Dining Ideas

Inspired by the ceramics of South African artist Ruan Hoffmann and murals by Rebecca Rebouche, interior designer Alexis Givens created a moonlight feast setting for Anthropologie with a ceiling covering made from bright blue-painted recycled plastic bottles.

Anthropologie's hot pink and red flowers popped against the rich blue walls and table runners.

Inspired by the Art Deco era, designer Antonino Buzzetta created a modern dining space for Michael C. Fina with a reflective gold wall covering and black lacquered chairs. "I wanted to create a space that was equally as elegant as it is seductive. The Art Deco era is the perfect culmination of my obsession with the fusion of gilded glamour and sublime luxury," Buzzetta said.

Michael C. Fina's look featured luxe black and gold settings on a glass tabletop.

A New Orleans garden dinner party, à la Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, was the theme of The New York Times dining space, designed by Robert Passal Interior and Architectural Design. The lush environment, which even included a mossy room spray, featured Passal's dinnerware collaboration with L'objet, along with Bradley Clifford's talon candlesticks and items from Bergdorf Goodman. The 250-year-old dining chairs were retrieved from an assembly hall in England.

Originally set designers, Lydia Marks and Lisa Frantz looked to their favorite period—1940s Hollywood glamour—for inspiration in creating the New York Design Center's vignette. A black-and-white forced perspective image served as the backdrop, while a large chandelier by Arteriors illuminated the space. Bright peacocks by Global Views hung out in the corner.

The opulent look for the New York Design Center's area was designed by Marks & Frantz and featured floral dinnerware by Lenox, glassware by Michael Wainwright, and flatware by Nambe.

Visitors could go "backstage" with a vanity mirror, complete with makeup, at the New York Design Center's booth.

New York City-based design team Dransfield & Ross said the zany style inspiration for Sunbrella's tableau came from the 1967 film Casino Royale. Ornate couture chandeliers popped against the fabric company's graphic stripe patterns.

A colorful array of glassware and shag chairs completed the look of Sunbrella's dining space.

Smartwater's space aimed to reflect the brand's natural water purification process, which is mirrored after rain clouds. The fluffy fixtures lit up like a storm above the simple table setting.

The students from the New York School of Interior Design built a curved wall structure that mimicked a womb, protecting the diners inside the booth. The young designers said they wanted to "create a hug." The rest of the vignette was kept minimal in order to focus attention on the architectural element.

The area sponsored by Ralph Lauren Home highlighted the brand's paint collection with paint cans filled with colorful blooms as centerpieces, paint-dipped wooden stirrers as place cards, and drop cloths and paint swatches as wall decor.

Inspired by Marilyn Monroe, Manhattan magazine and Fendi Casa's booth featured a glamorous table with lots of reflected light and sparkly mesh-covered fixtures.

Swedish design company Bolon covered every inch of its space with tangerine-colored floor covering, creating a uniform, but expressive, dining area.

Stacy Garcia designed a modern floral fantasy with layers of wallpaper from the new Paper Muse Collection for York Wallcoverings.

Whimsical touches like glass snails on the table settings were featured in Stacy Garcia's garden-theme space.

Inspired by the Brutalist movement, in which concrete dominated, furnishings company Arteriors' dining vignette featured repeated geometric and abstract organic forms with rough textures and a dark palette.

Hermès celebrated nomadism with a Silk Road-inspired mural and vibrant jewel tones.

As part of its tablescape, Hermès debuted brand-new Ikat-patterned porcelain dinnerware.

Stephen Burks, the designer of Roche Bobois Paris's Traveler chair, also created the company's installation, which was based around his furniture. The chairs evoked a cozy camp-like feel, creating an outdoor pavilion indoors with a projected fire by Levy Lighting.

With a nod to the movie Garden State, actors dressed in Echo's new spring print were seated at the fabric company's dining table.

Echo's dining space was immersed in the brand's Heirloom India collection of wallpapers and fabrics.

Venetian masks were created for guests at the dining event, while printed prop masks were available for the general audience to snap selfies. The designer "wanted to create an art installation where not only the people [in the installation] were lost in print, but also the audience could get lost in print."

