Let The Fun Begin

March was kinda busy, or at least it felt like it... until I looked at the calendar and realized there were lots of empty white days and only a few blue bars.  Maybe having both my wife and I's parents visit for an uninterrupted 17 days made March seem a bit busier than it really was.  (parents and visitors have a way of doing that don't they?)

But now the real show begins.  That google calendar is filled with all blue bars now.  Tomorrow we do five caterings (seriously), today we did three... and they just keep coming. (note to potential clients, please call us, please)

 Last week we had the priveledge of cooking up some Lostine Cattle Company Beef for some folks at the Leonetti Upland Vineyard Site.  Chris Figgins has started a grass fed beef business.  And here is the shocker, it is incredibly good, not "for grass fed" but incredibly good "beef". (We did some test cooking with all kinds of cuts from their first few animals harvested... and being a huge skeptic... and having poor grass fed beef experiences prior... I was not exactly thrilled about being the cook being led to slaughter (so to speak).  The beef was fantastic, clean tasting, tender, and alltogether wholesome and satisfying.  So for this group of visitors we fired up three mini slider burgers (goat cheese and caramelized onions, chipolte adobo and avocado, and blue cheese and bacon) along with a few tasty sides. 

And to finish things off, Heidi, uber-consultant said she wanted to end lunch with a giant chocolate chip cookie... which we don't make.  So we made our regular cookies and then glued two together with bittersweet chocolate.  Oh man, that was heaven.  Not as heaven as the Walla Walla Hills on a perfect Spring day, or the taste we had of the Figgins Family Estate wine, kind of a lower level heaven... if you catch my drift.

And last but not least... meet the new Graze Trailer complete with its brand new grills.  Coming to a Walla Walla wedding reception near you soon!

what we have been up to...what have we been up to?

Its been busy around these parts.  Since we last checked in we made a lovely little meal for 160 or so folks who listened to the Walla Walla Academy Orchestra play some lovely tunes.  Served a charmingly large group of couples a vegetarian pre-valentines day meal.  Ran ourselves ragged with sandwich shop deliveries.  Did a fun and quite enlightening test cooking for the Lostine Beef Company (really yummy grass fed and aged beef... really.)  And hosted our (almost) first dinner at Graze (the sandwichy shop the doubles as a pretty cool private dinner place).

And to make things even more fun Lifestyles Magazine did a profile on me and GRAZE - a place to eat.  Here is a shot from the article.

Also had a few great comments passed on from previous wedding clients of ours.  Here is a shot from Seth and Cindy's Reception held in Dayton, about which Cindy opines "Thanks again for such a fantastic feast for our wedding reception."

And these kind words come from Diane who organized the Orchestra party. "Thank you so much for the very professional and exceptional service you provided our orchestra.  The food was fabulous!  I will not hesitate to recommend your fine company.  Thanks again."

And starting Thursday we begin a stretch of nine events in eight days... highlighted by the Showcase Dinner for 300 or so Walla Wallans.  Cheers.

Dinner at Graze

Dinner at Graze.  Sapere Consulting rented out our eatery a couple of weeks back.  Twenty one Sapere principals and employees enjoyed our hospitality and food.  We had such a good time we have decided to do it again.  So February 27th we kick off our (almost) first ever dinner party.  Email our super secret email for more info at info@grazeevents.com

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is cycling term for a list of great accomplishments.  Our version of Palmares.

We just received this email from a wedding this past summer at Mill Creek Gardens.  Happy thoughts for the cold and grey January weather.

"Dear John and the Graze staff:
I thought you might like a few pictures of the lovely food at Michael and Leah Simon's wedding this past July. You did such an amazing job -- not only was it beautiful, but it was absolutely delicious, and the service was impeccable. We were so happy with how it all came together. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being a wonderful part of this special day.
Best...  Deberah"

Cheers!

Why Not?

GRAZE - 'a place to eat' is officially open Monday through Saturday 10am to 7pm starting Monday, January 18th.  The wife and I were planning on this little expansion for the Spring.  But after a moment of reflection we figured if March is good, why not January? 

So here is the deal.  Now you can get our just better than decent food all day long.  And wine and beer prices are downright silly.  $2 domestic beer, $2.50 micros (terminal gravity esg), $5 and $6 glasses of wine.  Bottles for $16 and $20.

Catering has been a hoot as well.  Served up 311 hungry Cattleman's Association Dinner Patrons the other night.  What did we serve?  200 pounds of prime rib of course.  And all prospective Walla Walla Wedding clients, we seem to be getting ready to send out menus and the whatnot... maybe... sooner hopefully than later.

