Catered Food & Wine Pairings A Social Success
Chef Dion Dominic fired up his torch and began searing pieces of sushi, applying a blazing flame to the top of it, yet doing so as delicately as an artist applying a thin line of paint to a canvas.
Around him was the bustle and hum of conversations coming from a dozen people inside a Redondo Beach townhouse. One could sense the excitement and anticipation for a unique event that was about to take place – a sushi and champagne pairing dinner party.
“I’ve never done a pairing with champagnes and wine,” Chef Dion said, smiling but also looking just a tad nervous at the same time. “It’s kind of exciting.”
He was at the residence of Susan Kowalski and the two of them had come up with the idea of this unique pairing, a collaboration between Chef Dion’s Fishontap “A Sushi Catering Company” and Kowalski’s Wild Thyme Catering. They brought in wines from the JCB Sparkling Collection, high-end sparkling wines from the Boisset Collection of France.
The “test” audience – each of whom paid $30 for the experience – were from the Los Angeles South Bay Beach Cities, a nice collection of good friends, strangers (to each other) and a couple of couples in a warm, friendly and classy-but-casual setting.
The result was a resounding success, some people posting later on Facebook comments like “it was so amazing.”
The dinner involved five pairings, including a seared pepper tuna roll (with JCB No. 69 sparkling wine), herb crusted rock fish (with JCB No. 24 Brut Caneros) and something appropriately called Dynomite (baked salmon, scallops, crab, masago and dynomite sauce, this time paired with a red blend wine).
It all worked and not just the food and drink pairing, but the dinner party idea, even in the singles sweet spot of the South Bay. Anyone here will agree it’s good to get the occasional change of pace from the bars and fun events for these smaller social gatherings.
“I’m looking to expand my business and this seemed like a good way to see if this type of combination will work,” Chef Dion said. “I would like to do more of these wine and champagne dinner parties, and partnering up with Susan made sense for both of us.”
Chef Dion and Kowalski – either as a pair or individually – will, of course, go beyond the South Bay to other places throughout the Los Angeles area for dinner parties. Or they will host them at Kowalski’s residence in Redondo Beach.
To book, go to: www.facebook.com/fishontapasushicateringcompany.
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