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

Dinner Party Season Is Here!

Holiday season is upon us and Atlanta Personal Chef Service is ready for it. Being one of busiest season for dinner parties, Atlanta Personal Chef Service has come up with a great fall menu.  The Holidays is a great season to show loved ones gratitude and spend time with them. Why go to a restaurant, when you can have a better dinner party experience from the privacy of your home. Enjoy fine-dining, relax and let us entertain your friends and family from the comfort of your own dining table. We will cook, serve, clean and much more. Our chefs have all graduated from great culinary school and all of them have fine dining experience. So, if you live in Buckhead, Dunwoody, Atlanta, Decatur, Marietta, Sandy Springs, Vinings, and other cities surrounding the Atlanta area, then contact us. 

Fall Dinner Party Menu Options

Soup or Starter (choose one)

Roasted Root Vegetable soup garnished with Nutmeg Creme Fraiche and Rosemary Brioche croutons

Wild Mushroom Soup drizzled with Truffle Oil served with Parmesan Spinach Flan

Shrimp Bisque garnished with sautéed Shrimp and Cilantro Oil

Caramelized Onion and Cana de Cabra Cheese Tartlet with lemon infused Arugula and Balsamic glaze

Steamed Mussels with White Wine garnished with fresh Herbs and Tomato served with French baguette

Seared Scallop with Carrot Ginger puree and Tarragon sauce garnished with fried Leeks

Salad (choose one)

Candy Beet salad with pickled Onions garnished with Honey Pecan Goat cheese tossed in White Balsamic

Red Wined Poached Pear tossed with Mixed Greens garnished with Stilton Blue cheese and a Raisin crouton

Spinach Warm Brie salad with Apples and Walnuts tossed in Champagne Vinaigrette garnished with a Buttered Crostini

Entrée (choose one)

Roasted Cornish Hen with Cherry Demi sauce over Roasted Root Vegetable and Farro medley with braised Brussels Sprouts

Herb Crusted Lamb Chops with Cabernet Sauce over herbed Parmesan roasted Potatoes and Tomato Provencale

Seared Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Demi sauce over smoked Corn Polenta and roasted Asparagus

Dessert (choose one)

 Chocolate Lava Cake with Assorted Berries and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pot de Creme with Vanilla Biscotti and Chantilly Cream

Mini Apple Pie served with Caramel sauce and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Strawberry Shortcake served with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Creme Anglaise

Tips For Eating Out Healthy

Many people frequent restaurants a little too often than is good for their health.  Even the healthier restaurants often serve sodium-laden, high caloric meals.  Atlanta Personal Chef Service advises people that eating out should be enjoyed sparingly, and not on a daily basis. The first option should always be home cooked meals, but we know that often there are many factors which make that quite difficult.  By either cooking yourself at home or having one of our talented chefs doing the cooking, you will know where your food is coming from and what is added into it.  Of course, there are those days, especially the weekends, when you're more likely to indulge in restaurant food. What do you do then? Well, Atlanta Personal Chef Service has a few tips to give.

1. Order from a lower calorie menu, if the restaurant has one. A lot of restaurants these days have a lower calorie menu. If they don’t, then eat half of the dish and save the other half for the next day. With plates these days having a minimum of 1500 calories, it’s advisable that you don’t eat all of those calories at once.

2. If you are at a pizza place, ask for a thin crust pizza. Instead of pepperoni, top with chicken, seafood, or veggies.

3. Don’t ever get combos with chips. At Mexican restaurants, don’t ask for extra chips or limit your intake if they are brought to your table. Choose water over soda drinks and always choose grilled over fried.

4. Skip the bun and the fries. There are 250 empty calories in the white flour bun that you don’t need. Instead, ask for whole grain if they have it, or no bun if they don’t.

Eating healthy these days is no easy task. Even when the calories of the dish may be at healthy levels, the usual amount of sodium is very high. Atlanta Personal Chef Service is here to make everyday life simple. Enjoy home cooked, delicious, healthy meals every day, by letting our chefs cook for you. We also do dinner parties and other special occasion festivities. Contact us or follow us at our Facebook page. We serve Buckhead, Atlanta, Marietta, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Vinings, Midtown and other Atlanta neighborhood cities.

The Good Fat and Bad Fat Dilemma: the problem may just be too much food

 In a most recent food research study done by Martijn Katan ( Professor of Nutrition at the University of Amsterdam), suggests that saturated fat (fat found in meat, butter, and dairy) may not be as bad for your heath as you think. Of course, don’t go celebrating by eating a whole stick of butter. The whole purpose of the study was to challenge the idea that doctors have told us our whole lives to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats, but after all the problem may not be the fat but how much we eat of it.  The problem with past studies is that they were unable to find the link between the bad fat (saturated fat) and the increase of cholesterol. Now, that both fats cause cholesterol to increase is beyond doubt. The study found that in the end the problem is not that fat itself, but how much we eat of it. Food is cheap and access to it is easy. Most of our important occasions or celebrations involve food. For many, food may even be used as a pastime. We are surrounded by food and tempted by it. That’s what is making us fat and our cholesterol high. So make the right choice and control your eating.

Here at Atlanta Personal Chef Service, we cook healthy and tasty meals. Quit going to restaurants every night. The amount of sodium that these places add to their food is in ridiculous amounts and they do that with reason. They must preserve the food and salt is the best way to do that. Here at Atlanta Personal Chef Service, our chefs go grocery shopping everyday in order to bring our clients fresh produce. We are here to help you maintain good heath without giving up on taste. Right now we serve cities around Atlanta including Marietta, Roswell, Buckhead, Dunwoody, Vinings, Brookhaven, and other cities surrounding Atlanta. We do weekly meals, dinner parties, cocktail parties, and more. So, contact us and find how we can help you eat right. Find us on Facebook.  

