The candles were lit, and the dishes prepared.
"This is Sicilian Manicotti, everything is Sicilian," said Cook Teresa Scalici.
But this was not your typical Mother's Day lunch.
"I thought our wives and moms would be very happy and surprised and thought it was good perspective for the kids too," said Par Vora, a patron at the pop-up restaurant in Park Slope.
Community Help in Park Slope, also known as CHIPS, created this pop-up restaurant to help raise money for its Mom's Program; a shelter for homeless expectant mothers who have no place to go.
"Probably would have been somewhere sleeping on somebody's couch honestly," said Erica Wyman, one of eight women the program currently assists.
All proceeds from each $35 ticket went to fund the program, which includes housing and basic needs for mother and child. But that's not all CHIPS offers. Six days a week, its soup kitchen feeds those looking for a hot meal, and all without government funding.
"All of our services are provided by volunteers, however we still need to pay the lights," said CHIPS Director Denise Scaravella.
The shelter hopes through other pop-up restaurants it can offer even more services, like a paid social worker on staff, seeing its reward when struggling mothers get back on their feet.
"It's what it is all about it's what it is all about smiling moms smiling babies," said Board Member Franklin Stone.