No Bread for the Bride
Five menus for dietarily restricted affairs.
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(Photo: Alex Robbins) |
Vegan
The Caterer
Fancy Girl Table
718-422-9151, fgtable.com
Jeanette Maier founded Fancy Girl Table some 13 years ago, after owning a Soho farm-to-table restaurant. To please a wide range of vegans tired of receiving extra helpings of side dishes as entrées, “I try to put things on the menu that aren’t so far-out sounding,” says Maier—dishes like quesadillas with potato, wild spinach, pepper-jack “cheese,” and red-pepper “crema.”
Sample Menu
Roasted-Hubbard- squash slider with balsamic-roasted onions, corn pesto, and Sriracha aïoli
Braised-root-vegetable phyllo turnovers with sage and braised-leek “ricotta”
Quinoa “crab” cakes with spicy rémoulade and lovage
Mini butterscotch puddings with bourbon-caramel popcorn
Kosher
The Caterer
Gemstone Catering
917-584-2310, gotcholent.com
Gemstone owner Ari White, who formerly operated a kosher deli and was born in Texas, is a full-service kosher caterer with a barbecue specialty. So in addition to making dishes like skewered Moroccan lamb balls with saffron foam and chamomile-infused candied rainbow carrots, he can also show up to your wedding with a 20-foot smoker and prepare (almost) all manner of meats, like 12-hour mesquite-and-wine-barrel-smoked turkey.
Sample Menu
Ceremonial challah
Texas-rub barbecue chicken can-can
18-hour applewood- and oak-smoked barbecue brisket
Pie bar
Lactose Intolerant
The Caterer
Olivier Cheng
212-625-3151, ocnyc.com
Jenny Glasgow, the founding chef at Olivier Cheng, whose client list includes Hermès and Cartier, is used to tackling all manner of dietary needs and allergies. The company can accommodate everyone on the lactose-intolerant spectrum, from those who can handle a small amount of certain cheeses and butter (who might receive a caramelized banana tatin as dessert) to guests with zero tolerance (they’ll get wine-poached pears with chocolate-crumb “soil”).
Sample Menu
Pot-au-feu of squash, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, radish, pickled mustard seed, and harissa
Black cod, herbed winter-citrus sauce, faro, black rice, and snow-pea salad
Forelle-pear soup with almond-olive-oil cake and cranberry sorbet
Gluten-Free
The Caterer
The Raging Skillet
212-677-2204, theragingskillet.com
Paleo’s popularity has produced a generation of brides and grooms looking for gluten-free menus. Raging Skillet’s Chef Rossi realized while eating gluten-free herself that she could swap out a single ingredient, and just like that, the dish was good to go. For instance, “Soy sauce: It’s wheat-based, and it’s in everything—salad dressings, gravy. So I decided to pretty much banish it from my kitchen and replace it with gluten-free tamari. Suddenly dozens of dishes we make were gluten-free,” like Korean bulgogi beef.
Sample Menu
Falafel with tahini dip
Mini shiitake tacos with salsa fresco
Filet mignon with caramelized-shallot relish
Chocolate-dipped bacon
Only Organic
The Caterer
Cloud Catering
718-383-3313, cloudcateringny.com
Greenmarket-tote-clutching couples will appreciate that every dish from this four-year-old caterer is made of pesticide- and hormone-free ingredients, and that many are locally sourced from farmers with whom Cloud works directly. “Our chickens are butchered fresh for us,” says Cristina Tramutola, the director of private events there, noting that their dinners are aimed at fine-dining-loving couples looking for an organic—but still refined and elegant—meal.
Sample Menu
Fried chicken and waffles with chile maple
Crab beignet with Old Bay powder
Pan-roasted chicken with charred eggplant, pommes purée, green asparagus, and carrots
Frozen caramel popcorn with cajeta—at the liquid-nitrogen dessert station