Jen's 40th Birthday and Our History of Pork

I met Jen years ago in a car when my friend SF (and founder of Put A Egg On It) pulled up for another culinary adventure. That’s what they did, piled into a car to go sample Queens, south Brooklyn and whatever far reaches they could reach. They got married. Somewhere in between, we made bo ssam for an article. And some time later, they had a baby shower. Jen requested some of pork and I obliged. I wanted to surprise her with a spicy kung pao pulled pork. Legend has it that it was so spicy, it made her go into labor!

When it came to celebrating her milestone 40th birthday, she asked if I would cook for her 20 closest friends and family. We served it up buffet style in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. All of the vegetables were fresh from the Union Square Greenmarket that morning. I was very excited to reimagine “bean salad” by tossing fresh purslane with yellow and purple, green beans, string beans, Italian flat beans, and English peas.

If you’d like to host a small dinner party, reach out on my Inquiries page.

Celebrating 10 Years of Kickstarter

My very first Kickstarter project had nothing to do with food. In 2013, I was the publicist (and boom operator) for Minecraft: The Story of Mojang documentary. My friends at 2 Player Productions were responsible for documenting a lot of the chip music scene around the world and I went along for the ride when they decided to document how video games were made. Their first project was ambitious: head to Stockholm to meet with Notch as he formed his first company around the runaway hit Minecraft. We couldn’t have produced this film without the generous backing of our community through Kickstarter.

From then, I made it a habit to support creators through what little money I had to spare and at the very least, a kind, encouraging word.

Since my stint as a Creator in Residence last year, I’ve kept the Kickstarter family very close through cooking. I was thrilled when I was asked to make a surprise lunch for their 10th anniversary.

This menu is so so special to me. It’s the result of many years of testing, honing and tasting.

Kickstarter 10th Anniversary Menu:
Adobo pulled pork Lexington bbq tempeh Bourbon cherry ribs Smoked mushroom and cabbage Wasabi and black sesame potato salad	Potato rolls Rice and bean stuffed poblanos Carolina bbq sauce Kansas City bbq sauce Spicy bananacue sauce

I was also very moved when I found out that Kickstarter made 10th anniversary commemorative pins inspired by my Eggcentennial project.

Photos by Filip Wolak for Kickstarter.

If you have questions about running a Kickstarter project, hit me up!

All of the menu items are available for your next event. Fill out my inquiry form to get started.

More Than Occasional Magic for The Moth

I had the pleasure of catering the release party for The Moth’s newest book Occasional Magic. The last time I worked with this wonderful nonprofit, they were just settling into their new offices in the financial district of Manhattan. They have since expanded to the rest of the floor with gorgeously designed workspaces and a recording studio.

My team and I had a blast! I created a custom cocktail called the Love Potion: rose and citrus simple syrup mixed with vodka and ginger beer. Just lovely!

Here’s the menu from that night:

• Pickle plates

• Charcuterie boards

• Cheese boards

• Crudités with miso hummus and labneh

• Creamy cheeseburger sliders

• Buttermilk chicken skewers with kale pesto

• Vegan vegetable pies with sesame

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Looking to host a party like this? Please get in touch!

A Lower East Side Holiday Spread

My new client Annie has an annual party during the holidays and it lasts for hours. She wanted to have enough food to keep guests fed throughout the afternoon and early evening. We also needed to have friendly foods for the many kids that would be running around. Speaking of which, they helped bake gingerbread the day before and they were proudly on display among my dishes. I used a lot of platters that were in their kitchen and it looked so cozy when I looked at the whole spread.

We served glasses of sancerre and cabernet sauvignon to go along with everything. We also had gallons of warm apple cider simmering on the stove. I kept a bottle of bourbon nearby for the adults who wanted a little more for fun in their cups.

Here’s the full menu:

• Ham with baguette, cornichon, cultured butter and mustard

• Smoked sturgeon and salmon with rye toasts

• Tzatziki & artichoke dip with seasonal crudite

• 4 Cheese display

• Chocolate almond snack mix

• Charcuterie: salami, prosciutto, bresaola

• Pitted olives with orange zest

• Dried /fresh fruit: Clementines, cherries, grapes

Sam & Zephyr's 'Already Married' Picnic at The Onderdonk House

Before the world of apps for making friends, there was Sam. A mutual acquaintance of ours set us up on a date. We had a tea one afternoon and hit it off. I was drawn to her because she had so much supplemental knowledge that I was missing. She taught me about alternative flours, cooking naturally and for allergies. The first time we hung out in a kitchen, we made gingerbread. Sam once told me to go my own way and that there is no rule book for building my career. You don’t forget when someone says that to you.

