A Sunny Pop Up Menu for Estuary Tattoo's Flash Day & Open House

Last year, I collaborated with my friends at Estuary Tattoo in Bushwick. Their collective of tattoo artists often plan “flash days” where clients can choose pieces from pre-drawn, repeatable artwork. It’s a great way to grab a small, quick tattoo and meet new artists. Their studio is a bright, lush space filled with plants and big windows.

I set up a small stall in the reception area offering snacks and take-home “treat treats” to the folks who were waiting for their appointments. Because I didn’t want too many smells to permeate the room, I limited my menu to one baked “tomato pie” sandwich, warmed chorizo biscuits, gruyere focaccia, and vegan chocolate cake. I adapted the sandwich from Vegetables from an Italian Garden. It originally is like a baked savory French toast! Thick slices of bread are dunked in custard, then baked with provolone cheese on top. I thought two slices stacked together were too wet to pick up and eat, so I only made the top half of the sandwiches in this manner. The bottom halves were toasted and stacked with fresh heirloom tomato, fried garlic, sea salt, and kewpie mayo.

I like finding alternative spaces to serve food because every place and community is different. Estuary’s tattoo studio vibe was soothing, much like a real meeting of river and sea. The sounds of tattoo guns were like bees in a meadow, enjoying the summer sun as much as I was that day.

Taste Gallery Experiment (2016)

In 2016, my friend Simon Keough of Put A Egg On It was approached by an experimental dinner series called Taste Gallery, where artists build a dining environment and a chef creates a themed menu. Both are generated separately after an initial conversation and revealed to each other and guests. I was paired up with jewelry designers Soull and Dynasty Ogun of L’Enchanteur. The prompt we were given was “Enchanted Forest.”

I met up with Soull and Dynasty, who are twins and took notes on our theme. Here’s what we wrote down to inspire our relative tasks:

Conceptual Themes: 

Duality & Juxtaposition, Material vs. Spiritual 

Gender, identity 

Primordial Instinct

Connection to animal and primal nature

Survival & the Senses; The basic needs, Reusing ingredients to sustain life - inspiration, innovation, to create other things.

Need of 5 senses to tap into higher sense (spirituality)

FIRE, sensory ,spiritual

Decor: foliage and plants

After our discussion, I set work on the menu. On the day of the dinner, I was surprised to walk into a small fairy forest with a hand-stitched version of my menu. Ten guests arrived for dinner moderated by Hind Owais. Between courses, she guided everyone through questions about identity, fantasy versus the real, searching, transformation, twinning in your life, and luxury versus availability. Bran Black of Tokki Soju mixed cocktails to match my dishes.

I opened dinner with two amuse bouches. The first was a 1-bite pickled wild mushroom with whipped feta and robiola cheeses, to mimic Alice in Wonderland: eating a mushroom to transport you into our fantasy world. Our second course was a symbol of welcome, dried pineapple leather with li hing mui powder, a combination I learned about in Hawaii. The pineapple is a often common sign of hospitality and hidden in the decor of many hotels.

The salad course was a melon salad made with horned African melon and watermelon, two fruits of the past and future of the Ogun twins’ heritage. I also wanted to play on the idea of bitter melon (which is a nod to my Asian heritage) without actually using bitter melon. I dressed the sweet and sour fruits with bitter dandelion green pesto tamed with lemon and a few drops of aromatic ramp bitters.

Our main courses were fun and fantastical. Paradox ramen is named for the chicken and egg conundrum. I made chicken paitan ramen with a fried zucchini nest on top. I handed each guest an egg and told them to crack it into their soup. Many were afraid and skeptical, but I told them to trust me. It was not a raw egg, but a fully cooked sous vide custard egg. Next, a deconstructed surf n’ turk bourride, a type of creamy seafood stew. Lightly poached blue fish with sea urchin aioli, new potatoes, zucchini shaped like mushrooms (a bi-product of spiralizing), crispy bresaola chip, and pickled fennel.

Finally, dessert! One was served to the guests and the other was hidden in plain sight the whole evening. I simply torched thick slices of pineapple, dolloped on thick Greek yogurt, and sprinkled more li thing mui on top. I told guests there was one more dessert in the room if they could find it. The organizers were aghast that I snuck one more dish into the surroundings without them knowing. It was a small edible terrarium, based on the chocolate “dirt cup” dessert. Crumbled chocolate cake, mousse, gummy worms, and herbs posed as a planter.

On their way out, I gifted each guest a “message in a bottle” mushroom tarragon salt to take home. It was as if they were Alice, finding another mushroom to grow back to her proper size. You might notice that the menu feels repetitive and that was purposeful. I wanted to invoke mirrors for both Wonderland imagery and to reflect the twin designers. I open and close the menu with mushrooms. The second and sixth pineapple courses contain pineapple as a hello and goodbye. The strangest dish, Paradox Ramen, was in the dead center to flip your world upside down.

Unfortunately, following this dinner, Taste Gallery did not continue this series. I had a wonderful time collaborating with Dynasty and Soull; opening me up to a new world of ideating for my future menus.

An Inspired Dinner Menu For a Brainstorming Session in Manhattan

Client: Betaworks

Event: Dinner for 30 guests

Betaworks is one of my recurring clients in Manhattan and I honestly never know what kind of event I’m walking into when I cater. That’s part of the fun! This evening was a brainstorming session for a new publication, and I liked listening to the guests discuss how they would approach it. In turn, I hope the big, colorful appetizers helped see their ideas in a new light.

