The Casual Gourmet works with hundreds of vendors on the Cape and we are always finding and working with new vendors. However, we have some of our favorites that throughout our 20 years in catering have help put together some of the most spectacular and creative events. We thought would profile some of them in an ongoing series.

To kick-off the series, we thought we would start with one of the best photographers around: Bello Photography.

Name: Bello Photography
Phone: 508.539.1039
Email: studio@bellophoto.com
Website: www.bellowphoto.com
Blog: www.bellophoto.net

The company is run by it’s two primary photographers – Andy Beet and Christine Ferullo - a husband and wife team who truly are masters of their craft. Not only are they phenomenal photographers, they are also fun people to work with (Just look at the self-portrait they sent us above!). To give you a taste of their zeal for life, here is the story behind the name ‘Bello Photography’

Our studio name, Bello, is a combination of our last names. We considered Feet Photography, but Bello has a nicer ring…don’t you think? Bello also means beautiful in Spanish. We fell in love in Spain and we think love is a beautiful thing!! We could photograph anything, but we absolutely LOVE shooting weddings!

With so many companies choosing to follow the format of ‘John Smith’ Photography, Bello’s name alone gives you a sense for the passion and creativity they bring to their work.

We work a lot with Bello so here is a sampling of their work from a wedding we did together earlier this year.

The wedding was a classic water front reception at Nauticus Marina with a gorgeous Sperry Sail Cloth Tent (Two other favorite vendors we will soon profile!). Take a look at some of Bello’s best shots below. They could not have done a better job capturing the elegance of the event.

It was one of the most memorable events of 2009: downpouring rains drenched the ‘Fiesta’- themed rehearsal dinner but parted for the wedding day itself; an incredibly personal and deeply spiritual wedding ceremony that began with a smudging ceremony; a predominantly vegetarian menu that celebrated local, seasonal produce; the infusion of hand-crafted details throughout the décor; and the dynamic venue itself.

During the cocktail hour, servers passed an assortment of hors d'oeuvres, including these Toasted Polenta Rounds with Olive Tapenade and Italian Tomato Salsa. The first course was served 'Soup & Salad' - a demitasse of chilled sugar snap pea and ginger soup paired with a roasted asparagus and chiogga beat salad. The buffet dinner featured Roasted Globe Artichokes with quinoa, leaf spinach and flageolet beans, along with an Heirloom Tomato Salad, Roasted Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes and Wood Grilled Summer Vegetables. (All photos except top right courtesy of Lisa Rigby.)

The Overbrook House is part of the 20-acre organic Bay End Farm. The 1920s farmhouse has a traditional New England design and is located at the top of a secluded hill.  The expansive grounds that spill down from the house include large open fields, stone walls, meandering paths, an in-ground swimming pool and a charming old-fashioned dance hall nestled in the woods.

Clockwise from top left, the house on a hill, illuminated with tiki torches. The dance hall, hidden in the trees. A tablerunner made by the bride. Nicoline and Ryan take a path to the dancehall for their first dance. The cocktail hour took place under the canopy of old trees. (All photos courtesy of Lisa Rigby.)

We love that each couple who chooses Overbrook for their wedding puts their own unique stamp on the event by making different use of all the diverse elements on the property. While Nicoline and Ryan chose to hold their ceremony under an enormous oak tree by the house, have dinner under a tent in the big field, and finish the night with dessert and dancing in the hall, other clients have opted to have cocktails by the pool or host their smaller reception entirely in the dancehall.  Overbrook truly is a one-of-a-kind Cape Cod wedding venue.

Interested in Overbrook or a vegetarian wedding? Let us know! We’d be happy to talk with you!

Casual Gourmet Express brings creative touch to takeout

By Gwenn Friss

STAFF WRITER

October 15, 2009

Sometimes lunch hour involves doing errands and grabbing something to eat — either on the run or at your desk.

The Casual Gourmet Express recently opened by founder Olive Chase and her crew in the Cape Cod Mall’s food court is a reminder that you don’t have to sacrifice taste and freshness on those days.

The Casual Gourmet Express

Cape Cod Mall food court,

769 Iyannough Road (Route 132), Hyannis

508-775-4946

thecasualgourmet.com

Plus, it’s kind of intriguing to try the informal offerings of a popular catering company whose food is often found at corporate gatherings and weddings, such as a recent weekend when our friends Jane and Joseph got married at the family’s summer home in the Chapoquoit section of West Falmouth. The wedding food — passed hot hors d’oeuvres and a buffet of beef tenderloin, seafood kebabs, bowtie pasta and crisp green beans with baby carrots — was fancier, of course.

But the catering did share some of the touches you’ll find at the mall — namely, amazingly good bread, vegetables so crisp they spray juice when bitten, and the ginger slaw, which came on ahi tarts as a wedding appetizer and is also part of the Thai Chicken Wrap ($6.49) at the Express.

