Luncheon 1: Through the garden Gates Brunch

Through the Garden Gates Brunch

This was the first luncheon that the W had even hosted for our community. It was a great learning experience. Here is what I have done and learned.

Pre-Event

We started with figuring out what we wanted to serve for our luncheon. We had served:

• Amuse Bouche : Seasoned Mashed Avocado on a Toasted Crostini
• Appetizer : Spinach Artichoke Crepé with a Butter Brie Sauce
• Entrée : Deluxe Frittata with seasoned potatoes and a fruit salad
• Dessert: Fruit Tart with Diplomat Cream
• Mocktails: Peach Bellini and Ginger Sunrise
• Table Bread: Biscuits and Raspberry Orange Jam

In the beginning, we had wanted to do a Trio sampler platter as an appetizer. It would have had the crostini, the crepe and a strawberry muffin. Throughout the semester, we were informed that we needed to have some kind of bead on the table. Our brunch was very carb forward, like many breakfast menus are. So my partner and I had decided that we were going to cut out the strawberry muffin and create the other two items as you see them above.

Another portion of this experience was figuring out how to recipe cost. Playing off my partners and I strengths, I was the one who figured out all that. I figured out what our portion size for each dish and how much each recipe would cost. From doing all the costing for the luncheon, I saw how important it is to recipe test a recipe all the way to plating the dish. When it came to the actual event, I had no idea how my dishes looked in real life. I had an idea on how I wanted each dish was “suppose to” look. Nothing turned out how I imagined each dish. I had to pivot and make them look the best they could.

We had recipe test most the dishes components separately. As I had mentioned before, my partner and I didn’t complete a whole dish to see how the plate would work. For next time, I will do that. I think the one dish that I was having trouble figuring out was the Spinach Artichoke Crepe with the Butter Brie Sauce. The filling recipe that I had followed didn’t have much season and the butter brie sauce was off. Everyone who tried making crepes was struggling. I eventually figured it out. I had listened to the advice that I was given from a local guest chef where he thought that I would be more interesting to have a cold crepe instead of a warm one. That dish turned out well as a whole.

A fews days before the event, I had made a list of things that needed to be prepared before the bit day. Our luncheon was on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. When deciding for the theme of our luncheon, my partner and I agreed that we wanted to do a spring theme with fresh produce and light dishes. That Monday, we prepared mostly our baked goods and precut all of the vegetables we were going to need. We had an issue with ordering supplies and we had to wait for our professor to make a run to the store to gather everything that we needed. Mind you, we have a 4 hour class window which we had to find time to clean up during this 4 hour window. It did cut into our prep time, but we made due. That Tuesday before the main event, we mainly spent time cutting potatoes and parboiling. Luckily, the class that I had for that day had an online assignment for the week, so no in-person lecture. Cutting and squaring off 25 pounds of potatoes and parboiling them in batches took about 3 hours to do. I did have a couple of extra hands who helped from it being longer.

During the Event

THE BIG DAY!!

The day had finally arrived. At this point, we had spent about a month planning and recipe testing our dishes. We made some tweaks along the way, but finally made it. It was a day of many firsts. It was the first time we, as a class, prepared a course meal for anyone other than ourselves. A first for many in another class, a Dining Service class, to serve and waited on people as well as working with kitchen staff. It was a first for our university to open the culinary doors to the community and host this type of event. It was an exciting time.

I had gotten up super early that day to write down a plan, a kind of time table, of all the things that still needed to baked, cooked or warmed up. Times when things had to be in ovens to come out in time for the luncheon. It really helped keep track of where we were at in the chaos. The only thing on my part that I should have verified was the start time of the actual event. I had spoken to my professor briefly about the event and I had misheard the start time. Thankfully, I was an hour ahead of the actual time. So we had an extra hour to make sure things were right and played around with the plating.

As I had mentioned before, none of the dishes that I had plated and presented were preplanned. I came up with the plate the day off. I would not recommend that to anyone unless it was some kind of blind cook competition. The extra time helped. While plating, I did get a little snippy with the Dining Service class since they were taking plates that were not ready (not wiped for finger prints or smudges or reaching across the service table, etc). Like I had said, it was a first for everyone, everyone was excited.

Overall Experience

The overall experience was a good one. It was a good way to see how far we, as a class, have come for only 3 semester. From what I have heard, the jam was all the rage. People were wanting the recipe and some of guest even said that it was better than the jam that is sold through Mississippi State University. You know anything about their jam, that’s saying a lot and I couldn’t have been more thankful for their praise. Some the dished turned out better than people had thought. I knew that most of the guests would be questioning a cold crepe, but I’m glad that it was good.

Some of the back of house (Kitchen) feedback was a fair assessment. One of professor had commented that I should have delegated more of the plating to others. I thought that I had delegated enough to where I was more there to make sure that the final dish looked presentable. I felt like I was more like how Gordon Ramsey stands up at the head of the kitchen with final plating and garnishments. Maybe it looked different from their perspective.

All I can say is that this type of event is something that I would like to do more in the future and then write about it. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for me.

During the Event