With over-the-top weddings now being de rigueur, we’ve found the ultimate in luxury affairs–having a celebrity chef cater your special day. Imagine the Insta-moment when your guests see celebrity Chef Floyd Cardoz preparing the meal at your wedding or special event. That’s exactly what Paul Neuman, owner of award-winning, 37-year-old catering house, Neuman’s Kitchen, thought when he asked Chef Cardoz to join him in an exclusive catering partnership to offer an elevated experience for his catering clients. With critically acclaimed restaurants in India and the US, Chef Cardoz is best recognized as the Season Three winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters and as head chef at restaurants like Danny Mayer’s Tabla and North End Grill. Chef Cardoz currently is the chef-owner of NYC’s Bombay Bread Bar and is the Culinary Director of Mumbai’s Bombay Canteen, which has recently been named India’s top restaurant, 2019 by Condé Nast Traveler
“Our goal with this collaboration,” says Paul Neuman, owner of Neuman’s Kitchen, “is to offer our clients Floyd’s highly personal approach and unique interpretations of international food for their catered events. It was love at first sight when we first met Floyd, and we instinctively knew that his creativity and our direction were going to be something unique in the catering arena.”
Cardoz adds, “I believe that good food and good cooking are not only about how good something looks or tastes, it’s also about how good you feel while cooking for someone you love, or eating something that has been lovingly prepared for you. The entire process of cooking is about expressing your soul. If your food does not have soul, it will not give joy to those eating it. And without soul, we are nothing. Working with Neuman’s Kitchen will allow me to offer my food to larger events, something I can’t do in my restaurants. Neuman’s Kitchen has the capabilities and reach I was looking for in such a partnership, and I am excited to start this new journey with them.”
The Cardoz menus will be available starting March 2019 and will begin with a focus on bridal and life cycle events as well as destination weddings. Neuman’s Kitchen, based in New York and Philadelphia, will collaborate with caterers around North America through their affiliation with LCA – The Leading Caterers of America to enable Floyd to reach a national audience.
Expect progressive dishes like Black Pepper Shrimp with a Watermelon-Watercress Salad, Crab Cakes with Tamarind Chutney, Upma Polenta with Wild Mushrooms, Riced-Flaked Halibut or Lamb Haleem Curry; all dishes are cooked in Indian spices and modernized with on-trend ingredients. Chef Floyd can also orchestrate an Indian Street Food Station with green chickpea chat, samosas and other crowd favorites.
Prices start around $250 and up per person, and expect the award-winning presentation and service of Neuman’s Kitchen to wow your guests to a level unexpected in South Asian weddings. In the end, aren’t the bragging rights of having such a coveted Chef at your wedding worth it? We think so.
