catering -- ok, yet another confused ramble.
for months, i THOUGHT catering was under control, until the catering people decided NOT to reply to my emails.
but let me back up. back in june, we started working with a catering company. they were quick to respond, weren't rushing us into a contract until we had it all just right, and seemed delighted and willing to work with us until we had out perfect plan, and at any budget we named.
june 15th. emailed mai chef catering for first time.
june 15th. heard back from jon dubrick, owner. began scheduling a meeting.
june. met with caterers....
caterers (husband-wife duo owners, jon and mai) seemed creative; they had great ideas, demonstrated an understanding for cost concerns, their food looked delicious, and they had nice credentials having won a bid for one of three preferred catering spots with the broadway theater in chicago. at the end of meeting, they said they would put a menu and proposal together.
july. received menu. pricing came in a little high, though we hadn't yet specified an exact budget. lots of emails ensued, a few adjustments and questions, more emails. seemed willing to make adjustments and discuss options. we requested some changes. no problem. end of july, they said they wanted to talk to our venue to confirm some logistics. seemed proactive.
mid-august. received revised menu. engaged in some more correspondence. revisions not so much what we expected. the rentals cost was a surprise to us (glasses, forks, tables, chairs), only because we hadn't researched it ourselves and had no idea what to estimate, but then they itemized it all for us, so we could better understand. they thought another face to face meeting to discuss a balance between food, rentals, and serving style would be helpful. scheduled a meeting. but then re-scheduled meeting after a delay in communication because, as the owner's wife told me - her husband was sick (okay, poor him)...
mid-september. patrick and i both met up with the caterers, cleared up rentals questions, talked it through and left off with jon saying he would do a little research on entrees/cuisine based on our discussion and then revamp the menu. great! patrick really liked what jon had to say and how he explained things.
october. but then, a delay, delay. i tried to be patient and waited over two weeks before checking in, and then emailed to ask how the revised menu was coming along. i also included some ideas that i had come up with in the interim. i got an email back that said they'd get a menu to me the following week.
late october. ok, a FULL TWO weeks later (math = a full month after we last met), i emailed again to see how it was coming along. i was not so happy. but, apparently the owner had two deaths in the family, as his wife emailed to me. she said he would get a menu to me by "THIS SUNDAY," in caps, which would have been october 21. but i didn't get anything until october 29th, two sundays (and a monday) later. and instead of re-doing the menu based on looking into new entree items as we had agreed to, he just added optional side dishes. it was weird and not what we talked about. to his credit, he did kind of ask whether we were swapping items out, in his cover email, but he still didn't seem to have taken good enough notes at our last meeting. and at this point, i had also started feeling uneasy about their long "sabbaticals" between emails and kind of thought they ran out of excuses since they already used "sick" and "deaths in the family." which is horrible of me to say, i know.
october 30. so giving them the benefit of the doubt, i passed along my condolences and kindly reminded them in an email about the fact we had talked about new entrees and copied my suggestions from several weeks prior into the body of the email. i expressed my desire to figure out the entrees, so that i could book a rehearsal dinner that would not duplicate the reception menu, and offered that i could answer any last questions so we could hammer out the approximate cuisine.
november 9. over a week later, i had not heard a thing back, not even an acknowledgment. so, i emailed again to say i hadn't heard back and that i knew that they had been busy. i also added that although we'd love to continue working with them, if they were not able to accommodate our wedding, to please let us know so that we could make other arrangements. and if they could indeed accommodate us, to please let us know the latest on the menu, so that we could move forward and get it under contract.
and they never responded. i can't believe they didn't even have the decency to RESPOND! did i call them, you might ask, to make sure they got my email? well, no. i know that i could have called, but after two weeks passed without so much as an acknowledgement, i got to thinking that
THEY really should have been following up with
ME regardless! let's say they didn't get my emails; good business practice would have been to follow up with me to see if i had yet had a chance to review the menu they sent and to schedule the date for our november tasting. and they definitely did not do that. in fact, they still have not since contacted me. and it's been two months since i last heard from them! and in the event that they were truly in over their heads with all of their new business, well then, they should have written grave apologies with recommendations on trusted friends in the business, and even with the offer to put me in touch with them. ok, or, maybe they purely forgot to write back, in which case, who knows what kind of business they run! and even if they just plain didn't like me, they still should have followed in good business practice. wow.
..... and that is how i ended up starting all friggin' over with researching caterers!
drink up, to holly's birthday!
don't be sad, les, it's your BIRTHDAY!!!!
this fish was sooooo perfect!
christine pulled a lot of sculpturades/sculptadores cards:
clue #1 (above): thing
clue #2 (above): animal
clue #3 (above): thing
our tree is decked with ornaments and lights (was it leslie or holly who made those gingerbread ornaments? they still smell good! oh, and it's a shame i can't find my browning hall bulb signed by kat, lara, holly, and dave levitt). we have received beautiful christmas cards from the likes of the mitchells, trish, amanda, holly, scripps college, our insurance company and our gym. thank you, i truly love christmas cards! next year i even plan to send some myself (slacker). we also have christmas bulbs stacked in festive piles, a christmas dog stuffed animal and a wreath on our door. fa la la la la, la la la la!
pardon the cell-phone photo documentation, but note that even the fabric on the chairs was replaced by a cheerily festive textile! and a sign inside exclaimed, "santa rides the blue line!" and yes, that's a CTA worker dressed up as an elf and handing out candy canes below!
given that the cta (chicago transit authority) is facing budget woes (note: we even narrowly avoided a strike last week), i must point out that this type of elaborate holiday stunt is not inexpensive and possibly not the best use of a strained bankroll. but i have to admit that when that train rolled up and i stepped on, it kind of elicited that magical holiday spirit reminiscent of how christmas felt when i was a little girl. at our age, i'd venture to say we don't get that very often. it really felt worth every dime to me. when we got off the train later at the damen stop, we were above ground and able to better see the intricate lights, detailed winter decals, and santa-dedicated car replete with the big man himself as the christmas train sped away, naturally, wishing a merry christmas to all!
we have finally found the best chicago-style pizza in the city: 
ok, so it's not mid-western beef, it's argentinian. but my brother was very pleased that his steak was actually cooked rare. and below, ryan gets a vienna beef hot dog at the weiner's circle.