The Express doesn’t have a huge menu, but there’s enough choice to make it a regular stop. It offers four panini, three specialty sandwiches on hearty seven-grain or focaccia bread, six wraps, four salads, quahog chowder, a soup du jour and chicken pot pie. There is also breakfast panini, quiche, pastries and — and this is big — an “Express-o Bar” that makes espresso ($1.75) and related hot drinks.

Drawn by both the ingredients (tuna, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, green beans, yellow peppers and red onion with lemon Dijon) and the name (French Kiss), I chose one of the wraps. The first bite offered a burst of fresh lemon and set the tone for a sandwich that tasted farm-fresh and just a little unusual. Wraps at the Express are fine and come in different flavors, but I’m not a huge wrap fan. Next time, I think I’ll see if this sandwich ($6.49) can be put on seven-grain bread or atop a salad.

I added a bowl of the soup du jour ($3.25 for a cup, $3.95 for a bowl), which was beef minestrone. There were, maybe, three bites of tender steak and every vegetable under the sun — just the way I like it. The broth was light with a complex flavor that said the ingredients had been simmering together for a long time. I wasn’t surprised to find what appeared to be a small sprig of fresh rosemary in with the veggies.

My companion tried the chicken pot pie ($5.95). It was a generously sized pie shell, maybe six or seven inches, filled with chicken and vegetables and topped with mashed potatoes that were piped on and perfectly browned. My friend said it was good, but a little bland. She thought it could use a little more gravy with a bit more spice in it.

We didn’t have enough appetite for dessert (although those huge whoopie pies at $2.50 each looked worth sharing!), but having — as I mentioned earlier — encountered Casual Gourmet’s offerings at many functions, I feel confident that you won’t be disappointed with the homemade cookies (89 cents,) cupcakes ($1.79,) or bars and brownies ($2.25-$2.95.)

Next time I go to the Express, I’m having the Thai Chicken Wrap ($6.49) — grilled chicken breast, jasmine rice, ginger slaw, peanut sauce and scallions on a tomato tortilla — and the time after that, the Pesto Chicken With Peppers ($6.99).

This is not the Casual Gourmet’s first outing into takeout — it runs a cafe at Cape Cod Hospital and formerly operated the cafeteria at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich. Its decision to keep the menu small with unusual touches is a good one. The fresh ingredients in creative combinations will bring me back whenever I visit the mall.

Stefania’s dream included a gorgeous gold and white themed event where no attention to detail was spared. Her linens, a Natural Botela fabric, that is actually made from recycled bottles, set the tone for the tablescape which included gold rimmed china and crystal glassware, gold flatware, and etched gold votives. Lilacs provided flowers in a mixture of white orchids, hydrangeas, and roses all arranged in crystal glass.

Elaborate Table Setting

The guests dined on scrumptious hors d’oeuvres that included garlic rubbed lamb chops and warmed goat cheese toasts with rosemary, walnuts & honey. They were also treated to an elaborate cheese table and raw bar.

Italian Cheese Table

For dinner, the bride and groom selected a four-course meal that started with a Caprese salad and moved on to a traditional risotto course to highlight the bride’s Italian heritage. For the entrée, they enjoyed a traditional Cape Cod ‘Surf and Turf’ with Beef Tenderloin and Lobster Tails.

For the Grand Finale, Stefania’s dream also included an elaborate five-tier wedding cake filled with lobster cream and decorated in gold leaf paint with her new monogram as the centerpiece of the cake. Guests were amazed by the detail of the cake and our pastry chefs did an excellent job fulfilling this part of Stefania’s dream. A candy bar and Viennese table completed the meal.

Five Tier, Gold Accented Wedding Cake

We were truly honored to have been a part of creating Stefania’s dream wedding, but the dream was truly realized when Stefania and Justin met and fell in love. Stefania, Justin and both of their families were wonderful to work with during the entire planning process and we wish them a lifetime of happiness together.

Dear Olive,

We can’t believe it’s already been a whole month since our big day, but from the moment it was over, we haven’t stopped thinking about how perfect our wedding was and how much of that is attributed to the amazing efforts of Casual Gourmet and, in particular, to all the work you did to make the evening flawless – for this we are extremely thankful.

Sure we were “extra organized” in our planning process (probably to the point of being certifiably insane!), but what we needed from the get-go was true expertise and experience in Cape weddings. We couldn’t have asked for a more thorough or more knowledgeable expert and we were honored to have you run our event. From the nuances of menu choices to the considerations for “Plan B’s”, you never missed a detail. We knew we were in good hands from the moment you drew the Heritage Estate Lawn’s water drainage patterns from the top of your head!

