ReMARKable Palate: A Food blog & Podcast from New York City Personal Chef Mark Tafoya » personal chef

Holiday Special Menu

Chef Mark — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:33:19 +0000

Winter Special:

This season, I’m offering a special price on Personal Chef Dinners for 2, 4, or 6 people in Manhattan. It’s the perfect gift for a food lover, recent parent, or your sweetie, a fabulous way to thank clients for their business, or just an excuse to have a great gourmet dinner at home that you don’t have to cook! I present the recipient with a gift certificate for the service, which they can redeem when it’s convenient!

$425 for an all inclusive 4 course dinner for two

$525 for an all inclusive 4 course dinner for four

$650 for an all inclusive 4 course dinner for six

By having set menus with 2 or 3 choices for each course, I’m able to offer it at a lower price than the normal menus which are completely customized, as a means of introducing the service to new customers. Price includes shopping, setup, cooking, serving and cleanup! (Menu Substitutions possible for an additional fee)

Please ask me about the special Manhattan Holiday dinner pricing when you call.
Please Note: Scheduling is subject to availability. To assure you get the date you want, please contact me with plenty of advanced notice, preferably 3 or 4 weeks in advance. Thanks!

917-405-0088

remarkablepalate@gmail.com

Current Menu

First Course:

Red & White Salad with Candied Pecans, Dried Figs & Goat Cheese
or
Fennel & Blood Orange Salad with Red Currants and Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano

Soup:

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Grannysmith Apple Garnish
or
Apple & Turnip Soup with Cinnamon Creme Fraiche
or
Hearty Carrot & Ginger Soup

Main Course:

Apple & Cinnamon Glazed Cornish Hens
or
Bourbon Pork Loin Stuffed with Nuts & Dried Fruits
or
Porcini Mushroom Risotto

Dessert:

Poached Pears with Raspberry Coulis
or
Rustic Apple Crostata with Whipped Cream
or
Rustic Blueberry Crostata with Lemon Curd
or
Champagne Saboyon with Roasted Fruits

Winter Special Dinner Party

Chef Mark — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 06:48:26 +0000

Tonight I cooked a dinner for clients who received a dinner for 4 as a gift certificate for Christmas from their brother. He took advantage of my Winter Special pricing for a dinner for 4, and they chose the following dishes. They can all be found in our Gilded Fork Cookbook!

Radicchio, Endive & Arugula Salad with Candied Pecans, Figs and Goat Cheese

Apple & Turnip Soup with Cinnamon Crème Fraiche

Here is the Main Course dish resting, just waiting to be cut into! It’s our Dried Fruit and Nut Stuffed Pork Loin Roast, which you can find in our Gilded Fork Cookbook.

And here it is sliced and served alongside brussels sprouts and mixed brown rice. The clients had a cute heart-shaped measuring cup, which served as the perfect mold for the rice, showing lots of love!

And we rounded out the dinner with a dish that has become a favorite of my clients at these dinners: Poached Pears with Raspberry Coulis. This is a slight variation on a favorite recipe on the site and in our cookbook, Poached Pears with Chocolate Raspberry Sauce.

Advance Food Prep and Storage Tips Video for About.com

Chef Mark — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:24:15 +0000

How to Cook Meals in Advance

This is a video that was recently produced for About.com’s Frugal Living Website. A few months back, a producer from about.com approached me about shooting a video about what it’s like to be a Personal Chef, and while we were shooting, she asked me to share some tips for home cooks about preparing food in advance and artful use of the freezer to keep the house stocked with homemade food. This video is the result.

You can see the full video and post at About.com

Chef Mark Quoted in NYPost’s “Celeb Chefs Dish On The Stars”

Chef Mark — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:04:07 +0000

I was interviewed last week by a reporter from the NY Post, who was interested in the new Food Network show “Private Chefs of Beverly Hills“, and the article just came out in Wednesday’s NY Post.

I managed to steer her to how we as personal chefs are different than private chefs, and just how accessible the service is to regular folks. Although I had to give her a few tidbits of capricious requests from my days as a private chef to a billionaire…

I pointed her towards the lovely Chef Debbie Spangler of Yummy~issimo in Cincinnati, who was quoted, and a friend who cooks for “The Boss” in New Jersey. She also quoted my good friend Denise Vivaldo of Food Fanatics.

