food stall

Working in a cosmopolitan city like Los Angeles consistently takes Good Gracious! Events into exciting work environments. Private residences, corporate offices, churches, sound stages, even vineyards. The list goes on. The three things that don�t change are delicious food, interesting beverages, and FIRST CLASS SERVICE. GG! team ready for Dinner service in Malibu One of my keys to a successful event is to have a service plan intact at all events. All team members have specific duties that carry throughout the event. The plans usually have four different stages that make up the service pattern. Depending on the size of the event, we frequently pair up team members to ensure a better service coverage at all times. Pairing up servers is also a training technique, an opportunity that allows us to take new employee and pair them with experienced servers to help them learn and gr...

In the last few years I've enjoyed traveling either with my colleagues to different cities and countries or to their own homes to visit them. In turn, I've hosted many friends in my own home and home town. Sometimes the trips are short, just overnight, but regardless of the length of time spent, it is the time that I share with my chef friends, designers and planners that I have found to be an occasion in itself. I have been overwhelmed by such wonderful hospitality and of course, the time filled with food, fun and LOVE! These moments together fill me with the inspiration I bring back to my own work. Just recently my daughter Joanne Purnell (who is also chef de cuisine of Good Gracious) and I traveled to North Carolina where Janet Woodson, chef/owner of La-Tea-Da's Catering , and Mark Baldwin, chef/owner of Blue Ridge Catering , were our hosts. David Klingel with a bottle of blood orange juice infused with vanilla bean that he would use in our second course. At their home,...

By Joanne Purnell I�m stepping out from the kitchen today to talk about, well, cooking! Specifically, the people who do the cooking at catered events. As chairperson of the Culinary Council for the International Caterers Association , together with my co-chair Ken Barrett, I've spent the past year putting together the ICA's CaterArts Conference. This event is for and by the top catering chefs from all over the world and will take place July 31 to August 3 in Louisville, Kentucky. The theme this year is �Relighting Your Passion,� and for me, nothing helps energize me than meeting other chefs. I thought you might want to meet them too! Just a little background on catering chefs in general: it�s a profession that takes a special type of person. Think about it. We might prep in our own kitchens, but we then move all that food, set up again and cook a perfect meal in a different kitchen every night. And I use the word �kitchen� very loosely! It could be a garage, a parking lot, or a...

To all of you who missed us Thursday, July 7 th at Church Estate Vineyards in Malibu, we couldn�t resist to recap the day for you! Church Estates is one of our favorite locations to work at, and so when the opportunity came around to participate in the WIPA ( Wedding Industry Professionals Association ) event we jumped at the chance and ended up collaborating with such amazing creative partners and event professionals! Like any event we plan at Good Gracious! there was no detail left astray! Carefully planned we decided to create an atmosphere that went with the natural beauty of the property, and even we allowed ourselves to feel like guests for the day as we escaped to a small beautiful retreat in the heart of Malibu�s hills. Guests were welcomed at the tennis courts by none other than the hospitably friendly Premiere Valet. With a map in head, guests set out for cocktails and appetizers in the vineyards. Dan Smith of GG! was on hand to share his magnificent cocktail. He left...