Cocktail Hour & Filipino Dinner for a Tech Client

Catering Client: An Investment Film & Accelerator in Manhattan

Event: Cocktail hour and Family-Style Dinner for 70 guests

A friend of mine was organizing an evening for creatives in tech. The cocktail hour was a grazing table with platters of charcuterie and crudites with miso hummus and Greek yogurt tzatziki. After guests mingled around, they began to sit down at their tables. Stone fruit tarts and delicata squash salad awaited them. For the main meal, classic Filipino chicken adobo, vegan pancit with chickpea tofu, and wild rice with New York macoun apples. Dessert was a simple bowls of fresh fruit with shards of chocolate bark studded with large pieces of dried pear, cherry, and cacao nibs.

For Me? Lush & Lovely Valentine's Day Grazing Boards

Every Valentine’s Day, I like to offer a limited amount of large charcuterie and cheese spreads for delivery. It’s a great at-home dinner date plan with a bottle of wine. This past year, I offered two choices. The standard grazing board came with a few of my favorite cheeses like Italian Langerino and my own hand-shaped Vermont chevre dusted with homemade dukkah; shallot compound butter, and various meats that I’m excited about: D’Artagnan wild boar lonza, Coro lemongrass salami, and duck rilletes.

I also offered a higher-end premium grazing option with the addition of wagyu bresaola foie gras butter, Alp Blossom cheese, and Jasper Hill Lil Hosmer. Both boards came with freshly baked black sesame focaccia bread.

If you’re interested in a Valentine’s Day (or any day) grazing board, fill out my inquiry form!

A Captivating Kamayan Cultivation Dinner for The Tank

Catering Client: The Tank

Event: Kamayan dinner for 30

Since 2008, I have been the in-house caterer for The Tank, a nonprofit theater and arts presenter based in Manhattan. For over 20 years, The Tank has supported emerging artists with free rehearsal space and sometimes their first paychecks for their creative work. I serve on the board of directors and help with administration and fundraising. Every year, I cater the big gala in May. This year, we wanted more opportunities to meet with our audiences, artists, and donors.

The staff and I organized an intimate dinner at the home of former board member and Broadway producer Greg Rae. As guests arrived, they were welcomed with a glass of wine and freshly fried lumpia. I made a highly interactive Filipino kamayan dinner, where you are encouraged to eat with your hands as well as mix and match the flavors from across the table. It was a joyful evening in community with the folks that make things happen at The Tank, a moment we hope to recreate again and again in the coming year.

If you’re interested in attending The Tank Gala on May 21, 2024; please use my discount code JENN for 15% off your ticket.

Stylish Menus for a Fashion Shoot! Plus, A Darling Celebrity Rider

Catering Client: Fashion Agency

Event: Craft Service for 18, plus a celebrity rider

In March, I was asked to bring breakfast and lunch to a weekend photo shoot in Manhattan. Someone from the art department told me it was their first time seeing Chinese sausage on set, which made me very proud. In addition to feeding the crew, I was asked to create breakfast and lunch plates according to a celebrity client’s dietary needs (pictured third, below). Since this was a closed set, there are not many photos of the food except for the avocado toast above!

A Farewell Dinner For Jim

Some close friends of mine, who will remain anonymous for privacy’s sake, asked me to make dinner for a memorial. Jim was a loving father who was survived by his wife, two kids, two grandkids, and eight grand-chickens. My sous chef Emily Drucker and I drove upstate to cook this dinner in their lovely, fully-equipped kitchen. I know this family fairly well. I’ve catered their wedding, celebrated their first baby shower, and catered a 40th birthday. Needless to say, I was mourning as well.

It was a lovely affair despite the sad news. We served an appetizer table full of snacky items, dips, and hand-shaped goat cheeses in classic provencal and funky baharat flavors. Dinner was family style with a strong Moroccan theme: lamb tagine, big vegetable stew, and couscous. A bok choy salad so crisp, but made buttery with freshly roasted delicata squash. You can see from the collaborative menu that these folks love food and were open to new, interesting flavors that you wouldn’t typically see at a memorial.

Emily took charge of dessert. Jim’s favorite cherry pies, apple pies, and chocolate chunk cookies with sea salt. We toasted to Jim and sang him a song. I’d like to think he was sitting out on the porch listening and bobbing his head along.

Escape from Myrtle Broadway (In Production)

Catering Client: Hannah Schuman, Producer

Event: Craft Service for 25

Escape from Myrtle Broadway is an upcoming short film written by Eric Sacks and directed by Sam Radutsky. It is about two brothers finding their way through life in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. Over 3 days, I prepared 3 hearty meals, individually boxes for the cast and crew.

The Shadow Wrangler, 2024

Catering Client: Breanne Thomas, Producer

Event: Craft Service for 20

The Shadow Wrangler is a narrative short film by director and actor Grace Rex. It is debuting at Florida Film Festival on April 13, 2024 and will screen at Maryland Film Festival on May 5th, 2024.

About the film:

An audiobook narrator tries to finish recording a western erotica novel in her closet while various disruptions inhibit her progress.

Over two days and two locations in Brooklyn and Queens, I served healthy meals to a crew that fluctuated between 14 and 20 members. For the menu, I stayed away from red meat on account of a few allergies and dietary restrictions.

A Big Hug (In Production)

Catering Client: Yael Grundseit, Director

Event: Craft Service for 14

A Big Hug is a tender short film about a young girl coming to terms with her changing body and sexuality. I arranged for meal drop off for the short two-day shoot hosted in Brooklyn. I was able to source the compostable boxes (pictured above) with dividers for the different components of each meal. I offered two proteins each day supplemented with incredible local Asian vegetables and herbs from Allwell Greens.

Anna & Dan's Wedding in Upstate New York

Catering Client: Anna and Dan

Event: Wedding dinner for 75 guests

For Anna and Dan’s wedding, we put together an extravagant cocktail hour that was part family recipe, Spanish tapas, and grill-out. After the ceremony, we passed around cups of warm vegan potato leek soup to help stave off the fall chill in the mountains. We could not have accomplished this big menu without help from Despana to source all of our Spanish cheeses: Mahon curado, mini manchego, and tetilla. We flew in oysters from Island Creek as well as a case of Fox Family Chips, which are some of the best potato chips I’ve ever had. On the day of the wedding, we had drivers transport sheet cakes from Yellow Rose and vegan cupcakes from Erin McKenna—all the way from Manhattan up to where we were.

On a personal note, I’m grateful for these intimate events and for the flexibility we have as chefs with real lives. We were able to accommodate my sous chef Kate’s whole family, including her 5-month-old, who provided lots of welcome entertainment between chopping food.

Voyager Forever, 8th Anniversary Party Catering

Client: Andrew Hutcheson

Event: Cocktail party for 100 guests

Voyager is a production company based in East Williamsburg. They specialize in commissioned storytelling for brands, documentaries, and beyond. We met around the time of their founding, 8 years ago. In the same building, I would cater small events for the sound design studio One Thousand Birds. Since then, I’ve catered birthdays, concerts, and even a wedding from this social circle.

Fast forward to 2023, as Voyager celebrates its 8th anniversary in operation. If you look at the number 8 and turn it on its side, it looks like an infinity sign (∞). These symbols became the inspiration for our party menu. Handmade figure-8 soft pretzels, mahjong tile dumplings, and a big infinity chocolate snack cake anchored the offerings. I tried to create other items that were round or welcoming in nature, like individual wooden cheese and charcuterie platters (which were also a nod to the wedding mentioned above!). Check out the party highlights here.