New Years Eve Memories

I had just opened my catering company; so small, so innocent. My visions were as big as the estates I was catering in. My marketing plan was simple: blatantly lie about my successes until I actually HAD successes. If I did an event for 10 people, I would tell the next client it was for 100 people, you get the idea. Eventually, I didn’t have to fib anymore; I developed a real track record and real success. But for this event…I was still a newbie!

My first official kitchen was a rented space in a now long defunct bakery in San Diego. For 500 dollars a month, I got the honor of renting a table and two shelves in the walk-in refrigerator, where I was allowed to prepare foods from 8pm until 3am. I do believe that the alcoholic megalomaniac narcissist baker has long since departed this earth, so, I won’t make the story about him. 

I received a call 3 days before the “end of the year” holiday. Two twenty something year old brothers had just rented a mansion in the exclusive Fairbanks Ranch neighborhood in Rancho Santa Fe, California. They wanted a fun and festive New Years Eve party, yet with fairly casual foods for their non ‘foodie’ guests. They insisted on a design of black, white and yellow. Why Yellow? Who knows, however, if they wanted a ‘bumble bee’ party, I was the guy for the job! 

The boys were from Mexico City, so I created Latin flavors with some upscale finer dining concepts for an interesting cocktail party. The crowd would be younger, so I kept the foods understandable & approachable. 

All of the tables were layered with 3 tablecloths, white, black and yellow.

The flowers were sunflowers with painted black horsetail ferns and black sticks in white vases.

Every chair and cloth napkin was an alternating color based on the 3 choices.

The tray passed appetizers were all presented on large clocks that were set to the 12 o’clock hour.

My servers looked amazing in all black uniforms with yellow ties and white gloves.

The clients were so impressed with my attention to detail, and even I was shocked that I pulled it all together in such a short period of time! As I ran the kitchen, creating foods and checking every detail on the front of the house for the 10th time, I noticed that my watch said 9.45 pm. Still unsure of myself at that point, I asked the boys again…“When are the guests expected?” The confident response was a jubilant “anytime now, Matthew!”

As I looked around the room and saw very uncomfortable waiters with nothing to do, my food beyond ready to serve and the 2 hosts drinking copious amounts of the agave tequila that I had supplied, I noticed that the clock was now stating it was 11.15pm and there was not a guest in sight. Was it possible that 45 of the hosts’ guests had boycotted? Was it something I said? Did they move New Years Eve to a different day? 

When the 12 alarm clocks that I had placed all over the house all chimed together at midnight, the only toasts were now soggy crostinis! The hosts finally discovered that neither of them had sent out a single invitation!

Phone calls were rapidly made, my staff and I left everything in place and vacated, and as the story goes...the friends started arriving at 5am and continued to party throughout the day, grazing on the ‘leftovers’ of one of my very first productions.

It remains to this day…one of the most bizarre catering experiences. I guess if there is a morel to the story? Please good friends, try to remember to actually invite your guests!!!