Much later, Sam confessed to me that she and her longtime partner Zephyr got secret married and they hadn’t told their families yet. A year later, they decided to have an ‘Already Married’ party. They wanted a combination potluck and bbq proteins. When it was time to party, 120 people joined us at The Onderdonk House in Queens to celebrate on a beautiful 2016 spring day.

I wrote about it for TASTE Cooking, excerpted below:

Sam and Zephyr's Menu:
ADOBO PULLED PORK SHREDDED CHICKEN Smoked cherry and bourbon BBQ sauce	BLACK EYED PEA SALAD White Wine vinegar ZUCHINNI NOODLES TAhini dressing PICKLED SMOKED FENNEL Orange

Navigating Sam’s diet nurtured my thirst for a challenge. It was like being on Chopped. With parameters like no cow-derived dairy or gluten, we came up with adobo pulled pork with tamari, refreshing black eyed pea salad with white wine vinegar, zucchini noodles with tahini dressing, pickled smoked fennel with orange, and shredded chicken with a custom BBQ sauce. We tested the BBQ sauce recipe for two weeks, riffing off of their favorite flavors and smells, like cherry, rye whiskey, smoke, and maple. It was Sam and Zephyr’s sauce. Whenever I bring it up, Sam gasps, “The magic sauce!”

Instead of a gift table, guests stopped by my tent to hand off appetizers and salads to keep out of the sun. No one was assigned speeches. Sam asked everyone, “Does anyone have any kind words to say?” Silence. I did something that would be unheard of at a formal wedding. I, the caterer, spoke. I explained our process behind the sauce that everyone ate that day and the connection Sam and Zephyr have to food; and now to me. It felt right.

Read the rest of “Setting the Rules of Wedding Catering on Fire” and the get the recipe for the BBQ sauce on TASTE Cooking.

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Voyager Creative // Uncharted: Short Films & Suitable Snacks

The filmmakers at Voyager Creative curated a series of short film nights in their Brooklyn studio. They called on me to stretch my brain and come up with some snack options for these films:

• This Is How You Haunt Your House 

• Psychopomp 

• Samantha Moonley's

That night, I served up dishes inspired by robots, space, alchemy and the color blue.

FRUIT SOUP was grape and orange jello with blue Kool-Aid caviar. Over the course of the night, everyone started to eat the blue caviar and add it to their beers. It reminded me of Orbitz soft drinks.

BLUE VELVET is a riff on red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

In the spririt of the films, we combined them. Alien and almost alive, it was truly a close encounter of the sweet kind.

If you're hosting a film screening and would like custom snacks for your audience, please get in touch!

MASARAP, a comfort food exhibition (2018)

In 2018, I put together an exhibition called MASARAP at Babycastles Gallery. Masarap is Tagalog for 'delicious.’ I used this two-week takeover to explore the complicated origins of comfort food as well as the ways we play with what we eat.

Why comfort food? In an increasingly troublesome world online and IRL, we have looked to online food delivery, food porn and various forms of self care to seek solace. This space is here to help you step back and examine your relationship with food.

Running throughout the exhibition was the Dampa Project, a reimagining of open-air fish markets in the Philippines where customers handpick their ingredients and choose what style of cuisine they want.

In this version, customers donated ingredients as their admission to select gallery activities. The object was to create a communal pantry where dishes were created and served at the closing event. An online inventory and menu was updated throughout the exhibition.

MASARAP: Opening Party on Thursday, 8/23/2018

DJ sets by Buskko and Greem Jellyfish

Comfort Nuggets by Frank Demarco

MASARAP: Indie Game Night on Saturday 8/25/2018

8pm DJ set by Business Pastel

Featuring these games:

• RAD CHEF by Nick Santaniello

• NOUR by Terrifying Jellyfish

• you should eat breakfast by npckc

MASARAP: Board Game Night on Sunday 8/26/2018

Games: Guts of Glory, Morels, Candyland, Flapjacks & Sasquatches, Bad Medicine, and Sushi Go. Thanks to Kickstarter for lending us a few copies!

MASARAP: Comfort Food Roundtable & Potluck on Friday 8/31/2018

A potluck and roundtable discussion about comfort food through the eyes of chefs and media makers. We delved into why we crave what we crave through all five senses. 

Moderated by Jenn de la Vega and featuring Simon Keough of Put A Egg On It, Wenjay Ying of Local Roots, Isha Aran, and Carol Benovic-Bradley.

