Our booking policy is flexible, so don't worry if these details change. Our chef services are available in 

, though many Culinista® chefs are happy to travel. For services outside of these areas, 

The Culinistas’ Ultimate Guide to Hosting

7 Postpartum-Friendly Dishes For Your Fourth Trimester

How to Make Pizza in the Oven

How to Sear Steak Like a Chef

Having an Italian Dinner Party? Here's What to Serve.

How to Pick the Perfect Dinner Party Dessert

This Steakhouse Menu Brings the Sizzle Home 

How to Make Paella at Home

How Tos & Inspiration

10 Totally Unique Dinner Party Menus

Set your Alarm for these 8 Brunch Menus 

10 Menus for Traveling the Globe Without Leaving Your Kitchen

10 Gluten Free Menus That Everyone at the Table Will Love

Menu Ideas

You bring the jazzy playlist. We’ll handle the rest.

Everything you need to know to cook and host with ease.

Please enjoy $100 off gatherings of 12 people or more. Discount automatically applied. 

Gatherings

Meal Prep

A Season or Long Term

Cooking Classes

Chef Services Overview

The Culinistas is a resource that gives everyone the freedom and confidence to connect around a meal.

Our optional drinks service includes up to 2 drinks plus waitstaff who will arrive 1 hour before guests and provide 4 hours of service. Additional time will be billed at $60/hour. The Culinistas will provide ice and non-alcoholic ingredients. The host is responsible for providing alcohol.

Dairy

Eggs

Fish

Shellfish

Nuts

Gluten

Pork

Sesame

Beef

Alliums

 and everything is set: the menu, the decor, and the guest list. But, what about dessert? For some, dessert is an afterthought, while others believe in saving the best for last. We believe that it doesn’t have to be sugary, but something to close the meal marks a gathering as special.

How do you pick the right dessert to end your night? Understanding how to pair dessert with the rest of a meal is a skill—but it’s easy to master with a few guidelines in mind. Read on to learn about the five factors to consider when choosing the ideal dessert, so you never have to stress about the final course.

Learn how to make dessert the star of the show at a 

Single Origin

When dishes come from the same culinary traditions, they often share common ingredients, flavor profiles, and cooking techniques. This throughline creates a balanced meal in which each dish complements the others. For example, if you’re serving a French Chicken Paillard as your main course, return to another regional classic for dessert, like our Apricot Tarte Tatin, which showcases all the elegance of French cuisine. Both have a rich undertone, but the Tarte Tatin’s mild flavor profile balances the chicken’s acidity.

Balance

If the main meal is hearty or rich like a meaty stew or creamy pasta, a lighter dessert may be the right choice. If serving a lighter meal like our Za’atar Dusted Salmon with Cucumber Salad, you’ll have room for our creamy, decadent Burnt Basque Cheesecake. Aim for your guests to feel satisfied when they leave and refreshed and healthy when they wake up the next day.

Flavor Throughlines

Citrus, spices, and herbs make for great throughlines to a meal because they play well with dishes that are both savory and sweet. If your meal features citrus in the form of a salad dressing or marinade, tie a bow on it with a similarly bright dessert. If your meal includes warm or spicy flavors like our Spiced Lamb with Couscous, look to a dessert with adjacent flavors like our fluffy Coconut Chai Cake, made with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg. The complementary spices are a reminder of the deliciousness you just enjoyed, and a satisfying close to the night.

Kitchen Efficiency

Think like a chef. Whenever they can, chefs create menus with kitchen efficiency in mind; so, if the main dish is a hearty braise that requires the oven to be at a low temperature for a long period of time, accompaniments that use the stovetop or no cooking at all will prevent traffic jams at the range. This technique can be applied in many ways: Pavlova in an oven that can’t be opened? Plan to use the grill for dinner. Two different types of roasted root veggies as sides? Whipped cream and berries for dessert. Another great kitchen efficiency technique is planning a dessert that can be made ahead. Trifle-style desserts, like our Raspberry Tiramisu, is one of these, or cookies, whose dough can be made up to a week before and then portioned in advance, so that you can pop a baking sheet in the oven for 8-10 minutes, then produce a plate of cookies as if by magic.

Sustainability

Chefs are always thinking of ways to use entire ingredients root to flower, rind to seed, or to reuse ingredients that would otherwise be discarded. Even better, they choose dishes because of ingredients from other dishes that they know will need to be used up. Our Vegetable Aioli, for example, uses egg yolks. Avoid waste by whipping the leftover whites into a Flourless Chocolate Cake. Or make use of the whole orange and fold its zest into a Burnt Basque Cheesecake.

Learn the keys to desserts that wow with 

Consider these five factors, and you’ll never stress about the last course. 

Stop refreshing your reservation app and kickstart your day from the comfort of home with these cozy menus. We’re playing the hits with fluffy ricotta pancakes, veggie-laden frittatas, granola butter for your toast, and a Calabrian egg salad. Round up your sleepy-eyed friends or make it a family affair: we think these spreads will please any crowd. What’s better? Only waking up to a 

. Two hour wait time—we don’t do that anymore.

Yes, you should be having fun at your own party.

No place at the table for gluten? These menus are up for the challenge.

We are tired of gluten-free meals that fall flat. These menus reset the bar, relying on aromatics, spice combos, and creative substitutions so they don’t need gluten to stand on their own. Creamy dips and colorful crudités steal the show; herb-laden dressings take grain bowls to new heights, and desserts use alt flours to enhance textures. Try your hand or 

, but either way, you’re in the clear to invite your pickiest eaters and pasta-loving friends.

