Catering Ideas

Buffet tables were set up throughout the three floors of venue with Southern fare such as cheddar cheese grits, barbecue beef brisket, and cornbread served in iron skillets.

The only dessert requiring more than one hand, yet still served in small portions, was butterscotch pots de créme topped with salted caramel and créme fraiche.

Gage turned shrimp and grits, a meal traditionally served on a plate, into hors d’ouevres by deep-frying the grits into patties and topping them with a single shrimp and remoulade sauce.

Susan Gage served a beet and blood orange side salad in large clear standing bowls on each buffet table.

Gage took inspiration from the Lee Brothers cookbook, which the chefs spoke about the following day at a hosted luncheon, for her Vidalia onion tart with an herb pastry crust served on the buffet tables.

Tabasco onions and barbecue sauce accompanied the barbecue beef brisket.

In addition to buttered biscuits, the buffet tables held cornbread served in cast-iron skillets.

For the desserts, Willen kept it to quick bites that could be easily eaten while mingling. The menu included unusual treats such bourbon balls, incorporating one of the South's liquor staples.

Salted-caramel brownies were the only dessert served for chocolate lovers.

The classic New Orleans praline—made with sugar, butter, and pecans—provided another easy-to-eat sweet.

Frito pies, the Big Cheezy grilled sandwiches, and a Hollywood Hipster cocktail are among the items on Limelight's Bites of the Southern Wild menu.

Wedge salad bites served on forks, by Occasions Caterers in Washington

Seared sweet ­potato cakes topped with braised short ribs and horseradish liquid nitrogen pearls, by Chris Brugler Catering in Los Angeles

Tuna sashimi on kaffir-lime-scented rice with hibiscus “caviar,” by BG Events and Catering in Boston

Black Mission fig challah melts with aged cheddar, shallot confit, and thyme, with charred tomato and roasted butternut squash purée, by Chris Brugler Catering in Los Angeles

Seared scallops with roasted shiitake mushrooms and shiitake-chive foam on buttered toast rounds, by Shiraz Events in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles

Buttermilk-fried chicken and waffle bites with black pepper gravy and scallions, by Oliver & Bonacini Events in Toronto

Fingerling potato cups filled with truffled steak tartare, by BG Events and Catering in Boston

Crispy malanga tacos with smoked tuna belly, spicy corn aioli, and roasted root ­vegetable ­confetti, by Shiraz Events in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles

Griddled new potatoes topped with quail eggs, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes, by Oliver & Bonacini Events in Toronto

Cabernet-and-fennel-braised rabbit wrapped in buckwheat crepes with fennel-scented crème fraîche and port reduction, by Shiraz Events in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles

Poached shrimp served with horseradish-infused tomato water and lemon oil, by Occasions Caterers in Washington