Gil's Elegant Catering

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Venue Spotlight – The Empire Room

dallas catering

Exclusive Caterer

This is a fantastic venue that Gil’s is the exclusive caterer for. When you book a wedding, or any other event here expect the ultimate Dallas experience. Not only will you get our catered food, but you will get incredible views of Dallas at this downtown venue. Have all of your guests step out onto our string-light patio for a beautiful view that will only add to your wedding. 

Our space was recently updated, and is a versatile blank canvas that can be transformed into what you want it to be. The space can be used as is to make a modern minimalist vibe or can be turned into the lavish wedding of your dreams. Be ready to perfectly customize our space to exactly how you have always pictured your wedding. There is even indoor vehicle access for photo booths or wine trucks. When we say that it is a versatile canvas, we fully mean it.

Another great thing about The Empire Room is that the space can be used for all sorts of events. It is the perfect space for fundraising events, corporate parties, and of course, weddings. The Empire Room also offers a beautiful, modern bridal suite and lounge so that the bride will feel as special as she is on her wedding day. This suite offers luxury furniture and mirrors to get ready in.

This venue will make your wedding talked about for weeks to come by all of your guests. Not only for the beauty of the skyline and how much you customize the space, but the location is amazing for out of town guests, as well! The venue is in the heart of the Design District. 

If you are interested in The Empire Room on Riverfront Boulevard, feel free to contact them, they love hosting beautiful events and weddings. 

Brunch Wedding Tips – Dallas Wedding Caterer

dallas wedding caterer

Dallas Wedding Caterer

There are always new trends coming about in the wedding world, and the newest trend is one that we on board for —brunch weddings! We all love brunch, and it would be even more enjoyed with everyone you love surrounding you on such a happy day. Let us help you couple your big day with everyone’s favorite past time here in North Texas. Are you looking to ramp up the uniqueness of your wedding with brunch foods? As your favorite Dallas wedding caterer, we can help with that.

Think of all the brunch trends that we see in the Dallas area and know that they could easily be a part of your special day. Brunch weddings bring a whole new category of food which means a more unique menu for you to choose from.

  • For finger foods and hors d’oeuvres, pastries become an option, like croissants, muffins, and gourmet cinnamon rolls. You can couple the pastries with full breakfast items that may include breakfast tacos, waffles, and we can even do chef prepared individual omelettes for each guest to make the experience even more unique!
  • On top of the unique food options, alcohol and bar options are differing, too. If you like bloody mary bars, mimosas, tequila sunrises, and mint juleps, then a brunch wedding might be the type of wedding for you! 

If you have always pictured your wedding as a more intimate or cozy affair, a brunch wedding might be for you. It will feel like you are having a beautiful brunch with all of the people that you love. We at Gil’s Elegant Catering would be more than happy to help you out on your wedding day to create the perfect menu for your brunch wedding. It will be a wedding meal that no one will forget. Contact us for our brunch catering!

Wedding Event Caterer Dallas – Gils Elegant Catering


Wedding Event Caterer Dallas – Gils Elegant Catering

Food and Beverage Trends 2019

This year, we have so many fun wedding trends for food and beverages at your wedding. With the Wedding Event Caterer Dallas you can rest assured you will find classic and trendy food options on our menu.

 

Cocktail Hour Hors d’oeuvres

Serving small bite-size versions of favorite foods of the couple is a great way to personalize a wedding. Foods such as flat breads, fruits or meats on a skewer, stuffed mushrooms, marinated shrimp and many more are sure to make a splash.

 

Cultural Dishes

Honoring your culture with various foods is a great way to personalize your wedding. If you have Chinese heritage, then you could put custom messages in fortune cookies for your guests. Even if you and your partner favor a certain culture, you could adopt their foods on your menu. An Italian menu consisting of gourmet pizzas and pasta would be an exciting surprise for your guests.

 

Brunch Foods

Serving brunch items is getting very trendy among millennial couples. Waffles, pancakes and muffins served gourmet style would be great for brunch themed weddings. For drinks, you could have mimosas, bloody marys and mint juleps. There could even be an omelette station where a chef prepares individual omelets to your guest’s liking.

 

Cocktail Bar

Who doesn’t love a great cocktail bar? It’s long been a hit to serve your favorite cocktails to guests on demand at the wedding. If there is an open bar, then every guest to get their favorite drinks prepared as their request as well.