Cheers

2009 Year in Review

2009 was a busy year for Graze Catering.  The collective "we" of Graze, grew from me and whomever I could get to work on an on call basis, to me, Tracy the Event Manager, Brian the Cook, and our previous list of part time servers and cooks.  Now when I say "we" in reference to Graze it really means "we", a group of people, not "we", John as cook, server, dishwasher, and event manager. 

We also added a downtown eatery.  It is pretty good... you might like it.

In honor of 2009, I present you with the Graze Catering Index (with apologies to Harper's Index).  All totals are Graze Catering only, and do not reflect numbers from Graze 'a place to eat'.


Guests served in 2006 --- 604
Guests served in 2007 --- 3,319
Guests served in 2008 --- 8,053
Guests served in 2009 --- 12,166

Number of events 2006 --- 17
Number of events 2007 --- 66
Number of events 2008 --- 83
Number of events 2009 --- 176

Number of events 150+ guests 2006 --- 0
Number of events 150+ guests 2007 --- 2
Number of events 150+ guests 2008 --- 11
Number of events 150+ guests 2009 --- 16

Number of events 500+ guests 2006 --- 0
Number of events 500+ guests 2007 --- 0
Number of events 500+ guests 2008 --- 3
Number of events 500+ guests 2009 --- 3

Number of weddings/rehearsals 2006 --- 0
Number of weddings/rehearsals 2007 --- 6
Number of weddings/rehearsals 2008 --- 18
Number of weddings/rehearsals 2009 --- 22

Thanks to all our past and future clients and guests. We look forward to serving you again.

Cheers

Christmas

Christmas Eve was a work day for us this year.  We fed the numerous and hungry Nelson Irrigation staff.  Later that day we were fortunate enough to have my family fly in to celebrate the holidays.  So we made a special dinner.  A new york strip roast fresh out of our ancient home oven.  A few side plates of roasted mushrooms and blue cheese, sauteed butternut squash, garlic mashed potatoes, and brussell sprouts and the feast was on. 

And for extra measure one too many bottles of wine for good cheer.

Cheers

8 Ounces of Love

The whole point of this blog was to showcase the efforts of Graze Catering (and to do so without spending dollars... thank you blessed internet and blogspot).  10,000 hits later (a good thousand of which need be attributed to my family, and another thousand to my diddling with the blog) that goal seems to have been accomplished.  Sadly the last couple of months this blog has become a restaurant starting - sandwich obsessed forum, which does nothing to inform folks our main purpose in this cooking business world is to cater. 

Now that we have that all clear.  Here is a shot of the special prime rib sandwich we served the last few days.  Wow, 6 oz of prime rib, caramelized onions, blue cheese, provolone, mayo, and la brea ciabatta.  Which was made possible because we served 350 Key Technology employees a prime rib dinner.  Our over ordering makes a Graze lunch spot patron a lucky recipient.  In the last month we have put on 23 events, and had the lunch place open six days a week.  It's been busy here.

And more Graze 'a place to eat news'... we added three new sandwiches this week. 

• A panini of roasted butternut squash slices, roasted garlic, fried sage, mozzarella, and provolone (which has the option of adding proscuitto).  Upon taste testing one of the cooks said "wow, I don't like butternut squash and that is awesome." 
• Another cold vegetarian, tons of avocado seasoned with lemon and salt, cucumber slices, sprouts, tomatoes, mama lils peppers, and provolone.
• The Latronka.  A huge 8 ounce pastrami bomb.  All the same fixings as the original 'just big' pastrami.  House made sauerkraut, russian dressing, and swiss cheese.  Plus we add some mild deli peppers. 

As 2009 winds down and we finish off the holiday season this blog will happily return to its roots and showcase our catering talents.  We look forward to chatting with our 2010 wedding clients and prospective clients in January and February.  Till then Merry Christmas!!!

Cheers

Pastrami

This is what I had for lunch today.  5 South Colville. 10am to 3pm.

Cheers

Dinner at Graze

Barrel Tasting Weekend Saturday Night December 5th, Graze (look at all those capitals) will host its first dinner... ever.  For three years we have been schlepping our stuff to wineries, houses, and fields.  This time we are home.

Join us for dinner.  We can seat around 24.  Arrive at 6:15, share a glass of bubbly and a few appetizers, dinner to start in a timely fashion thereafter.  Menu goes something like this: bi-colored soup, white and purple salad, something that went baaaaa, and dessert from the Colville Street Patisserie. (menu accomodations made if possible.)

Price: $50 a person, beer and wine not included, wines promise to be yummy and attractively priced.  All guests seated family style, bring good cheer and conviviality, if you bring wine corkage is $10 and sharing will be... expected?... required?... who wouldn't want to share with so many new friends? 

Email for reservations and our long list of requirements at info@grazeevents.com