“If you want to steal the scene and leave a lasting impression, create a unique experience that is memorable and unexpected,” says Andrew Gerstel, C.E.O. of Windows Catering Company.
Windows is honored to have been selected to design and produce a festive rooftop event for event planning V.I.P.s to kick off the beginning of the new season. And creating a “wow” factor for industry peers always adds another element to the excitement. Calling on the talents of its culinary, creative, and operations teams, Windows Catering, in collaboration with Amaryllis Floral & Event Design, created a luxury African safari setting on the rooftop of the 20 F Street NW Conference Center. The combined teams' ingenuity and resourcefulness resulted in a visually stunning space that set the atmosphere for a very unique experience.
Upon their arrival, guests were greeted by an attentive server dressed in quintessential safari attire and musicians that set the mood with beats of traditional African bongo music. Guests enjoyed beautifully presented passed hors d’oeuvres, including Maine lobster pancake with pashot salad and ginger carrot emulsion. With the spectacular backdrop of the nation's capital, guests were also served a bountiful buffet of African-inspired small bites including lentil bean salad, cauliflower palsora, roasted eggplant, white bean and pesto, and roasted peanut and chickpea dip. Guests could then dance their way over to an action station with a uniformed chef offering sizzling, spiced beef and chicken kabobs right off the grill. Hanging wooden candlelit lanterns, tribal-inspired hand-carved masks, and a two-foot-tall elephant centerpiece adorned the dessert buffet table, which featured a passion fruit and mango parfait with almond crisp and a milk chocolate and coconut martini with candied pineapple. What a perfect way to end a culinary journey to Africa!
The event was designed to create an intimate and interactive atmosphere. In addition to casual seating scattered around the rooftop, the centerpiece of the space was a safari camp-style lounge area that offered guests a chance to relax in beautiful basket chairs with plush pillows surrounding a cabana bed with 11-foot-tall dark cherry beams and white sheer draping. For a moment in time, this unique rooftop setting offered the perfect escape from the concrete jungle of downtown Washington, D.C.
