I only listed them as inspiration -- as the type of food I was hoping a caterer could pull off and not because I wanted them to cater the wedding. As I said, the catering list is rather limited, and I was just hoping for some helpful suggestions from people who have worked with those caterers.

Restaurants that inspired me when I thought about a more upmarket twist on Southeast Asian streetfood:

Fatty Cue and Fatty Crab - http://www.fattycue.com/menus
PokPok: http://www.pokpokpdx.com/menu/dinner/
Whiskey Soda Lounge - http://www.whiskeysodalounge.com/home...

We're trying to decide on a menu for our wedding and we're having trouble finding caterers who understand Southeast Asian streetfood. The food is one of the most important parts of the wedding, so we really wanted to make it personal. My grandfather raised a family of 6 as a street food vendor in Vietnam.

The problem is, no one we've spoken to seems to understand Vietnamese or even Thai streetfood. One caterer asked me what a Banh Mi was. The venue for the wedding has a limited catering list, that includes:

Four Seasons Catering
Word of Mouth Catering
Crave
Kurant Catering
Creative Creations
Primizie

Has anyone worked with these caterers before? If so, what was your experience like? Were they willing to work with what you wanted? Tell me about what you had at your wedding. We're trying to get a sense of whether any of these places can really do Asian food.

So far, we've talked to Crave Catering. The turnaround for a menu idea was super slow, but they seemed willing to accommodate us. I'm just not sure they'll be able to execute on the food.

We've also talked to Primizie. And we got an Asian fusion menu (wtf) that was all over the map. (Bacon Crusted Quail with Avocado sauce, Wasabi crab cakes (more japanese than southeast asian). Also, I hate fusion.

Last question is: Should I just give up on this menu and do Soul Food?

-----
Primizie
1050 E 11th St, Austin, TX

Four Seasons
98 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78701

I couldn't let this comment stand. Word of Mouth catered my cousin's wedding (I was the maid of honor) and they did a disastrous job. The wedding was small -- ~110 people, but the food came out cold. Imagine cold, overcooked steak. This one oversight would have been forgiveable, of course, except when we got the final bill, we were charged for food and tables that were never used (they charged us for 15 tables, but we only used 11, and the contract stipulated 12 tables). We were also charged for an appetizer that never came out of the kitchen.

When we tried to talk to the account rep, she was rude and immature. We highly, highly do not recommend Word of Mouth.

Dear Chowhounds,

I can't believe how wholly obsessed I am planning for a trip that is not going to take place until May 2009, but I have fallen in love with Spain, and this is only through reading online travel guides.

My sister, her fiancee, my boyfriend, and I are taking a 10 day vacation in Spain. We have decided that food will dictate our travels. We think we will have time to go to 3 cities at most. So the question is: What are the three best cities for food in Spain? Where should we go? Which restaurants? What should we order?

Criteria: We would prefer places where the locals actually eat, whether they turn out to be hole in the walls or places for more special occasions. And I'm turning to Chowhounds hoping to discover some gems not listed in the various travel guides.

Thanks!

Those are excellent ideas. It sounds like the cake will be difficult to layer, but making a separate cake may work.

Thank you, Adrienne!

My boyfriend proposed to me at the Tabard Inn in Washington, DC. The most memorable part of our dinner (besides the proposal) was the dessert -- a coconut tres leches cake with currants. Now, both of us want a cocount tres leches cake as the wedding cake.

Does anyone know if this is possible? I've read that the cake would be too soggy and unstructured to hold up or taste good. I also heard it would be difficult to decorate. Is there anyway we could make this work?

Wow. That was kind of bitchy.

I used to live in DC and though I didn't always agree with Tom's ratings on Asian restaurants, I still enjoyed reading his reviews.

I'm also from the "peasant" class, but I do enough traveling to enjoy reading reviews about restaurants in other cities, especially from a familiar voice. Just because Tom lives in DC doesn't mean he can't form opinions about food from other areas. Most people pass judgment on food no matter where they are -- I'm sure you do the same.

Food at restaurants is made for everyone -- not just locals! If American movie reviewers can judge foreign films, I don't see why food critics can't share the food they try with their readers as long as the readers are aware that it's only one man's opinion.

I'm also not trying to be snobby, but I really do prefer the nuttiness of dark chocolate, whether it's by itself, in brownies, or in cakes. I also love cacao nibs.

Milk chocolate is way too sweet for me.

My boyfriend and I were in NY last weekend for dinner at Sushi Yasuda. I just wanted to write up a quick review:

-It's kind of unromantic. Since we couldn't be together for Valentine's Day, Sushi Yasuda was supposed to be our substitute Valentine's Day going-out meal together. I do not recommend Yasuda for a date. The blonde wood is beautiful, but it's also kind of clinical. We had reservations at 6:30 and were told we had to leave by 8:00. And even though we finished our meal before 8:00, there wasn't time to linger over the menu or enjoy each other's time after the meal.

-They rush you. Our waitress was nice, but she came back to our table every 2 minutes to try to take our order. And after every dish, she would come and quickly bus everything off our table. She placed the check at our table before the end of the meal, and kept on asking us if we wanted to order more sushi. I've never felt so rushed at a restaurant before and found it really annoying.

