Business luncheon in our kitchen, family celebration or holiday party, every catered event has it's own character. We like to see the event through your eyes, and craft a menu that exceeds all expectations. The biggest compliment we get, and we get it all the time, is "This doesn't taste like catered food." That's because we cook for you as if we were cooking for ourselves—we don't compromise quality, we keep our dishes simple and innovative, and everything we serve is freshly made in our kitchen, by our talented chefs, and served straight from the stove and oven. Take a look at the menus below, which range in style and match various occasions, then let us design a menu for your event.
Sample Menus for Catered Events
Meeting and Training
We've hosted a lot of meetings and training sessions in our kitchen, and often they start quite early in the morning. Some of the groups require a catered lunch and snacks, too, and once in a while, we have a group that wants to meet for the day, have us provided breakfast and lunch for them, and then break mid-afternoon and create a delicious dinner together. I mention all this to illustrate our flexibility in helping you plan. We have meeting space, where your group can enjoy time uninterrupted except for breaking for meals and snacks; we can turn right around and get the group loosened up by making and enjoying a stellar dinner. Here's an example of breakfast and lunch we've made recently for one group.
- Homemade muffins—our specialty is a nutiritious, protein-packed, delicious but off-beat oatmeal apple based muffin, nothing like you'd expect but universally loved. It's low cal, low fat, high nutrition and could fool anyone into thinking they were eating something naughty to start the day. These work well for a continental breakfast, too.
- Eggs, cooked to order right in front of you. We start with farm eggs, with bright yellow yolks and superior nutrition. We listen to how you want them, and that's what you get. Omelets, scrambles, over easy—your choice.
- Your choice of breakfast meats—our bacon is house-cured by our family butcher, our sausages made by him too.
- Fresh fruit, in season, from the farmer's market
- Strauss yogurt, from Pt. Reyes seashore-grazed cows
- Peet's coffee and Teance tea
Breaking for lunch, the group might enjoy a homemade soup, sandwiches, and salads. All made with the best ingredients available, farmer's market vegetables, homemade stocks (we can do vegetarian or vegan selections as well). Here's a sample lunch menu:
- Cannellini bean soup, sun dried tomatoes, farmer's market vegetables, Parmesan cheese
- Roasted seasonal vegetables, balsamic drizzle and fresh herbs from my garden
- Make-your-own Niçoise salad: Our house-made tuna confit, al dente green beans, boiled farm eggs, olives, fingerling potatoes, greens, anchovies and a mustardy vinaigrette, all set out for self-service
- Baguette cuts
- Almond cake slices, fruit.
Paella Party
Tapas and Paella are wonderful, flavorful, and exciting foods. This was a rehearsal dinner menu for a group of about 50 people. So, we had many hands involved in making the food. We used our biggest paella pan, which more than covers the big stock pot stove, and made sure we had plenty of other delicious dishes to nibble with sangria while it cooked. To make this meal for a catered event would be simple!
- Brandada de Bacala (Salt cod and potato, served bubbling hot with toasts)
- Espárragos Aliñados Envueltos en Jamon (Asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham, marinated)
- Garbanzos con Espinacas (Chickpeas with spinach)
- Manchego y Membrillo (Manchego cheese with quince paste)
- Pimentos picantes (Spicy grilled peppers)
- Tarta de Hongos (Mushroom tart)
- Ensalada de Berengena (Eggplant salad)
- Paella Valenciana (With shellfish, chicken and pork)
- Tarta de Santiago, with pear brandy sauce and sabayon
Surprise Party
It was a birthday party, early spring, the air smelled fresh from recent rains and budding flowers, and the menu was both hearty and perfect for a sixty-guest affair, after an envigorating sail on the bay. There was, of course, a birthday cake at the end.
