My wife and I needed a traveling caterer for our 20th anniversary celebration in Bodega Bay. We invited 12 guests for a three night stay over Labor Day at a VRBO vacation rental. We wanted catering for all three nights. We wanted family style catering for the relaxed occasion we wanted it to be. We had restrictions including keto, non spicy, vegetarian, allergies to bell peppers and corn among others.
We did research on over 20 caterers. Most didn't respond. The ones that did gave three or four word menu descriptions responses. Salad. Entree. Dessert. Formal settings. Stuffy.
This is where GiGi really started to stand out and never stopped delivering. She presented us with fully developed, multiple menus and dishes for appetizers, entrees and desserts for all three nights, and variations. She asked about allergies, dieting preferences and how she could accommodate the group. She asked our cuisine preferences. She was professional in communicating what she could do and how much it would all cost, which was very reasonable and lower in some cases than the three word chefs.
In any setting where you are providing a professional service it is very hard to remain a consummate professional and reading the room to know when it is appropriate to adapt your style to a more casual atmosphere. One can be too casual, which is offensive and unappealing. Ok the other, if a caterer is too stiff they can ruin a more casual vibe. Gigi was an expert at fitting in to the event. She remained in the background making absolutely stunning dishes, asking about desired start times, and was warm and quick to respond if we had a question.
The food. THE FOOD! So delicious. Ceviche appetizer with watermelon ceviche vegan alternative. Birria taco night for an easy first night when guest were arriving. Delicious brownies with whipped peanut butter mouse. Second night- Thai- fish cake appetizer leading to a coconut curry and pad Thai. A modern take on sticky rice with mango that added strawberries. My wife is Thai and this was the best sticky rice dessert we had ever had. Each had variations for including all the guests. Third night -crab themed- crab cakes followed by garlic noodles and fresh Dungeness crab which she drove all the way to Oakland to get and then came back and cooked for 8 hours. It must have been a 14 hour day for her.
At the end of the day she made our anniversary weekend something we and our guests will never forget.
She cleaned up everything leaving us with a reset kitchen for breakfast. We had enough leftovers that we could have easily fed ourselves an entire other meal for lunch the next day.
I would not hesitate to recommend Gigi and her assistant Travis for your event or catering needs. read more