Designed by world-renowned artist Hunt Slonem, Kravet Inc.'s vignette featured bright paintings of exotic animals and tropical plant life.

Kravet Inc.'s second vignette included tableware with bold sketches of rabbits.

Interior designer Marc Blackwell created a vignette with the message, "Compassion Begets Art," in honor of Diffa's mission. The dining table included structural curved chairs with woven fabric in different colors.

Event planner and Architectural Digest special projects editor Bronson van Wyck created a party tent to celebrate the first days of spring for the magazine's booth.

Gensler and 3form brought the outdoors in with Astroturf as a floor covering, white wire chairs, and vivid blue tableware. Images of a modern house served as the backdrop.

Inspired by Rio de Janeiro, designer Corey Damen Jenkins created a dining space for Beacon Hill with sophisticated and bohemian elements, including a mix of luxe dining chairs and a colorful mosaic textile for the tabletop.

The nonprofit Imagine1Day—which supports education in Ethiopia—hosted its first gala, honoring Tracy Anderson, at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills on November 19. To label each seat, organizers placed stones emblazoned with individual guest names on tabletops.

At the Cooper-Hewitt's National Design Awards in New York in 2011, designer David Stark used colorful rolls of tape supplied by 3M as seating cards. The rolls were stacked on rods atop the tables.

At the luxury wedding summit Engage!13, Gifts for the Good Life used glowing birdcage lanterns as escort cards, which guests pulled from Todd Events' live hydrangea wall at the closing gala.

At the BizBash New York IdeaFest in 2012, Zak Events promoted its wares with a wall of potted succulents that doubled as both an attention-getting escort card idea and a takeaway with a solid shelf life.

At The New York Times's table at the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design benefit in New York in 2004, interior design company Eric Cohler Design made a crossword puzzle using guests' names to serve as seating cards.

Last year, the Holiday Chic Suite popped up on Chicago's Michigan Avenue, where Debi Lilly of A Perfect Event oversaw the design—including seating cards pinned to green apples with sparkly tacks.

For another idea using apples, the National Association for Catering and Events 2012 gala in Washington had a "once upon a time" theme, with details from story books—including calligraphy seating cards that nodded to the poisoned apple in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Among the creative place card offerings from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based LoLo Event Design are ones meant to look like messages in a bottle with names on ribbons tied to the corks and numbers inside—suitable for an event with a beach or adventure theme.

Suited for gifts, Vanille Patisserie in Chicago has chocolate bunnies filled with colorful jelly beans.

Vanille Patisserie also makes cakes festooned with springy flower designs, which are appropriate for Easter or any seasonal functions.

MK the Restaurant in Chicago has a springtime cocktail that looks like a liquid Easter egg. Dubbed "Tequila in Bloom," the drink has tequila, Crème Yvette, thyme-infused agave, and lime. It's served over ice cubes that have viola flower petals frozen inside, and its rim is lined with pink peppercorns.

How's this for an elaborate Easter pastry? At the Washington National Opera Ball in 2010, acclaimed baker Sylvia Weinstock created 300 small cakes resembling Fabergé eggs.

Magnolia Bakery, which has outlets in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, is offering Easter-theme snacks this spring. Suited to office parties, offerings include Vintage Springtime Cupcakes. In chocolate or vanilla, the treats are printed with edible images and topped with thick buttercream frosting.

In Chicago, restaurant Longman & Eagle and its marketing arm Land and Sea Dept. organizes an annual Adult Easter Egg Hunt. Winners are rewarded with Easter baskets that have a decidedly 21-plus spin: They're filled with candy, snacks, and bottles of locally brewed beer.

Truffleberry Market, a Chicago catering company, has plenty of pastel-hued dishes on its menu. For a recent baby shower, the firm used hollowed-out lemons to hold its Meyer lemon meringue panna cotta. A fresh green leaf on top of the dish added a springy, verdant feel.

The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Bunny Hop took place at New York's F.A.O. Schwarz in March 2013. Small topiaries shaped like the animal of honor spruced up the family-friendly event, which also had a balloon artist, face painting, and a station for decorating cookies.

Chicago restaurant Sunda puts a spin on traditional Easter brunch with its "Low Tea" service. The meal, which is offered on Sundays, includes breads with spreads such as honey-butter and papaya jam; savory bites including a lobster-bacon roll; orange-creamsicle cookie bites; and teas from Rare Tea Cellars.

“We launched the New York City Wine & Food Festival as the agency of record with Lee Schrager of Southern Wine and Spirits, which was our partner as well for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival for many years prior. Now the event has an in-house staff, as it should, but the first few seasons were tremendous undertakings for us, with not only the Grand Tasting Pavilions (pictured), but with events all over the city. We booked every single venue,” Herb says. Herb explained that having tons of choice, “a complete menu” to choose from for these multiday festivals, makes the experience richer for attendees. As an attendee of the event for the first few years, I remember some of the events were a little neater and tidier than others, but the scope and scale of the citywide undertaking was one that I realized was a monumental effort (and inarguably an instant success).

I can imagine how excited I would have been as I approached the beautiful tent set up for the Breeders' Cup “Taste of the World” event, which is so striking from far away, and knowing that I was about to taste foods from all over the world. There is a certain kind of magic that happens, that I can personally attest to, when you are present in a setting where a number of the top chefs are all preparing dishes at once for your pleasure. And Herb Karlitz, is, in my opinion, the original and still reigning king of this medium. At the event, in addition to Bobby Flay, Herb fielded Raymond England of Craft, Masaharu Morimoto, Susur Lee—whom I love watching on TV—and Matthew Lambert, a hot up-and-comer, who had just opened the Musket Room in New York.

One of the very best gourmet food events I ever attended was the Relais & Chateaux Grand Chefs dinner, which featured 60 chefs from around the world. I had no idea who Herb and Karlitz & Company were when I attended. But I do remember the event being sublime from almost every point of view, including the entry tent, which was both beautiful and efficient. I asked Herb for his point of view about event entries. “I liken the experience of landing at an airport: check-in and coat check can be a real drag, so why not make it as pleasant as possible,”  he explains. “First off, always overstaff both check-in and coat check. You can always shift them later if you don’t need them, but a wait at either can ruin the guest’s entry experience and will color their whole perception of the event. And why not bring a tray of champagne out front or serve them some appetizers?”

Herb shared with me a table seating chart for the Relais & Chateaux event, which only hints at the complexity of having 60 chefs preparing food at one dinner. The room as you can see was divided into segments, and the assigning of chefs is both a culinary and political tightrope. “We slaved over the assignment of chefs. Each grouping needed a superstar like a Jean-Georges [Vongerichten] or a Daniel Boulud, but you also need to balance the mix of American and international chefs, who may have been less well-known than their domestic counterparts, but just as, if not more prestigious,” he says. “One secret is to walk the chefs not only through their kitchen area, but through the others as well, to give them a sense of the whole event. Also, know that everyone will suggest a ceviche, because it is the easiest thing to prep on site.”

While Karlitz & Company is known best for its multi-chef extravaganzas, the company does top-quality event work for all types of luxury marketers, evidenced by its multiyear relationship with Chanel. A few seasons back for a major anniversary, Chanel landed a spaceship/art exhibit in Central Park for a six-week series of private events and open-to-the-public-by-appointment viewings. Karlitz & Company was hired by (and continues to do projects for) Chanel for all of the front-of-house coordinating, including tour guides and security. “It was an extraordinary success, beyond Chanel’s expectations. The mostly male greeters were instructed to be friendly and informational, and held to an all-black wardrobe," Herb explains. Here, security guards kept watch over what must have been a very expensive handbag.

One of the pictures that ran with my story about the Relais & Chateaux Grand Chefs dinner a few years ago shows how beautiful the setting inside was and how really breathtaking a culinary dinner can be. What was so great about the tables was that they used slender floral vessels that did not block diners’ sight lines. But the height of the arrangements allowed them to hang hand-painted votives, creating a magical canopy of twinkling gold lights for each table that was magical.

At culinary events, chefs and restaurant pros are like everybody else, and they like to let their hair down once in a while, and dance and sing. I was really struck by the photo from the private concert for Kenny Loggins hosted by Kraft Food Services in Chicago during an annual trade show for one reason: the giant stage apron that allowed guests to get up and dance on the same level as the band. “We did this event for four or five years in a row, always with a comfortable and familiar name act, like Kenny Loggins or Crosby, Stills & Nash, where guests knew all the songs. Then we built out the stage at the Shakespeare Theatre and the Navy Pier in Chicago,” Herb tells me. “Allowing guests to get up on the stage gives them a real thrill; the trick is handling the talent so that they feel comfortable with an unusual setup.”

Herb explains, “As Godiva becomes a larger global brand, they have to fight the perception that the brand is being diluted, with Godiva chocolates available in groceries and drug stores. Our job was to help them reassert Godiva’s position as top-quality chocolates, and to remind the foodie world that the company still has masters creating and testing new chocolates. This brunch we organized helped us [send that] message to the chef and fine foods markets.” The brunch was held toward the end of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and invitees included chefs and restaurant owners who were all in place and happily tanned, a target market that would otherwise be very hard for Godiva to get access to. The menu and wines incorporated or were designed to complement chocolate. Flowers were done by Pistils & Petals in Miami. Doesn’t the dazzling staging and towering height make you wish you were there and allowed to grab a truffle? Guests were encouraged to take as many truffles as they liked from the display when the event ended.

“We are perhaps most proud of the confidence and closeness of our relationships with the very top chefs both here [in the United States] and around the world,” Herb tells me. “We were thrilled when Bobby Flay recommended us to serve as organizers for what became an annual event, ‘Taste of the World’ on Breeders' Cup eve. We assembled a mind-numbing group of global chefs to prepare food for one of horse racing's most elite contests in California.” Those toques included Bobby Flay, who at the event took off his host hat and donned a chef’s jacket to do a demonstration of a pineapple-plated dish.

The choice of Red Rooster for Herb Karlitz’s celebration was for a reason (I think I’ve learned that Herb doesn’t make any choices for dining or wine without a carefully thought-out reason): it was symbolic. In May of 2014, Herb Karlitz and Marcus Samuelsson announced the inaugural Harlem EatUp!, with no less than Harlem Resident-in-Chief Bill Clinton on hand to make the announcement. It also didn’t hurt to have New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio there as well. The festival, which will take place May 14 to 17 this year, will benefit Citymeals-on-Wheels. It looks like it will be a sprawling Harlem-wide affair, with over 20 separate events I can count so far already on the docket; the highlight will be “the Stroll.” “We didn’t want the same old grand tasting tent format,” Herb explains. “The Stroll will spread out in Morningside Park, with one tent each dedicated to food, culture, and art.”

At Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster nightclub Ginny’s for Herb’s 25th anniversary, there was so much food and wine to enjoy, and while I admired the 1990 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru Burgundy, I was just as impressed by a little white wine station. I mostly drink white wine at events, it is safer (I’m clumsy), but the lack of choice and indifference of selection mostly makes it a yeoman's job to hoist back the vino (though somehow I seem to manage). And really this is a mistake I see all too often at events of every kind where they offer you a commercial brand of pinot grigio or chardonnay that you see all the time. But the impressive little selection of whites at Herb’s affair—I tried them all—could only be surpassed by Herb’s dizzyingly precise explanation of how they were chosen, presented unedited and unproofread: “Two of the wines were ‘projects’ of somms, who are friends of mine: Raj Parr from San Francisco (worldwide wine director for Michael Mina) has Sandhi Chardonnay, which is wonderful. Josh Nadel, worldwide wine director for Andrew Carmellini has Ophelia Chardonnay. Quite different. One sees more oak (Sandhi), the other steel. Since the Bordeaux Wine Council is a sponsor of our upcoming Harlem EatUp! Festival, I thought it would be a nice touch to include a white Bordeaux, which was the Michel Lynch selection.”

At the end of Herb Karlitz’s soiree at Red Rooster, a mountain of François Payard boxes was the lovely send off. I don’t really eat dessert, but the beautiful presentation and simplicity at the exit was thought provoking. I couldn’t wait and opened mine in the taxi, three or four times, and finally decided, alone in the taxi with 10 minutes to go, why wait. I salute Master Herb on a masterful 25 years.