Despite the celeb dishing, she wrote a very balanced article, I think, and kept in much of what I stressed to her about how a personal chef service is great for regular folks, and not JUST for celebs.

“You hear stories — ‘I want this particular ice cream [so] send the pilot to go get it,’ ” says Mark Tafoya, who briefly worked as a private chef for a New York-based billionaire with a jet and his own island in the Caribbean.

It’s not uncommon for a private chef to get a last-minute order to cook a luncheon for 60 people or to produce a favorite dish on a yacht in an exotic locale. (“I brought a lot of bagels,” recalls Tafoya of his frequent trips to the Caribbean.)

Of course, if the price is right, some say no request is too extravagant.

“I always say I don’t work with celebrities because they’re interesting and brilliant. I work with them because they have money,” says Vivaldo, who wrote the primer, “How To Start a Home-Based Personal Chef Business.”

And then there is the intimacy that comes with cooking another person’s meals three times a day, seven days a week (with the occasional day off).

“I haven’t had anyone walk in naked on me, thank God,” jokes Debbie Spangler, a personal chef for musician Peter Frampton (a strict vegetarian) and several members of the Cincinnati Bengals. (“I’ve never seen a group of men eat so much in my life!” An average meal consists of a pound of protein per player — from stuffed pork tenderloin to bacon-wrapped turkey medallions — plus trimmings.)

Unfortunately, Vivaldo wasn’t spared the following burst of oversharing: A client once asked her to brew up a pot of joe — because they wanted to make a coffee enema.

“I said, Is that regular or decaf?” she recalls. “I was astounded.”

All of this explains why so many in the business ultimately choose to forgo a full-time job as a private chef to an eccentric celeb or blue blood, opting instead for the role of “personal chef,” which involves working for multiple clients, often at different income brackets.

“We’re not just for the uber-rich [who want] caviar spoon-fed to them on their private yacht,” explains Tafoya, who runs his own personal chef business, the Manhattan-based Remarkable Palate. He says he’s seen an “enormous upswing” in demand for his services in the past decade — especially among single workaholics and double-income professional types busy starting families.

While private chefs can earn as much as $100,000 a year, personal chefs usually charge by the hour or flat fee (about $50 to $75 an hour, plus groceries). Some whip up a whole week’s worth of meals — neatly labeled and ready to reheat — as part of a day’s work. Others prepare swoon-worthy engagement and anniversary dinners, or meals are sometimes “given” as wedding gifts. (A dinner for two typically costs somewhere between $300 and $500.)

But even ordinary New Yorkers can act like high-maintenance celebs when it comes to their food. No matter what or where he cooks in the city, Tafoya says one thing remains constant: “The size of the kitchen and the niceness of the appliances is inversely proportional to how much they’re used.”

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Valentine’s Day Surprise Proposal Dinner

Chef Mark — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:37:13 +0000

As a personal chef, I regularly get a front row seat to some of life’s most special moments. From birthday celebrations to anniversary dinners and business deals, I am there in the kitchen just off to the side when people celebrate the most important moments of their life.

Valentine’s Day is usually one of the most sought after dates for a Romantic Dinner for Two. This year, I was contacted six weeks ahead of the big date by a young man who planned to use the big Vday holiday to propose to his girlfriend. We sent many emails back and forth developing the menu, and this one went in a different direction than normal. Often, people choose to have “fancy” foods for these special meals, choosing expensive proteins and exotic preparations. He wanted instead to choose dishes that had significance for them as a couple.

He remembered with fondness having shrimp quesadillas at Dos Caminos on their first date, and insisted on having that on the menu. No problem! I just had to make fresh tortillas! He also wanted a Caesar Salad, since it’s their favorite salad, and they order it all the time when eating out. She adores scallops, so that HAD to be on the menu, and he wanted a special romantic dessert that would be a lead-in to popping the question. We had planned for apple-cinnamon empanadas at first, in keeping with the Southwestern theme, but a week before the big event, he had second thoughts about that, wanting to make the dessert the proposal. I suggested the heart-shaped apple tarts, but how to write “Will you marry me?” on them? If I were to use icing, it would melt quickly given the hot tart. Luckily a friend of his suggested a piece of chocolate with the message written on it. He took care of buying that ao I could focus on preparing the meal.

