Catering to Many Needs
On Saturday, Jean-Claude Guerin oversaw food service for a school district function, a wedding, a wedding rehearsal, a 20-year high school reunion, a gathering of university officials and a community group meeting.
Yes, that was just Saturday.
But that sort of workload is all part of Guerin’s function as co-owner of At Your Service, a new hospitality-catering company. At Your Service has signed a long-term lease as the in-house caterer for the Residence Inn by Marriott at River Ridge in Oxnard.
“We are responsible for all of the business meetings, the social functions, the catering functions, everything that has to do with the meeting rooms,” Guerin said.
The inn has 12,000 square feet of meeting space and two ballrooms to occupy the time of Guerin, business partner Orin Abrams, executive chef Timothy Banning and a staff of nearly three dozen.
Before starting the hospitality venture, Guerin served for five years as food and beverage director of Capistrano’s restaurant, located within the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard. He said his company’s relationship with the Residence Inn is quite similar to the relationship between Capistrano’s and Embassy Suites.
“It’s like we have two separate companies under the same roof and the common goal is to satisfy every single guest who comes in,” said Guerin, who has a similar arrangement with the Shilo Inn in Pomona. “But the guest should not feel there are two companies.”
Guerin said the separation of catering and hotel service is becoming increasingly common in the hospitality industry.
“The trend for the last few years for some hotel companies has been to sublease their food and beverage location, giving a chance for the [hotel general manager] to run the hotel,” he said. “The advantage is that I’m a professional in food and this is my forte--how to prepare food, sell food, sell meeting rooms. The hotel does not have to worry about it.”
Guerin said he left Capistrano’s when he saw the opportunity to start his own operation.
“The American dream is to have your own business,” said the native of Burgundy, France. “Being an immigrant, I always looked for that opportunity.”.
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Rose Burtchby, owner-chef of Ventura’s City Bakery, will go to great lengths to incorporate garlic into her dishes.
How great? Try garlic scones.
Burtchby will serve those scones during City Bakery’s garlic festival, running through Saturday. Along with the scones, Burtchby will serve specials such as garlic soup and garlic-potato burritos.
“People who love garlic, love garlic and use it for everything,” said Burtchby, speaking from experience. “It has so much folklore about it.”
For the complete garlic tribute on Saturday evening, Burtchby will prepare a full garlic-laden dinner. The menu will open with an appetizer sampling of roasted garlic bulb, garlic mushroom pate and a filo triangle filled with garlic, spinach and pine nuts. Next, Burtchby will prepare her panzenella salad, served with garlic, roasted peppers, tomatoes, basil, arugula and bread atop a bed of baby greens. (The salad earned Burtchby second place at last year’s Gilroy Garlic Festival.)
For the entree, guests will have a choice of beef filet with a garlic, mushroom and wine sauce, served with garlic rosemary potatoes and zucchini prepared with garlic and mint, or a puff pastry with caramelized garlic, summer vegetables and feta in a juniper garlic sauce, served with the garlic rosemary potatoes.
Dessert will be a champagne citrus soup with orange wedges, lime sorbet and a tuilecq cookie. Dinner will be served at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Cost is $25. City Bakery is at 2358 E. Main St. For reservations call (805) 643-0861.
