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    Dinner with Luca

    5.0 (21 reviews)
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    Services - Dinner with Luca

    Catering

    Gluten-free catering

    Personal chefs

    2 More Services

    Vegan catering

    Vegetarian catering

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    Sea Scallops - green pea purée, couscous, beets, quail egg

    Dinner with Luca was all-around incredible! I cannot recommend him enough. My friends and I booked an Airbnb for a bachelorette party in the Poconos. We traveled from NYC and was hoping to find fine dining near our stay. Instead, we found Luca, who came to our Airbnb and cooked a beautiful custom 3 course seafood dinner. The first course was pan seared scallops (with green pea purée, couscous, beets, quail eggs), the second course was baby octopus and chorizo pasta, and third was red snapper (with parsnip puree, spinach, saffron-vanilla). Each course was beautifully cooked, portioned, and plated, and the seasoning was well-balanced. I'm not exaggerating when I say "No plate was left un-scraped." We heavily considered slicing some French bread to scrape the sauces off our plates that our silverware couldn't otherwise pick up... Luca spoiled us, and the ladies are in agreement that we no longer want to go to a restaurant for fine-dining experiences when we have Luca. Not only is Luca an amazing (master)chef, but he is also an amazing person to be around. From the minute he arrived, through prep time, through dinner, through dessert (we had supplied ourselves), through clean-up, and until the moment he left, Luca was nothing but friendly, genuine, and entertaining. Thank you, Chef, for a truly unforgettable dinner!

    Shannon L.

    Luca and his sous chef, Erin, were incredible. They came to my Airbnb and cooked us a delicious family style meal for my friend's bachelorette party. We were so impressed. Luca is so friendly and took appropriate COVID precautions. Would hire again if ever traveling to this area. He is Season 4 WINNER of Gordon Ramsey's Master Chef with. He's a big deal haha

    The meal that won Master Chef!
    Diana S.

    We hired Chef Luca for our moms 60th birthday, Chef Luca did not disappoint in any aspect! We had a four course meal that was absolutely delicious with high quality ingredients. Chef Luca and his assistant Amanda were beyond personable, professional, and courteous. Chef was very accommodating to us and made it a night we will not forget! Ps. Chef Luca made a complimentary meal (pasta bolognese) for our little kiddos that joined us , it was some of the best I've ever tasted, he interacted with our kids (and dogs) and made them feel included! We will definitely use him again and highly recommend him if you want a truly unique and special experience! Thank you, Chef!

    Jennifer M.

    Luca is amazing. I had him make dinner for my husband and I on his birthday. We hung out with him while he cooked for a couple of hours which was a ton of fun and then he served us an incredible meal. We had some traditional Italian dishes with Luca's own twist. The polenta with octopus was my hubbys favorite, and mine was the lamb ragu over papradelle. I thought hiring a private chef was going to be crazy expensive... but compared to going out for a nice meal with wine it was a little higher but not much. Such a fun, romantic twist on a normal celebration for us. Luca was professional, personable, and incredibly fun. All the stars for this pro!

    Chris N.

    Luca came over to make dinner for me and my girlfriend on her birthday. If you are hesitant don't be it was well worth it. The food was absolutely amazing and he was incredibly nice and engaging the entire evening. He answered all of our questions, gave us pointers on how to cook, all while preparing our meal perfectly. The price was a steal for the professional service and quality of the food.

    The B.

    Always an amazing experience with Luca! He makes amazing dishes that are prepared with so much love and care! He also has such and amazing aura and personality that you're sure to love! I'm addicted to his food and I promise you will be too!

    Asparagus flan with cheese fondue and crispy speck
    Michael M.

