Custom Chef Catering by David Monson

Occasion: Belated Holiday Party @ Dr. T's. Food Catered by Custom Chef Catering February 26, 2010. Great food and great company=] I swear the Chef read my mind and cooked all my favorite foods in one night!! I was so full, happy and buzzed by the end of the night. Cheers to good eats, great company, good laughs and a great time!

Slow roasted duck confit on a potato and apple pancake with cream friach and chives

Delicious bite sized hors d'oeuvres. The potatoe apple pancake was crunchy like a toasted baguette. Loved the play in flavors. A little bit of sweet with the savory. Great way to start the night. Dungeness Crab cakes with pineapple jalepeno salsa

My favorite of the three appetizers. Loved the use of ingredients. The pineapple jalepeno salsa added a refreshing taste to the savory crab cakes. The salsa was nice and subtle and did not over power the taste of the crab, but instead complimented really well together. LOVED IT!

Thai Style Marinated beef skewers with hoisin, coriander, thai chiles and sesame seeds

These were a joy too. Too bad at the time, I thought they were really spicy. Boy, have I built my tolerance for spicy food since then. It was good and satisfying and it only took me one bite to finish it =P

Duck Confit

Our Wine Choices

one red and one white

B thought the white wine tasted so good that she got drunk off of it

Winter Nicoise salad with sashimi grade ahi tuna, fingerling potatoes, kalamata olives, haricots verts and pear tomatoes with savory-dijon vinaigrette

When the chef annouced our salad, I was so happy. I really like ahi tuna salads. I was actually afraid that the dijon vinaigrette would cause me to dislike it, but surprisingly, it all mixed well together. Loved the ahi tuna. I like how it's just slightly seared on the edges and raw in the middle. It was DELICIOUS!!!

Seared Day Boat Sea Scallops with braised endives, cara cara oranges and arugula in a champagne beurr blanc

Ah another favorite of mine, SCALLOPS!!! They were delicious! 3 pieces might look really small, but after everything on the plate it was really filling. I loved playing around with the flavors here. I'd take piece of the scallop, which was really nice and tender and ate it with a piece of the orange, which were super juicy and very sweet. I loved just mixing and matching all the flavors on this dish to see what I liked best. In conclusion: I do not like endives,but the orange mixed with the arugula or the orange combined with the scallops were absolutely delicious!

Marinated beef tenderloin with wild mushrooms, leek risoto, asparagus tips, marinated peppers and zucchinni wuth a red wine sauce

Some like their meat more cooked some like it more raw. I like it medium, more on the raw side. This piece I actually traded with Paloma. I gave her a piece that was more cooked. I actually think it could have been a bit more raw, but I didn't complain. This dish was spectacular. I loved the mushrooms, when do I not. But the risoto was amazing. EVERYONE LOVED IT. As I took a bite of it, it reminded me of something I've had before. It was a familiar taste, but I couldn't figure out what it was until someone realized that it tastes like Chinese sticky rice. Some people use it as turkey stuffing during thanksgiving. THAT...was what it tasted like. It was awesome and went very well with everything on the plate. It was a great dish!

Butternut squash and caramelized walnut bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream

OMG, everything gets better and better. THIS WAS THE BEST! I'm only saying this because I do love sweets. But this was seriously the perfect ending to the meal. Bread pudding has never appealed to me as a dessert, maybe because of it's not so appetizing appearance. OH..but don't let looks fool you! THIS WAS BOMB DIGGITY GOOD! I loved everything about it, the taste, the texture as well as the presentation. The caramelized walnut really added flavor and a kick to the bread pudding. In a way it almost reminded me of a pumpkin pie. The vanilla bean ice cream melted on the warm bread pudding and went really well with it. A little bit of warmth mixed with the cold. I don't know why...but vanilla bean ice cream on anything warm is ALWAYS good. In fact this dish was so delicious, I shamelessly asked for seconds. Unfortunately, the chef and his staff had packed everything up...and I got not seconds. I was so disappointed.