You also had amazing instinct for the strengths and shortcomings of other vendors assisting in our event, going completely above and beyond what either of us would expect from a typical caterer. You were effectively our wedding coordinator and, without hesitation, synced efforts to make the planning process as well as the wedding seamless.

Looking back, it seems like all of this work alone would have been worth the cost, but the quality of food and service from the Casual Gourmet completely blew our expectations out of the park. We heard countless times from our guests that this was easily the best food they had tasted at a wedding and that they were astounded that salmon served buffet-style could be as moist and tender as it was. Regarding your service, one of our guests commented that he had never attended such a “guest-centric” wedding. Even though we had planned and planned and planned before the big day, we were still surprised by Casual Gourmet’s “special touches”, including the forethought to serve guests wine and refreshments while waiting in the receiving line as well as the consideration to serve prepared plates to the head table in an effort to save us time.

The details and coordination of the evening was immense and the grace with which everything was carried out was nothing less than impressive. We cannot thank you enough for all you did to help make our wedding as special as it was – everything truly turned out perfect in our eyes. Finally, we wanted to say how much we enjoyed working with you – all three of us are “detail-oriented” and we think it helped us click from the beginning. As glad as we are to have the wedding behind us, we will definitely miss our meetings in Centerville. Who are we kidding, we’re stopping by for a baked treat the next time we’re in town…

Olive, thank you again so very much. Please also extend our warm thanks to your incredible staff, without which we could never have pulled off our perfect wedding.

Warmest regards,
Jamie & Darius

Vegetarian Hor d’oeurves

Butternut Squash Risotto Stacks with White Truffle Aioli
Warmed Goat Cheese Toasts with Rosemary, Walnuts & Honey
Chilled Lavender & Cantaloupe Soup Sips
Eggplant Roulades with Goat Cheese, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto & Thyme
Black Bean Empanadas with Charred Tomato Pico de Gallo
Crispy Parmesan Artichoke Hearts with Lemony Holladaise

A Simple Salad with a Twist

Salads are a staple of any vegetarians diet so you don’t want to bore them. While an endive, arugula and radicchio salad with red onions topped with a lemon-balsamic vinaigrette would probably qualify as a simple salad, add a warm goat cheese crostini and some spiced almonds and you are sure to please even your most discerning guests.

Get Creative

Try going to your favorite restaurant and look at what they offer for vegetarian options. Most restaurants will have a salad, a pasta dish and maybe a veggie burger for meatless options, that’s about it. Pretty boring.

A wedding meal should be exciting, delicious and enjoyable by all.

For the main entree item, herbed risotto cakes flavored with goat cheese, fried to a golden brown and served with corn salsa. They might look like crab cakes but they are entirly meat free!

Next to the risotto cakes, there’s a new take on classic raviolis — butternut squash raviolis with chanterelle mushrooms, apples and a brown butter sage sauce.

An International Flavour

Many of the world’s cultures have fantastic vegetarian dishes. When you think of international vegetarian food, your mind probably jumps to Thai or Indian food but how about a Spanish Vegetable Paella!

A sunny medley of Chick Peas, Artichoke Hearts, Peas, Tomatoes, Sweet Red Peppers and Hubbord Squash, on a Saffron infused bed of Rice adds an international flavour to your vegetarian offerings.

Is your mouth watering yet?

Add a lemongrass seitan in coconut sauce with gingered rice pilaf and chilled roasted asparagus with tangerine vinaigrette and you have a perfect vegetarian meal.

Although no meal would be complete without cake! Perhaps a carrot cake to stick with the vegetable theme? Or maybe just a 3 layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling and butter creme icing.

The Festival kicked off on Sunday, May 31st with a Grand Opening Tasting at Rectrix Aerodome in Hyannis.  Casual Gourmet was proud to be a Silver Sponsor of the entire festival and was at Rectrix handing out some delicious 30th Anniversary cake and chatting with festival goers about our services.  (I even got to meet and chat with Billy Costa from “TV Diner” who served as Master of Ceremonies for the event!!)

Throughout the week Casual Gourmet also participated in Cultural Receptions from Provincetown to Falmouth, providing a cake at each.  At the Falmouth cultural reception, held at Highfield Hall,  we not only served cake but had a great food display which included Baja Fish Tacos, Spicy Avocado Pate and Crudite.

The week wrapped up with a Tasting Finale at Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich where guests not only had a chance to sample food & wine but were able to wonder through the lovely gardens at Heritage.  While I was busy handing out cake to the many festival goers, not 200 yards away Casual Gourmet was also catering a wedding on the grounds of Heritage Museums & Gardens.  We were certainly thankful when the sun came out in the afternoon!

Here are just a few of the wedding cakes that went out and a couple of photos from the lovely wedding at Heritage: