St. John Catering

Mathayom Private Chefs is honored to have catered the Friends of the V.I. National Park's annual fundraising gala for the fourth year in a row, and this was the best year by far, if we do say so ourselves! Thanks to first class volunteers and the Friends' Heather Ruhsam, who did a fantastic job coordinating with us, the party went off without a hitch.

This year's event was held at the fabulous Butterfly Beach in Fish Bay, so we created a menu related to butterflies (as much as you can tie human food in with butterflies, anyway). We did a Butterfly Beach summer roll with blood orange dipping sauce; crispy spice-rubbed pork belly with our own Java Booty Rub (now on sale at St. John Spice, cough cough); smoked shrimp with apple yogurt sauce; green zucchini bruschetta with sundried tomatoes capanada; vegetable satay, which came out beautifully, with a green curry rice sauce; mini schwarma bites with lamb and creamy garlic; avocated crusted mahi with lime jus; a hash with truffle-roasted parsnips and pineapple sauce; Josephine's greens, of course, with some house dressings; chilled quinoa salad with asparagus and roasted tomatoes; and herb-roasted duck breast with roasted pepper compote. And our favorite, a variety of rotis with genuine roti wraps we picked up ourselves from the BVI, filled with chicken, oxtail and vegetables, with a green mango chutney. For desserts, Waterfront Bistro threw in some profiteroles, Baked in the Sun provided coconut macaroons, and we served up a sesame carrot ginger bread pudding with maple. Whew! There was nothing if not a wide variety of foods, that's for sure.

We passed the apps at the main house to welcome guests, and the main courses were served at three buffet stations, each with the same offerings, which really split up the group and helped to avoid long lines of party-goers waiting for food. And as the night went on, guests made their way down to the home's gazebo, where the band was playing, and we passed around the desserts down there.

We can't say enough about Heather, who's really brought a vibrance to her position with the Friends, and about our wonderful volunteers, who helped the night run incredibly smoothly.

Catering events at Norbu has become like second nature to us, so we figured it'd be a good spot to introduce some newbies to Mathayom's world. We had some new people both in the kitchen and out front when we cooked for Terumo Medical's corporate incentive group, and we're happy to say their initiation went off without a hitch.  

 

Each of the 15 guests at this wedding reception found a favorite on the evening's Caribbean-themed menu.

Spending the week with Stephen and his family was a fabulous reminder that our job does not suck. Stephen brought down his son and some of his friends as a high school graduation gift, and we spent the entire week with them, serving up every meal.

Kismet has one of those great kitchens that is incredibly functional, which helped the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society's five day corporate retreat run incredibly smoothly.