We went to a school family camp weekend at El Capitan Canyon this month and got a bountiful…read moreHawaiian luau-themed dinner through DJ's California Catering. My friend Kelly M. did the hard work of booking, but I was part of the host crew and thought this dinner was quite successful.
We ordered a buffet for 30 adults and 35 children, which ended up feeding 41 adults and 39 children, with leftovers to spare. The total cost, including tip, was a little over $2,900. Not cheap or anything, but definitely worth it for the food and service.
DJ's came and set everything up, and there was a guy on site to handle everything for a period of like five hours. I didn't get his name, but he was nice, even helping me open a can I needed desperately to open, without the use of a can opener. The service came with sugarcane plates, forks, knives, and paper napkins, and a luau-themed table covering to put under the buffet. All things we didn't have to think about. We grilled the other night of camp and this was more cost effective, but proportionately more laborious.
The food was good and covered a lot of bases, so everyone had something to eat. There were dinner rolls with one thousand pats of butter, many of which I now have in my fridge, and a giant catering tray of three cheese macaroni and cheese. My children were covered with these two offerings, as were, I suspect, many others. We got two meat entrées, which were both very satisfying: traditional Hawaiian kalua pork and grilled teriyaki chicken breast with grilled Maui pineapple. An island garden salad made for a nice side, with mandarin oranges, toasted almonds, crispy wonton strips, and ginger soy vinaigrette. Kind of like Chinese chicken salad without the chicken, and therefore well matched to the chicken teriyaki. There was steamed jasmine rice too, and a tropical fruit salad.
Everyone had a great time at the family luau, even if most of the kids were too excited to sit down and eat proper dinner. DJ's California Catering took care of everything (well, except childcare) so we parents could just sit back and enjoy.