Chef and filmmaker turn talents to unique catering
Of the two ”” Gallia and Michael Batt ”” it is a chore to pick the livelier journey to 10 years of Food Design L.L.C. success in Greenwich: his of first loving to cook, then of getting his big chance in Manhattan, leading to a romantic, Michelin three-star restaurant honeymoon tour with wife Gallia; or hers, of helping direct movies you”™ve heard of (“The Brothers McMullen”) or producing movies you haven”™t (“Loser Love”) and, finally, of translating those skills to food.
They had been friends when a family friend of Gallia”™s needed a caterer. Gallia suggested Michael.
“I was already working 60 to 70 hours a week and Gallia thought this would be a good thing,” he said. (Gallia had earlier tipped her hand, in general, saying, “I think busy is good.”)
Details of that meal included a pair of pigs roasted on the beach and a totally new food presentation every two hours across a daylong event. “The execution was flawless,” Gallia said. “They were thrilled.” And, “At that point I fell in love with catering. A lot of the same skill sets involved in filmmaking are involved in catering.”
Michael is chef at the catering and event company Food Design and in that role has struck a balance between French and American fare that he sized up recently with a “typical meal.”
The French influence could be found in duck confit a l”™orange. He uses the duck leg, which most do not, cooking it “very slowly” in duck fat, about four hours. “This is the old French style of cooking duck,” he said.
The American angle might come from the greens, which, along with other ingredients, are sourced as locally as possible. In this case, Michael sees a quick-wilted arugula serving as the bed for a potpourri of brazed vegetables. “It would be infused with very different things than the French would do.”
Michael and Gallia spoke in the company”™s standalone office/kitchen at 28 Old Field Point Road. From there, they and a staff of six permanent workers, including client relations and event manager Melanie DeVuyst, and 80 service employees that come on as needed run a full calendar of catered events for up to 1,000. An intimate meal for as few as three would constitute the company”™s smallest catered affair.
A recent Food Design service includes to-go prepared meals ”” delivered ”” that have become a hit with established clients. The service arose when corporate business fell off in the recession, but corporate types, having eaten Food Design food at some point, still wanted the food.
Gallia, who is the company catering director and event coordinator, said, “They get excellent, custom service without the cost and commitment of a private chef, Monday to Thursday. It”™s been going great. On the weekends it”™s back to events; that”™s our primary focus.”
Offerings can be gluten-free, high-end, sugar-free, dairy-free and vegan.
Asked for a specific challenge, the couple cited an event for 450 where 60 percent of the menu had to be foods no one had ever seen. Several planning sessions and several tastings by committee later produced, for example, “a take on lobster mac-and-cheese with orzo pasta in a sake cup with a demitasse spoon.” That unique delicacy proved so popular it is now a regular offering.
Catered events are covered well beyond soup-to-nuts. Besides the food, the business arranges invitations, décor, entertainment, even valet parking. “Staffing,” they agreed, “is huge with us.” May 3 marks the eighth consecutive year the company will cater the regional, black-tie Red Cross Ball for which a private hangar at the Westchester County (N.Y.) Airport has been reserved. The company event radius runs Old Lyme to New York City, with the majority of the work in the Greenwich area. In the summers, the company focus shifts to the Hamptons, where the Batts often find themselves working for the same clients they first engaged locally.
“Whatever event is called for, we do them all,” Gallia said. “Our whole premise is we cater to you. It stems from the food and grows from there. One client has a wedding for 400 and wants a beef-fish-poultry menu or your mom is 75 and you want a dinner with her favorite foods.”
One specialty of the custom service is creativity. “If there”™s something new we come up with it new and test it here,” she said.
The website is fooddesigncatering.com.