Whatever trend you choose on your menu, we are experienced Wedding and Event Caterers in Dallas who can help you with your wedding catering needs. Our service is top notch and our food is prepared with the freshest ingredients imaginable. Your wedding is special so you deserve the best!

What to look for in a Dallas Caterer?

Whether a catered lunch for a business meeting or a full-service wedding reception, there are a few qualities you should look for in a catering service to ensure they have the ability to cultivate your vision and execute an event that exceeds your expectations.

Experience

The greater the importance of your event, the more important it is to seek professionals with a proven track record of success. The best way to research any service provider is to seek out people who have used them in the past, whether a friend or an online review. Catering is no different. The longer a caterer has been in business in your area, the easier it is to find a wide range of quality feedback.

Accessibility

Never underestimate the value of returned calls. Hiring a catering service is just the first step of a long, and hopefully collaborative relationship. You want to find a service provider who will be available at your convenience. If you have an idea or a change of heart about any element of your event throughout the planning process, you want a catering service that will readily accept and apply your feedback.

Full Service Capabilities

It goes without saying that you expect great food from your catering service, but it is important to have equally high standards for the “service” element. Regardless of how thorough the plan, the day of your event will undoubtedly present stress. It’s important to find a professional caterer with full-service capabilities to absorb any stressors so you and your guests can focus on enjoying the day.

Flexibility

You do not want to settle on a catering service that will attempt to shape your event based on their strength, you want a catering service whose strength is the ability to shape an event around your desires.

Don’t settle on a cookie-cutter option. Use these criteria to find a partner to collaborate with you to deliver the event you have always envisioned. The key to finding the right caterer for you is finding the caterer that places the greatest value on YOU!

Interested in scheduling a tasting? Contact us today!

 

Pre-Ceremony Drink and Snack Ideas

When it comes to DFW wedding catering, one can never be to prepared. If you’re guests have traveled a long way, chances are they will be thirsty and a little hungry. A thoughtful gesture is to serve a cold drink and a snack to guests once they arrive at the ceremony. Check out these snacks and drinks and see if you would incorporate any of them in to ceremony.

Popcorn

Popcorn is a universal treat and perfect for snacking on during the ceremony. Consider branding your popcorn bags by stamping them with your logo or ceremony program. You can easily sub out popcorn for other popular on the go snacks such as trail mix.

Welcome Beverage Bar

A welcome beverage bar where guests can choose their drink of choice before finding their seats is the perfect way to welcome guests to your wedding. A cold beverage such as beer, rosé, rosemary lemonade, and water is especially welcome during the warmer months. For cooler seasons a coffee, tea, cocoa or cider bar is a great way to keep guests warm and cozy.

Passed Canapés

Having a more formal affair? Serving passed canapés like Swedish meatballs or devilled eggs is a great way to impress your guest. The thoughtfulness of these bite sized snacks goes along way to keeping guests comfortable until the main meal and allows them to enjoy your I dos without an empty stomach.

2019 Wedding Food Trends Everyone Will Eat Up

As a Dallas event caterer we’re excited about what’s happening in the industry this year. From playful dessert station to plated dinners, here are some food trends we anticipate gaining in popularity this year.

Present Something Unexpected

We’re seeing a trend in couples really having a lot of fun with cocktail hour hors-d’oeuvres. Impress your guests either through flavor profile or presentation (or both!).

Welcoming Back Tradition

After several years of the industry shifting to unconventional food experiences at weddings, there seems to be an appetite and nostalgia for plated meals reemerging.

Grab-and-Go Dessert Table

Once dinner is over however and it’s time to hit the dance floor, couples are opting for a grab-and-go style for desserts with an assortment of fork-free options for easy takeaway.

Merging Cultures Through Food

More and more couples are going back to their roots and honoring their cities or family heritage in their menu creation. It’s important to have a caterer that can provide a diverse menu to cater to different palettes.

Subtle Substitutes

As more couples embrace different dietary restrictions, the food industry is blurring the lines between what’s vegan, gluten-free, paleo and your traditional dishes. There is now an emphasis on creating inclusive menu items that are seamlessly modified and are just as delicious.

Merry Christmas from Gil’s

As a DFW holiday caterer, we feel extremely blessed by this year. We’ve had so many wonderful features and collaborations thanks to our amazing couples and vendors. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the fantastic opportunity to serve as your caterer. It’s a truly rich experience getting to know each one of your stories and being such an integral part of your big day. To us it’s more than just an event, it’s the reason we are here – to come together and celebrate life’s big moments. As we reflect on this past year we’d like to further thank you individually. Our gratitude is beyond words for what you’ve made our business become.

