Mike and his incredible team catered our wedding last summer in Incline Village. It was so much better than I ever dreamed it would be. My husband and I are foodies, so we wanted our wedding meal to be amazing, not typical dry banquet food. Farm to Belly succeeded! Mike is friendly, personable, and best of all... an AMAZING chef! Every moment of wedding dinner planning with him was wonderful, and that's saying something since I know I switched things on him a few times.
After talking to him on the phone from San Francisco, we set up a time to go up and do a tasting. We had told him we wanted local food, with a bit of a southern/Texan flair to appease our families that were flying in, but we also needed a vegetarian option. The day we met for the tasting he asked us if we wanted to meet in his kitchen or at a local park, of course we chose the park! When we got there he had set (with tablecloth and all) a little picnic table and was cooking/reheating food on a backpacking burner. It was awesome! And to reiterate the food was SO incredible!
For our wedding we settled on the following:
Appetizers:
Ahi poke on sunonomo cucumbers
Trombetta family meatballs with parmesan reggiano
Prosciutto wrapped local peaches with Marsala glaze
Almond and cayenne coated goat cheese bites
Salad:
Gary's greens with aged balsamic, roasted beets, pecans and shaved parmesan
Buffet Dinner:
Corn bread with local honey and La Brea dinner rolls with butter
Local green and yellow wax beans with morel mushrooms
Cauliflower and broccoli with chili flakes and garlic
Roasted fingerling potatoes with goat cheese and fresh herbs
Penne pasta with cauliflower, roasted red pepper and pecorino romano
BBQ pork shoulder with coleslaw
Oh my God! The appetizers were to die for... and that's coming from the bride who barely had time to stuff anything in my mouth :-) The pasta was also amazing. I've been trying to duplicate it, but haven't succeeded so far.
Before and during the wedding he was helpful, efficient, and all of his staff were so friendly!
There was even one point I guess my mother-in-law went into the kitchen to see about sticking a frozen pizza in the oven for my niece and a couple other little ones. Mike told her not to worry about it and that he'd put it in the oven and get it ready. Totally beyond what's expected when he's already cooking an amazing meal for 90 people!
So, to put it lightly, my husband and I are huge fans now! read more