Big Adventures with Little Foods

Interesting question posed on the Cinderella Project blog:

If weddings are an extension of a couple’s personality, wouldn’t it be lovely to see their favorite eats on the menu rather than the standard salad appetizer and steak or chicken entree being served?

We agree! If you’ve invited your favorite people and are dancing to your favorite songs, shouldn’t you also be dining on your favorite food while mingling with those people throughout the night?

The Bites format allows for a very different type of culinary and social experience at your wedding or event. And the format allows you to pay less for rentals (as people don’t all need to be seated and you don’t need all the plates and flatware) and focus on the food and conversation!

Check out these very delicious and seriously styled mini treats from Bite Catering Couture. Menus range from Asian Tapas to California Casual, Comfort food to Elegant Wedding so you’ll be sure to have a distinctive cuisine for your occasion. And as added bonus? Your guest will be delighted to sample all sorts of foods so rest assured that this savory reception will never have a bland moment. Also, passed trays of food throughout the night means your guests will be able to mingle with everyone unlike a traditional sit down dinner.

Thanks to the folks at the Cinderella Project for the kind words! And check out all their stylish wedding suggestions.

There are a lot of great places to go out for Sushi in West LA, yet getting reasonably priced delivery can be tough in this town.

Last night, we wanted a quiet night in, and so Sushi Sho hit the spot. While the restaurant itself is somewhat small and casual, the delivery is cool. A sushi chef comes to your door and drops it off.

The sushi is melt-in-your-mouth fresh and prices are reasonable.

Give them a try and let us know what you think.

Jennifer Wilson captured some amazing photos from Lily’s 4th birthday party, which Bite catered. Donna Collins from Party Wishes did a great job in setting up the Mary Poppins theme event.

Check out the pictures!

Wandering down Main St, Santa Monica yesterday, we came across a really cute looking store called Omelette Parlor.

Going inside, was a trip down retro lane. There were old-school style benches, beautiful woodwork, grandfather clocks, etc. Lots of great photos of the beaches in the time of our grandparents and great grandparents. It looked just like I’d expect a old soda fountain.

We were excited to eat…except that after 10 minutes we still couldn’t get someone to take our order.

Its been the first time I’ve left a restaurant in a long time, but starving and needing to run and getting zero attention from wait staff doesn’t inspire me to patronize a place.

How’s the food? Jury out. Decor: awesome place with great feel of being in other time. Service: bad enough that we didn’t stick around to try the food.

Hopefully an isolated experience, but I don’t understand why someone would have potential customers come in and then not even attempt to get their business.

Readers, it was life-changing! Let me just throw a few tidbits your way to get
you in the mood: Dates stuffed with Spanish Manchego and wrapped in bacon,
Lobster bisque soup shots served with crème sherry and a miniature Maine lobster
roll, Mac n’ cheese in a crisp parmesan cup with buttered panko and chives!
Sweet Rapture!!
Bites concept is just that, cuisine served in bite size
miniatures… each one an exquisite work of art both visually and flavorfully (did
I just make up a word?).

At my Mary Poppins party this weekend, the hostess hired Bite Catering. All of the food was “bite-sized”… Mary Poppins would surely approve of such a tiny
presentation!

Its been a busy beginning of the year…trying to get back in the blogging habit!

OK, I have not written in a very long time – I have been BUSY!!! But I will talk more about that later. Right now, let’s talk dessert.

Every one in a while (and ladies, you might be able to relate to this one) I have the most insane chocolate-peanut butter craving. Only one thing could ever possible satisfy that craving…chocolate peanut butter PIE!!!

I don’t have a specific recipe but here is what I do – make a chocolate crust – crush your favorite chocolate cookie/wafers, mix with some butter and bake to set in pie tin – brush with chocolate to up the chocolate ante and keep the crust from getting moist – chill. If you really want to go the chocolate route, make a truffle chocolate ganache and spread a layer of it at the bottom of the crust and allow to set in the fridge.

For the peanut butter filling – cream enough cream cheese, sugar and smooth peanut butter (not the natural kind – not as good!) to fill the crust (you can adjust to achieve your desired level of peanut butteryness) and beat until smooth and soft. Fold in thick/stiff sweetened whipped cream – enough to make almost a peanut butter mousse mixture and fill the rest of the the pie crust with it. Chill for a few hours – right before you serve, spoon some more whipped cream on top and top with crunchy roasted peanuts (I like the salted kind as it lends some salt to the very sweet dessert) and chocolate shavings. The also makes a pretty darnd good frozen peanut butter pie – great in the summer!

We do a miniature version of a chocolate-peanut butter pie at our catering company.

I hope you like that one!

Here’s a copy of the press release!

Executive Chef Elizabeth Goel of Los Angeles based Bite Catering Couture wins silver medal in closest contest in Food Network Challenge history. Bite Catering Couture specializes in catering Signature Bite-sized tasting menus for weddings, parties, and special events in Los Angeles. Chef Elizabeth’s team finished a mere 0.6 points (of 100) from the first prize and $10,000.

Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) August 30, 2008 — Executive Chef Elizabeth Todd Goel of Bite Catering Couture led one of four teams on Food Network Challenge: Big Bash Caterers, which premiered Sunday, August 24th on Food Network, competing for a $10,000 prize.