- Cheese bourek
- Bruschetta with marinated red peppers and Saracena olives
- Bruschetta with beet greens sauteed with garlic and currants
- Bruschetta with cannelini beans
- Prawns wrapped in pancetta and grilled on bamboo skewers
- Marinated chicken brochettes with fresh thyme, garlic and lemon, grilled on-site
- Grilled spring vegetables, roasted garlic-meyer lemon aiöli
- Orecchiette with cherry tomatoes, zucchini and baby peas
- Baby greens with blood oranges and toasted pine nuts, blood orange vinaigrette
- Baby beets, sherry vinaigrette with fresh tarragon and chives
- Stilton cheese and pecan terrine
- Fresh fruit platter
Norwegian Specialties
Over the years, we've catered quite a few memorials; although we no longer seek out off-site catering, the menus have stood the test of time, as they very often reflect the sensibilities of a close family with a desire to honor the food tastes of a dear member. This client wanted to honor her mother's heritage by serving Norwegian foods at her memorial. We love to learn new dishes, and when she pointed us towards the smorgastorta, we gladly added it to our menu. It's an amazing dish, which when cut, looks like a gorgeous layer cake, with layers of orange smoked salmon, white cream cheese liberally coated with bright green herbs, and vibrant yellow egg salad, all sandwiched between bread slices and pressed together. We've been serving it ever since.
- Smorgastarta
- Crab sandwiches
- Smoked trout mousse in pâte a choux puffs
- Cucumber and watercress sandwiches with goat cheese on dark pumpernickel
- Radish and mint sandwiches with cream cheese on orange rye
- Assorted cookies, tartlets and cakes
Middle Eastern Party Menu
It was winter, stormy, and cold. We warmed the kitchen making this meal with a group of around 30 guests; it could also used the menu for a catered party. Fresh and delicious, with plenty of variety, it was a big hit with both groups. Dessert with this meal could be almost anything--we added a few suggestions at the end.
Appetizers
- Mini chicken b’stillas
- Yogurt-spinach dip, with homemade pita chips and fresh vegetables
- Zucchini and feta cheese fritters, drizzled with yogurt garlic sauce
Dinner Buffet
- Green salad with blood oranges, mandarins, and caramelized almonds
- Moroccan carrot salad
- Middle eastern beet salad
- Warmed naan
- Roast spice-crusted leg of free-range lamb, carved and served with a pomegranate jus
- Yam, red bell pepper, and green bean tagine
- Baklava or a filo pastry, custard and fruit Napoleon, or pistachio torte with fresh fruit and sabayon, or fresh fruit strudel
Luncheon to Celebrate Great Work!
Our friend, an accomplished Italian home cook, wanted to show her appreciation to a great client for all the business they sent her way, and so, thought to feed them a good meal. She hired us to make the lunch. We fed the 40 employees, making them a meal that they deeply appreciated, with one bow to their benefactor's Italian heritage and then, finger-licking good barbecue.
- Classic, slowly cooked minestrone, made with homemade meat broth
- Baby-back ribs, with a Memphis-style dry rub, slow cooked on the grill
- Fresh baked cornbread
- Confetti cole slaw
- Make-your-own sundae bar, with home-made hot fudge, dark cherry and caramel sauces, vanilla and chocolate ice cream, sliced bananas and toasted pecans
Holiday Party for 250
Sometimes, we work with clients who want a very special, targeted menu. This one was for a University department holiday party—and they wanted lots of vegan selections, plenty of vegetarian food, and to satisfy the omnivores as well. We served this a a buffet that snaked through the main lobby of the building. While we rarely cater off-site anymore, we do occasionally take on a challenging job like this one. Just ask!
Vegan
- Spiced nuts
- Vietnamese style fresh vegetable rice paper rolls, with goi coin dipping sauce
- Vegetable sushi rolls
- Mushrooms stuffed with eggplant, parsley and garlic
- Cucumber cups filled with French lentil and wild rice salad with vegetable brunoise
Vegetarian
- Spinach and artichoke heart frittata with red pepper sauce
- Artisan and imported cheese tray, with fresh and dried fruits, baguette slices and crackers
Fish, Seafood and Meat
- Poached salmon fillets, decorated with cucumber scales, served with dill sauce
- Roast vegetable “tapestry” of red peppers, portobello mushrooms, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, red onions and Roma tomatoes, with bagna caoda and baguette slices
- Mediterranean mussels, served chilled on the half-shell with tequila lime salsa
- Asparagus spears with mustard sauce, rolled in prosciutto di Parma
Sweets
- Hand rolled rustic chocolate amaretto truffles
- Lemon-poppyseed cake squares, made with rice milk and maple syrup
- Winter Chandler strawberries dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in toasted hazelnuts
Bar Mitzvah
We love talking with kids about their favorite foods, and this bar mitzvah boy loved tacos. Mom thought bagels and lox would be popular, and since the menu was meatless, we filled in the rest with delicious savories and farmer's market berries rolled in chocolate and nuts. Mazel Tov!
