What I can do for you…
Since the start of the New Year I have started to recognize the very real possibility of me being able to sustain a very basic lifestyle in NYC as a musician and personal chef. I am currently experimenting with this silly idea I had to not spend any money on food. I have restricted myself from eating out and buying groceries. I can only buy food when it is for someone else, for a party I am catering or a home delivery job. This not only saves me a lot of money and allows me to survive with a roof in brooklyn but it forces me to work with whatever I have; leftovers, overlooked ingredients, redefining certain parts of foods I would normally throw out, etc. So far this challenge has forced me to creatively rethink all that I know about food.
I have been throwing parties and catering for groups of friends that range from anywhere between 2 and 50 people. I’ve found that while most people love going out and finding great restaurants in the city, this is an inexpensive and fun alternative.
I have been developing and putting together personalized parties of all shapes, prices and sizes. Tell me what it is that you are looking for, the amount of money that you want to spend, the style or type of food that you want me to prepare (can be just about anything), around how many people will be eating, and whether you want me to cook the whole meal or make it more instructional and interactive. If you want to spend $400 on an upscale 5 course plated meal for 3 people, than I will do my best to bring you the most bang for your buck, and if you want to spend $100 for 10 people, than I will equally work hard to create something delicious within your budget.
One of the aspects of this free form catering gig that some people really seem to enjoy is that if a group of people want to get together for a night out, birthday party, or something else along those lines, but don’t want to spend much money at a restaurant, they can pay a fixed price menu per head and have it be a BYOB. The nice thing about this is knowing exactly how much money you will be spending going into the meal, say; $20 for food and $10 for a decent bottle of wine. $30 for drinks and a ton of freshly made food from scratch aint too bad.
A few things that I can do:
1. Pizza Party’s
2. Have your own custom taco stand/Gourmet food cart in your apartment for the night
3. Roll your own sushi demonstrations
4. Multiple course fixed menus
5. Appetizers for a cocktail hour/pre game
6. Upscale (or any scale for that matter) barbecues
7. Home deliveries (packaged foods that you can take to lunch or eat at home for any meal throughout the week)
8. If there is anything else that you can think of I am always up to try
Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, ideas, corrections, thoughts, and so forth. If you are interested in throwing a party or get together hit me up at joshyq@gmail.com
My roommate and I got home delivery from Josh every week! It beats the hassle of cooking or eating out, and I always know to expect something new and delicious. Actually, I’m just now eating barbecue pulled pork on Challah buns.. for breakfast. yum….
You really have a good eye about food and I really am proud of you and how you are able to sustain a catering business in NYC. I wish you were closer so that I could taste all the wonderful food you make. I came across your site because I was looking on how to make pizza sauce with ketchup. Ketchup is kind of sweet, so it made a sweet sauce. I think I will use a sugar free ketchup the next time I try it but just because I didnt like it doesn’t mean my son didn’t. He loved the pizza sauce and kept asking for more. Anyway keep up the good work on your site I like all your postings.