Fall Dinner Party Season

The Fall Dinner Party Season is upon us and Atlanta Personal Chef Service it is just getting started. Have you booked your Dinner Party yet? The fall is short and we are getting booked fast. Go to our contact page and contact us today. If you have never experienced our service, this fall is a great time experience by booking a dinner party today. Go to our facebook page and take look at some of our Dinner Party pictures. The demand in Atlanta is high and our clients are taking advantage of this great time of the year to book a Dinner Party. Gives us a call today!   

Being a Personal Chef- The feedback

Here at Atlanta Personal Chef Service we like to make communication as easy as possible.  Our clients have a variety of ways to get in touch with us including phone calls, text, e-mail, in person, or via their personal menu notebook, which is always in the kitchen.  If we have a client that isn't happy with a meal for any reason, we need to be able to correct the problem and learn how we could have made the dish differently so that would have enjoyed it.  Communication is key for the happiness of both the client and chef.

My preferred method of feedback is the notebook. That is because the majority of the time, I
don’t see my clients. Talking face to face is great because you get to see the big smile you put on someone's face for the meal you prepared for them.  In this notebook, the chefs write for the family what meal they will be having for the evening. If the family likes the meal, they can simply just say one word: "AWESOME," "GREAT," "LOVED IT!" or in certain cases, "NOT OUR FAVORITE." They can even just use a star rating: one to five stars.  The notebook is great because if I want to repeat a meal, I can refer back to the notebook to see the likes or dislikes of the meal. For instance, I  made a meal that had a spicy aioli sauce. I love spicy food, so my taste buds couldn’t really tell there was any heat to the sauce. Using the notebook, my client informed me that they had tasted the sauce in advance and found it was way too spicy for them. Luckily, I was able to correct the problem by make a different batch of the aioli. The next week, the feedback in the notebook stated that the sauce was just right for them. I was happy, and most importantly, the client was happy. This was very helpful for me and any feedback is better than no feedback. Our clients just have to know that leaving a "negative comment" or letting us know they didn’t like something isn't disrespectful and doesn't hurt our feelings, it is actually essential to making great food that each family enjoys.

Our job as a personal chef is to deliver PERSONALIZED SERVICE! Everyone's taste buds are not the same. We need our clients just as much as they need us, so that we can create meals for them to their personal preference.

Interested in experiencing our Personal Chef Service?  Give us a call at 404-913-4633 or visit our website here.

Gena's Client Notebook and Feedback

Summer with Atlanta Personal Chef Service

Summer is approaching and Atlanta Personal Chef Service is ready for it! Throughout the summer we will be running dinner party specials and weekly service specials.  In the summer, we will be implementing a new booking system. Clients will soon be able to book a chef without having to call us. This system will allow the client to see if the chef is available, book him/her and pay all online. Also, we are very excited for the dinner party summer menu that we will soon put in our blog.

If you are wondering of whether or not to hire a personal chef, in the summer will be great time to try us out! Here at Atlanta Personal Chef Service, we cook great healthy meals. At a recent article from Nutrition Action Magazine, Susan Roberts stated that  “… Restaurant is a toxic environment. The portion sizes and the calories are excessive.”Atlanta Personal Cher Service is here to help stay healthy by cooking great weekly meals at the right portion sizes. Every day, we are cooking for families all around the Atlanta area and surrounding cities. Check our review, ask our clients, try us out and you will see what Atlanta Personal Chef Service is all about.  

The heath factor about eating at home

Busy life, high demand at work, meetings, family time, house work, all seem like endless tasks that keep piling up on our to do lists. People these days are just too busy to worry about food. Research shows that the majority of Americans depend on restaurants for lunch and a few eat every day with their families at home. The tendency of Americans eating out keeps increasing every year. Here is where the problem is. Most people think that restaurants, fast food in particular, are very unhealthy and they are right. However, they also believe that eating at sit down restaurants is a healthier choice and that's just not true.  Restaurant food these days have great amounts of sodium and are very high in calories.

Here are a few examples for some popular restaurants. Keep in mind that the healthy amount of sodium per day is 2300 mg and people should eat around 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day :

 

PF Changs:

Mongolian Beef: 2700 mg of Sodium, 720 Calories

Pad Thai Chicken 3720 mg of Sodium, 1160 Calories

Lemon Grass Chicken Salad: 780 mg of Sodium, 590 Calories

 

Season’s 52:

Alaskan Salmon: 1130 mg of Sodium, 470 Calories

Scallops:1870 mg of Sodium, 470 Calories

 

Even a place like Season's 52, which is known for low calorie food, have large amounts of sodium in their food. Eating out, most of the time, is eating unhealthy. That’s a fact and it’s ok to treat ourselves with some of these foods once in a while, but eating them on a Monday through Friday basis may just kill you sooner than you think.
 

