Winery Wedding Reception

Saturday, July 25th: Wedding reception at Wolffer Estate Vineyards, Sagg Harbor, East Hampton.


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On the menu

• Crabmeat Salad in Pate Brisee Boats
• Mini Salmon Crepes
• Prosciutto Foie & Fig Canapes
• Cured Beef with Cheese and Pistachios
• Frisee Salad with Cranberries & Walnuts with a Lemon Viniagrette
• Spinach Risotto with Asparagus & Peas
• Baby Lambchops with Purple Potato Puree
• Cheese-Herb Souffle
• Filet of Sole with Butter Sauce served with Haricot Verts
• Individual Vanilla Meringues with Raspberry Coulis

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It was the most perfect summer day. The indoor tasting room was set up elegantly for dancing and a long table for dinner was set up on the veranda overlooking the blooming vineyard. A bride couldn't ask for a more gorgeous wedding reception...

...and then there's the mother of the bride. Not only did she complain about every tiny detail of the setup and venue, but every course was problematic - not enough dressing on the salad, not enough salt on the fish, lamb was too cold. At one point, she actually stormed into the kitchen and started incoherently giving orders and yelling at the chefs. This has never happened to me before. Complaints usually go to the catering director on the floor, not to the frantically working cooks holding sharp knives and hot pots. Thankfully, the catering director put a stop to it all and asked the client never to contact the company again.

There are nice clients and not so nice clients, just as there are nice people and not so nice people. In a service industry where the customer is always supposed to be right, it is difficult to know how to react when things go sour. Unfortunately, it's something that can probably only be learned through experience.

As for my first trip to the Hamptons, it really was not all that it's cracked up to be. All the beautiful houses are hidden from public view by tall hedges and gates. With only one main road, traffic is intolerable. The beaches are overcrowded and only reachable through private grounds. Finally, in my limited experience, the people aren't so nice and live far from what most of us call reality. I'm much more agreeable to the nitty gritty city.

Food for Fashion & Furniture

On July 21st, I traveled down to 440 West 14th St. for another solo catering gig at the offices of Diane Von Furstenberg and for once I didn't mind prepping in the office kitchen. If there were a top ten list of office kitchens, Diane's would rate number one so far. It makes me think Diane appreciates food, or at least her office designer does.


I'm not typically one for high-end fashion, or more accurately I can't afford it, but the pretty print dresses and shiny silks made me wish Diane started a H&M line. But for those of you who are, I took a quick peek into their style room and it looks like Egyptian prints are in for the Fall.


I plated a couple cheese and charcuterie plates, filet mignon on a crostini, mushroom truffle pizzettes, and chive-chicken skewers in a mad rush and hauled ass out of there for another catering gig uptown.

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A 20 minute subway ride uptown on the A train and I was at 4 Columbus Circle in the offices of Steelcase, a high-end office furniture designer. Two other chefs were already frantically plating food out of a typical crappy tiny office kitchen/copy room. Mini lobster salads, shrimp skewers, roasted eggplant endive cups, duck canapes and chorizo on polenta cakes were among the menu items.


I thought working two gigs in one night would be exciting and challenging, but I really did not enjoy it. I like seeing an event run from beginning to end. To have to leave only 2 hours into one party and come into another party for only the last 3 hours left me feeling somewhat incomplete. It's nice to see a party come full circle, from setup to breakdown. Someday I'd also like to be involved in menu creation and client tasting and finally be able to see a menu go from vision to paper to plate.

In the meantime, back to paying my dues...