To our vendors and collaborators, thank you for allowing us to use your spaces and help create beautiful things and tell unforgettable stories.

To our couples and hosts, thank you for letting us be a part of your beautiful event. We love how creative you all are and how you show off your unique personality through food.

It’s easy to get caught up in the chaos that is the holidays. Just remember to spend the holidays with those closest to you.

We can’t wait to see what 2019 brings. Merry Christmas from Gil’s Elegant Catering.


Your Wedding Menu Questions Answered

When our customers come to us looking for Dallas event catering they often have a lot of questions. We thought we’d take some time to answer your most burning questions when it comes to your wedding menu.

Is it necessary to serve hors d’oeuvres at the cocktail hour?

We don’t recommend serving alcohol to your guests on an empty stomach without offering some snacks, trust us. Offering a few light bites sets the tone for the rest of the evening. However, if your cocktail hour is less than 30 min or you’re serving non-alcoholic beverages you might be able to do that.

What are some fun and unique foods I can serve at cocktail hour?

Great question. Check out our fun hors d’oeuvres post for some great ideas.

Do I have to have a vegetarian, gluten-free option, dairy-free or vegan option on the menu?

It’s almost impossible to accommodate every dietary restriction, however it’s pretty easy to accommodate most diets at little or no additional cost to you.  The easiest thing for you to do is label any allergens in the food and leave a spot on the RSVP card for guests to note their restrictions.

What foods should I avoid serving?

In general many people don’t like fish or spicy foods so we suggest not serving it as a main course unless you’re giving guests a choice of entrée. Also avoid messy foods like lobster or crab so guests don’t have to worry about the potential of staining their clothes. And finally, think about the season. Pipping soup doesn’t make a lot of sense


5 Things We Are Thankful For This Holiday Season

 

Having been a DFW corporate caterer and social events caterer for almost 30 years, we have a lot to thankful for this holiday season. We wanted to thank those who have helped us along the way and thank you, our wonderful customers for letting us serve you.

Our Customers

We are grateful to be able to work with such fantastic couples and businesses every year. It’s the reason we do what we do every day and the satisfaction of pleasing a customer is what drives us to work harder and improve each time. When we receive glowing reviews from our clients we know that all our planning and hard work was well worth it.

Our Staff

We do our best to put together the most passionate team available. It is exciting for us to work with an executive chef and a culinary team who are so committed to keeping our menus current with fabulous flavors and spectacular presentations!

Our Families

We couldn’t do the work that we do without the support of our families.

Our Industry

Our industry is full of creative people that we’ve had the pleasure sharing culinary ideas and create solutions with. We’ve also been very lucky to collaborate with and be recommended by more than 70 venues in the Dallas and Ft. Worth area. Those personal connections mean so much to us.

Our Community

We love being part of the Dallas community and are proud to call Dallas home.


Thanksgiving Inspired Meals for Your Fall Wedding

Dallas Wedding Caterer

As a Dallas wedding caterer, we know one of the best thing about Thanksgiving is the food (obviously). If you’d like to infuse your wedding menu with some Thanksgiving flavors we’ve got some ideas for you.

Inspired by Thanksgiving Turkey

Serve our Mini Cuban Sandwiches during the cocktail hour. Our Smoked Turkey option with Neufchatel, sliced mango and crispy fried onions are perfect way to incorporate your typical Thanksgiving main course in a subtle and unexpected way.

Inspired by Sweet Potatoes

Want some canapés to pass around? Try our Chipotle Rubbed Pork Tenderloin on Sweet Potato Pancake and Southern Chutney.

Inspired by Stuffing

If you’re the type of person that fills half their plate with stuffing, than you’ll love some Applewood Smoked Bacon-Wrapped Stuffing Bites as an appetizer.

Inspired by Cranberry Sauce

No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without a solid helping of cranberry sauce. A simple Cranberry Crostini has cranberry sauce on toasted bread sprinkled with brie, crumbled goat cheese and rosemary is the perfect mini desert.

Inspired by Pumpkin Pie

You could give each one of your guests on of our delicious Individual Chocolate Cream Pies or create an entire pie display bar for guests to choose their favorite fall flavors such as apple, cherry and pumpkin.