My friends say that I have officially crossed over into yuppie-dom.  I, of course, would beg to differ, though I find myself going back to LA Mill Cafe quite often and frequenting Barneys New York.  The tell tale sign of course would be when hot dogs and hamburgers don’t quite cut the mustard anymore for the Fourth of July.   

 

This year would officially mark that for me.  My friend Stephen had been asking me to “co-host” an event with him since the beginning of the year.  He is a recent foodie convert, trading in his cigarettes and Monster energy drinks for the more palatable taste of food, and has become quite adept in the kitchen. 

 

 

Since both of our busy schedules were getting harder and harder to coordinate the perfect day, we decided to host a Fourth of July, out of the ordinary, chez me.  He appropriately coined the term “Upscale Patriotic”.  We came up with a seasonal tasting menu which basically changed up until the last minute as certain items were not “tested” enough prior to serving for a crowd.  I’m all for making guinea pigs out of guests, but he was a bit more reluctant.  Our final tasting menu involved seven courses, not counting the amuse bouche.

 

Upscale Patriotic Tasting Menu:

 

Strawberry ginger cocktail

Amuse Bouche of spicy deviled quail eggs

 

baconoki bundles (bacon wrapped enoki) with chilled pea soup

salmon crudo misto 2 ways

braised pork belly with octopus and taragon egg salad

hanger steak with peruvian aji rocket sauce

surprise gourmet treats from jen and david

whole grain (oat groat) mint salad served in bibb lettuce cups

assorted sweets from Bethany:

lavendar crisps with honey vanilla ice cream

chocolate sandwich cookies with butter cream icing

riccotta cheese cake with poached citrus syrup

 

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We had invited about 20 guests, some of which understood RSVP- which stands for Repondez S’il Vous Plait, by the way.  That means “Please respond”, which to me means Yes or No. But that is another article altogether-  “guest and host etiquette”.  As I always say, it’s fine to not respond to an Evite for a kegger for 50 people, but an event that involves a food or a headcount, a response is absolutely necessary. 

 

 

When mapping out the menu, we wanted to live up to our event title of ‘upscale’, but also not scare people away.  We wanted it to be refreshing and harken back to some traditional Fourth of July foods, i.e. egg salad, deviled eggs, and grilled meats.

 

I knew about 15 people were going to be there for sure, but that meant some people might show up with the +1 so I counted to feed about 20 people.  Since it was a tasting, we were fine with making little portions, which could always shrink or expand to the amount of guests.  I guessed correct.  We had about 22 people through out the night and since it’s a day where people have other engagements to go to, I was trying to “let go” a bit from the natural born planner that I am. 

 

 

People came and went. As the tasting progressed, appetites definitely got smaller.  I purposely put out the tiny quail eggs in the beginning to scare people about the potential of tiny portions.  I was happy with the atmosphere we created. Our hope was for people to graze throughout the day and create a very social and food-oriented environment.

 

 

Here’s our checklist for party prep and we did do most of the cooking 1-2 days ahead, even down to washing the lettuce and parsley.  This gave us ample time to concoct our festive cocktail prior to guests arriving and doing set-up, complete with the mise-en-place of all our garnishes.

 

Wallflour Party Tips for the Faux Bougie:

 

FOOD SHOPPING

Shop for some food at Costco and Asian or Ethnic markets-  meat and fish are much cheaper here and usually much fresher.  I made a trip to Ranch 99 in SGV (San Gabriel Valley) and spent about 1/3 of what it would have cost me at Gelson’s or Whole Foods.  Being gourmet doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.

 

BYOB please please please….and thank you.

Ask people to bring the drinks-  I have no qualms about asking people to do this.  Some might think it’s a bit tacky, but once you have 20 heavy drinkers over and splurge for all the booze, you will understand.  If you can afford it, then obviously, there’s no need to imply this. It’s all in the wording too.  I don’t say BYOB, it’s not college party central, but I tend to ask people to bring their favorite drink to share with others or let them know, ‘hey, I’m taking care of the food, would you guys mind bringing the drinks?’  Of course we always have some on hand whether it’s a special cocktail or some beer or wine…

 

 

After making 4 trips to 4 different specialty markets and cooking for a couple days, the least guests could do is pickup some drinks.  Everyone is always really good about this. There’s really no excuse to not be, but I was also raised by “Asian mommy” and would never, ever show up empty handed to someone’s home. A hostess gift (hint hint) would be a super nice gesture. And I did get some!  I got a bottle of riesling shaped in the form of a black cat and an illustrated book from the artist himself, and some special doggie treats for Gigi.  Thank you!

