MSP Catering?

[saltysnack]

I'm planning my wedding reception in Minneapolis (from NYC) and am looking for good catering recommendations. Anyone? Reception will likely be around 150 people. Ideally the caterer would work with local (even better if organic) ingredients.

[g rote]

I work in the catering industry in MSP, but I only dispense unbiased opinions on this board. Do you have a venue selected? Time of year? Seated dinner or just hors d'oeuvres or both? These will all help point you to the right caterer.

[snoboardbabe77]

Three Sons Kitchen/Signature Cuisine. They're a by-design catering company to reflect exactly what you want. They're exclusive caterers for Blaisdell and St Anthony, but they do smaller catering events, and their food is very very good and reasonably priced. As I recall, I do believe they utilize local ingredients...etc.

[annierpcv]

one of our friends used Three Sons for their wedding reception and I thought that they were very mediocre. Their hors 'd oeuvres were cold and bland-- I've had much better spanikopeta almost everywhere. The dinner buffet was so basic, it was almost comic. Breaded chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans-- that was it. No garnishes on the buffet table, no sauces, no fruit-- very few staff that left our plates at our places much too long... I supposed it could have just been the budget/in-experience of our friends, but I would not choose them for my wedding catering.

Chow Girls got back to us in lightning speed with a specific menu and cost proposal. They do local and organic-- BUT, so does the Birchwood Cafe. We really wanted them to cater our wedding (but licensing didn't work out-- they do not do hard alcohol), Stephanie there is eclectic and imaginative. She'll have your mouth watering the first time you sit down with her.

[suemari]

Check out the appropriately named Chowgirls (www.chowgirls.net). They use local and organic ingredients.

I haven't tried them myself, but they've received a lot of good reviews.

[katebauer]

I went to a work lunch catered by Chowgirls and it was extremely good. The only concern is that they were about 30 minutes late and the organizers were pretty stressed. I know someone else who has used them for their wedding and were extremely happy.

[double_Windsor]

I've booked Chowgirls for my wedding, and they do subscribe to the local/organic thing. I'll have a review out by late December.

[chompchomp]

On these recs, I have been trying very hard to get estimates from the Chowgirls, but I gotta say, it's been a lot of me asking them repeatedly for updated estimates, which they say they'll get to me by the next day, and then I ask them a week again...and so it goes. I don't doubt that they're food is good, but it is tough from a customer service point of view.

[double_Windsor]

Sorry to hear that - although, it doesn't surprise me. I'm really impressed by how quickly they caught on. When we booked them a little over a year ago few had heard of them, they had never worked an event at our venue, and I felt like I was taking a bit of a risk.

Fast forward 6-8 months and it’s a totally different story. Heidi mentioned the day before the event that ever since they were written up in Minnesota Monthly the phone has been ringing off the hook.

My biased opinion is that it’s worth the trouble. Our guests are still raving about the food. It tasted great, it looked great, and they brought a virtual army of capable staff to keep things running smoothly.

[stymie]

I have been to 2 receptions done by chuckwagon catering www.mncatering.com.
one was formal with sushi, paella, etc stations. The other more casual with hog roast.
Both were wonderful and very unique

[St Paul Susie]

Budget? Do you have a location already selected? Or are you also ISO a venue that can provide the food as described?

Congrats! & it will be a lot more reasonable than an NYC gathering!

[saltysnack]

Budget is flexible. The venue will likely be a private place (i.e., not with its own catering service.) Just looking for some leads/names to start researching. Thx!