- Baked tartlets with goat cheese and herbs
- Filo pastries with artichoke, shiitakes, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and feta
- Hummus
- Baba ganoush
- Pitas and pita chips
- Roasted vegetable tapestry, with bagna caoda dressing, served with baguette slices
- Cheese board, served with baguette slices
- Zucchini frittata
- Baked stuffed mushrooms, with pesto and mushroom duxelles
- Lox, with fresh chive cream cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, capers and mini-bagels
- Caesar salad
- Make-your-own tacos: frijoles borrachos, cilantro rice, guacamole, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and salsa; served with crisp taco shells and soft flour tortillas
- Strawberries dipped in chocolate and rolled in toasted hazelnuts
A November Cocktail Party
We served a seventy-guest party with this menu, luckily in a year when the rains stayed away and our friends at Wild Boar Farm still had delicious heirloom tomatoes. You don't think about figs and asparagus in November, but the warm weather meant that they were both still wonderful.
- Wild Boar Farm heirloom tomatoes, with fresh mozzarella and basil on bruschetta
- Scallops wrapped in pancetta and seared, with saffron aioli
- Tartlets filled with goat cheese and herb custard
- Stilton cheese and walnut shortbreads topped with pear slices and watercress
- Asparagus wrapped in pancetta and roasted, with mustard sauce
- Last of the season’s figs, stuffed with goat cheese and pecans and wrapped in Parma prosciutto
Kitchen Remodeling Celebration
A long, involved home kitchen and dining room remodel culminated in a party thrown for everyone who had helped, from the architect and contractors, to the friends and extended family who had fed our home-owners when they couldn't cook for themselves. They brought in a celebration cake, but we did the rest, following the request for Middle Eastern flavors. It was a hearty meal in the middle of winter, warming and delicious and a great test of the new kitchen--which worked perfectly once someone figured out how to light the very complex new ovens. We can recreate this meal in our own very special ovens, and serve it to your guests in our sparkling kitchen.
Appetizers
- Spinach and yogurt salad
- Hummus bi tahini
- Roasted eggplant and garlic salad
- Za’atar spiced pita chips
First course
- Individual b’stillas, with parsley salad garnish
Plated Entrée
- Cous-cous with lamb and vegetable tagine
- Green salad with dill, mint, feta, cucumbers and a lemony vinaigrette
Cocktail Reception After a Birthday Concert
Flexible and mostly vegetarian, this menu can be served anywhere—no kitchen required, as long as we have a sink and some tables to platter food on, and a socket to plug into. Cocktail napkins needed, but no plates. It is perfect for you to pick up and self-serve; all you have to do is return the platters and dishes the next day.
- Manchego cheese with membrillo (quince paste)
- Endive leaves with anise-flavored beet salad and goat cheese
- Brioche toasts topped with Serrano ham, sheep's milk cheese and roasted grapes
- Bruchette with warm cannellini beans cooked with sun dried tomatoes and sage
- "Shooter" portions of classic tomato soup, made with our winter stash of dry farmed Early Girls
- Frittata bites with artichokes and spinach, with a spicy red bell pepper cream garnish
- Fallen chocolate souffle tortes, with whipped cream and a berry on top
- Mango panna cotta, served in our favorite little shooter glasses
Midsummer Wedding Reception
We've catered two large back-yard weddings for this family over the last few years, in their Danville home. We "retired" from wedding catering in 2014, but the menu still excites us. It can be adapted to in-house catering for your next celebration.
