Culinary Eye Catering

John and his team were absolutely fantastic! From the first moment of contact I had with John via email, to follow up phone calls, a site visit, working within my budget, and some last minute (crazy) requests he continued to blow me away. He and his team were beyond professional, fun, and efficient. And if it couldn’t get better than that… the food was top notch! People can’t stop talking about it days after the event. Thank you to John and his entire team at Culinary Eye! I won’t use another caterer in the Bay Area again!

Nikki and the rest of the team at Culinary Eye are absolutely amazing! The food was incredible, the plating was perfect, and the event execution was flawless. Everyone at our wedding raved about the food, drinks, and service. If you care about having excellent food at your wedding, then hire Culinary Eye. There is nobody better.
During the planning process, Nikki was always responsive and made everything really easy. We met at the event rental company where I was able to see and choose all of my rentals in one place. She took care of everything else.
Thank you, Nikki, Chef Collins, and team!

Culinary Eye absolutely crushed it, executing a delicious and creative menu for our unique corporate event. All the dishes were beautifully presented, and their service and attention to detail were on point. Thanks, Nikki and team!

Nikki and her team were absolutely amazing! She was on top of every detail for our 200-​person office party. We haven’t held an event at our office before, so I was initially a bit nervous. Fortunately, the team was super professional and willing to accommodate last-​minute changes with ease. The food was delicious, and presentation was incredible. So many guests asked us which catering company we used and raved about the food. Everyone had a great time thanks to Culinary Eye. We’ll definitely be using them again in the future!

The team was amazing. We had an event for 30 people at an office setting, where we changed the layout several times prior to the event and the team managed our changes with grace, expertise, and professionalism. We had a beautiful bar setting with a cheese board and passed apps. The food was so delicious and the team was so friendly. I will definitely use Culinary for all future catering needs!

It was such a pleasure working with John and the Culinary Eye team. From ideation to execution our wedding was exactly how we imagined it would be all thanks to his incredible team.
Our wedding took place on a peach farm in the East Bay. John helped us build our event from planning out the menu and cocktails to designing our floor plan and tablescapes. The food itself left us and our guests wanting more. The menu featured Chef Collin’s rendition of our favorite dishes (he made these amazing ceviche tacos — so good!) that were locally sourced and tasted FANTASTIC. During our tasting, it was difficult to choose what was going to make the menu!
John was always conscience about our budget and maximized his resources to fulfill all of our wants and needs. Our venue required a complete buildout which meant a lot of moving parts and different vendors. John was a huge help in recommending the right vendors who made our wedding complete. Because of his experience and network, we knew we were in great hands.
We can’t express enough how much John and his team were involved, responsive, professional and FUN to work with it. If we had to plan another event, we would most definitely choose Culinary Eye Catering!

Background:
— Wedding reception at Thomas Fogarty Winery.
— Food: buffet-​style, gourmet tacos, ice-​cream cone station for dessert, all foods halal
— Main contact: John Silva
Overall:
There is no doubt that our wedding was amazing because of John Silva and his team at Culinary Eye. We and our guests could not have been happier with everything they did for us. They were very respectful of our unique theme, budget, and difficult schedules. From start to finish, John did an incredible job and made a world of difference. Choosing Culinary Eye was by far the best decision we made throughout the wedding planning process.
They were higher in price than others on the preferred catering list from the venue, but we chose them because 1) they provided more comprehensive service offerings than other caterers (assisted with design elements), and 2) their food and design aesthetic was more modern, young, and fresh/​seasonal than the standard caterer.
Menu/​Food:
— Fresh/​seasonal ingredients
— Custom menu developed based on our tastes/​preferences
— Sourced from a halal butchery and ensured all foods were halal
Involvement/​Services provided:
— Menu suggestions, development, and tweaks
— Tasting session of our personal menu
— Rentals: walk through with the rental vendor and suggestions on design
— Centerpiece design
— Walk-​through of the SF Flower Market to choose centerpiece elements
— Day-​of design set-​up for centerpieces, welcome table, and other areas
Service:
Throughout the entire wedding planning process, John was there — making sure we had all of our bases covered — catering and beyond. It was clear very early on that he knew what he was doing and really looked out for our best interests to make sure we had the best event possible. His professional insight, diligence, and expertise were evident throughout — telling us what would work and what wouldn’t, as opposed to simply being a «yes» man — as we found with other potential vendors looking to simply win additional business. This was especially helpful in menu creation.
He was always receptive to our objectives and preferences — making sure the menu and the event were exactly how we wanted — even if it meant getting out of his comfort zone and learning new things (food style and unique dietary restrictions, for example) throughout the process. If it’s important to you — it’s important to the Culinary Eye team — and this really meant a lot with an event as important as our wedding.

