This past weekend I had the blessed opportunity to celebrate the end of a difficult and stormy weekend full of hard work, hard partying, and very little shut-eye with a group on a college campus with whom I've been affiliated for nearly a decade. The kids made the very prudent decision to host the after-conference Sunday banquet at a fraternity house instead of hauling 60+ bodies to yet another restaurant that wouldn't be able to handle us. The organization chose Greenleaf Platters not only due to its superb reputation for outstanding service as well as consumables, but also because of its well-publicized green initiative.
The kids chose wisely: poached salmon with horseradish sherry wine cream -- roasted fillet mignon with a sauce of black olives, capers, garlic, pistachios, fresh herbs, lemon and extra-virgin olive oil -- baguette sandwich of roasted Portobello mushroom, fontina, red onion, baby arugula and pesto aioli -- roasted new potatoes tossed with sweet peppers, goat cheese, basil and a balsamic dressing -- seasonal vegetable quinoa salad with lemon, olive oil and fresh herbs -- salad of baby greens with blue cheese, pecans and sun-dried cranberries in a red wine shallot vinaigrette -- and, to top off the decadence, pumpkin cheese cake squares (they claim that President Obama tried these at a fundraiser and loved them -- I can see why!).
Usually catered food served buffet style isn't anything to naturally rave about, but I can't say enough great things about Greenleaf's product. The cream sauce on the salmon was perfectly subtle and went extremely well with the red onion serving as its edible garnish. The beef was incredibly tender, cooked to absolute perfection, and quite tasty (I am not a huge fan of olives, but the tapenade actually enhanced the delicious beefy taste). You just can't go wrong with Portobello and fontina cheese, and the baguettes were the perfect size. Since I'm a huge fan of goat cheese, I thought the new potatoes were amazing -- but I think the larger-than-life flavors may have thrown a few kids off. I am totally in love with the goat cheese-balsamic vinaigrette combination.
But the two most impressive parts of this outstanding meal were the quinoa salad and the pumpkin cheesecake. I'm not a huge fan of the texture of quinoa, but the seasoning behind this salad was incredible -- an ideal balance between sweet, crunchy, savory, and complementary as a side dish. Last but not least the pumpkin cheesecake was more spiced than sweet, which is a welcome reprieve from most catered cheesecakes.
I was told that Greenleaf mainly does weddings, and that the service was excellent and easy to work with. No doubt I would like the organization to seek Greenleaf out again next year! read more