    This is a story about the ENTIRE experience of Dinner with Luca, enjoy! First I would like to say that it was an HONOR to have Luca cook for my friends and I. I was scrolling through FB when I saw Luca announcing that he was on the move to Texas and that Dinner with Luca will be available. Out of curiosity, I decided to send him an email to see if he would come to Houston. Amazingly, he replied and said that he actually just MOVED to Houston! We exchanged several emails detailing the amount of people I wanted to have, the cost, and the menu. Luca was very nice and even accommodated my menu request because one of our friends couldn't eat one of the meats that we had chosen. We eventually decided on a date to have my "Dinner with Luca" party and the show was on. Funny story, Luca actually arrived at my house a day early. My parents called and asked why there was an Italian guy asking to come in and cook, lol. If I can remember correctly, Luca arrived about 3.5 hours ahead of dinner time to prepare. We invited him in and helped brought in the necessary pots and pans, etc to the kitchen. I was overwhelmed by how much stuff he had with him, but knew that it was going to be a great meal. My friends started to arrive shortly after Luca's arrival. We were able to talk to Luca about his experience on Masterchef, food, and cooking in general while he was preparing the food for us. We all loved his sense of humor and personality. It felt sort of surreal because I was just watching him on TV and now he's physically in my house cooking. What was nice was that he was no different than the Luca on TV (sometimes you hear reality tv show people are different in real life). Now on to the food, the menu for the night was: Appetizer - Asparagus flan with cheese fondue and crispy speck Middle Course - Chilled pea soup with butter poached lobster Main Course - Roasted rack of lamb with charred carrots, sunchokes puree and pepper sauce Main Course (for 1 friend) - Sea bass with parsnips puree, snow peas and vanilla-saffron sauce Dessert - Pistacchio panna cotta with white chocolate mousse and strawberries I can say that I now understand the pressure they go through when they have to prepare items like those on the show, and this was for 6 people with probably not as powerful of a kitchen as Masterchef had. It was great that my friends and I were able to participate (we wanted to help) in some of the preparation of the dishes. The experience we had of learning from "the master" was unforgettable. I've never had asparagus flan before and now I want it every day if possible. It was so fluffy, soft, and the taste of the asparagus was incredible. As a huge fan of lobster but not so huge fan of peas, I can tell everyone now that I will definitely have seconds of the chilled pea soup. The lobster was just amazingly poached in butter. The rack of lamb was very fresh and seasoned very well, and the pepper sauce that went with it was out of the world. Of course the pistacchio panna cotta topped off the night with the sweet white chocolate mousse and fresh strawberries. Overall, Luca was at my house for about 6 hours, he talked to us, cooked for us, and cleaned up too (I helped in some way, I'm not that lazy). My friends and I were all satisfied and appreciated Luca for giving us this amazing experience. We were lucky to be the first people to do Dinner with Luca in Texas! And we shall do it again soon! Check out my video for a recap of our "Dinner with Luca" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4NNJ0moK1M Ciao!

    Luca rack of lamb with feta and asparagus

    Luca came to our house to cook for a party of nine (birthday celebration). He arrived around 2pm to start prep, and he was incredibly engaging and happy to discuss how he was making dinner, as well talk at length about his Masterchef experience. We also discussed Italian wine and desserts. His general knowledge and showmanship made the cooking the entertainment before dinner. Dinner itself was fabulous. Four course dinner starting with scallops, then lemon/asparagus risotto, lamb rack, and dessert was olive oil cake with strawberry/rutabaga compote. Absolutely delicious, and everyone had a great time. This is a highly recommended experience.

    Our amazing pancetta wrapped veal scaloppini starter.
    Scottie V.

    My dinner with Luca was a wonderful surprise for a very special birthday. From start to finish Luca was fantastic! He came in early and was very friendly. He was sweet to answer a ridiculous amount of questions about his Master Chef experience and life in general. Dinner was absolutely spectacular- pancetta wrapped veal scaloppini, filet mignon Chateaubriand, and chocolate lava cake for dessert. It was a larger party and he handled it like the pro that he is. If you are considering this, DO IT! It absolutely made for an unforgettable evening for all of us. He is funny, charming, and delightful and can absolutely cook like the master that he is. Dinner with Luca really is the whole package!

