I took a pasta making class with Chef Mel and had so much fun! She's so helpful and the pasta…read moreturned out great. I've already recommended her classes to my family and we're doing a family class together.

From the owner: What makes your business unique read more

I hosted 40 people at my home for a Sweet 16. Cara and her staff were outstanding! The passed…read morehors d'oevres were both beautiful and delicious. Her menu options were varied enough for me to please both adults and teenagers. Her staff (bartender and 3 servers) were so professional, kind and accommodating. ONe of them attended to my older mother the entire evening. I can't recommend SHK enough. I'm planning a holiday party and will be hiring her again!

My mother and I used SHK for my sister's bridal lunch in May. To this day, people are still talking…read moreabout the food (specifically these amazing scones and homemade butter). Additionally, Cara and her team helped set up and take down things for us all day. The team was wonderful, and I HIGHLY recommend them!

We loved working with Fork In The Woods! Greg was able to source a brilliant chef for a Private…read moreDinner that I planned in the Poconos. Everything from communication, planning, pricing, our wonderful private chef and the unbelievable food was perfect from beginning to end! Chef Clara was so fun to work with and her food was out of this world - this was a surprise for my family who has never experienced this before and it is a memory that my parents and family will have forever. Thanks to Greg and Chef Clara!

Greg was such a great asset to having our events run smoothly. He was incredibly prompt in helping…read moreto menu plan and able to talk us through multiple options and variables that best suited our diverse group of diners. When a few of our logistics and number of guests changed, Greg was able to re-calibrate and provide a beautifully served meal that was on time and elegantly plated. In addition to his wonderful culinary skills, we found Greg to be incredibly personable, professional and incredibly knowledge on his craft. I would highly recommend Greg's services. We already have it planned to book him again for a friends Bridal Shower in the Fall. Thanks Greg!

I cannot recommend Tara highly enough. I found Tara as a referral from a friend who raved about…read moreher, but having experienced her being our private chef for the night I don't think he went far enough! Tara recreated our wedding menu from the place card alone, it was French theamed and multi course, including three different entrees (we ate well!) and along with her server Suzette they made our evening. Friendly, timely, amazing food, low pressure, cleaned everything up behind them, played with the dog! They did everything for us that night so all we had to do was roll into bed after they left! Tara mentioned she does events from small (we were just 2 ppl) up to 100+ Will use again. And I cannot wait.

Five stars isn't even enough for Chef Tara. My husband and I were going to New York for our five…read moreyear wedding anniversary. We wanted to make it special, but during these difficult times it was very hard to find a place that would accommodate any private seating. That's until my husband found Chef Tara. She opened up her beautiful home and allowed us to create the most memorable 5 year anniversary, and most memorable dinner we will ever have. Chefs Tara skills in the kitchen are truly like no other. She created the most beautiful five course meal filled with everything we love. The octopus was one of the best ones we ever had. The salad was a perfect light touch and all with seasonal vegetables from her garden. Then we got into the pastas. Both homemade, and both out of this world. We finished our dinner with her Chilean Sea-bass, that could quite honestly be the best one we will ever have. On top of chefs Taras cooking skills, she also was amazing company, and opened up her home/kitchen as if we were apart of the family! Thank you Chef Tara for making our anniversary one to remember. We both look forward to the next time we get to enjoy your company, and your food that makes my mouth water just thinking about!

Had such a great experience at New York Sewing Center! I found their Sip & Sew for 2 deal on…read moreGroupon for $134, and it was 1000% worth it especially for beginners. Such a fun and worthwhile activity. Booking was super smooth, they were very responsive over email and it was easy to reserve a slot. I also love that they have multiple locations including 34th Street, Broadway (Brooklyn), and Montclair, NJ. Julian (JuJu) was an amazing instructor! Super outgoing, patient, and made the class such a fun experience from start to finish. I really appreciated how thorough he was when explaining each step, along with all the helpful tips and tricks throughout the class. We made tote bags, which are perfect for spring/summer, and I was so impressed with how they came out! I'll absolutely be back to try more courses. Highly recommend if you're looking for a cute solo activity or something fun to do with a friend!

