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When Chefs Entertain

When star chefs entertain at home, it’s fun and fresh, exciting and easygoing. It’s more than a meal. It’s a great gathering. What’s their secret? Simple.

Restaurateurs, chefs, and food experts know how to throw a party. After all, they’ve spent a lifetime mastering the art of hospitality and learning to turn a few tables and chairs and a handful of ingredients into the kind of magic that makes people feel happy, welcome, and well fed. But when it comes to entertaining at home, it’s as if all those years of study and practice free them up to do less, rather than more.

Ask a roomful of chefs to give you their best advice on entertaining at home. Chances are every one of them will tell you some version of the same thing: keep it simple. Of course, you want your party to be special, splashy, and memorable. But that doesn’t mean you need to make it complicated, elaborate, and difficult to pull off.

Plan a realistic, doable menu, add a few special “chefs’ touches” to your house and your table, invite a manageable number of people, and do as much as you can ahead of time. When the guests arrive, you’ll be relaxed and ready to have fun. And when the host has fun, the guests do, too.

Have a Big Idea

Think about the restaurants you love. Whether they’re fancy or humble, they all have something in common: an idea that can be expressed in a single, clear phrase. It might be “authentic Mexican food in a hip, casual setting,” “rustic Italian made upscale,” “creative Pan-Asian,” or “global barbecue.” Whatever it form it takes, that idea is the vision that shapes everything about the customer’s experience, from the food and drinks to the flowers, the music, and the menu covers.

Parties are no different. Sure, you can have people over any time for any reason. But add even the simplest idea—an Asian-inspired cocktail party, an antipasto buffet, a birthday brunch, a Chinese New Year’s feast—and you instantly make the gathering more special. Your friends will have fun with your idea, and so will you.

That’s the concept behind the sixteen chapters in this book. Each one gives you a complete menu and plenty of tips and ideas for throwing a party with an enjoyable theme. You can re-create an entire menu, or prepare just a few of the dishes, supplementing them with things you love to make and great store-bought items. Use the decorating and serving suggestions for inspiration, or do whatever works for you. It all comes down to this: start with a single idea, believe in it, celebrate it, and don’t be shy about it. It will bring everything into focus and turn everyday pleasures into great gatherings.

Readiness Is Everything

When the doors of a restaurant open, the place is ready. Sure, there might be a little last-minute scrambling, but for the most part, everything has to be in place. The same goes for parties at home. If you’re in the weeds (as line cooks say when they’re buried in orders) when that doorbell rings, it’s a huge challenge to get caught up while greeting people, taking coats, pouring drinks, and trying to at least appear calm.

Instead, try this: set yourself a “ready-for-anything” deadline of 30 to 60 minutes before the party’s start time. You might not hit that mark, but the closer you get, the better you’ll feel. To achieve this, make a schedule of what needs to be done in advance, working backward from your deadline time. Perhaps you’re a list maker. Maybe you’re a visual person who needs to see everything laid out in its place. Whatever your style, the key is to start early and stay organized.

The night or day before the party, do as much of the food prep and cooking as you can. Clean the house, set the table, arrange the buffet, stock the bar, and decorate the space. In other words, if something can be done in advance, do it. Feeling unprepared at your own party is no fun. And there’s nothing quite like having everything ready before anyone arrives, so you can pour yourself a glass of wine or a big tumbler of sparkling water and sit down for a minute to regroup and recharge.

Practice Makes Perfect 

Chefs perfect their craft by shopping, chopping, and cooking day after day. The same holds true for mastering the art of entertaining. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Over time, you’ll develop a repertoire of recipes and an arsenal of tools and strategies that work for you.

No book can tell you exactly how to equip your kitchen and your house, but we can tell you this: If you love to have people over, stocking up on dishes, glassware, silverware, serving pieces, table linens, and good-quality cookware will make entertaining easier and a lot more fun.

Macy’s can help. Stop by and we’ll be happy to share all kinds of delightful inspirations and innovations for hosting perfect parties. And behind it all, you’ll sense the exciting spirit of the Macy’s Culinary Council, the star chefs who help us entertain the world with everything from fresh foods to cookware and housewares. We look forward to introducing them to you at our stores all over America, and we hope their recipes and ideas give you everything you need to create great gatherings at your place for many years to come.