For a recent event at the Perot Museum of Science and Nature in Dallas, Wolfgang Puck Catering employed a "chef shadowbox." Meant to provide a strong visual behind a more standard food station, a chef in a shadowbox prepared appetizers as guests looked on.
Other new stations at Wolfgang Puck Catering include a frozen sushi station. The activation displays fresh fish and sushi rolls atop illuminated ice blocks with frozen orchids and other flowers inside.
In Chicago, Blue Plate Catering brings candy apple stations to holiday parties. Treats include apples dipped in caramel and assorted toppings and sliced up into snack-size portions.
The catering firm also has a new burrata action station. Staffers top the creamy cheese with toasted pine nuts and Italian muscat syrup. The snack is gluten-free.
Toronto catering firm Eatertainment has a new chef action station devoted to salmon gravlax. Salmon is hung from hooks above the station and is sliced to order in front of guests. The raw fish is then chopped and served with root-vegetable crisps, miniature greens, and spiced yogurt.
The Toronto firm is also using bar carts to display food items. One such spread, wheeled to tables at an event, offered snacks such as frittatas, foie gras, sliders, and lobster.
In Chicago, catering firm Limelight has an innovative format for serving fruit skewers. The fruits are inserted into a custom wall with thematic wallpaper design (which varies for different events). Guests approach the wall and pull of a skewer and can dip the fruit in sauces that are arrayed on a nearby table.
Instead of serving French fries at a stationary table, Limelight has used a wheelbarrow to deliver Belgian frites at events. The fries are served in cones, and assorted sauces are displayed on the side.
Limelight's "Smash It" station offers assorted homemade chocolate bark in flavors such as dark chocolate with dried cherries. Mallets next to the sweets let guests "smash" off a snack-size piece of the bark.
Roar Events produced a summertime event at Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa in Southern California. The dinner had a modern Mexican theme and featured an interactive margarita station. Guests chose the type and flavor of their tequila, as well as one of many specialty salts.
In one of the Lexus grand tasting's inspiring food presentations during L.A. Food & Wine, Big Sur's Post Ranch Inn served mini shaved ice cones in a metal bucket set up like a beach scene, with sugar for sand. Ingredients for the dessert came from the venue's garden.
The Sheraton event served hot dogs with an extensive array of toppings. Some of the more unusual options included fried garlic chips, braised short-rib chili, and wasabi. The event featured a hot dog cooking competition between chef Andrew Carmellini and all-star shortstop José Reyes.
In New York, Scoozi Events hosted a dinner with a "childhood memory" theme in 2014. Nostalgic dishes included miniature Kobe hot dogs served in a baseball mitt with a side of tater tots in a batting helmet.