MASARAP: Sutukil Dinner on Saturday 9/1/2018

A sit-down dinner focusing on the parts of Filipino sutukil style of cooking: sagwa for grilled, tuwa for stewed and kilaw for raw. Includes 3 courses and 1 refreshment.

Sutukil is the familiar practice of choosing the food you are about to eat and the different ways it can be prepared for you. It’s like when you go to a restaurant and point at a fish in the tank that you’d like to eat. 

MASARAP: Closing Party & Kamayan on Sunday 9/2/2018

All the ingredients that were donated to the Dampa project were cooked and arranged in a giant banana-leaf lined grazing table where you can only eat with your hands.

Installations on view:

KUMMERSPECK translates to ‘grief bacon.’ These soft breakfast items were created to bring comfort and relief. They can be touched and rearranged any which way on its blue plate.  Please take off your shoes when engaging with his meal.

BLUE PLATE is a dinner table where people can sit down and ‘feast’ with their eyes on various food porn projected onto plates.

For all future events, you can follow my Facebook page or check my website.

THE BIG EGG SALAD (2017)

In 2017, I collaborated with the imaginative Thu Tran on THE BIG EGG SALAD. Our part class, part participatory salad.was hosted at Babycastles Gallery.

It started with a lesson about sous vide with GIFs by Thu. I walked the audience through our recipe for sous vide egg croutons for a large salad we would eat together afterward. 

We brought edible tortilla bowls to reduce waste. We served chopped romaine, cucumber and a pickle-based dressing for our salad.

Static slides are viewable here.

Get the recipe for sous vide egg croutons.

If you'd like to host a BIG EGG SALAD, please email me!

Anne and Richard's Great Day in Harlem

In 2013, my long-time music friend Richard asked me to cater his wedding reception in Harlem. It was my first gig with my then-roommates Jeff and Dylan. Jeff and I had catered many weddings under Roquette but we were on our own for this one. We created simple backyard bbq menu and worked together to bring down costs for the party of 50 guests.

Anne & Richard's Wedding Menu
CHEESEBURGER SLIDERS Onion patties, tomato, mayo, pesto CHICKEN SKEWERS Nuoc mam cham, brown sugar BLACK BEAN VEGGIE BURGERS Scallion, quinoa, cumin, orange ADOBO PULLED PORK Hawaiian roll, soy sauce, garlic	SLAW Cilantro, mint, dill GRILLED COLLARDS Shichimi tagarashi, lime, paprika HOMEMADE KOSHER PICKLES HOMEMADE KETCHUP & GRAIN MUSTARD STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE

Our friend d. yee captured the entire party on the steps outside, reenacting the famous "A Great Day in Harlem" photo featuring 57 notable jazz musicians. Our version was similarly inspiring featuring many artists, chip musicians, curators, DJs, and even our catering crew.

Here's the original by Esquire photographer Art Kane for comparison:

Here are more shots of 'Another Great Day in Harlem' by d. yee. I have since upgraded to a chef coat and signature blue hat but many of these dishes were honed for competitions over my career and eventually ended up in my cookbook.

Thanks to Anne and Richard for taking a chance on this ragtag crew 5 years ago. 

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Are you looking for a collaborative caterer in Brooklyn? I'm saving dates for 2018!

Fill out my inquiry form and we'll get to know each other.

Cook with Me at Local Roots Cooking Club 4

Looking for the ticket link? Click here!

I'm spending my St. Patrick's day in the kitchen with Local Roots, a CSA started by my friend WenJay. Her cooking clubs are small, intimate classes to show customers how you can use everything from your farm share. We'll be at Brooklyn Foodworks roasting up a lot of winter veggies, sipping on wine and learning basic knife skills to help us through the night. 

Learn to cook new dishes with Local Roots NYC inspired by the season's harvest in a fun and casual setting. Led by Chef De la Vega, creator of Randwiches and editor at large of Put an Egg On It, you'll prepare dishes in groups with a glass of wine in a unique setting: a food incubator kitchen that is home to many of NYC's small-batch food producers. Learn how to take the same set of ingredients and turn them into different dishes that complement each other to create a farm to table dinner which you will enjoy together as a group at the end of the evening. Participants will also learn basic knife skills and will walk away with recipe cards for the night's dishes, an opportunity to meet other like-minded individuals, and an immersive culinary experience. 

The menu will be inspired by Chef De la Vega's new book and Local Roots NYC seasonality and available items from their producers.

Limited spots are available. Buy tickets here!

If you're attending, let me know by tagging @Randwiches on Twitter.

Speaking of knife skills! You can win a Misen knife from Put a Egg On It. Details here.