I had the best experience in Sewing 101! My previous sewing experience was limited to sewing on a…read morebutton (or two) rather poorly, so I came in with a lot of learning to do. Viola was a terrific instructor who was patient and kind with everyone at every stage of our projects. She made everything easy to digest, and made sure to make herself available for additional demonstrations if necessary (and it was, because for the life of me, I could never remember how to thread the machine). Viola was always encouraging during the projects even if mistakes were made and was always ready to help when we needed. This is a must-do class for a beginner sewist, and I cannot wait to use the skills I learned in my sewing journey going forward. NYSC and Viola are the best!

Chef Sebastian was amazing! He really outdid himself with each and every dish. The hors d'oeuvres…read morewere a party favorite. I can't wait until I have another party/event so we can have him back!!

I'll start off this way, I'm probably the only person whose favorite meal this week in 90° July…read moreweather included half a quart of warm, Smoky Red Pepper Soup with Basil Croutons ($10). I'll admit, a small part of the reason is because I keep my apartment very cold and really love soups. The primary reason though is that I found an executive chef who is a culinary genius that will cater and deliver phenomenal gourmet food directly to my door at very reasonable prices. This was one of the best original soups that I've tasted in a very long while. A great thick, creamy texture, good heat (without being too spicy), and you could taste the flavor of the ingredients, not just get overwhelmed by the red pepper. The taste and texture worked in perfect concert together, just like the cream and the red pepper. I've been paying ten bucks a quart for deli-quality soups during this quarantine. This was certainly in a much different class of quality, for the same exact price. Once people catch on to this amazing value, I'll likely end up paying far more for the same caliber of cuisine. However, supporting a well-deserving and hardworking small business with an honest and positive is more important to me than saving a little money. By the way, in addition to his well-honed, epicurean chops, Chef Sebastian is also a real sweetheart of a guy. I know a lot of great chefs and they're not all...oh, what's a good euphemism to use here? As good at dealing with people as they are with knives. Well, Chef Sebastian is wonderful with both. A true professional and a good person. Alright, now let me review some more of his food. In the late 1990s, I lived in New Orleans. So, I definitely know a thing or two about great-tasting cornbread. Chef Sebastian makes excellent cornbread. Not too crumbly, but also not sticky. There's nice pieces of whole corn and little pieces of jalapenos inside. Remember, I'm not a big fan of spicy, but this cornbread was perfect. Not too spicy and it was pre-cut into small squares for me and filled an entire sizeable container. I've eaten a few pieces with 4 meals already and I still have leftovers. His portions are immense. That goes double for the Slow Smoked Beer Marinated Local Shortrib ($27 with corn and cornbread). I've never been given that much shortrib in a single portion intended for one person. I LOVE his homemade BBQ sauce so much that I used it abundantly, put the shortribs in potato roll buns and served them up similar to pulled pork sandwiches, only these were far better because they were beer marinated shortribs. There was enough for 4.5 overstuffed sandwiches. My executive chef friend ate one, along with a piece of cornbread, and was extremely impressed with both as well. The Smoked Whole Trout ($14) was actually a bit overwhelming. Even with my big appetite, I certainly couldn't finish it. It's an entire large cooked trout. For $14 and hand delivered to your door by the chef himself? Where else will you get that type of value? Nowhere! Certainly not near Port Washington, where I live. I ate half of the fish the first day that the food arrived because obviously it's seafood. Although, I did decide to sneak Chef S's New Jersey grilled corn on the cob into this meal, even though it really came to compliment another dish. I didn't want to wait though. The fish was cooked nicely and traveled very well. A nice thickness, easy to cut the meat away, and just a nice smokey flavor throughout. However, I avoided the recommended horseradish sauce that came with it because I was in the mood for more of a fish flavor. I wasn't disappointed. The corn was tasty too. The 24 Hour Slow Smoked BBQ Pork Shoulder ($21 with corn and cornbread) was another massive creation. Once again, I had leftovers. You can taste the time it took to cook this. Completely fall off-the-bone type of dish and so savory. Extremely tender and also beautifully complimented by Chef's homeade BBQ sauce. Honestly, that stuff could go with anything. It's delicious. Local Jersey Peach Crisp with Homemade Whipped Cream ($7). My favorite dessert from anywhere this month. It's a giant piece made for 2 people, as long as one of them isn't me. LOL. I devoured about 3/4 of it because it was so incredible. Thin fresh peach slices with a deliciously sugary crust. This dessert could start an addiction. Just before writing this paragraph I polished off the remaining 1/4 piece left in my fridge. By the way, his food and containers keep very well. The food is delicious, but the portions are huge! Pickle Spears ($8). These are smaller sized pickle spears. However, there's enough of them to fill the jar and they're obviously pickled that way to provide much more surface area and access to the flavors of Chef's special blend of peppers and seasonings. They're very good. If you like pickles, you'll totally like these. Lots of flavors: garlic, peppers, mustard seeds, and some others. Be careful though, these bite back. Everything is PERFECT!

