The Baron's Buffet: Fox in the Bronx

Christopher Beauchamp

The scene at the Bronx Pipe Smoking Society Small Game Dinner

Baron Ambrosia has yet to meet a critter he's not willing to taste at least once—raccoon, beaver, possum, skunk and muskrat, to name just a few.

Christopher Beauchamp

Serving up meat

On Saturday he shared this hunger with about 100 curious eaters at the third annual Bronx Pipe Smoking Society Small Game Dinner, which one of cooks for the evening remarked is to "enjoy the strange, the wonderful, the beautiful."

"I try to keep them as small as possible," said Mr. Ambrosia, who spends the events mostly working behind the scenes. "That's why we keep them free."

The obscure buffet dinner was held at the Andrew Freedman Home, a landmarked Bronx mansion that has become somewhat of a community center along the Grand Concourse. The encouraged attire was a very loose definition of "black tie," with outfits ranging from suits and gowns to a man with a bunny head and several variations of the cape.

As snow fell outside, veterans nostalgically remembered the first affair, held two years ago on a wretchedly cold night in the usually padlocked and unheated former Bronx Courthouse, which Mr. Ambrosia had convinced owners to open for the night.

Enlarge Image

Christopher Beauchamp

Baron Ambrosia

Christopher Beauchamp

Dessert offerings

There would be no need to wear coats and huddle close this time. Saturday's was the largest gathering yet, with four hours of feasting on dishes made using small game that Mr. Ambrosia disclaims are "ethically caught" in New York and New Jersey.

"It's never like, 'We are eating weird animals.' We are utilizing them."