Nutshell: John Silva and his team at Culinary Eye prepared and served an amazing feast for our outdoor wedding of 150. Countless guests commented on the food being some of the best they had ever had at any catered event. Culinary Eye was responsive, professional, and an absolute joy to work with. After one meeting, John and Collins felt like friends, teammates, and partners. They were as excited about creating something wonderful as we were, and they far surpassed our very high expectations. If you appreciate good food and are looking for a partner to work with to help prepare an unforgettable culinary experience for your guests, hire Culinary Eye immediately.
Background: My wife is a Northern California foodie. Meals are a cultural experience. Salads are works of art. Meat and fish must be perfectly prepared. Flavors must be fresh and powerful. We sought a caterer who shared these values. We identified three potential caterers. John’s proposal immediately stood out because (1) he had listened to what we had described, (2) he had elaborated upon and expanded our vision, and (3) he was timely with his response. After one phone call with John, we knew we had found our caterer.
The tasting:. Several appetizers and courses were served, and we took copious notes. At the end, we sat down with John and his chef Collins and talked through every item. John and Collins are passionate about their food, but were open to our suggestions and preferences. When we had an idea that just didn’t make sense, they told us, and they told us why. They were invested in creating an amazing experience for our guests, and incorporated and elaborated upon our feedback.
Prep for the wedding: John arrived at 10 a.m. for a ceremony that would not begin until 5:00. Why 10 a.m. Because that’s who John is. John worked seamlessly with our wedding coordinator and our vendors (tent, tables, utensils, yadda yadda yadda). We did not have to worry about any of it. John introduced us to a bartending service that saved us time, money, and effort, and they were perfect. John and his chef came to the site weeks prior to the wedding to get a layout of everything. When we wanted to do anything related to the wedding, we’d call our coordinator, and we’d call John.
The wedding itself: Guests were served bite-​sized morsels to whet their appetites for the main event. They were flavorful, beautiful, and truly bite-​sized. This meant no messiness, and plenty of room for the real thing. John and his team think about these things. John took it upon himself to make sure my wife and I got to the buffet, and personally re-​loaded our plates with seconds. Wild fresh salmon and tri-​tip for 150? Perfectly done. You think polenta is boring? Not the way they do it. Guests (many of whom were also northern California foodies) raved, ate, and raved, and ate some more.
Defining story: We had a string quartet prior to and during our ceremony, and they had to be under an umbrella. During the ceremony, wind knocked over the umbrella, but somebody jumped in to hold the umbrella for the rest of the ceremony. Upon exiting the ceremony with my bride, I saw for the first time that that somebody was John. Having been through a wedding and knowing that 100 things can go wrong at any time, you want a team committed to executing their tasks, and making sure everything else goes as well as possible. You want a caterer who gets there at 10 am just in case, and who holds the quartet’s umbrella because the music must go on. You want John and Culinary Eye on your team.

Culinary Eye was a suggested caterer for an event I was planning at White Walls Gallery. The event was in celebration of new hardware we were launching. It was also the first party for my team that I was planning, 60 designers, who have very high standards. From Culinary Eye’s first menu proposal I was intrigued! Then at our walk-​thru they brought me a small bouquet of flowers– hook, line and sinker. The event was a HUGE success and I’ve never received so many compliments on food, truly. For weeks afterwards I was getting, «Who were the caterers for our party? Can I have their contact info?»
Then in August I was helping plan a week long summit for our team. Multiple days, multiple events. There was never a doubt in my mind that I would go to Culinary Eye for our needs. Together we planned a bonfire at Ocean Beach for 115, all rentals for our 2 days at the Old Mint, a coffee/​waffle cart for the mornings and an evening sit-​down dinner for 115. The evening dinner also included a cocktail hour and drinks/​dessert in the vault afterwards. The team and my boss were absolutely BLOWN AWAY.
John and Nikki are collaborative, creative, organized, flexible and cool under pressure. Their level of customer service and food quality is superb. When needing to execute high level corporate events, this is your team!

John and his crew are FANTASTIC! I hired them for our board and management team party which was in our home. The food was amazing, the service was exceptional, and the theme they helped create was stunning. If I could give 10 stars I would. This is the best catering and event crew I have ever worked with. Look forward to having another party with this team!

I hired Culinary Eye for my company’s holiday party and I am so glad I did. They handled the food, bar, staffing, set up and rentals (including furniture). The food was great and people loved the cocktails. However, what made Culinary Eye great was their customer service. John made the process of event planning a breeze. He always got back to me quickly and had great suggestions on how to ensure the party’s success. He was even able to accommodate some last minute requests. I will definitely use them again.

As our year anniversary approaches, I keep reflecting on what an amazing wedding we had. John was like Xanax. He helped us with every aspect of the wedding, rentals, color schemes, room set up, even recommended a chalk board artist that was incredible. The food was AMAZING. Everyone from our meat eating family members to our raw vegan friends had plenty of delicious food to eat.
John and his crew are professional, funny, very talented and an absolute pleasure to work with. Thank you!