It’s always an honor to be there when a couple gets engaged, and this one was extra special. He was SOOO nervous, and I think this meal went by faster than normal, since he was anxious to get to the end. Rather than waiting 15-20 minutes between courses, he signaled quickly that he was ready for the next course. We had decided in advance that when it came time to bring out the dessert with the proposal message on it, I’d call him into the kitchen to “help” me bring it out, so that he could take it to her himself. She was genuinely surprised. She really had no idea that this would be anything more than a romantic meal. I hung back in the kitchen to give them their privacy, but I heard every word. His speech to her was one for the movies, as he explained why he had chosen each course, and what she means to him. I could hear him choking up as he got to the end and asked her to marry him, and I was tearing up a little myself! Luckily, she said yes!

As you can imagine, when I’m cooking these dinners, my primary focus is always the preparation of the food, but I do manage to find a few moments here and there to snap photos with my iPhone, which admittedly, doesn’t produce the best photos. However, it’s a quick and easy way to document the dishes, and I can share them in almost real time via twitter and Whrrl. Here’s the photo essay from Whrrl:

More check-ins at Client Kitchen, Gramercy Park

If you’re in New York City and would like to have me prepare a special meal for you, call me at 917-405-0088 for info.

A Surf & Turf Dinner Party!

Chef Mark — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:06:40 +0000

I’ve headed across NY Harbor 4 times this past month to cook dinners for the same client (whom I GREATLY appreciate!) who lives in Staten Island, just steps away from the Ferry Terminal, so despite the long subway ride from Upper Manhattan and the ferry ride, it’s actually quite convenient. This is the 4th and final of the dinners. This night, the client was having over some of his best friends for a guy’s night dinner, & wanted guy’s food! When he asked for Surf & Turf, I thought to myself “Geez, I’ve never done that for a client before, it’s the kind of meal you go to a seafood restaurant or steakhouse for.” But the great thing about a personal chef service is that everything is personalized and customized, so of course I said yes!

The hard part was getting the timing right. The main course involved steak, lobster and risotto, all 3 of which require to-the-minute timing! (especially since we had steak orders for medium-rare, medium, & medium-well!) Since the risotto takes 20 minutes, I started that, and then was aflurry with the rest of the cooking as I kept coming back to the pot and wooden spoon to stir! Luckily, the broccoli I had pre-cooked and just heated up right before service. I managed to get it all plated in time (including the drawn butter, but excluding the fancy “Charlie Brown Cut” lemons, which didn’t make it to the plate when I took the photo, but which I sent to the table later).

More check-ins at Staten island ferry

Chef Mark’s Dishes du Jour

Chef Mark — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:14:29 +0000

More check-ins at Client’s Kitchen

A Winter Dinner Party in Staten Island

Chef Mark — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 06:02:46 +0000

More check-ins at Client’s home in Staten Island

Winter Special Menu

Chef Mark — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:40:48 +0000

Winter Special:

This winter season, I’m offering a special price on Personal Chef Dinners for 2, 4, or 6 people in Manhattan. It’s the perfect gift for a food lover, recent parent, or your sweetie, a fabulous way to thank clients for their business, or just an excuse to have a great gourmet dinner at home that you don’t have to cook!

$400 for an all inclusive 4 course dinner for two

$500 for an all inclusive 4 course dinner for four

$600 for an all inclusive 4 course dinner for six

By having set menus with 2 choices for each course, I’m able to offer it at a lower price than the normal menus which are completely customized, as a means of introducing the service to new customers. Price includes shopping, setup, cooking, serving and cleanup! (Menu Substitutions possible for an additional fee)

Please ask me about the special Manhattan Winter dinner pricing when you call.

917-405-0088

remarkablepalate@gmail.com

Current Menu

Salad:

Pear & Prosciutto Salad over Mixed Greens with Sherry Vinaigrette
or
Fennel & Blood Orange Salad with Red Currants and Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano

Soup:

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Grannysmith Apple Garnish
or
Apple & Turnip Soup with Cinnamon Creme Fraiche

Main Course:

Lavender & Balsamic Roasted Cornish Hens
or
Bourbon Pork Loin Stuffed with Nuts & Dried Fruits

Dessert:

Poached Pears with Raspberry Coulis

or
Rustic Apple Crostata with Whipped Cream

A Personal Chef Cookday in Pictures

Chef Mark — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:15:09 +0000

More check-ins at Client’s Kitchen