Executive Chef Elizabeth Goel, Bite Catering Couture

The (caprese salad skewer) is a little work of art. It’s delicate, like a ballerina. So its really appealing

Executive Chef Elizabeth Goel placed 2nd in a tight competition with veteran chefs of the catering industry. The margin of victory was a razor-thin 0.6 points of 100. The competition featured 4 teams of caterers feeding 75 guests in a party for the Colorado Ballet.

Chef Elizabeth brought a menu appropriate to a ballet, featuring a number of Bite Catering Couture’s signature miniature catered foods: creole crab cakes, caprese salad skewers, Nutcracker cones, and Nutcracker “Sweet” (espresso chocolate bonbons and caramel nut pie). Guests referred to the combination as “Food on point.”

“The (caprese salad skewer) is a little work of art. It’s delicate, like a ballerina. So its really appealing,” commented judge Lisa Snider, Executive Director of the Colorado Ballet.

Judge Chris Siversen, Executive Chef of Bridgewaters summarized, “Seeing the presentation, tasting it, everything is really dead on. Great flavors!”

Bite Catering Couture was honored to have our Executive Chef and signature bites in competition against some of the best caterers in the country. As a new Los Angeles catering company, we look forward to introducing our unique, stylish approach to high-quality catered foods for weddings, special events, and parties in Los Angeles.

Food Network Challenge airs Sundays at 8pm ET/PT. For more information, additional air times and contest recipes, please visit FoodNetwork.com

Please visit Bite Catering Couture of Los Angeles at www.bitecatering.net for pictures, sample menus, client reviews, recipes, and more. Bite Catering Couture is a premier caterer in Los Angeles with a signature line of bite-sized miniature foods in addition to full-service catering. Our approach to parties, weddings, and special events is to bring a tasting menu of Bites, allowing guests a greater variety of flavors and the opportunity to participate in more conversations than a sit-down only event.

For more information, press only, please contact:
Vijay Goel, 310-492-5601

For more information on Bite Catering Couture: www.bitecatering.net

We had a Monday afternoon jonesing for burger, so Elizabeth and I went in search of burger reviews. Hearing all the buzz about the “Office Burger” from Father’s Office in Santa Monica, There is also a location well reviewed in Culver City.

We walked in a little after 5 and the place was active, but there were still a few seats available by the bar. This was actually great, as you have to order at the bar (which can be a bit challenging if all the seats are full)–make sure you arrive with a friend, grab a menu, grab your seats, and send one person up to order.

My first impression was that there were a lot more women around than I would expect in a beer and burger joint– perhaps the food was as good as advertised.

We took a look at the burgers that other folks were eating, and dispensed with all the other items and went straight to the office burger and fries…especially when we saw the chef didn’t allow substitutions. This was a place that took their burgers seriously!

It was juicy in a way that most burgers can’t match. Real steak amazing cheese, touch of bacon, caramelized onions…it just melted in my mouth. Writing about it is making me hungry. Its like taking the best part of a steak and a burger, putting them together, throwing in a bit of cheese and bacon…yummm!

Finicky describes it below and I agree completely:

Juicy ground beef– and I mean juicy, with glistening meat juice droplets visible with each bite– on a chewy roll, smothered with a bacon-onion compote, caramelized to the point where it looks like thick dark fudge, and topped with a surprisingly mild and delicate yet rich combination of melted gruyere and Maytag blue cheese, accented by vibrantly green fresh baby arugula. This burger is absolutely to die for and completely deserving of the title of “Best Burger.”

Fries were awesome too. Garlic aioli sauce, crisp shoestring fries, yumm.

It was perfect for an afternoon jonesing for a burger. We’ll definitely be back once we give our arteries a bit of time to clear

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I took my weary wife out for a date tonight. Sadly enough, in the life of a caterer, Sunday night tends to be date night.

We had a two wedding weekend in addition to a few other parties, so our dear Chef was in need of an evening of someone else’s cooking and a nice glass of wine.

We went to Fraiche, where we’ve been once before. Its relatively new in Culver City, but they do simple foods extremely well– fresh ingredients, proper preparation, well trained service…its a terrific experience where all the little things just go right (only drawback is that it can get noisy inside). The open kitchen is also cool– Elizabeth was excited to see that there was a woman working on the line in addition to the pastry folks.

Tonight we each had an appetizer and an entree. For appetizers we ordered the beet salad and the beef tartare. The beets were sliced over a base of goat cheese with a sprinkling of hazelnuts and olive oil. The sweetness of the beets combined with the creaminess of the goat cheese made for a terrific dish. The beef tartare appeared on bruschetta-style toast, with arugula to the side. The arugula was a bit salty alone, but when combined with the tartare and the hint of garlic with the bread, it all went together marvelously.

For entrees, Elizabeth ordered the lamb (which came as a stew with ricotta and gnochi) and I had steak frites. The lamb was perfect comfort food– the lamb was slow cooked and the meat fell apart as soon as it hit our mouths. The steak was deconstructed, but a perfect juicy medium-rare…perfect to fill a craving after a week spent eating a lot of salads.

Overall, a great experience. Service was terrific, food was simple with great ingredients and very well executed. This place is becoming one of our favorites.