-Our waitress was also a little OCD. At one point, she rearranged my chopsticks on the stone chopstick holder even though it was fine where it was.

-However, I'd probably go back for the sushi. The food was sublime -- just the best cuts of fish on beds of perfectly marinated sushi rice. It's a good lunch place and a good place to take friends, but not the best place for a romantic night out. Order everything and anything the chef recommends, especially the toro. Dinner cost $160 for two people. We ordered the Sushi/Sashimi Prix Fixe dinner, and then all different kinds of sashimi and sushi.

We just came back from The Bar Room last weekend and thought the food was really overrated. The Duck Confit was served in a strawberry sauce that was so overwhelmingly sweet that my tooth ached. My boyfriend had Salmon in a Fennel sauce that was equally disappointing. None of the flavors really worked well together and both dishes were served at room temperature. We also had their egg in a jar, which was really nothing special. The only dish I did enjoy was the gnocchi, but even then, I've had better (Cafe Zuni in SF).

I'm so glad I came to Chowhound. I'm going to cancel all the other reservations and go with Sushi Yasuda. We really wanted to go to The Modern, but it was booked solid that evening.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!

My boyfriend and I will be in NY for an extended layover next month. We're not looking for anything romantic per se, but something that would be fun. We're also looking for something relatively accessible to the MOMA (mostly in Midtown or places easily accessible by MTA). And we made reservations at the following places:

Sushi Yasuda, Aburiya Kinnosuke, Balthazar, Cafe Gray, or Brasserie

How would you rank the restaurants? We've never been to any of them, and are open to trying anything.

Thanks!

Wow. Thanks! I'll go check them out this weekend.

I'm making a monkfish linguine next week and was wondering if anyone knew of a good seafood purveyor in the NW DC area, preferably close to Massachusetts and Wisconsin. I would go to Whole Foods, but their seafood is way overpriced. Thanks!

I've made two recipes posted on the chow pages and have photos to share. Wouldn't it be cool if members could post pictures of their feeble recipe attempts on the page that features the recipe? That way other people could see what it looks like when real people attempt it. Photos could be flaggable so that inappopriate photos could be quickly taken down.

Moreover, each member can maintain a photo food diary on their individual chow page.

What do you think?

Also, the person is talking about a baked potato -- I'm talking about baking *mashed* potatoes. Thanks for pointing that post out -- I'll have to try that method too.

I've always gotten compliments on the fluffiness of my mashed potatoes. I do this without a ricer and my secret is to bake them after you mash them. I usually make the potatoes the day before:

1. boil potatoes
2. sautee green onions and white onions until brown
3. melt butter and add a generous amount of curry powder to it
4. mash potatoes and add butter to potatoes
5. salt and pepper to taste
6. let potatoes sit overnight (not necessary -- i just make my potatoes a day ahead so i have less to do the next day)
7. cover potatoes with foil and bake with your turkey - bake with foil for 30 min, then remove foil and bake for another 30.

Your potatoes will have a nice light crust, but will be super fluffy when you serve!

That sounds delicious and very easy to do. I could see this going well with arugala, tomatoes, and pinenuts too. I also like the idea of marinating half with lemon and the other half with balsamic. Thanks for the tips!

mmmm...I really like the idea of grilling calamari! I'm adding that to our Turkey day experiments.

When I read this post, I was going to say Kimchi too! I used to have this stuff stashed away in my dorm fridge and could only eat it when my roommate had gone to class. I've driven miles to a Korean supermarket to get the stuff. Everytime I go home to my parents, I leave with a bottle of homemade kimchi.

Something else I can't go a week without -- sushi.

We'll see if we can add another seat to our table :)

The curried mashed potatoes are really easy. I make them the night before so I do less cooking the day of. I reheat them in the oven while the turkey/duck is roasting. They somehow taste better this way and come out fluffier.

1. First brown 1 white onion and a 3 stalks of green onions (about 7-8 minutes on a skillet)
2. Make your standard mashed potatoes. We use about 4-5 Idaho potatoes for their starchiness and fluffiness, boiling them first and then mashing. Melt about one stick of butter and add to the mixture.
3. Add the green and white onions and mix them with the mashed potatoes well.
4. Add as much Madras yellow curry powder and salt to taste (I don't measure the amount of curry powder, but the mashed potatoes are usually pretty yellow.)
5. Store in the fridge overnight. I don't know why it always tastes better the next day.
6. Put in 13x9 baking dish, cover with foil and reheat in the oven while you are roasting your turkey/duck. Reheat for about 45 minutes, remove the foil and reheat for another 20 minutes. This makes your mashed potatoes fluffier and also gives it a nice crust on top.

I know it's a bit early, but we start our Tday prep at least 2 weeks in advance, trying out recipes and creating the menu. We're looking for some inspiration too.

What's on your menu this year? Here's what we were thinking about:

-Roast duck with sticky rice, chinese sausage, and shiitake mushroom stuffing
-Curried mashed potatoes
-Asparagus
-Pumpkin pie

Family and friends usually bring other things, but my partner and I are going to try a few recipes out before we serve it to everyone on Thanksgiving Day.