Basics & Beyond: Special Events

Tara Fitzpatrick

Paul Streichert
Group Executive Chef
Bose Corporation
Sodexo
Framingham, MA

“We do special events in a corporate setting for all of our professional sports teams. We have special Opening Day Menus. People look forward to Opening Day Menus, and we use signage and jerseys to promote it.

“Bose has six locations, and they are all different demographically, so we adjust the menus accordingly. The menus start with a protein that people can choose, then a dozen items they can mix and match with it.

“Sliders work great for special menus, because people can try more than one combination. We offer a Buffalo Chicken Slider, a Southwest Slider and more. Ultimate Nachos go perfectly with the sports theme.”

John Castro
Head Chef
Winston's at Sullivan University
Louisville, KY

“The Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup are very special events here. I can't think of anywhere else people get so dressed up and go so crazy! We serve Mint Juleps and flights of bourbon. The weekends of the races are very celebratory; we scatter rose petals everywhere.

“For those weekends, we always do some traditional Louisville food items and drinks, and we make our menus special. People can write on the menus and fold them over, and the menu turns into a postcard. We've sent them all over the world.

“One item that's always on the menu, but especially popular during special events is the ‘Not Brown,’ my take on the classic Hot Brown (an open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon and Mornay sauce, first created in Louisville's Brown Hotel in 1926).

“I use a slice of fried green tomato for the ‘bread,’ and top it with crab and shrimp covered with the Mornay sauce and then put the Not Brown under the broiler. (Mornay sauce is a Bechamel sauce with cheese added). It's one of our most popular menu items, not just for special events.”

Matthew Conley
Sous Chef
Salisbury University
Salisbury, MD

The Festival of Foods can be so many different things, depending on the time of year. We have done a Farmer's Market Fair, Hispanic Heritage Month, Vegan Candlelight, Evening in Tibet and Family Weekend, among others. We just had Lobster Fest on October 27, and we served 2,000 lobsters.

Our special events are at dinner time, between, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The Farmer's Market menu includes Amish baked pork chops, broccoli-artichoke casserole and vegan cheesecake with mango sauce.

For the Evening in Tibet, we serve Tibetan curry with beef (shamday), flat breads (pita and lavash) and Himalayan rice pudding with cashews and coconut (khir).

This September, the Family Weekend theme was Under the Harvest Moon Dinner. We served spiced cider, rosemary rib roast, Downeast Deviled Crab, cheesy corn casserole, roasted squash, cobbler, chocolate-pumpkin cake and candy corn parfaits.