Passed Appetizers
- Endive leaves filled with house-cured gravlax and new potato and citrus salad
- Filo dough pastries filled with shiitake mushroom, sun dried tomato, fresh artichoke and feta cheese
- Crostini with roasted grapes and Parma prociutto
Dips and Cheese Station
- Artichoke dip with homemade pita chips
- Cheese platter, with artisan selections, served with fresh fruit, crackers and baguette slices
Salad Station
- Caesar salad
- Heirloom tomato salad
- Fruit platter
Entrée Station
- Grilled bavette steak, sliced and served with Italian style fresh green herb sauce
- Chilled wild-caught salmon fillets, decorated with cucumber “scales” and served with dill sauce
- New potato salad
- Grilled vegetable “tapestry” platter, including fresh asparagus, Roma tomatoes, eggplant, sweet red peppers, Portobello mushrooms, spring onions, all dressed with (your choice of either) a balsamic reduction or bagna caoda (mellow anchovy-garlic dressing)
Pasta Station
- Orechiette with summer vegetables and pesto
- Gnocchi of homemade ricotta with fresh tomatoes and pancetta
Valentines Brunch
We finally just gave our client the cheese blintz recipe, since every year since we catered this party, she's asked us to make her a big batch. They are delicious, either with the crepe Suzette type sauce we made for her, or the traditional blueberry sauce. We like brunch—a hearty and fun meal, flexible enough to serve just about anything. This one was definitely more a breakfast than a lunch, but I doubt any of the guests needed another meal before dinner.
- Ginger cream scones
- Walnut-fig scones
- Homemade scone cream and raspberry jam
- Cheese blintzes with caramelized orange-Grand Marnier sauce
- Carnitas and scrambled egg quesadillas with fresh salsa and guacamole
- Fruit salad
Tropical Theme Wedding Reception
After spending 25 years together, our wedding couple, who live in a tiny house in the hills with a pretty big yard around it, decided to get married. They spent a year laboring to turn their property into a tropical paradise, planting palms, bananas, and more, and creating winding garden paths with charming gathering points here and there. They installed a wicker bar where we made the guests tropical drinks, and we created a menu that matched the mood perfecly. The summer weather cooperated, and the wedding party that followed a flower-strewn and lovely ceremony, was a very happy one. While we no longer cater weddings off-site, we want to share this inspiring menu and can, indeed, recreate it in our kitchen!
Early Appetizers
- Spiced nuts for the bar
- Scallop ceviche in cucumber cups
- Crepes filled with curried chicken and pea sprouts, cut like sushi rolls
- Fresh spring rolls, made with nontraditional vegetables and served with two dipping sauces
Buffet
- Little fish cakes, served on endive leaves with a Thai style sweet spicy sauce
- Chicken sate, grilled
- Beef sate, grilled
- Gado-gado sauce ( Indonesian peanut sauce) served with a variety of raw and cooked vegetables for dipping
- Pancetta wrapped prawns, cooked on skewers on the fire
- Whole roasted pig, accompanied by roti breads and mango-pineapple salsa
- Fruit skewers
- Hibiscus iced tea and assorted tropical beverages
- Tropical Tiramisù cake
Classic Favorites
What are the secrets to making a great onion soup? Like I used to tell my students, this is not rocket science—it's pretty easy but takes some patience. While the onions are cooking, we'll make the best homemade tuna confit you've ever tasted, or if you prefer your fish seared and served rare, we can do that too, but the classic Nicoise salad is always a winner. And, we pair it with one of our favorite desserts, featuring Valrhona chocolate, of course.
This menu is good any season; we'll garnish the dessert differently in June than January, of course. It will work for a catered lunch, or a smaller group team building event, or a cooking party where you want plenty of time for other activities besides cooking.
- French onion soup
- Classic salade Nicoise, with fresh tuna confit (and/or) seared sashimi-grade tuna
- Fallen chocolate souffle torte, whipped cream and seasonal garnish
Engagement Party
The party went on all evening, and the forty guests felt well-fed and well-nourished. Plenty of protein, fresh, vibrant vegetables, and lots of flavor. A menu with something for everyone, and a great start to an engagement!
- Gado-gado peanut sauce with grilled Indonesian chicken saté and assorted vegetables for dipping
- Prawns wrapped in pancetta, marinated in garlic and herbs and grilled
- Two-bite butter tartlets with three fillings: wild mushroom custard; goat cheese with herbs; caramelized onion and gruyère
- Cucumber cups with French lentil salad and smoked duck breast
- Endive leaves with Stilton cream, persimmon and toasted walnuts
- Small pick-up desserts assortment
Harvest Menu
The days are getting shorter, and the apples are crisp. Wild chanterelles pop up under the forest live oaks, and we love them with pork. We make a magical dish, a tournedo that laces together pork tenderloins, wraps them in pancetta and then sears them and serves with a delicious pan sauce with the wild mushrooms. This menu is a crowd-pleaser, every course fragrant and brightly flavored. Learn how to cook these dishes, or let us cater your special event with this menu—the rehearsal dinner before an autumn wedding, perhaps?
