Catering Tips

October 10, 2012

For a recent dessert display created by Chicago-based Sugar Chic Designs, Nicole Greene of Truffle Truffle contributed caramel chocolate-covered pretzels rolled in beer batter toffee and displayed in a cigar box.

Photo: Carasco Photo

At Art Basel Miami Beach’s Ten Great Years celebration last December, Shiraz provided cigar-shaped mini Cubans stuffed with ham, cornichons, and cheese. Servers passed them around in repurposed cigar boxes.

Photo: Carly Otness/BFAnyc.com

Close, but no cigar: Mena Catering in Miami creates eggnog crème brûlée served in a clear ashtray with an edible chocolate cigarette.

Photo: Elizabeth Renfrow for BizBash

Eggnog shots with mini gingerbread cookies, by Schaffer’s Genuine Foods in Los Angeles

Photo: Bridget Kenny for BizBash

For the ESPN ESPY Awards preparty in Los Angeles in July, DNA Events set up a golf-inspired display of doughnut holes on toothpick tees on an AstroTurf-covered table.

Photo: Courtesy of DNA Events

At a dessert table from Sugar Chic Designs, pink macarons were displayed on dainty, miniature ghost chairs.

Photo: Carasco Photography

Photo: Jenny Anderson

App Annie's Vision Party

During the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, app analytics platform App Annie hosted a futuristic event on March 17 at live-music venue Mezzanine. The event's theme was "Vision." The word was spelled out in an installation made with cups of popcorn. From the "O" in vision, doughnut holes poured forth in a setup referred to as "Orbs in the Abyss." Roar Events produced the event; Culinary Eye handled catering.

Photo: L. Bishop Photography

Mini Cupcakes in New York

Baked by Melissa offers a giant gumball machine that dispenses pods containing the company’s signature mini cupcakes at events. The machine can fit 2,000 pods, with a minimum order of 1,000.

Photo: Courtesy of Baked by Melissa

Strawberry milkshakes from Elegant Affairs Off-Premise Catering & Event Design in New York accompany sirloin sliders as a late-night snack for guests—a sophisticated twist on kid-friendly diner fare.

Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Last year, Abigail Kirsch Catering in New York began offering colorful mini ice cream sandwiches for events. Flavors include pistachio coconut pineapple and carrot butter pecan caramel, served in matching foil for easy, neat eating.

Photo: Andre Maier

At the so-called "Anti-Gala" for the Lowline in New York in 2012, ice cream sandwiches and gelato provided by Lower East Side food vendors Melt and Il Laboratorio del Gelato served as kid-style dessert that appealed to adults.

Photo: Andrew Martin/BizBash

At the Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscars benefit bash earlier this year, the after-party included espresso milkshakes topped with mini doughnuts on straws.

Photo: Alesandra Dubin

Sterling Engagements hosted a party in Los Angeles last year to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The array of catering options there included a sophisticated milk-and-cookies dessert bar including various flavors of milk.

Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash

New York’s Elegant Affairs Caterers created a dish of Pop Tart lollipops available in flavors like apple cinnamon, strawberry, and s'mores.

Photo: Courtesy of Elegant Affairs

At Allison&Partners’ Late Night Saloon at South by Southwest in 2014, pastry chef Dominique Ansel debuted what was then his newest creation: the chocolate chip cookie milk shot. (His famous Cronuts made cameos too.)

Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

At the South Beach Wine & Food Festival earlier this year, the Sweet 15 Dessert reception included a take on birthday cake and ice cream from Jean Georges Vongerichten's Matador and Market restaurants at the Miami Beach Edition hotel. Crème fraîche cake, vanilla bean crémeux, confetti nitro ice cream, raspberry gel, a white chocolate candle, and 23-carat edible gold flake comprised the dish.

Photo: John Parra/Getty Images for SOBEWFF

Puerto Rico-Inspired Menu