    Personalized menu for our NYE dinner in the Poconos

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    Thanks a lot guys!

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    Thank you so much!

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    Ask the Community - Dinner with Luca

    Review Highlights - Dinner with Luca

    We rented a house in the Poconos for our friends bachelorette and hired chef Luca .

    Mentioned in 6 reviews

    Read more highlights

    Elite Gourmet Catering - Chef Robert McManus and his wife Donna, Owners of Elite Gourmet Catering, Inc.

    Elite Gourmet Catering

    (3 reviews)

    Working with Donna and Bob from Elite Gourmet Catering was a pleasure from start to finish. My…read morehusband and I had booked them for our October 2016 wedding and they were both very down-to-earth and friendly from the beginning; months prior to our wedding, we were invited to their home for a tasting featuring several items from one of their menus, and we were blown away by how delicious everything was and how much care went into making us and our families feel welcome. They were very timely in keeping in touch with us and answering our many questions leading up to the wedding day. On the day itself, we (and our guests) were so happy with the quality of the food and the service, as well as the service of the catering staff and bartender. Guests couldn't stop talking about how good the buffet was, and I was especially grateful that they did such a nice job of serving the homemade wedding cakes I brought to the venue (it was wonderful that they wrapped up individual slices and set them out on the tables for people to take home, which was such a nice touch!). In spite of some minor hiccups on my part, they handled everything with grace and understanding, making our event a memorable one that our guests still commend to this day. It was definitely apparent that Donna and Bob knew what they were doing and I'm so glad we chose them for our wedding. I highly recommend Elite Gourmet Catering to couples looking for a painless planning experience!

    Thanks Elite!!! You're the best! No hassles. No worries. I can count on you to do that I asked…read morewithout babysitting you. If more businesses were like you I'd have less gray hairs!!

    La Cucina di Lydia - What is left of my meal

    La Cucina di Lydia

    (6 reviews)

    I just wanted to leave a follow up on our last order. Unfortunately, someone forgot about dinner…read morecoming, so we just refrigerated everything overnight and had it the next evening. We just placed it on the plate, heated it up, and dinner is served. Reminder: The key to reheating any meal is not to nuke it but heat it like 2 minutes, then 30 seconds at a time until it is the temperature you like. The Caesar Salads were good as always. I personally use all my dressing, my better half, only about half of it. The Risotto Balls were surprisingly still very moist and cheesy after heating them up. Boy were they good. The Eggplant Rollatini app was totally enjoyed by the wife. She actually shared some with me this time. LOL The Chicken Parm is always amazing. This time was no different. I am not a big spaghetti fan unless its thin or angel hair. There was plenty of pasta and the chicken was still moist & tender. The Chicken Francese is always a favorite. I really like lemon so the lemon slices added were just what the doctor ordered. The chicken, again, was moist & tender with the pasta cooked al dente which made it great to heat up. Oh how I've missed you Chocolate Raspberry Lava Cake. It was ohhhhh soooooo goood. Last week the Lemon Mascarpone was absolutely moist and flavorful. I've said this before, if you have not tried the La Cucina di Lydia menu for $15 for a salad, appetizer and dinner (yes dessert is extra) you are "TOTALLY MISSING OUT" on a well prepared, perfectly cooked, just like mama made, delicious Italian meal. The price includes delivery and I have no problem adding a tip on for the delivery drivers, who are always punctual, polite and efficient. TRY THEM....IF YOUR NOT....YOU'RE MISSING OUT! Time to message them at https://www.facebook.com/lacucinadilydia and place our next order before the delivery schedule fills up! ENJOY

    I've heard rumors where the poor reviews came from. Ignore them. I've had 4 apps and 4 entrees and…read morethey were all very good. Pick one, you'll enjoy it. You CANNOT go out and enjoy this quality for this price. BYOB! We will be ordering from here again. Unless you want another pizza, try this instead! A

    Dinner with Luca - catering - Updated July 2026

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