Party Like a Rock Star... {part two}
It takes an army!!
It takes an army!!
It was a cold and snowy Friday afternoon, three nights before the World's most brilliant catered event of the year, produced by Denver, Colorado's own: Catering by Design. Our generals and colonels landed safely in Vegas that morning, but our lieutenants and soldiers were unexpectedly stranded behind. With cold fronts closing in from every direction, the email came in from Commander-in-chief Ingrid Nagy shortly after 5pm: ALL FLIGHTS TO VEGAS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.
What do we do? How do we make this happen? Being professional problem solvers, our plates were full this time. Mother Nature had separated the CBD Army, leaving us unfit for the battle we had been training for all year.
The next few hours consisted of an overflow chain reaction of freak out emails, phone calls and text messages.
"What do we do?!?" "Where do we go?!?" "Who has spoken to Cade, Ingrid or Gunnar most recently?!?" "We're going to the airport to get on stand-by with another airline!?!" "Wait now we're driving?!?" "WTF?!?" "I'm still packing!!!" "Where's Kat?!?" "How much are buses?!?" "OMG!?!" "Everybody meet at the shop ASAP!!!" "Back to the airport to rent mini-vans?!?" "Has anybody gotten ahold of KAT!!!" "Do we drive through Utah or New Mexico?!?" "Is everybody here?!?"
Magically by 10pm, there were 13 of us headed Westbound on Interstate-70. Similar to your favorite "Ice Road Trucker" episode, we clocked a consistent 30 MPH through Utah. At one pit stop, we had to use head lamps and Iphone flashlights to walk inside and use the restrooms due to heavy snow taking out the power at the "middle of nowhere" gas station, a great beginning to next year's top selling horror flick.
But by lunch time on Saturday, the Vegas Strip appeared in the distance; all 13 of us exhausted, but safe and sound. We were welcomed by big hugs from Ingrid, Brandi and Angela, both parties absolutely 100% relieved to see each other.
Monday Night's event was flawless, close to 2,000 caterers/event professionals from around the World, people who "WOW" people for a living, were once again "WOW'd" by Denver, Colorado's Catering by Design. With innovative designs complimenting our never-before seen food and beverage presentations, a feeling of true event harmony engulfed the atmosphere the night of March 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Harmony at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Written by Casey Cooper, Senior Event Captain, Catering By Design, Denver
from the perspective of a staff
that rocks together, rolls together,
road trips in a snow storm together,
because the show must go on!
Welcome to Part Two of the CaterBuzz Blog coverage of Catersource 2013 Harmony at Hard Rock Event. We hope you enjoyed the welcome drink upon arrival and funky level two stations in the Part One blog writeup. Now, let's take a trip up to the third level of the Hard Rock Cafe where some GROOVIN' concepts, food, libations and entertainment await.
Come take a peek at what happens
when 1700 caterers and event specialists
come together for
Food, Love
and Rock & Roll
Produced by Executive Producer Cade Nagy
and Creative Director Dan Smith
and Creative Director Dan Smith
a private Hard Rock function room transforms into the Spin Art Area flipping from savory to sweet later in the event.
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| the attendant placed a square wavy EMI Yoshi plate in the spin art machine and let guests squeeze colored sugar syrups through the grates to create personalized spin art masterpieces. |
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| Tie Dye Salad filo cup, basil-pecorino flan petite greens and micro flowers tempura aspargus honey worcestershire aioli |
Catering By Design staff Member Linda, a Denver native, has been with Cade and Ingrid for 18 months. An avid baker all her life, she exclaimed excitedly that hers is best job ever; her dream job in fact. For the Harmony Event Linda was responsible for baking close to 2,000 vanilla cupcakes and hundreds of filo cups.
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| CBD Baked 2,000 Tye Die Cupcakes |
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| check out the Lycra Tye Die table clothes. |
The tubes that were filled
with frosting come empty,
ready to be filled, in many sizes.
You will need to purchase a crimping tool.
They are a fun way of letting guests interact
with their food and can be used for both
sweet and savory applications.
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| ORIGINAL NAPKIN SKETCH IDEA OF SPIN ART TIE DYE STATION SETUP DONE BY DAN SMITH AND CADE NAGY ON ONE OF THEIR EARLY SITE INSPECTIONS |
Hand built by the "By Design Global" team,
the Art of The Cocktail Wall
offered 27 feet of colorful
self served adult beverages.
Guests were encouraged
to drink this artful presentation away.
While adding bold splashes of color that echoed the Harmony Event's retro sixties theme, the wall of inventively crafted and bejeweled liquor infusions in fact created an ever shifting culinary interaction.
Harmony's colorful libation installation played on the concept that
Art is a always a matter of taste.
