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.
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.
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.
At Stella McCartney's Electricity-Free Carnival in New York in 2012, a mac 'n' cheese station was set up as a two-part offering: guests could either select a mini serving on a spinach cone from a Ferris-wheel-shaped stand, or opt for a full cup that could be customized with toppings such as veggie bacon bits, truffle oil, jalapeños, scallions, or sriracha sauce.
The fourth annual Secret Summer, a farm-to-bar cocktail festival, took place August 12 at the Foundry in Long Island City in New York. Hangar 1 Vodka featured a hanging herb wall, inviting guests to garnish their lavender lemonade cocktails. The festival was produced by Tyler Hollinger of HighLife Productions, Andrew Maturana of hospitality company Rapt NY, and Alison DuVal of the Foundry.