As guests arrived, they were greeted by a cheese and charcuterie grazing spread. I was very lucky to source my locally cheese from C. Hesse in Brooklyn. Dinner was based on an idea my aunt gave me a long time, “Filipino Noveau,” familiar Filipino dishes imagined in new, family-style ways. Atchara as a large format papaya salad instead of a condiment, steamed Jasmine rice mixed with fresh dill, sous vide kare-kare chicken garnished with pomegranate seeds, carne frita as a sous vide skirt steak with fried onions, banana leaf wrapped salmon filets, and wild adobo braised mushrooms.

For dessert, I called on my friends at Solid Wiggles for a decorative jelly dessert sampler. They are a low-ABV option at only 5%. I also put out a large tray of fun Asian fruits and two adaptations from Di An: fish sauce chocolate chip cookies with almond extract (instead of vanilla) and saba banana bread with white chocolate. It was pure joy answering questions about the various dishes and introducing Filipino concepts to folks who might not have known about them.

Congrats! The La Guardia Vet Tech Pinning Ceremony Lunch Menu

Client: La Guardia College, Vet Tech Program

Event: Graduation reception lunch buffet for 85 guests

The Vet Tech Program club at Laguardia College organized their own pinning ceremony, akin to a graduation, but specific to the medical field. I worked with the club to come up with a healthy menu for all of their friends and family who came to congratulate them.

I laid out large bowls of undressed rye berry salad with apples and caramelized Vidalia onion, salad greens, a variety of roasted vegetables, and lots of cheese to snack on with fruit.

Sue & Mark's Super Hot Barbecue Brunch Bonanza

Client: Sue & Mark

Event: Post-Wedding BBQ Brunch for 40 guests

I’ve known Sue for over a decade and she is known for hosting stylish dinner parties for her guests. We worked together on the menu for her post-wedding barbeque brunch. On her roof deck, I grilled up Oklahoma-style smash burgers with my signature cream patty, melty onions, confit tomato, and cheddar cheese. The whole morning was spent smoking a large bo ssam pork shoulder over cherrywood, later served with bao buns, rice paper, and tons of fresh herbs. On the side, I made grilled king oyster mushrooms, sweet Jersey corn elote, grilled peppers, sesame potato salad, gruyere mac n’ cheese, and purple cabbage slaw with do chua, a Vietnamese pickle to honor Sue’s heritage. Her parents also made a “banh mini” grazing board, an excellent idea for mini-banh mi sandwiches and shiso wraps.

For dessert, because it was a hot summer day, we ordered a few cases of La Newyorkina paletitas— which are mini fruit popsicles!

We also worked on wedding favors together. I sourced lots of Lao Gan Ma chili crisp for her to portion into small jars to giveaway at the reception. Spicy and fun, just like the couple.

Sold! A Lunch Menu For a Powerful Business Meeting

Client: A Private Label Leather Company

Event: Family Style Lunch for 7

A repeat client in Manhattan asked me to cook for an important sales meeting. We welcomed them with a cheese board loaded with fresh fruit while they sipped on coffee and waters during the introduction. After the presentations were made, I brought out platters of calamansi flank steak, chicken tinola, pork and shrimp siomai/shumai, tofu sisig, adobo mushrooms, papaya salad, and steamy Jasmine rice with fried garlic on top.

Does your office have a kitchen? I can prepare lunch for you and your team!

She Immediately Said Yes! A Hedonic Brooklyn Bachelorette Party Menu

Catering Client: A Bachelorette

Event: Welcome Platter & Private Dinner for 4

Victoria K. reached out to me about catering a bachelorette weekend in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The bride and a few other friends were driving in from the Boston area. Before their arrival, we coordinated a cheese and charcuterie welcome platter for when they checked into their house rental. A highlight of the spread is the matcha and white pepper chevre that I hand-shaped and cured for a day.

I arrived the next afternoon to prepare a coursed Filipino meal with a duo of lumpia, adobo pulled pork, garlic fried rice, atchara salad, and a stunning mango chiffon cake. The recipe comes from the Filipinx cookbook. Chiffon cake is made with lots of airy egg whites and swirled with turmeric. I dressed it with fresh edible star flowers, calendula petals, and sliced Ataulfo mango to make a larger meta flower.

For private dining, pick up, or drop off orders, please visit my catering page.

A Blazing Hot Summer Double Birthday Social for Drew & Rebecca

Catering Client: Drew & Rebecca

Event: Snacky bites for 40 guests

I love a double birthday! I worked with Drew on his summer birthday menu set in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. He loves hot dogs (I mean, you know me!) and wanted foods that were easy to put out and pick up. We went with a few cheese and meat platters, mini-hot dogs, and my favorite Filipino addition to any party, lumpia. I made two kinds, a vegan lumpia gulay with Thai basil and lumpia shanghai with seasoned ground pork.

It was a humid day, but hot in June. We set up the platters outside in their lovely backyard, but toward the end of the night moved everything inside due to a sudden downpour. It didn’t sour spirits! New guests were still arriving in the evening and were greeted with mini-Chicago hot dogs.

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!