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Food Looking for suggestions/input on choosing catering for a party I'm planning.

Discussion in 'Tilted Food' started by Borla, Dec 19, 2011.

  1. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    Next month is my parent's 35th wedding anniversary. My younger sister, younger brother, and I are planning a surprise party for them. The party is at a local wine bar that my wife and I, and my parents are members of. The owner has agreed to shut down the entire place for our party. We have decided to have a local restaurant cater it off of their hors d'oeuvre menu. There will also be a large cake. Our idea was to have it at dinner time, but to have hearty appetizers (enough for people to graze and fill up on) instead of a formal sit down dinner. There will be about 20-25 people there.

    We will likely provide shrimp cocktail, as well as cheese and drief fruit trays, ourselves.

    Here are the other choices we have. Prices are for a 50pc platter of each. We can order 1/2 platters if we like.

    Mini Beef Wellington - $109
    Beef Skewers - $81
    Meatballs - $25
    Mini Pot Roast Sandwiches - $112
    Pot Roast Crostini - $75
    Chicken Wings - $50
    Chicken Satay - $81
    Southwest Eggrolls - $76
    Lobster Newburg Puffs - $100
    Chicken Salad Crostini - $67
    Lobster Gorgonzola Stuffed Mushrooms - $70
    Crab Rangoon - $35
    Caprese Skewers - $60
    Spinach Artichoke Fondue - $110
    Spinach Artichoke Rangoon - $36
    Mushroom Encrout - $85
    Mediterranean Tomato Salad w/mushroom - $75
    Antipasto Skewers - $54
    Bruchetta - $41
    Pork Potstickers - $82

    Here is the challenge. What choices do we make that will:
    1) Be enough food to fill up 20-ish people
    2) Have enough variety to appeal to most everyone, including one or two vegetarians
    3) Bring us in somewhere around $400 or less

    Thoughts or suggestions?
     
    Borla, Dec 19, 2011
    #1
  2. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    A couple of those platters will be the minimum you probably want to order, since there will be alcohol, although you are covering your bases well with the food you plan on providing yourselves.

    When we picked the apps out for our wedding reception, the caterer was able to give us some guidance as to how much to order. We found we actually ended up a little short on the appetizers. We chose to serve bruschetta, hummus and veggies, and sliced bread with a pesto cream cheese dip they called a torta. I think by the time we showed up from getting pictures done that there were a couple pieces of bruschetta left, some of the torta, and some hummus.

    I would make sure that one of the platters is veggie. Many people won't notice the vegetarian option for what it is. Our whole wedding was veggie, and even the carnivores were fine with it because we chose a pretty hearty veggie option--lasagna. Pick something everyone loves, like those caprese skewers or the bruschetta, and everyone will be happy.
     
    snowy, Dec 19, 2011
    #2
  3. Frosstbyte

    Frosstbyte Winter is coming

    Location:
    The North
    Few thoughts for you.

    Question: are you going to have a tasting where you can try a few of your favorites before you put in the order? I ask because there are a number of things which sound awesome (and can BE awesome) if done properly, but if they're not done properly they suck a lot. Mini beef wellingtons are a good example of this. They sound amazing, and they can taste amazing, but if they're done poorly you get some crispy dough covering a piece of overcooked beef that you paid a ton of money for, which, obviously you don't want. If it's at all possible, I'd highly recommend trying to organize a tasting so you can ensure that you're picking things that actually TASTE good, instead of things that look like they'd taste good on paper.

    Second, I would 100% agree with snowy that having a veggie option is very important, or even two, depending on the crowd. I think her entire affair had to be veggie because her husband is (correct me if I'm wrong), but even amongst carnivores, having a bit lighter fare can be a pleasant change from hunks of meat attached to sticks or in little cups or what have you. As far as veggie options go, the two she mentions are the two I would pick from that list, as well. They're light, fresh, tasty and non-exotic, so should have wide appeal.

    All that being said (assuming quality is not something we're concerned about per my question), I'd pick the following: caprese skewers, mini beef wellington, lobster stuffed mushrooms and one of the two rangoons. That comes out to about $275, with a total of 200 pieces. You get a pure veggie option, one veggie heavy (but not exclusively) option, one meat heavy option and one starch-based option with filling based on preference. That ends up being a fairly well-rounded meal if you don't think of them all as merely appetizers, because each person can have two of each. Obviously you know your family's tastes better than I do, so I'm just picking those options for my taste buds, but I think the notion is the same. Pick a menu that if you put all on the plate at one time would basically be a balanced meal. If you are bigger eaters, maybe add one more meat or starch-heavy option (eggrolls, satay, potstickers). It keeps you under your budget and, I think, would give people plenty of food.

    Good luck!
     
    Frosstbyte, Dec 19, 2011
    #3
  4. DAKA

    DAKA DOING VERY NICELY, THANK YOU

    Location:
    150 miles North of SOUTHERNMOST POINT IN THE US
    Great idea, I could never understand...the food before the food...(everyone filling up on apps before dinner)
    The sit down part is good for a wedding,,,,speaches etc, but the way you are doing it is great.
     
    DAKA, Dec 19, 2011
    #4
  5. fflowley

    fflowley Don't just do something, stand there!

    Agree with the above posts, because a lot of the dishes sound "heavy" as in calorie dense, salty, rich foods.
    Definitely get the tomato salad in there at a minimum.
    Stay away from the messy stuff like wings because this doesn't sound like the right setting.

    Ask what the origin of the food is. For instance, are the pot stickers straight out of the frozen food aisle? Is the bruschetta made from scratch? If they're just going to thaw pre-made industrial food like pot stickers I would look elsewhere.
     
    fflowley, Dec 19, 2011
    #5
  6. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions. The vast majority of the people there are carnivores. There is one vegetarian, but she eats seafood. Again, we are providing trays with cheese, fruit, and we'll have a 90pc 21/25 Black Tiger Prawn shrimp cocktail. We're also having a large cake made.

    After getting ideas here, on another forum, and talking to a buddy who runs a restaurant/catering business (way out of the area, so not an option), here is what we are thinking:

    Meatballs - 1 tray BBQ, 1 tray Caribbean Glaze. Cheap, good for filling up on, will be served on toothpicks so not messy.
    Chicken Salad Crostini - 1 full tray. Another good option for filling up on, and a hearty alternative for people who don't want meatballs.
    Bruchetta - 1 tray. A lighter option, non-meat, and almost everyone seems to like bruchetta.
    Crab Rangoon - 1 tray. Another inexpensive item to fill up on, and is a seafood option.
    Lobster Gorgonzola Stuffed Mushrooms - 1 tray. Both of my parents love these, it's another seafood option, and they just sound delicious.

    With tax and gratuity that should still get us in under $400. Each tray is 50pc, so combined with the other stuff we have, I'm guessing that will be more than enough food, eh?
     
    Borla, Dec 20, 2011
    #6