One guest observed that as the night progressed, the shifting levels of the liquid offered a "feeling groovy" visual habitat that reminded him of colored sand art but tasted a whole lot better.
Have your Art and Drink it too!
The drinks were mixed and pumped out of
clear cambro lexican containers
housed behind the wall.
The Art
of the
Cocktail Menu
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| Carved Ice Bowl on Ice Pedestal National Ice Carving Association |
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| Cambro brand Lexan Boxes with each flavored cocktail housed behind the wall with tubes running into the plexiglass tank |
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| Which one would you like to try? Convenient wall spouts made "pouring" a breeze. |
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| grown up Kwel - Aid absolut sponsor: Pernod Ricard flavored gels: Pregel America |
Smoked Pork Spoon Bread Casserole
"Pork Booty" prepared
topped with Fresh Origins Microgreens
Old Chafers take on a New Life !!!
Can't you just imagine these powder coated
white retro chafers on a
retro-chic summer wedding?
Combining modern
with retro looks
on table-scapes
really works when you
go monochromatic.
The by Design Global Team
broke up the white on white look
of the casserole station
with menu signs studded
with colored flower heads.
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| Smoked Pork Spoon Bread Casserole slow smoked pork booty creamy cornmeal spoonbread triple pepper BBQ butter fresh origins micro rainbow mix |
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| "Fun Facts" about powder coating and repurposing old or new metal equipment such as chafers, trays, and tables |
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| NAPKIN DRAWING OF SOUL KITCHEN SETUP UP AS ENVISIONED BY CATERING BY DESIGN, DENVER EVENT PRODUCERS DAN SMITH AND CADE NAGY FOR CATERSOURCE 2013HARMONY AT THE HARD ROCK SOUL KITCHEN SETUP. |
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| Not your Mama's Tuna Casserole cold smoked albacore tuna soy wild mushroom cream beet greens garlic chive seasoned pasta sharp cheddar beet chip crunch sautéed red grapes |
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| retro chic repurposed white powder coated chafers |
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| retro-chic tamale pie casserole oaxacan black mole Red Bird natural chicken + potato sweet masa pudding avocado crema fresh origins micro cilantro in American Metalcraft pans. |
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| sponsors: Colorado's own redbird farms chicken microgreens: fresh origins microgreens metal balti dishes: american metalcraft |
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| the retro-chic white powder coated chafers and station are flipped from casseroles to dipping ponds for frozen banana + strawberries. |
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| flavored chocolate candy coatings frozen banana + strawberry fruit skewers |
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| warm gelato coating flavors from Pre Gel America white chocolate strawberry*chocolate*pistachio coffee*lemon |
*Bi-level industrial kitchen chic
stainless steel tables
*Chef driven drummer pots + pan band
aptly named "The Whisk Beat".
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| SOUL KITCHEN NAPKIN DRAWING |
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| march to the beat of the chef drummers |
The industrial kitchen setup of the Soul Kitchen station offered a surprise twist. Every so often the Chef drummers got up on the stage and played a set on the pots and pans.
The guests went
wild for a taste
of the "bands"
off the hook "Whisk Beat"!
The Servers were excited + rocking too!
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| smoked pork cheek meatball poutine... This guy sold me on trying them! Loved dem balls! |
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| Poutine is trending hot twist it up and make it your own like Catering by Design did ! |
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| melamine fry cones in black and white from American MetalCraft |
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| a closer look at the cone setup... The setup only varied in the color of the cones across the trio meatball offerings. sponsored products: cones, risers and lights: American MetalCraft sterno + candles: SternoCandleLamp Cambro Cartsdisposable linen napkins: MYdrap |
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| how cool are these disposable tear off linen beverage napkins from MYdrap available in any color you can imagine. |
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| Buffalo chicken meatballs fried ranch potatoes, micro celery + blue cheese salad |
Pre-boiled potato balls were deep fried and tossed in powdered ranch dressing.
Potatoes can be cooked ahead, drained well and cyrovac bagged
ready to flash fry on site.
Potatoes can be cooked ahead, drained well and cyrovac bagged
ready to flash fry on site.
with a crowd this size
from all points of the globe
vegetarian offerings
are key to rounding out menu options.
Twisted up Falafel Balls
and a spin on Fattoush Salad
Fabulous and Fun for Everyone.
Large catered events require
careful planning and thought
as to how the food will flow.
Having the food replenished
right behind the display ensured guests
easy access to a plentitude of food that was fresh and hot without servers having to maneuver through the crowds with heavy trays.
While there were minimal passed foods offered at the Harmony event, with so many interesting "action" stations, there was always LOTS of food available. Plentiful stations allowed for a very smooth event flow in the bi level space.
Creating "Action Stations" like this where the pace can be quick or slow depending on need is a smart catering decision.
