The Anatomy of a Party

September 1st Graze Catering turned Five Years Old.  September was too busy to have a party, so we had one October the 2nd.  We didn't feel like we were cheating, there was only one job recorded in the month of September 2006.  

We invited a bunch of friends, and clients, and suppliers, and neighbors, and event space operators, and rental store owners, and landlords, and all the other people associated with the business. 

Then we bought the animals.  A whole pig and a whole goat.  We got the pig from Blue Valley Meats, and the goat from the Youth Market Auction at the county fair.

Then we seasoned the pig and goat.  The pig we inserted garlic cloves into and salted the meat for three days.  The goat we gave an herb and garlic rub, and salted it for two days.

 

Then we went to the farmers market, like we do every week for our weddings and events, and filled the back of the expedition.

Pig goes in the cajun microwave.  Goat goes in the oven.

Light the fire.  Wait.

Open the box, flip the pig.  Wait.

Carve and serve.

135 guests.  Great company, good beer and wine.  Here is to five more years.

Cheers

This Is How We Do It...

Montell Jordan wrote the classic R&B tune "This Is How We Do It" in 1995.  I still want to dance when I hear that song. 

This is how we do it deep in our creative minds at the sandwich shop.   

We ran this special the last few days.  It was super yummy.  Shaved prime rib, sauteed peppers, onions, garlic, and fresh oregano.  We charged $8.95.  Which makes me wonder how Subway/Quiznos/everyotherprefabslicedmeatplace can look themselves in the eye and charge $8.95 (or whatever it is they charge) for a "steak" sandwich. 

Ours is good.  Ours is real.  We make your tastebuds dance.  Just like Montell.

Cheers

Palmares

It has been busy here.  The wedding season is wrapping itself up nicely.  Only a few more to go.  Here are a couple of comments from recent events.

Palmares is a cycling term which means a list of great accomplishments.  Here is our version of palmares.

All I can say is fabulous meal and outstanding servers! You run a very good catering service - many out of town guests all complimented the food. We had the "fill in the blank" rep. for Washington State and he was very interested in some potential events this next year. ..... Many thanks...



PS: One of our younger guests made sure to let me know that your son is in his class at school and that he loves your

Laure

Hi Graze,



Thank you! Our dinner was great, service was awesome. We had a little mishap with DJ's arrival so the wedding got started late and your servers were wonderful. I don't know what else to say, other than how perfect the dinner and service was. I just wish I could've spent more time eating that great meal...but that's how weddings go. Lots of talking to the bride and groom I got so many compliments on the food and service. I appreciate your thoughts too throughout the planning. You are mailing us an invoice right? Thanks again!


Stacey & Adam

-----------------------------

Dear Graze

Thank you....I believe my cousin Linda Williams took care of the bill at the catering event today......BTW, everybody was very impressed with the Italian lasagna dinner....I heard raving compliments all afternoon....And you have to remember, we are a family of Italians on both sides of our families, and the meal was absolutely impeccable in every way!.....Thanks again

George

Cheers!!!!!

accepting applications now... u could own this!!!

Tuesday, The MELT grilled cheese sandwich shop opened in San Francisco.  The dude who invented the FLIP video camera gadget teamed up with a venture capital firm and hired San Francisco Chef Guy, Michael Mina (a super accomplished dude) as a consultant to start The MELT.  From what I gather they make custom grilled cheese sandwiches and soups. 

a place to eat

They are going to open 15 to 25 this year, and the goal is to have 500 storefronts within five years.  Franchise start up costs per shop are expected to be $500k to one million American Dollars.  You read that right. (a very similar cost for major franchises like Del Taco, Dairy Queen, Arby's, and that is a just under the heavyweights like Taco Bell and Jack in the Box, or so my limited research has uncovered.)

This got us thinking.  Why can't we be a franchise?  I mean really, why not?  Outside of the lack of funding, corporate infrastructure, advertising dollars, bulk purchasing power, media fawning, being located in a town of only 30,000 people, and a four hour drive from a major metropolitan area... WHY NOT?  (Have you seen then scene from Monty Python's "The Life of Brian"?... What have the Romans Done for us?!?!?!?)

So 'Graze - a place to eat' is offering for a limited time only franchises starting at a very cool and discounted $200,000 American Dollars.  Accepting offers starting... now.  (ok ok, $150,000... if you ask nicely we might settle at $125,000)

Cheers

Kinley and Drew's Wedding at the Winn Homestead

We do a lot of Whitman Weddings.  Graduates leave our fair town (voted friendliest in the United States by Rand McNally) and come back to get hitched with all their college friends; re-uniting for a big party.  It was our first time at the Winn Homestead in Weston, a huge red barn, with two levels, set in wheat and pea fields.  Here is the note Kinley sent us:

Dear Graze,

Thanks so much for everything. The reviews from attendees were seriously unreal - people couldn't stop talking about the food. Multiple people have mentioned to me that it was the best food they've ever had at a wedding, and a couple wonder if you'd travel to do weddings in Seattle :)

Thank you so much for your flexibility, easygoing nature, and excellent culinary creativity - we had such a great time.