Absolutely amazing!
The entire team over at Culinary Eye helped to make our April 27, 2014 wedding a dream come true. From the first meeting I knew they are who we were going to go with. The food, professionalism and everything about them far exceeds anything we could have hoped for. Everyone at our wedding have told us that it was the best food they have ever had at a wedding and in general. Thanks to the team they helped to make our wedding run so smoothly, even attending the rehearsal just in case they needed to help. I would recommend them to anyone for any occasion!

If you’re someone who cares about food being not just being incredible, but a true experience, than look no further than John and Collins.
We had been looking fruitlessly for caterers for our wedding for weeks — my husband is a huge foodie, so we had no problem portioning a good part of our budget towards making sure the food was a memorable experience. Our only request — blend together my Chinese and my husband’s Italian heritage into family style dinner.
Well, we had endured from other high-​rated Unilocal caterers some terrible tastings and terrible menu ideas («let’s alternate the Chinese and Italian courses!») before our wedding coordinators Honey & Twine introduced us to Culinary Eye.
John and Collins had us at «Hello» — from the questionnaire where we were asked about our most memorable food experience, to getting a COMPLETELY CUSTOM menu of ingenious Chinese and Italian food marriages, we became totally excited to meet John and Collins.
The passion with which Collins spoke about researching the histories of the 2 cuisines to find points at which they intersected still brings me chills.
And the tasting!!! Outstanding.
Ricotta stuffed potstickers. Homemade fermented chili sauces. Soy roast cod with pesto. A CHINESE CAESAR SALAD with FISH OIL instead of anchovies — SO CLEVER!!! Which we didn’t even choose because there were so many spectacular flavors to choose from!!!
Suffice to say at the wedding, everyone made a point of saying (and continue to tell us!) the food was incredible.
But that’s not ALL! You also get the most caring, hardest working guys in the business… example: the TaskRabbit we’d hired to build a small stage for our ceremony and was supposed to bring it to the venue ended up cutting her finger off… in other words, no stage. But I had no idea, because when I walked down the aisle, there was a little stage! BECAUSE… John had actually scrapped together materials to build a stage for us before the ceremony WHILE getting ready to cater! And neither my husband nor I had to bat an eye for this incredibly generous gesture! Amazing!
You’re lucky if you can get a chance to book these maestros!

We just got married yesterday and one of the first things we wanted to do today was thank John and his team for an amazing event — food, flowers, bartending, décor — and write a review so everyone else can have such a great experience.
We wanted something casual but delicious and John + Collins came up with the perfect menu: the appetizers were my favorite (bite size «in n out» burgers, truffle fries, mini fried chicken on biscuits, deviled quail eggs with bacon, and bruschetta with burrata) and the main course was a close second (buttermilk baked chicken, pork shoulder, Mac n cheese, pickled veggies, and roasted potatoes). Everyone raved about it — SF foodies and Midwesterners alike.
John also took care of the flowers and décor with very little input from us and everything looked awesome (and affordable).
Maybe even better than the quality of the food and décor, John made us feel so comfortable and was a blast to work with — he sent us pictures to get us excited, showed me around the flower mart to get ideas, and sent us an awesome ceremony photo the next morning.
I would highly recommend working with this team, they are the best.

The short review –
AMAZING food, OUTSTANDING service, simply the BEST.
The details –
I was planning a wedding from the east coast all by myself, no wedding planner, no family/​friend helpers, just me. I found Culinary Eye through a suggestion from the venue and then checked them out on Unilocal.I had a few email exchanges and phone conversations with John then my fiancé (now husband) and I met with him on a visit to SF. Before we met John I was not at all excited about the wedding (marriage yes, wedding NO). John put us completely at ease with his laid back attitude while still being absolutely on point and detail oriented. When we left that first meeting I actually felt excited about the wedding!
Culinary Eye is SO MUCH more than a caterer, they also did our flowers (for a VERY reasonable price) and John and his crew made sure everything (including décor) was setup before the wedding, went smoothly during and was all cleaned up after. John was everywhere doing everything and generally making sure that it was all perfect and that we were having a great time, which we were!
The food was some of the best wedding food I’ve had. Everything was fresh, flavorful and moist. People were raving about everything from the arancini and mini slider (yes like silver dollar sized sliders) apps to the marinated steak and even the lentils at dinner. All of the staff were wonderful — attentive and genuinely friendly. John is also the pastry chef and made a delicious cake for us AND homemade ice cream — THREE different kinds!
As if this all wasn’t enough, when we stumbled back into our hotel room after the after party, we found a basket with leftovers from the dinner and a nice big slice of cake and a bottle of wine with a nice note from John. Floored.
The only downside is that, after so much constant contact, I won’t be hearing from John anymore — though I think this is definitely upside for him!