Three Great Power foods

Have you ever wondered which foods are the best for your heath and body? Well Atlanta Personal Chef Service has done the research for you and we came up with a simple list of some powerful food that you should integrate daily or weekly in your diet.

1. Eggs (over easy): Surprised? Some people think that eggs are bad for you due to high fat (cholesterol) contained in the yolk. They may be right depending on the how the eggs are cooked. The yolk must be running in order to be healthy for you. Eggs contain great vitamin amounts of B12, A, D, E and F. It also has many minerals such as folate, iron, zinc, and phosphorous. All this in one egg that contains 70 calories. Many physiologist recommend eggs for people that suffer from depression and anxiety. Eggs are great source of protein as well. You will feel less hungry eating fewer calories.

2. Spinach: It is basically a multivitamin in a single vegetable. It contains great amounts of vitamins C, K, A. B6, B2, and E. It also has magnesium, manganese, potassium, folate, Iron, Copper and other minerals. No wonder Popeye (the cartoon) eats spinach in order to become strong. This is a great vegetable that you should eat weekly at a minimum.

3. Salmon: It has great amounts of omega 3, vitamins B12 and D. Fish in general are very good for your heath. Some researchers even relate fish to slowing down the ageing process.

Atlanta Personal Chef Service cares about your health. Give us a try. We do weekly meals, dinner parties, cooking lessons, cocktail parties and other services. Contact us and I’m sure you will not regret it. Every day we serve families in Atlanta, Marietta, Vinnings, Decatur, Dunwoody, Buckhead, Roswell and other cities.

A Cup of Tea a Day, May Keep the Cancer Away

I’m not sure if you have noticed, but tea is making a comeback. If you go to the mall, there is a high percentage that you will see a store that only sells tea. It’s very impressive, since coffee still is the popular drink of choice. Perhaps, due to the heath factors that teas have or the less amount of caffeine (depending on the tea less, since some tea can have high levels of caffeine), more and more people are choosing tea or coffee.  Atlanta Personal Chef Service is here to help you understand how a cup of tea a day, may go a long way to improve your health.

There are many types of teas out there, but for the sake of simplicity we are just going to talk about the two most famous:

Green tea, perhaps, the most popular of tea, is made with steamed tea leaves. Green tea has a high amount of EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), which is a powerful antioxidant.  Studies have showed that this antioxidant may prevent many types of cancer such as, stomach, bladder, breast and pancreatic cancers. EGCG is also in known to help with weight loss and brain heath. The caffeine amount is green tea is very low (about 25 mg for an eight oz cup).

Black tea is the tea that coffee drinkers might want to stick with. It has (about 47 mg for an eight oz cup compared to 95 mg in coffee). It is made with fermented teas leaves. Just like most teas, black teas have powerful antioxidants that may prevent many different types of cancers. However, the best benefit of black tea, according to research, is that prevents cancer from second hand smoking (being around smoke).

Atlanta Personal Chef Service cares about your health. We have chefs that serve weekly meals in Marietta, Kennesaw, Atlanta, Buck Head, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Roswell, Vinnings and other cities surrounding Atlanta. We also do dinner parties. Contact us and give us a try. We are here to help you making your life easier and healthier. 

Three Simple steps to Keep/Maintain a Healthy Brain

The brain is the most important organ of the human body and of all animals as well. In fact, the brain is so important that Doctors only declare when someone is dead when their brains are no longer working or considered “dead.” The brain is the pilot. It’s where all commands takes place. A person can live with an arm or a leg, but no one can live without a brain. Being the most important of all human organs, it would be wise to treat the brain with such importance.

Atlanta Personal Chef Service is here once again to teach you simple steps, so that you can maintain a healthy brain now as we age.

1. Exercise: Exercise should be of no surprise. Every study about maintaining a great heath, exercising is always one the most important things anyone can do. According to Laura Baker (Associate Professor of Internal Medicine-geriatrics at the Wake Forest University of Medicine in North Caroline), “Most studies find a lower risk of dementia over time for people who exercise or are lifelong exercisers versus those who don’t. If you are sedentary, blood doesn’t get to the far reaches of those small vessels. These are the areas that support the kind of executive function that’s vulnerable to aging.” What is great about exercising is that it improves your heath in many levels, including stress, blood flow, cholesterol and many more.

2. Keep an eye on your blood pressure. People that have high blood pressure have higher risk of having strokes (when the blood supply gets cut off, thus affecting the levels of oxygen that reaches your brain, which causes brain tissue to die). A few ways to lower the blood pressure is by exercising, maintaining healthy diet and medication if necessary.

3. Use your brains: Many studies have shown that there is lower risk of Alzheimer’s symptoms and dementia in people that have higher education, read books, work on professional occupations, and are involved with activities that stimulate the brain (puzzles, playing games, attend classes).

Other steps that it’s proven to help, but researchers are not 100% yet: Sleep, eating fish, drinking coffee, berries, and Vitamin D.

Atlanta Personal Chef Service is to help you maintain healthy diet, while eating tasty foods. Everyday our private chefs are cooking meals around Atlanta, Buckhead, Marietta, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Vinnings, and Roswell. We keep up with the latest in heath and always informing our clients. Try us out and I’m sure you will not regret it. Contact us!