Check should have arrived today, tomorrow at the latest. Let me know if you don't see it for some reason.

Also, any chance I could squeeze the recipes for that cous cous salad and the bread/tomato salad out of you? I have a list of about 20 people that have asked me for the recipe...

Excellent work, and thank you. If you ever need another reference, please feel free to use me.

Kinley

 

Well I think that deserves a hearty Cheers!  Our daughter thinks so too.

 

Blink

Blink and May turns into July.  Blink again and your kids are in middle school.  How does time go so quickly.  How did we just do 14 weddings from the last week in May to today?  And how did we fit in all the other parties large and small?  I really have no idea, its all kind of a blur. 

What is not a blur is that our food and service have continued improved with every event.  And we are proud to announce that our pig box has been perfected.  A slow roast herb stuffed pork shoulder takes us a good 6 hours, and then the coals on top we use to grill vegetables.  Here are Walla Walla Sweets grilling on top of the pig box for the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival backyard donors party.

Our house made meatballs in roasted garlic marinara and braciole, crispy polenta cakes, whole leaf caesar salad and parmesan, wilted swiss chard from stones throw farm, blanched asparagus, and dessert from the patisserie rounded out this meal all the way back in early June for some out of town guests at L'ecole Winery.

My new favorite thing is grilled lemons.  We marinate rosemary lemon and garlic chicken for a day before grilling.  After the chicken is grilled, we then grill off the lemon rounds over low heat.  They caramelize so beautifully, and when they are just a few moments before burnt is when they are perfect, and they make a fantastic garnish.  For these smoked paprika and garlic shrimp skewers, we roasted the lemons and then finely chopped the caramelized zest and put a smidge on each skewer.  The stuff is addicting.

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is a cycling term which means a list of great accomplishments.  This is our version of palmares. 

We did dinner for a group of guests organized by Whitman College.  Waters Winery was the venue, outdoors on the lawn, two extra long tables, seating 62 guests in all.  Above is a shot of a new appetizer we made up, cantelope lollipops, dipped in finely minced mint and prosciutto bits (think bacon bits but made out of prosciutto... yummy).  Dinner was served family style, a pretty local salad from Welcome Table Farm; then halibut on a bed of english peas, favas, and baby carrots; then grilled Upper Dry Creek Ranch leg of lamb and salsa verde, on a bed of wilted beet greens and arugula with roasted new potatoes and grilled early summer vegetables; finished with petit fours from the Patisserie.

I wanted to tell you how amazing the dinner was on Thursday. You and your staff did an incredible job. Everyone attending my conference (mostly from the east coast) was so impressed with Walla Walla in general, and they just loved the venue at Waters, the wine, and your food. And, you may have left before this, but we had the most incredible moonrise at the end of the dinner (I'll send you a picture). Just icing on top of the cake. I wish you had been there to accept everyone's thanks, but Tracy and Brian came out and let us applaud them. (Dinner was done and I had a softball playoff game to get to!!! commitments, commitments.)


Thank you so much!
Rachna

Cheers

Dear Subway

Christmas in May

The biz is almost five years old.  When we moved in the kitchen had one big prep table, a hobart mixer, a walk in cooler, a walk in freezer, a double stack oven set, and a range stove, and some shelving.  A $1,500 investment in some pots and pans and sheet pans and spatulas and tongs and another $850 at Ross for some platters and fancy spoons and we were in the cooking business... with no one to cook for.

The ovens were big and powerful, but highly erratic.  Burning edges and corners, and leaving the entire bottom rack raw no matter how long something was in there.  But we learned its quirks well, and found we had to open the doors and stir often, or pick just five pieces of bacon at a time from a sheet pan, and to rotate pans from top to bottom and spin them frequently. 

These pieces of restaurant refuse served a solid 42,000 catered guests and cooked the ingredients for at least another 38,000 sandwich shop customers.  We hated the ovens, but were always grateful for their service... only once did they break down for a big event, but good restaurant friends let us use their ovens... and that is a story for another time.

Well the bottom oven died the other day, leaving us with one very old and inefficient oven and one very old and expensive oven to fix.  So we bit the bullet and bought these bad boys from Blodgett Corp in Burlington Vermont.  With a little help from eight strapping young Whitman Baseball Players they were installed in no time.

I am no tech geek, or gear geek, or car afficionado, or anything approaching a stuff guy... but don't they look beautiful?

Cheers

palmares

Palmares is a cycling term that means a list of great accomplishments.  Here is our version of palmares.

We donate one private dinner for eight guests for the ywca fundraiser auction.  (We also donate countless gift certificates to other groups, and dedicate sales to the Ronald McDonald House from our sandwich shop.)  The last two years the dinner has been at Longshadows, in their Chihuly Room. 

Graze
I can't think of enough adjectives to describe the wonderful dinner we had tonight: suberb, excellent, outstanding, delicious, exquisite, the list goes on. We were awed by each course. It was truly a fabulous meal and we had a superb time wining, dining and visiting with our friends. As a guest treated to your excellent (I'm already repeating myself) culinary cuisine, I thank you.  Again, kudos to you for a memorable evening and thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring enough to give of yourself and your incredible talents.  -  Michelle

Cheers