Pick your next trip or reminisce about your most recent one with these menus. An expanded palate is a way to expand the mind so we collaborated with chefs whose regional expertise guided each dish. Unique ingredients, flavor combinations, and methods make themselves at home when cooked from your own kitchen, either by you or 

This is placeholder DEK copy for a menu listicle hero card.

Don’t be intimidated: this Spanish classic can be conquered at home, even without a paella pan.

, but you don’t know what to cook. Our menus go beyond the classics (though there’s nothing wrong with a roast chicken, and we’ve got a menu for that). Our goal is to make a gathering memorable by making the intangible element of delicious food completely tangible. We choose food by season, region, or culture to create a cohesive menu. We know how to balance flavors as well as the pacing of the night through the dishes we select and the dining format that we suggest. Get adventurous yourself, or 

 one of these lineups. Either way, these spreads are destined to impress and leave you and your guests dreaming of one more bite.

You’ll be slinging pies like a pizzaiolo in no time.

Caramelized, juicy, and perfectly tender every time

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, mangiamo!

Gail Simmons

Top Chef

Dana Cowin

Food & Wine

Gwyneth Parltrow

Goop

Paella Party

Pizza Party

On Your Arrival

Raspberry Tiramisu

Concepts We’ll Learn

Burnt Basque Cheesecake 

Apricot Tarte Tatin with Pistachio Ice Cream

Flourless Chocolate Cake 

What We'll Cook & What You'll Learn

Spiced Lamb & Couscous

Chicken Paillard with Arugula Salad 

Accompaniments 

New Dessert Classics

Steak Night

Low Carb

Low Sugar

High Protein

Vegetarian

Vegan

Gluten Free

Dairy Free

Low Fat

High Fat

Lemon Chicken & Green Beans

Pork Milanese

Meatballs Marinara

Leisure Time

Think & Drink

Negroni Bar

Strawberries & Peaches

Pears with Currants

Rainbow Trout with Apricots & Zucchini

The Big Green Salad

Sea Bass with Chili Corn ($)

Tomato Gazpacho

Sea Bass with Charred Cucumber ($)

Flourless Chocolate Cake ($)

Summer Sangria Bar

Charred Yellow Squash Gemelli

Chimichurri Chicken

Cucumber Melon Salad

Spring Sangria Bar

Vegetable Aioli

Blackberry Plum Goat Cheese Fool

Skirt Steak with Arugula Gremolata

Mustard Pork with Mushrooms

Smoked Salmon Carpaccio

Fall & Winter Sangria Bar (Special Occasion)

Spring Sangria Bar (Special Occasion)

Summer Sangria Bar (Special Occasion)

Leafy Greens with Radishes

Tequila Bar

Pot Roast

Table Biscuits

King Crab Legs with Basil Butter ($)

Brussels & Pancetta

Oysters on the Half Shell with Classic Mignonette

Oysters on the Half Shell with Pomegranate Mignonette

Oysters on the Half Shell with Bloody Mary Mignonette

Brown Butter Pecan Blondies

Arranged Crudités

Bread for the Table

Chocolate Covered Fruits & Nuts

Dried Fruits & Toasted Nuts

Marinated Mediterranean Classics

Pickled Vegetables & Mustard

Seasonal Fruit

Selection of Tinned Fish

Selection of Cheese

Selection of Charcuterie

Berries & Whip

Rosewater Apples & Apricots

Grilled Seasonal Veggies

Tuna Tartare ($)

Chocolate Lover's Sundae Bar ($)

Bloody Mary Bar

Beet Hummus & Crudités

Locally Caught Fish with Gremolata ($)

Locally Caught Fish with Raisin Scallion Sauce ($)

Mustard Seed Chicken

Halibut with Spring Vegetables

Salmon with Spring Vegetables

Greek Salad Skewers

BBQ Chicken Skewers

Skirt Steak Skewers with Arugula Gremolata

Breakfast Burritos

Grilled Vegetables with Tahini Sauce

Burrata, Arugula & Prosciutto ($)

Sautéed Greens

Tomato Salad

Vinegar Braised Chicken

Parsley Pesto Broc & Beans

Mushroom Grains Bowl

Corn Fritters with Chili Sauce

Balsamic Green Beans

Lamb Meatballs with Herb Sauce

Muhammara Dip with Pita & Carrots

Baked Salmon with Cucumber Salad

Crab Salad on Endive

Cumin Steak with Roasted Tomato Sauce

Seared Tuna with Radish & Avocado Slaw ($)

Charcuterie & Cheese Board ($)

Charred Eggplant Dip & Cucumbers

Braised Short Ribs

Tarragon Chicken

Arugula & Macadamia Salad

Baby Kale Salad

Braised Lamb with Carrots

Zucchini Cake with Crème Fraîche Whip

Blood Orange Cake

Arugula & Pea Salad

Snap Pea Succotash

Cauliflower & Quinoa

Couscous & Clover

Berry Bowl

Spring Pea Bruschetta 

RGC (Roasted Garlic Chicken)

Fennel Chard Salad

Braised Kale Stracciatella

Grilled Watermelon Salad

Confetti Shrimp

Scallop Toast ($)

Green Lasagna

Squash with Herbs

Spicy Shrimp Cocktail

Aioli Shrimp Cocktail  ($)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Berry Crisp

Grilled Lobster ($)

Kale Pesto Penne