Inventive food isn't just for avant-garde restaurants. Here's a taste of curious dishes from caterers around the country.
Tentation, Potel & Chabot, an international catering company with operations in New York, transforms an ordinary bowl of soup into cocktail-party fare with its avocado-and-tomato frozen gazpacho served as a lollipoplike treat.For a refreshing twist on the typical beet salad, New York’s Barraud Caterers Ltd. sandwiched golden-beet sorbet between two slices of candy-stripe beets, topped with microgreens (like celery, arugula, and chrysanthemum) and a white port and horseradish vinaigrette.
Washington-based Design Cuisine’s jewel-box-like “quartet of sweet miniatures” includes candied ginger dipped in chocolate, pavé topped with a sugar rose, a nougatine honey sesame cone, and a chocolate truffle with pineapple julienne.
Known for over-the-top plating, Miami-based catering and event design company Barton G. serves “sorbet flutes”—an innovative selection of exotic sorbets. Staffers fill each indentation in the hollow glass tubes with a mini scoop of a different flavor, including Venezuelan chocolate, raspberry and peppermint, and island-fruit saffron.
When a client wanted to treat guests to a preshow snack during a car ride to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, chef Daniel Boulud’s Feast & Fêtes created individual plates with seven distinctively decadent bites. Offerings included quenelle of duck confit on duck prosciutto, Carolina shrimp with carrot coulis, and crab salad with apple gelée.
Alec Lestr, executive chef of catering at Los Angeles-based Patina Catering cooks (and serves) salmon with fava beans, peas, and caramelized onions in Fata paper, a transparent material that allows food to cook in its own juices. Opening the clear pouch tableside releases the trapped steam, creating a dramatic—and fragrant—presentation.
Tentation, Potel & Chabot, an international catering company with operations in New York, transforms an ordinary bowl of soup into cocktail-party fare with its avocado-and-tomato frozen gazpacho served as a lollipoplike treat.For a refreshing twist on the typical beet salad, New York’s Barraud Caterers Ltd. sandwiched golden-beet sorbet between two slices of candy-stripe beets, topped with microgreens (like celery, arugula, and chrysanthemum) and a white port and horseradish vinaigrette.
Washington-based Design Cuisine’s jewel-box-like “quartet of sweet miniatures” includes candied ginger dipped in chocolate, pavé topped with a sugar rose, a nougatine honey sesame cone, and a chocolate truffle with pineapple julienne.
Known for over-the-top plating, Miami-based catering and event design company Barton G. serves “sorbet flutes”—an innovative selection of exotic sorbets. Staffers fill each indentation in the hollow glass tubes with a mini scoop of a different flavor, including Venezuelan chocolate, raspberry and peppermint, and island-fruit saffron.
When a client wanted to treat guests to a preshow snack during a car ride to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, chef Daniel Boulud’s Feast & Fêtes created individual plates with seven distinctively decadent bites. Offerings included quenelle of duck confit on duck prosciutto, Carolina shrimp with carrot coulis, and crab salad with apple gelée.
Alec Lestr, executive chef of catering at Los Angeles-based Patina Catering cooks (and serves) salmon with fava beans, peas, and caramelized onions in Fata paper, a transparent material that allows food to cook in its own juices. Opening the clear pouch tableside releases the trapped steam, creating a dramatic—and fragrant—presentation.
Tentation's avocado-and-tomato frozen gazpacho.
Photo: Karen Mordechai
Tentation's avocado-and-tomato frozen gazpacho.
Photo: Karen Mordechai
Barraud Caterers Ltd.'s golden-beet sorbet, sandwiched between two beet slices.
Photo: Lisa Koenig
Design Cuisine's quartet of miniature sweets.
Photo: Ron Manville
Barton G.'s exotic sorbets, served in flute-shaped vessels.
Photo: Courtesy of Barton G.
Feast & FĂŞtes's plate of seven unique, bite-sized snacks, including Carolina shrimp with carrot coulis.
Photo: Courtesy of Feast & FĂŞtes
Patina Catering's salmon, cooked and served in Fata paper.
Photo: Nicole Ely for BizBash