 

We did not go as far as telling people what courses to pair with what wine.  We had to draw the line somewhere.

 

 

SERVING

Instead of plating small amounts, except for the soup course, we made a couple large platters of each course and set them on the tables with small paper plates and forks or napkins, if they were finger foods.

 

GARNISH AND GREENS:

Most items like mint, flat leaf parsley, green onions, and chives can be washed and dried 24 hours in advance, then stored by layering single layer on paper towels or tea towels and rolling up gently and storing in a ziploc bag.  We also did this to the lettuce, watercress, and enokis.  Some items, like parsley, we chopped up and put in ramekins and tupperware.  You can spritz some water on these if they need freshening up.  This is a great mess and time saver for party prep.

 

PAPER PLATES AND NAPKINS

This is OK with a guest list of 10 or more but I don’t like using plastic utensils so we used silverware.  Just be careful they don’t end up in the garbage.  Make small signs to remind people. We also used plastic cups and were able to wash and store most of them.  I folded the paper napkins and arranged them nicely.  You can be creative without having to spend a lot of extra money or time.

 

DECOR

I don’t have a lot of time on my hands to do crafts and such and spending money on pricey patriotic decor is really not on my radar.  We did get some red cocktail napkins and I picked up some fresh cut flowers that morning.  How’s that for being green?

 

RSVP

This is an age old problem, maybe intrinsic to Los Angeles, where people wait to see if something better comes along.  I am sure I have been guilty of not responding, but I try my best to let the host/hostess know by the deadline they state.  If you want to be really nice you can contact individuals you haven’t heard back from a couple days prior to the event to see what’s going on.  I shy away from Evites- and prefer to design quick invites special to an event, then email them.  But that’s just me. 

 

Things to do next time:

HAVE A HELPER

Hire a helping hand to wash and cleanup-  this is something I have never done, and something I might try as I embark on my faux bougie ways.  For now though, I have amazing friends that are always so nice in helping out with this.  

 

EDIT THE MENU

I would say that making 3 courses was more than enough since there were so many people.  I will admit that the menu got out of hand since it has been so long since I have hosted anything of this proportion and the gourmand in me took over.  It was also Stephen’s hosting debut so we said ‘why not?’ 

 

 

And, the surprise gourmet dish Jen and David whipped up was enough to count for 2 whole courses.  They made mini pita pocket sandwiches stuffed with spicy lamb and chicken tikka with a tomato onion salad and raita sauce, paired with mango lassi. The lamb ’sold out’ very quickly, just as I thought people must be full by now! Everyone was trying to show Stephen and I up at our own party.  It’s a good thing my friends are not competitive.  

 

 

CUT UP STEAK IN BITE SIZE PIECES

Uhmmmm OK so I forgot to put out steak knives. At this point, I was tired of being the kitchen slave and had forgotten to either cut the steak smaller or put out knives, though I do not own 20 steak knives…so this is where one less course would have been a good idea.

 

 

To end on a happy and sweet note, liked the tasty sweets we had with coffee, the party was a huge hit.  My “co-ho”, Stephen, is ecstatic and can’t wait to host another one. So far, we have been receiving nothing but non-stop compliments that it was ‘the best Fourth ever’. 

 

I’m still recovering though and aside from all the work involved, was able to thoroughly enjoy myself, meet some new people, and try some new dishes.  Stephen and I had a lot of fun doing the market runs together and cooking side by side for a few hours in the kitchen. We are definitely basking in the glory of the post entertainment high by impressing some old and new friends.  My favorite dish was the pork belly with egg salad and octopus. It was inspired by a dish I had at Bar Tartine in San Francisco which I found to be very unusual but delicious.  I believe the flavor combination is very much inspired by various Spanish tapas.

 

Everyone’s a foodie these days and the dried up and shriveled, charred meats of BBQ’s are so 5 years ago.  Taking a traditional holiday and turning it into something truly memorable is what I love to do.  Now the only problem is - how do I top this one?

 

Recipes to be posted shortly in the FOOD section of wallflour.