I went to the Tastes of Brooklyn event along Franklin Ave. The festival offered ticket sales online…read moreand I appreciated that you could buy tickets without any service fee on top of the ticket price (~$10/taste). Ticket pickup in front of Cent'Anni was easy once I knew where to go, and I found it so helpful that there was a map and list of what each spot was offering. That list was useful in planning what I wanted to try. In the future, I'd recommend that the event hosts try to confirm these listings with participating restaurants a bit closer to the event date, because some of them were inaccurate. One place listed as offering "sliders" served only a single (scrumptious) slider, and another spot listed as offering a "choice of two tacos or a margarita" informed me when I arrived that they weren't offering the margarita after all. I thought the offerings were pretty fair, just wish the list had been a bit more accurate. While I wouldn't recommend Tastes of Brooklyn to someone looking for a "good deal", it wasn't a bad way to share a walk and various foods with a friend while supporting Seeds in the Middle.

I think it was fine, but probably overpriced. Sure, it was for a cause but a lot of the…read moreparticipating vendors were very inconsistent. Some places did food and booze as one stamp, while others made it two separate ones. Some portion sizes were gigantic, while others didn't even give a full slice of pizza. And a few closed up shop early because they were so popular (we ended up with extra tickets that we just spent on half slices of pizza because nothing else was left). The ticket pickup station at the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club was also a bit of a hassle. Not the most centrally located, and their ticketing system was a mess. A lot of manual handwritten notes. That said, I appreciated all the businesses that participated (some of which I've never been to before!), but I wish it were better organized.

I've said this before and I will say it again, TAKE THEIR CAKE DECORATING CLASSES! Or actually,…read moredon't because they fill up fast. I've now taken 4 classes this year. Do I have anything to do with them after the class? Nope, but I love taking the classes that to the most recent one, I brought 3 friends and was yelled at by another for them not being invited, whoops. I usually end up donating the cake to a local firehouse. The class is such a fun time and Christina is awesome at facilitating. She lets you have full creative freedom when decorating. And the cakes are always delicious. This most recent one was a strawberry lemonade flavor and another was Neapolitan which I got compliments on both, even though I've only done the decorating. I'm excited to see what they have next!

I ordered a pull a part cupcake cake, number 9, Fortnite themed for my son's birthday. The entire…read moreexperience was so easy from start to finish. From the convenient user-friendly website ordering system, payment system, and seamless correspondence with Polkadot Cake Shop, I knew I was working with a true pro. I sent a picture of what I envisioned and got exactly that and even better. I've never had any service where I have provided a picture and gotten the EXACT results! Just blown away. The ingredients of the cupcakes were top notch as well, tasted so good, my guests were commenting how it was the best cupcake frosting they have ever tasted. And the 'icing on the cake' was that we received a premium custom-made cake at a reasonable price! I will definitely be using Polkadot Cake Shop for future events, thanks for making my son's birthday a memorable one!