Fandango Catering Offers 5 Tips for Serving Appetizers with Dinner

If you're thinking of serving appetizers with a dinner (at smaller events), here are 5 tips to make this go more smoothly. 

Choose 2, max 3 appetizers--Unless your main course is on the light side, 2 or max 3 appetizers should be more than enough.  Don't make the mistake of serving too many kinds of appetizers before a seated dinner or buffet then seated dinner; it's too much work and stress and your guests will be too full to enjoy the main course.

Choose appetizers based on doability--Don't stress and choose appetizers that can are good served room temperature rather than hot.  Many appetizers can be served this way, including all kinds of skewers, rollups, tartlets, pie or quichelike bites, and many others.  Look at cookbooks and on the web for ideas for cold appetizers.  And don't get overly ambitious--it's better to do something simpler well than to try something ambitious and not have it turn out as well.

 Offer a lovely cold board selection as an appetizer course--Cold cuts (charcuterie) and wonderful cheeses or cold boiled shrimp with a couple of interesting sauces or a nice antipasto are even easier than cooked appetizers, and are often served in Europe this way, as an appetizer course.  And it can be done buffet/self serve or passed style, or seated.  It's important to buy best quality, though.

Leave the appetizers on a side table or sideboard or bar--This way people can continue to enjoy them throughout the evening.  As your guests get up from the dinner table(s) and are lounging etc., they can continue nibbling from the appetizers if they wish, and we have often seen this to be the case.

Have enough plates--Be sure you have enough plates for all the courses you'll serve.  To be on the safe side have 1/3 to 1/4 as many plates as guests.  If you have 20 guests, have 20 + 7 or 5 extra for the appetizers, and so on for each course.  Unless your event is very informal AND the guests know that they are expected to reuse their plates, it's best to have extra plates.  Or use eco-disposables if the event is not overly formal--bamboo plates are lovely though more expensive, but bagasse is seen widely now in entertaining and is a less expensive disposable alternative that is still eco-friendly.

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 524-0077
www.fandango-catering.com