Choosing a caterer in Sacramento for some people is a challenging task. First of all you are subjecting yourself and your home to a stranger. Then you must find common ground with your culinary likes and dislikes. Often times most caterers have a menu to choose from. This menu has been calculated for cost and expense, has a fixed price per item and is easily quoted. They do not bend the rules.
What I find is that most caterers in Sacramento will use sub par ingredients, take short cuts, or sacrifice quality for the sake of profit. Last night for instance we attended an event at an undisclosed location. It is an absolutely amazing place. My point however is they had it catered. The food was very basic, a ham croissant sandwich, a veggie platter consisting of previously frozen veggies, oxidized carrots, dried up ingredients. They finished off the line with some boxed desserts, well they were not in a box, I mean they were purchased frozen, and placed on pretty little trays to appear to the untrained eye as if some care went into their production on the caterers end.
Reality is that the food was not good. It did not look good and did not taste good. The quality of ingredients was very poor. This is what a lot of caterers specialize in. I suggest that someone looking for a caterer in Sacramento consider their goals and what they are trying to accomplish from an event they are hosting.
If it is important to you to have good food with nice presentation, or if you want your guests to be in awe, or really treat your guests to a treat. Perhaps you just want to have that casual sub par quality because no one will notice. Last night there were people lining up for the food, more than likely because it was free. Happens all the time, and people love something to snack on.
My suggestion is to find a caterer that will coach you through your journey to reach your destinations or goals for your event. I cater each event specially, individually. I do not have a fixed menu and certainly do not jeopardize my food or myself as a chef by using sub par ingredients to decrease the price of an event.
The old saying pays true, "you get what you pay for". I offer a service unlike most in the area. Actually my service is very, very unique. I offer a personalized, truly personalized opportunity to experience extremely high end food, that tastes amazing, with the highest quality ingredients from local suppliers, that are true to our seasons.
This all does not come without a price however. Again, you get what you pay for. I expect my clients to require and expect a lot from me. I expect to wow them and surpass their expectations, and I strive to do so using the best quality ingredients and using all the skills in my arsenal. I do not cut corners or become lazy to make money. I truly enjoy what I do and it is reflected in my food.
I have had to turn many clients away because they have asked me to jeopardize my core beliefs, my code as a Chef that I follow. I do not go against my style and against what I believe should be when it comes to serving clients. I will not serve something if it will not be better than you can expect. The people I have refused to work with have asked to me dumb it down, go against my style, be simple, be plain. I can cook like that every day of the week. We often eat like that ourselves. If I am charging a client for my services I will not do that. I expect to be paid well for what I do and I do not expect to be lazy and offer food that I do not feel like their money is worth. I want to give them their moneys worth every time.
To close, if you are looking for catering, consider your goals. Think about the service you will get. What I do is all homemade. My desserts are made by hand, with heart. They are not from Costco out of a box. I make my stocks from scratch using true bones and aromatics. My sauces are true reductions. Often I will brine my meat to ensure a better end result, a process that takes an extra day to accomplish. Point is that I take many extra steps to ensure that the food is better than just being traditionaly and quickly cooked. It is a process that I follow to make each ingredient better than normal. To enhance the ingredient. Nothing comes from a box!
My cuisine is specialized in that it is refined and extremely laborious in nature. I look for inspiration from the best Chefs in the world; Thomas Keller, Corey Lee of The French Laundry; Jonathan Benno of Per Se; Grant Achatz of Alinea; Local Chefs like Douglas Keene of Cyrus, Chef Kris Kostow of Meadowood, Chef David Kinch of Manressa and many more. Chefs Courtney & Eric of Carpe Vino have played a huge role in my inspiration as what they do is amazing with their restrictions and limitations. All of these Chefs are cutting edge people doing amazing cuisine and people I strive to follow. Passionate and devoted people to a craft they love. I pride myself in that!
I look forward to catering your next event. I cater to the Sacramento region, greater Sacramento area including, Roseville, Rocklin, Granite Bay, Lincoln, Auburn and much more. Please call for a personalized menu.