Besides the fact that
not only caterers,
but most guests
love to watch
the creative process
due to the ever popular
food channel mentality.
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| OYSTERS ROCK ROADIE CART GRAFITTI ADDED AN EDGY URBAN TOUCH |
When we asked Dan Smith, CbD Creative Director and co producer of the Harmony at the Hard Rock Event what his favorite station was he immediately took us to the kitchen.
The World Tour Soup Cart
featuring
Oysters Rock Bisque
- a spin off
on the classic
Oysters Rockerfeller
Thanks Dan, for showing us the setup for the roving Soup Cart housed in a specially altered Roadie Cart.
opening the doors of
the roadie cart reveals
signage and shelving
that will hold
the oyster rock soup pails
and towards the later
part of the event
the black light poster
moves to reveal
Mini Four Leches Cakes Sign.
the CbD staff
had fun with
insider referenced graffitti.
Ingrid was certainly here
and her influence
was felt throughout the event.
as all great events
you want your guests
to leave on a happy note.
Have a Nice Chip
Sixties Smiley Faces baked
between two thin slices of potato.
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| the Have a Nice Chip tray was backlit highlighting the smiley face design. |
CaterBuzz would like to express our deep gratitude for the hospitality and courtesies that the Catersource organization extended to our team during our amazing
Catersource 2013 experience.
And a colossal thank you for arranging privy to the back of the house for the Catersource signature Monday night event. We enjoyed meeting old friends and making many new ones, please come join us on caterBuzz.
We adored documenting this incredible fabulosity with literally hundreds of photos we get to share with caterers globally.
The entire CaterBuzz team was beyond thrilled to play a
part in Catersource 2013
as a media partner,
and look forward to many future collaborations with Catersource.
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Blog Credits:
Harmony at the Hard Rock was
Produced by
Denver's Catering by Design Owner
Produced by
Denver's Catering by Design Owner
and Executive Producer Cade Nagy
and Creative Director Dan Smith
in conjunction with Catersource
at the 2013 Catersource Convention and Tradeshow
and Creative Director Dan Smith
in conjunction with Catersource
at the 2013 Catersource Convention and Tradeshow
Venue:
The Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas
CaterBuzz.com Blogger Team:
Lisa Teiger, QueenBee, caterBuzz.com
Dianne Evans, Ops Manager, caterBuzz.com
Owner, Best Catered Events, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Look for the sources for unique and creative products
provided by the Catersource sponsors for the Harmony event.
Here's you go....
American Metalcraft
Welcome Beverage: trays,
Whiskey Tango Pizza: delivery bags and trays,
Oysters Rock: milk cans,
Soul Kitchen: cones, risers, lights
Joy of Casseroles: balti metal dish, ceramic bowls, cast iron skillets
Wall of Flame: hanging stainless pails
Platters, risers, bowls throughout
Water dispensers and all floral vessels
Wall of Flame: candles
Jam Session: flameless candles
Magic Mushrooms: torches, lighters
Soul Kitchen: candles, chafers
Fuel for all stations, candles throughout
Wall of Flame and Soul Kitchen: Cambro Cart Plus
Art of the Cocktail: Lexan boxes
Whiskey Tango Pizza: peanut butter gelato coating
Art of the Cocktail: fruit bases
Joy of Casseroles: gelato coatings
Southern Pride
Southern Pride’s smokers used for these stations:
Whiskey Tango Pizza Company, Legends of
Rock, CbD World Tour, Soul Kitchen and Joy of
Casseroles
All barware
Legends of Rock, Soul Kitchen and
Magic Mushrooms: forks
CbD Oyster Rocks World Tour: mini serviceware, spoons
Spin Art and Joy of Casseroles: plates and forks
Jam Session: Aspenware forks and plates
Bar Snacks: Plates
Seasonings, salts, food pastes, glucose, sour
cream powder, smoking guns and wood chips
Pernod Ricard absolut.com
Absolut Cherrykran, Absolut Mandarin, Absolut
Citron, Absolut Kurant, Absolut Hibiskus, Absolut
Mandarin, Absolut Vodka, Beefeater Gin, Jameson
Whiskey, Seagrams White Rum
All cloth napkins at food stations
Backdrops Beautiful Booth 513
Legends of Rock: custom backdrop
Custom portable bars
Fresh Origins Booth 2536
Edible flowers, microgreens, herbs,
greens at all stations
Whiskey Tango Pizza: boxes,
Sphere container, stirrers, frosting tubes, skewers
Whiskey Tango Pizza, Joy of Casseroles and
Soul Kitchen: chicken
Paint cans
PortaBeer Booth
Keg PortaDrafts
All flowers including signs and displays
ice bin stands for Art of the Cocktail
