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Not all catering gigs are in beautiful vineyards or elegant townhouses. Here are two more summer cocktail parties where I worked out of crappy office kitchens.
Tuesday, July 28th: A cocktail party at The One Club, 21 E 26th St, a non-profit organization for the recognition and promotion of excellence in advertising.
On the menu
- Artisanal Cheese Display with fresh and dried fruits, served with baguettes and assorted flatbreads
- Mediterranean Sampler of Provencal Chicken, Moroccan Shrimp, Smoked White Bean Spread, Eggplant Caponata, and Focaccia
- Skewers of Spanish Chorizo, Cheese, Roasted Zucchini, and Piquillo Peppers
- Spicy Gazpacho
- Chicken Shumai
- Wild Mushroom Pizzettes
We were told 60 people but of course it turned out to be over 100. Food quickly ran out and we were desperately understaffed. The portable oven came in a box filled with rain water and the tiny office kitchen was a mess before I got there. Not an ideal situation, but we survived and the client left happy. Another disaster averted.
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Wednesday, July 29th: A cocktail party at Herman Miller, 1177 Ave of the Americas - another high-end office furniture designer. (Sorry no pics, it was around this time my camera broke...poo)
On the Indian-inspired menu:
- Basmati Rice and Grilled Shrimp
- Vegetable Samosas
- Garam Masala-spiced Beef Skewers
- Paneer Cheese and Roasted Tomato Pizzettes
- Curry Chicken Salad on Potato Cakes
Working out of what looked more like a copy room was difficult enough for this 200 person cocktail party, what made it worse was that the room was still in heavy use by the employees. Random people coming and going to make copies, get coffee and steal food did not make us happy. We left annoyed and smelling of curry.
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...
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