The Nomadic Chef

Lauren recently catered our wedding for 100 guests and I can’t imagine it could have been handled any better. From her amazing, locally sourced ingredients to her incredible staff to her calm, focused approach to dealing with inclement weather, she shined in every way possible. She was an absolute rock throughout, easy to talk to, knowledgeable about do’s and don’ts on a wedding day, and flexible flexible, flexible! I wish I could give her and her great staff 10 stars!
Oh, and the food is spectacular!
This is one of those people who when you’re around them, they exude such a sense of professional expertise that you can’t help but feel at ease knowing that they will take care of their end, no problem. What a pro!!!

i just read the previous review of lauren and her team and it pretty much sums up everything we wanted to report about working with nomadic chef.
lauren catered our october wedding celebration at rock point in burlington and we have nothing but superlatives to offer about our experience. months before the occasion, when we were hunting for a caterer, we were delighted that she had availability the weekend we were hoping to have our party. right out of the gates, a few things struck us about nomadic chef: first, her communication was straight-​forward, enthusiastic, and evidenced great skill in menu-​planning and coordination. her style was a breath of fresh air compared to our communication with other local catering companies, which felt very formal and business-​like but also perhaps not so up-​front about the nitty-​gritty of hiring a caterer. both my partner and i were also thrilled with her willingness to work within our budget, without giving off any sense that it was limiting or impossible. finally – the food, the food! reviewing her initial menu suggestions, we were really enthused to see an eclectic mix of asian-​inspired fare and felt really comfortable that she would pull together a series of dishes that were inventive and delicious.
all of our initial impressions proved to be true throughout the whole process of working with lauren, right down to the end of the night. the food was SO delicious (deconstructed pork buns, curry noodles, beef and barley phở!) and we were told repeatedly it was the best food our guests had been served at a wedding-can’t ask for more of a compliment than that! nomadic chef definitely gets our highest recommendation.

Lauren is amazing. My wife and I had our wedding at Windekind Farm and we, along with all of our guests were blown away by everything she put out. Going into the wedding planning process, we heard two contradictory things. First, we were told that food is the one thing to splurge on. On the other hand, everyone uses wedding food as the example of gross, boring, overcooked banquet food. Well we didn’t have a fortune to blow on our catering and having spent 3 years in San Francisco, food is an fundamental priority in our lives. Lauren was perfect. And here’s why:
1) The food — 5 stars. Lauren knows Asian food inside and out and it’s all about the flavor. The food is beautifully presented, but her priority is the taste. We continue to rave about the food. Guests continue to rave about the food.
2) Lauren’s professionalism — 5 stars. Lauren was always focused and well organized. Nothing fell through the cracks. She also made sure to set us back on track if we began to get overly ambitious. She gave us a quote for the food and labor and hit it perfectly.
3) Lauren’s commitment to locally sourced food — 5 stars. Sourcing vegetables, fruits, and proteins locally is usually more expensive than the industrial option for obvious reasons, but it is a priority for Lauren to do her best within the budget she is given.
4) Working with our vision — 5 stars. Throughout the planning process, Lauren was always innovating new ways to fit our crazy visions. When we wanted family style small plates, she made it happen. She had an idea to host a dumpling station… which was amazing and delicious! Even though we hadn’t thought of how the lanterns and candles would be lit, we turned around and her staff had lit them all.
Lauren does all the right things for all the right reasons. She’s smart, talented, adventurous and on the ball. There is too much good to share. The only way to fully understand how amazing she is to see for yourself. If you want to have food that people will talk about for the rest of your lives, hire Lauren.