Food

Silver Lake-based Pazzo Gelato, maker of all-natural, artisanal gelato, is now mobile for events. The cold treat purveyor can serve a variety of flavors from its custom-outfitted cart, like sea salt caramel with white chocolate, almond fig, and lavender earl grey. Non-dairy, vegan options are also available.

Patina Catering will offer a Meyer lemon curd tart with burnt meringue and wild berry coulis this summer.

Three notable San Diego chefs have joined forces to launch the catering and event company Campine, A Culinary + Cocktail Conspiracy. Andrew Spurgin, Antonio Friscia, and Brian Malarkey are at the helm of the company, which can travel to L.A. for events. Summer entertaining ideas from Campine include picnics featuring bento boxes filled with sushi, seaweed salad, a thermos of miso soup, and chilled sake. Or, try a summer seafood meal made in a galvanized tub heated by a propane burner. The chefs fill the tub with water, potatoes, sweet corn, old bay seasoning, carrots, onions, artichokes, thyme, parsley, and shellfish. After draining the liquid, everything is poured out on a picnic table covered with butcher paper, and served with craft brew.

At the Campfire Ball benefit for Children’s Oncology Services in May at Venue One in Chicago, Cork Catering set up a make-your-own s’mores station.

Great Performances has stocked bars with infusions like blackberry maple whiskey, honeydew cucumber gin, and pineapple vodka.

At an event at the Chicago History Museum in April, Jewell Events Catering used a Japanese ice-shaving machine to make treats guests could customize with flavors including cran-raspberry and mango.

Staffers from Spencer’s for Steaks and Chops at the Hilton Orlando serve cherry and Coca-Cola floats topped with frozen brandy drops, dark chocolate cake soaked with Coca-Cola, and sour cherry mousse at a dessert station that used nitrogen to freeze ingredients.

For a promotional party in New York, Thomas Preti Caterers served individual fondue cups filled with warm chocolate sauces, with items like marshmallows, kiwi slices, and strawberries to dip.

At an Aaron’s Catering promotional event for clients at Haven Lounge in Miami in July, a server passed fruit bars to guests, and then a second server approached with a tray of misters filled with alcohol to spray on the popsicle.

Pinch Food Design in New York created a taco station, where guests could decorate homemade tortillas with an array of toppings served in custom-made resin pedestal pieces inspired by handcrafted Mexican pottery.

For outdoor events, the W Boston builds an iced-tea bar featuring infusions such as matcha green tea and herbal variations.

Thomas Preti Caterers in New York recently created a Bloody Mary bar with ingredients including pickled vegetables, scallions, beef jerky, and rosemary stirrers, plus spicy elements like banana peppers and jalapeños.

Aaron’s Catering has a new menu item suitable as an hors d’oeuvre or in place of a salad. The base of the “molecular diablo” is mozzarella cheese that has been liquefied and reformed to look like a hard-boiled egg white. Heirloom tomato foam makes the faux yolk, and capsulized balsamic vinegar looks like caviar. The piece is served on a bed of arugula. Eaten together, it is intended to taste similar to a Caprese salad.

HipPops is a new South Florida company that makes all-natural, kosher-certified pops from gelato, sorbet, and frozen yogurt. The bars come in two sizes, regular and “baby pops,” and more than a dozen flavors that can be topped with three types of chocolate and various toppings to create more than 100 combinations.