- Carrot soup with pesto croutons
- Pork tenderloin tournedoes with pancetta and wild mushrooms, served with creamy polenta and sauteed spinach
- Apple strudel with Calvados sabayon
All-Appetizer Wedding Reception
Sometimes a wedding reception is not a sit-down affair. This was one of those times. The bride wanted just 'heavy apps' that would make everyone feel like they'd had a full meal, but she didn't want to seat everyone for a meal. We created this menu for her 150 guests, and they all had a great time. Lots of dancing, lots of eating—some tables for those that wished to sit and treat the buffet like a meal, but mostly, people nibbled and noshed the night away inbetween dances. We didn't have a great kitchen to work with, so put our pizzettas on pita bread rather than risk an oven that wouldn't reach the temperatures needed for "real" pizza. Nobody minded, but in our own kitchen, we could indeed make the "real thing!'
- Pancetta-wrapped grilled prawns with Meyer lemon aioli
- Little crab cakes, served on polenta crisps with red cabbage slaw and remoulade sauce
- Mushrooms stuffed with mushroom duxelles, bread crumbs, garlic, anchovy and Reggiano parmesan
- Carved freshly roasted medium-rare fillet of beef, tucked into cheddar biscuits with horseradish sauce and arugula
- Bouchees with crème fraiche and caviar
- Pizzettas on pita with caramelized onion, goat cheese and roasted Roma tomatoes
- Pizzettas on pita with homemade tomato sauce and cheese (and sausage)
- Mezze assortment, with baba ganoush, hummus, tzatziki, olives, pitas and homemade pita chips
- Grilled vegetable assortment (eggplant, Roma tomatoes, Portobello mushrooms, spring onions, asparagus, red bell peppers) dressed with Balsamic and herbs
- Cheese platter, with imported and domestic artisan selections, manchego/membrillo canapés, and house-made Stilton walnut terrine, with baguette slices and crackers
- Fruit platter, with seasonal selections
Warming Winter Menu
When the wind is blowing and the rain coming down, you need to start with something warming. Our soup takes advantage of two of the best winter ingredients, escarole and leeks, which are at their height in the blustery middle of winter. The entree salad is composed of three parts, spicy arugula, seductively flavorful wild rice, and duck—if you've never cooked duck, this is the perfect introduction; if you already love it, maybe this is a new way to make it that is both easy and delicious. Our pistachio torte recipe evolves every time we make it. Here, we pair it with roasted pears, and pear cider sabayon that incorporates the roasting juices. We'll teach you how to make this menu, or, if you want a cosy place to conduct a meeting or symposium, we'll cater the meal as a delicious lunch, right in our kitchen.
- Escarole, leek and rice soup, with homemade chicken broth
- Arugula salad with braised and roasted duck legs over cranberry and pecan wild rice
- Pistachio torte with pears and pear sabayon
June Wedding
We catered this June wedding, with a vegetarian groom and his mostly non-meat-eating family members, and a bride whose family was here from Germany, and looking for serious protein. The couple were graduate students at Cal, and the event was informal, but lovely. Eighty guests attended, and we worked hard to integrate the vegetarian and carnivorous tastes of this new extended family. We think we succeeded admirably, and so did they.
Appetizers
- Griddled spicy prawns with Meyer lemon aioli
- Mixed antipasto platter with white bean salad, zucchini and sundried tomato frittata, roasted cauliflower with preserved lemon and olives, red pepper and eggplant salad, all served with crostini
- Tofu-spinach dip with pita chips
- Cheese board of imported and artisan selections, with assorted breads and crackers
Dinner buffet
- Spring asparagus salad with a riot of fresh herbs
- Loose head lettuce salad with sweet 100 tomatoes
- Torta verde of chard, potatoes and pecorino cheese
- Roasted duck leg quarters, with spring cherry sauce
- Griddled portobello mushroom steaks with red wine vegetarian demiglace
- Wild rice pilaf
- Spring fruit and berry platter
- Wedding cake