change) then you can attempt to make a reservation through OpenTable starting at 12:00 p.m. EST on August 4. But be prepared to be disappointed: Gatto Bianco is only offering four two-person reservations at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 11, and four two-person reservations at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, August 12. Just 16 guests — and each diner needs to be 21 or over — will be able to book a table.

If you're willing to put some work in, though, you can recreate some of these recipes at home. Fancy Feast has also released an online cookbook featuring two of Gatto Bianco's main courses and two of its desserts.

This isn't the first time that Fancy Feast has dipped its, uh, paw into recipes for pet parents. Last April, it released a digital cookbook called Petite Feast that included a number of recipes "inspired by" its Petites line of single-serve cat entrees. "From Chicken and Ramen with Tomato Honey Butter Sauce to Whitefish and Asparagus with Beurre Blanc, the cookbook features recipes that are elevated but easy enough to whip up on a weeknight," Hassner said at the time.

"Each dish was inspired by the small-plate restaurant trend. The recipes are for humans but were created in honor of the dishes you will be serving your cat."

It's strange that no one has done this kind of thing for dog owners yet — but I guess the pairing of a peanut butter-filled bone with a hint of worn-out tennis ball doesn't sound quite as inspired as Tuscan-style spare ribs.