Culinary Eye taught my team how to cook for a marketing offsite. What an amazingly fun afternoon! These guys are professionals — they are amusing, knowledgeable, creative and fun. They got us all into a top chef cookoff making ricotta, fried wontons, savory cookies, mini sliders — everything with a little extra flair. They answered all our questions, let us drink and hang, and were just simply great. I highly recommend.

Last month, Culinary Eye catered our wedding rehearsal dinner party on a private residence/​vineyard property in Healdsburg, California. The concept of the party was to welcome our friends and family to Wine Country and we thought the best way to do that was to have some really kick-​ass wine country food to serve them.
Wow, I cannot express to you how happy we are that we chose Culinary Eye to cater this event. The menu (below) that Chef John put together was positively outstanding. The entire night, people talked about the food (while helping themselves to seconds… and thirds… and fourths…)
Not only was the food quality and preparation 5 star, the service was outstanding, as well.
Here’s the menu Chef John crafted for our Wine Country party:
–Passed Small Bites: Pulled Lump Crab and Cress in Endive Crispy Arrancini with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
–Artisan Cheese Board with Assorted Crackers, Grapes, Strawberries, and Seasonal Fruit
–Baby Gem Salad with Green Goddess Vinaigrette
–Build your Own Taco Station (This was a HUGE, HUGE hit)
–Grilled Flat Bread Pizzas with Burrata, grape tomatoes, and basil oil on flat bread
with crumbled Sausage, Marinara, and Roccolo —
Dessert Station: Meyer Lemon Shortcake, Mixed and Marinated Berries and Peaches, Sweet Chantilly Cream, Meyer Lemon Shortcakes
I would highly recommend Culinary Eye to cater your next event.

07.26.12
I met Chef John over a year ago at a cooking class. Not only is he a great cook, an excellent demonstrator, but boy can he hold a conversation!
I wanted to work with Culinary Eye last year for this event. The popular guy that he is, John was already booked for that night. So this year, we made it a point to lock it on both of our calendars, three months in advance.
I was throwing a three part work function. Three courses, three houses. One bus, one catering company. Imagine the logistics!
John made my planning as easy as can be. He selected a menu based on my description of the dinner guests, and made tweaks to cater to my personal preferences.
On the menu, house one:
Crispy crab cakes with house made remoulade
Miniature angus sliders with point reyes blue and wild arugula
Burst cherry tomato and aged balsamic toy box panzanella
Confit garlic and ricotta crostini
Appetizers were a feast in itself. But John warned us that a bigger feast awaits us at house two. I had to hold off on my fifth slider and board the bus, with a tray of crab cakes in tow.
House two:
–Salad of pickled beets, summer mellon, wild arugula, shaved peccorino, poppy seed vinaigrette
–Roulade of honey and wild thyme glazed chicken, sauteed spinach, and toasted pine nuts
–Oregano and thyme marinated bavette with salsa verde
–Grilled broccolini and purple cauliflower with crumbled goat cheese, roast apricot, and spiced almonds
–Creamy mashed potatoes
–Garlic and rosemary torn croûton ceasar salad
By then I’m ready to waddle home, but alas, the party must move forward to house three.
On the menu:
Nutella and fluff pop tarts
Triple chocolate brownies
Fresh strawberries with chantilly cream
If you’re not drooling by now, you need new reading glasses.
The entire process has been extremely pleasant, cordial, fun, and professional. I can’t wait to work with John again.

Damn it. Someone else already started out the exact way I was going to … «I can’t say enough good about these guys.»
John, Collins and co are completely awesome. Awesome chefs, awesome hosts, awesome guys.
I’ve been able to taste their food 4 times in the past few months — at our tasting (which was so much fun, much more so than Fork & Spoon), at Jacin Fitzgerald of Lovely LIttle Details’ event (my wedding planner) held at Blu Bungalow, at a sit down family-​style dinner for 17 people, and at our wedding. Oh – and the morning after our wedding since John packed up a picnic basket of goodies for us to nosh on at the hotel. So 5 times.
We got continuous compliments on the food from our guests. I trusted John and his taste (haha) so much that we asked him to cater for a family dinner held a few days before the wedding. We discussed the meal very generally and I just knew that he would come up with something amazing, and he did. He made a ridiculous pork chop — thick & juicy. We all asked for the recipe. And the fried green tomato apps — we asked for that recipe too and immediately got a lesson as we watched Collins make it in the kitchen during the party. John also made two different salads for the family dinner. I’m just so-​so on salads. I usually eat them because they are healthy. But I gobbled them up because they were so dang tasty.
John & Collins just go above and beyond. I can’t even go into how many times they just surpassed expectations — not just with quality of food. These guys are amazing. I’m lucky to have found them.