1. Thematic Snacks
Tony C's Sports Bar and Grill, a restaurant with two Boston-area locations, is serving up football-inspired fare this season. Clever menu items include a dish called "Pig Skins," which is actually potato skins with two types of cheese, bacon, scallions, and sour cream drizzled to reflect the stitches on a football.
Photo: Courtesy of Tony C's
At Thinkery's Imaginarium gala, held in Austin in September, vintage games and throwback toys popped up throughout the “Playing It Forward”-theme event, including classic Slinkies as part of the hors d'oeuvres presentation.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
At The Knot's “Knot-so-Typical Industry Event” at Miami's Studio 743 in January 2013, servers from Hugh's Catering wore apple-shaped food signage on their foreheads and were encouraged not to speak during the surrealist-theme party.
Photo: The LXA
Chef and host Todd Gray created ice cream on site with liquid nitrogen in the Exclusive Experience.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com for BizBash
Maté Restaurant & Lounge created a sweet sushi roll with raspberries, mango, and kiwi wrapped in a Nutella-infused pastry dough, topped with coconut shavings and set atop a bed of drizzled caramel.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com for BizBash
Build Careful Relationships With Elite Chefs
“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.
Photo: Matt Sayles/Invision for Breeders' Cup/AP Images
Another ingredient Design Cuisine works with from Mount Vernon is whiskey made in the estate's distillery. It flavors the caramel sauce that tops a grilled peach cobbler with salted caramel ice cream and homemade granola. Chefs also use the spirit in a butterscotch bread pudding with a whiskey foam sauce.
Photo: Courtesy of Design Cuisine
Tribute Dinner
For the second course of the Tribute Dinner, guests poured potion bottles of red fruit soup over lobster in a dish by Spanish chef Quique Dacosta, whose eponymous restaurant boasts three Michelin stars. The February 21 event at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel honored Basque cuisine pioneer Juan Mari Arzak as well as Ted Baseler, president and C.E.O. of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.
Photo: Sergi Alexander/Getty Images
Tribute Dinner
A dessert bar at the Tribute Dinner included cheesecake and guava cones. Celebrity Cruises created the treats.
Photo: Sergi Alexander/Getty Images
Death by Chocolate
Cronut creator Dominique Ansel presented a new dish at the Death by Chocolate dessert party: a chocolate “oyster” shell filled with milk chocolate cream, coconut gelée, and a pineapple “mignonette.” Ansel hosted the February 21 event poolside at the National Hotel.
Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
Inspired by the Carousel song "Real Nice Clambake," the dinner menu offered mussels, clams, and poached lobster. For dessert, guests ate raspberry, lime, and white-chocolate-blueberry macarons plated with polka-dotted ribbons. At intermission, they returned to the Graham Room for more desserts including boozy snow cones and miniature cupcakes.
Photo: Jenny Berg/BizBash
Frozen Bananas Foster
Chicago-based catering firm Truffleberry Market serves frozen cinnamon-rum-bananas-Foster mousse.
Photo: Courtesy of Truffleberry Market
Mac ’n’ cheese; chicken wings served with assorted sauces; kielbasas; Bavarian pretzels; and grilled chicken Caesar salad wraps, by the Garden at Studio Square NYC in New York
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
For the V.I.P. party, the menu, provided by Bryant Park Grill, consisted of fresh, seasonal resort fare such as scallop and shrimp ceviche in cucumber cups, fresh tuna tacos, and key lime macarons.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com
For baby showers, Truffleberry Market in Chicago presents desserts in small vessels that resemble baby food containers. The snacks are served with spoons that read: “Cute as a button.”
Photo: Courtesy of Truffleberry Market
Paramount Events suggests utilizing a tabletop pegboard to present breakfast items like bagels and doughnuts in a fresh, new way for a bridal brunch.
Photo: Courtesy of Paramount Catering and Events
For an outdoor party, the team at Tastings, a catering company that serves New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, recommends offering lunch in elegant to-go bento boxes. At an event at the Glasshouses in New York in February, guests dined on a classic mesclun salad with button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and herb vinaigrette; seared arctic char with baby potatoes; and assorted macarons and canele for dessert, all presented in a three-tier translucent container.
Photo: Alan Shapiro
Pancetta-wrapped peaches with a basil pancake were paired with wheat beer in mini mugs at a Tastings-catered event held at a private residence on Staten Island in New York.
Photo: Courtesy of Tastings
Menu Gobos
The dinner menu, which was prepared by Limelight, appeared in a gobo on the floor of the dinner space. To enhance the evening's intended vibe, fog swirled over the illuminated signage. Items listed included egg yolk and fresh ricotta raviolo, pan-seared loup de mer, and "Salad Under Glass" made with Humboldt Fog goat cheese.
Photo: Erika Dufour
Purple: Royalty, Luxury, Creativity, Spirituality, Wealth
Spoons of Eastern Shore crab were passed on lavender serving trays at the 2010 Washington Ballet ball.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com for BizBash
Occasions Caterers took inspiration from Japanese sushi restaurants and set up a conveyor belt of small plates.
Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images
Served with jagged-edged blue charger plates, the first course was an endive salad with a crostini of maple-smoked cheddar and raspberry vinaigrette.
Photo: Bob and Dawn Davis
To preview its new summer menu of regional American barbecue flavors, Burger King tapped Peter Callahan to style bite-size versions of the new burgers for a tasting party at the Glasshouses in New York on May 16. The mini sandwich options included barbecue chicken salad, pulled pork, and a Carolina BBQ Whopper.
Photo: Aydin Arjomand Photography
Watermelon cups filled with kalamata olives, feta, and basil, by Word of Mouth Catering in Austin, Texas
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
The Food Dudes handled catering for the 900-guest event.
Photo: George Pimentel Photography
Italian Caprese summer roll with Napa cabbage, fire-roasted tomato, pesto, mozzarella, and balsamic reduction, by Puff ’n Stuff Catering in Orlando
Photo: Courtesy of Puff 'n Stuff Catering
Springtime risotto made of minced zucchini and broccolini “rice,” served with green pea and lemon sauce, fiddlehead ferns, tricolor baby carrots, and baby fennel, by Blossom in New York
Photo: Alex James Photography
Portobello frites with crispy basil, Parmesan cheese, and balsamic aioli, by Stephen Starr Events in Miami
Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Starr Events
