Two dishes. Two chefs. One T-shirt.

A Sauce & Brown T-shirt has found its way into the story of Restaurant Story × Alinea.

A few weeks ago, something rather unexpected happened.

After years of trying to connect with Tom Sellers, we finally got a message back.

“Yeah let’s collab.”

That was enough to get us pretty excited.

There’s a bit of history behind it.

Tom is Nottingham born. Years ago, he shared a pint of Guinness with my father-in-law and the two got talking about all things Nottingham. Since then, there had been letters, Instagram messages and plenty of attempts to get a conversation going.

And then, eventually, we got the answer we were hoping for.

So this is where the story starts.

Restaurant Story × Alinea

This October, Tom Sellers will welcome Grant Achatz and the Alinea team from Chicago to Restaurant Story in London for three nights.

Two kitchens.

Two chefs.

One completely new menu.

And Sauce & Brown has been asked to create the T-shirt for the collaboration.

But we didn't want to simply put two names on a T-shirt and call it a collaboration.

We wanted the design itself to tell the story.

So we went to the food.

Tom's famous candle dish.

Grant's iconic balloon dish.

Two dishes from two very different kitchens.

Two ideas that have become part of each chef's story.

We brought them together to create one piece of artwork.

Two dishes. One story.

That's the idea behind the T-shirt.

Not a logo slapped on a garment.

Not just another piece of merchandise.

A small piece of this particular moment.

Tom approved the design.

And it's now being sold through Restaurant Story ahead of the three-night collaboration.

Which, if we're honest, is a pretty surreal sentence for two blokes from Nottinghamshire who started Sauce & Brown because we wanted to make clothes our own way.

But that's what we love about this business.

You never really know where a story is going to take you.

A pint of Guinness in Nottingham.

A few Instagram messages.

Two words from Tom.

And now a Sauce & Brown T-shirt sitting somewhere between Nottingham, London and Chicago.

And this is only chapter one.

There's a much bigger Tom Sellers × Sauce & Brown story still to come.

For now, we're just enjoying the moment.

Two dishes. One story.

No risk, no story.