Which custom culinary experience is right for your gathering?
Grilled filet, sliced and served over purple cauliflower purée with a savory herb finish.
When people contact me about an event, they do not always know whether they need a private chef, a caterer, or a cooking instructor.
That is completely understandable. These experiences can overlap, but each one solves a different problem.
A private dinner places the food and the experience at the center of the evening. Catering is designed to feed a larger group efficiently while still delivering memorable, scratch made food. A private cooking lesson gives you the opportunity to learn techniques, prepare food with the chef, and build confidence in your own kitchen.
At Chef D.Mart, every experience begins with a conversation. I want to understand the occasion, the number of guests, the kitchen or venue, and what would make the event feel special to you.
The Private Dining Experience
Private dining is ideal when you want the meal to become the centerpiece of the gathering.
The food is prepared on site, and the timing follows the evening. Each course can be served and introduced individually, allowing guests to enjoy the story, ingredients, and techniques behind each plate.
This could be an anniversary dinner, milestone birthday, family celebration, business dinner, or simply an evening when you want to bring a restaurant quality experience into your home.
Menus are written around the client. I consider food preferences, dietary needs, the season, the kitchen, and the atmosphere you want to create. That might mean prime ribeye cooked over live fire, fresh seafood, a custom paella, handmade pasta, or a multi course tasting menu.
Private dining experiences typically begin around $100 per person. Most of these dinners are designed for approximately 8 to 12 guests, although I have created private dining experiences for larger groups. One memorable paella party served approximately 30 guests with the food cooked on site.
The final investment depends on the menu, ingredients, number of courses, guest count, service needs, and location.
I Can Cook Wherever There Is Heat
Cooking in someone else’s home or at an unfamiliar venue requires more than knowing a recipe. A chef must understand the available equipment, adjust to the environment, and still produce consistent results.
I have cooked on infrared grills, Weber grills, propane grills, Big Green Eggs, Primo grills, Kamado Joes, flat tops, cast iron, and many other types of equipment.
If it produces heat, I can usually find a way to cook on it.
I have also brought my own equipment when the event required it. I have transported my Big Green Egg MiniMax to prepare custom ribeyes over live fire. For a pool party, I brought my Blackstone and pressed more than 100 smash burgers for the guests.
The equipment is part of the process, but it should never limit the experience.
A custom ribeye cooking over live charcoal on the Big Green Egg MiniMax.
Catering for Larger Events
Catering becomes the better fit when the guest count grows and the menu needs to be served efficiently.
For events of 100 guests or more, the menu usually focuses on core dishes, proteins prepared by the pound, sides, and a practical service plan. Larger catering menus may begin around $30 per person, depending on the food, service style, staffing, equipment, and event requirements.
A catered event can still have the Chef D.Mart touch. The menu can include smoked brisket, pork, chicken, tacos, handmade sauces, grilled vegetables, scratch made sides, or dishes created specifically for the occasion.
One of my most memorable catering challenges began when I received a call during the week of an event. Another caterer had canceled, and the client needed someone to create and execute a complete menu with very little notice.
I accepted the challenge.
The menu included handmade orecchiette pasta with grilled broccoli. The broccoli was cooked over the Big Green Egg, giving a familiar pasta dish a flavor the guests had never experienced before.
That event is a good example of what custom catering means to me. It is not simply delivering trays of food. It is understanding the problem, building the right menu, and executing it under real conditions.
Handmade orecchiette with grilled broccoli, created for a last minute catered event.
Private Cooking Lessons
A private cooking lesson is designed around what you want to learn.
Some lessons can be completed in one session. Others benefit from more time.
A brisket lesson, for example, may begin the evening before the cook. We trim and season the brisket together, discuss the smoker, wood, temperature, timing, and overnight process. I can then return the next day to complete the cook, evaluate the bark, check tenderness, rest the meat, and demonstrate how it should be sliced.
A hands on sushi class may explore different varieties of rice, raw fish, preparation methods, knife work, rolling techniques, and presentation. Instead of following one recipe, the goal is to understand the principles so you can create your own variations.
Lessons can also focus on tortillas, sauces, live fire cooking, handmade pasta, meal preparation, or a complete menu.
The purpose is not just to show you what to do. I want you to understand why each step matters.
Working directly with a client during a private lesson in the kitchen I helped design.
More Than a Cooking Lesson
Sometimes the challenge is bigger than learning a single dish.
One client, a prominent criminal defense attorney in Atlanta, needed help solving his family’s meal planning problem. I visited the home, created a practical menu, and cooked with the family’s needs and schedule in mind.
Our work expanded beyond the food. I helped the client think through the kitchen layout and how the space should function. Today, he proudly tells visitors how much they enjoy the kitchen.
We also discussed pantry organization and food storage. Most households do not need an enormous list of specialty ingredients. They need dependable staples that can become multiple meals.
Pasta shells and spaghetti are useful. Flour, cooking oils, balsamic vinegar, seasonings, stocks, rice, and other versatile ingredients create the foundation. When the pantry is organized properly, planning dinner becomes easier and food waste can be reduced.
This is where a private chef consultation becomes something more. It can improve how a family shops, stores food, prepares meals, and uses the kitchen every day.
Scratch Made Food in Your Kitchen
One of the best parts of cooking in a client’s home is creating something fresh in the space where it will be enjoyed.
Fresh churros are a perfect example. They are mixed, shaped, fried, and served directly from the client’s kitchen with chocolate sauce. The guests experience the aroma, the preparation, and the first warm bite.
That experience cannot be recreated by simply placing a delivered dessert on the table.
Whether I am preparing handmade tortillas, pasta, sauces, bread, or dessert, scratch made food gives the event its own identity.
Fresh churros prepared and served in the client’s kitchen.
How to Choose the Right Experience
Choose private dining when you want a customized, course driven experience in which the food becomes the focus of the evening.
Choose catering when you need to serve a larger group efficiently with a thoughtfully designed menu and professional execution.
Choose a private cooking lesson when you want to participate, learn techniques, and become more confident preparing food in your own kitchen.
Choose a culinary consultation when you need help with meal planning, pantry organization, food storage, equipment, or the way your kitchen functions.
Some events may combine more than one of these services. A lesson can become a dinner. A catered gathering can include live cooking. A private dinner can introduce guests to techniques and ingredients as each course is served.
That flexibility is one of the reasons I enjoy this work.
Let’s Talk About Your Event or Evening
You do not need to have the entire menu figured out before contacting me.
Tell me the occasion, date, location, estimated number of guests, and the kind of experience you have in mind. I can help you decide whether private dining, catering, a private cooking lesson, or a combination would work best.
Chef D.Mart serves clients in Buford, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Buckhead, Decatur, Roswell, Suwanee, Cumming, and throughout the greater Atlanta area.