Eating at home is the best (and arguably only practical) option to keep healthy. You control what you buy and you control what you eat. What if you, like most people, just don’t have the time? Then we're here to help.  Atlanta Personal Chef Service is here to help you maintain your health by cooking healthy delicious meals. Give us a try. We will do the grocery shopping for you, cook, clean and even serve the food if you'd like.  We've been cooking for families for over three years. We have the experience. We cook daily meals for families in Buckhead, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Marietta, Atlanta, Decatur, and other cities surrounding the Atlanta area. We do weekly meals chef service, dinner parties, cooking lessons, brunches, breakfast, cocktail parties and more. Find out more about us by visiting our website.

Valentine’s Day with Atlanta Personal Chef Service

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? How about a romantic evening in the comfort of your own home, while a talented chef pampers you with an elegant dinner over candle light? Valentine’s Day is still over a month away and we only have a few spot left. This year we put together two different menus, but you can mix and match between them. Don’t procrastinate this year and do it right with Atlanta Personal Chef Service.  Visit our webpage to view more information about Valentine's Day 2015 with the best team of chefs in town.

 

"His and Hers"

Duo of Tomato Bisque and Cream of Asparagus Soup garnished with a Parmesan crisp and Asparagus tips

Spinach and warm Brie salad with Apples and Walnuts tossed in Champagne Vinaigrette served with a Buttered Crostini

Marinated Hanger Steak and Herb Crusted Lamb Chop with Cabernet sauce over roasted Parmesan potatoes and sautéed Asparagus tips

Mousse au Chocolate over Chocolate Chiffon cake garnished with Crème Anglaise and fresh Raspberries



"Land and Sea"


Caramelized Onion and Cana de Cabra Cheese tartlet garnished with Lemon infused Arugula and Balsamic glaze

Red Wine poached Pear salad garnished with Stilton cheese and a Cranberry Crouton
 

Rosemary crusted Pork Tenderloin and seared Scallops with Cherry demi sauce over roasted Root Vegetable pureé and braised Brussels sprouts

Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream garnished with Strawberry coulis and Chantilly Cream

Gift Certificates are on SALE now!

Wondering to what give for Christmas this holiday? How about an Atlanta Personal Chef Service Gift Certificate? Starting at $350 for a 3 course-plated dinner for two, this gift includes the cost of the service, groceries and tip for the chef.  This makes a wonderful gift for any loved one. To learn more visit our website here.  This is a $390 value offered at a $40 savings if you purchase now through Dec 18th.

You'll receive a printable gift certificate which you can wrap and gift.  It will include menu options, so when they're ready to redeem, all they need to do is call us a few days in advance and we'll take it from there!

These make great gifts for parents, bosses, or even your special someone.  Relax for dinner, and let us treat you to a special meal.

Working as a Personal Chef vs In a Restaurant

Working in a restaurant versus as a personal chef in a home can be very different in some ways. In both restaurants and in homes, we always, without a doubt make food taste delicious. There’s a huge difference, however, in how that happens. When working in a restaurant, you want the guests to continue to come back, so for instance, the mashed potatoes will be loaded with gallons of heavy cream. It may not be good for you, but in reality, it tastes really good. If a guest doesn’t finish their meal, and decides to take it home, you don’t have to worry about giving reheating instructions, unless they ask for them. Fine dining can get very hectic on an everyday basis, so sometime cooks may not put the amount of love into preparing a meal like a private or personal chef would.

When a personal chef is working in a client’s home, the food also will always taste great, however, we won’t load heavy cream in our potatoes or use a ton of oil to sear a chicken breast. We always have to be mindful of what and how much of an ingredient is going into our client’s food, especially if there are any health restrictions. Leaving proper and complete reheating instructions are very important too. Some people really do need instructions on how to use their oven. Also if a filet mignon is reheated too long, you have one component of a great meal gone to waste. We are great cooks and we know how to make food very tasteful without all of the extra fat. Using the freshest ingredients, we can make that happen.

One of the similarities of working in a private home versus a restaurant is that you have to clean up. The same way that you would wipe down the line in an industrial kitchen or wipe the handles of your walk-in, we clean the handles of the refrigerator and make sure to clean the island and any other surfaces that are dirty. We may be working in slightly different settings, but we always have to make sure that your kitchen is clean and tidy when we’re finished cooking.

In a lot of ways, skills acquired in restaurants are carried over to the world of being a personal chef, but there are many things that personal chefs need to change to be successful. Since we’re providing so many meals, they need to taste great without all the extra fatty ingredients, so we rely more on fresh herbs and spices for great flavor without all the fat.

This post was written by Atlanta Personal Chef Service’s Georgena Mason. Below, you’ll see some of the dishes she’s recently cooked for families around Atlanta. To find out more about our services, please visit our website at www.AtlantaPersonalChefService.com.



Atlanta Personal Chef Service - Basic Service Family Style Meal

Atlanta Personal Chef Service - Basic Service Family Style Meal

Atlanta Personal Chef Service - Basic Service Family Style Meal