FAQS

What’s a Personal Chef? Personal Chef vs Private Chef?

A Personal Chef is someone who comes to your home and prepares meals for multiple clients on a weekly basis, that they can conveniently heat and enjoy without the fuss of grocery shopping, menu design, or preparation. A Private Chef is someone who works for a single family, and may prepare 2-3 meals per day. They come at a much higher price tag and more obligations as they are an employee, though for some clients that is the preferred option. If you are looking to hire a private chef, you may be better off using a domestic services hiring agency.

Weekly Meal Service FAQs

Who is this for:

Someone who is seeking to upgrade their daily menu options without having to leave the comforts of their castle or fuss with complex ingredients and recipes. Typical clients value caliber of ingredients and preparations with minimal effort to prepare.

How does it work?

We begin with a meeting to discuss your likes and dislikes, go over some of your favorite restaurants and what you enjoy about them. From there I will build a personalized client profile with my understanding of your preferences. I will use this to begin designing your customized menu options which are sent out a few days before your cookdate for your consideration and approval. On the day of our cook, I will shop for the necessary ingredients and utilize my expertise to ensure their quality. The ingredients will be brought to your home where I will utilize your kitchen to dice, chop, saute, roast, and reduce your ingredients into various appropriate containers or cooking vessels. I pride myself on working clean, and will ensure that I tidy up after myself.

What will my meals looks like?

Your meals will be prepared using high quality ingredients from Atlanta’s famously awesome markets such as Dekalb Farmers Markets, Buford Highway Farmers Market, and Whole Foods. Meals are typically packaged in glass containers or appropriate cooking vessels such as a casserole dish or roaster.

-Meat preparations range from savory roasts to sumptuous braises from a wide variety of traditions.

-Seafood dishes feature baked fish with a creamy sauce or a variety of fishermans stews and shellfish classics of global regional cuisines.

-Pastas and risottos are prepared to be finished al forno (oven baked) and saute pan finished dishes.

-I have competency in a wide variety of French, Italian, Greater Mediterranean, American Regional including Southern and Cajun/Creole, Mexican, Indian, Southeast Asian/Pacific Rim, Japanese, and Chinese recipes.

-Side dishes are matched to the entree as would be appropriate for a meal, such as a soup would likely be paired with a salad or a roast meat might be paired with starch and vegetable components.

-Vegetarian and dietary restricted menu options may be an option; as these often add to the complexity of preparations, a fee may be associated with special diets.

How do I prepare these meals?

The meals are designed to simply bake in the oven, heat on the stove, or tossed together in the case of a salad. Your enjoyment of the meals will not be hampered by too many complicated directions; you will have the opportunity to customize the level of involvement you want to have in the preparation in relation to certain qualities that can be achieved.

I highly recommend that all of my clients buy a really excellent thermometer, as I use USDA time and temperature guidelines to determine when your food is done. This makes it totally simple. Not sure if the roast is perfect? Just take its temperature with the thermometer I recommend you purchase. Feel free to let Thermoworks know that I am interested in sponsorship, as the MK4 is my typical recommendation.

Can you work with dietary restrictions?

Yes…but! Do you have a few allergies? Vegetarian? Specialty diet that everyone in the household will be eating as well? No problem, I can do that!

Is your list of things you don’t eat way longer than the list of things you do? There are specialist personal chefs who work with clients that have really particular needs and they come highly recommended in this case!

Just got diagnosed with a condition that suddenly drastically limits what you can and can’t eat? Want to try a new diet like KETO but didn’t imagine the day would come that you just can’t eat another piece of bacon? I can help you plan for your new paradigm via consultation and Q&A sessions. I will give you tips and tricks to work around the things you can’t have and help you make the most of what you can still enjoy.

Culinary Education FAQs

Are you still operating cooking classes during COVID?

Yes while I am still testing positive for antibodies! Once I am no longer positive for antibodies, we may have to place certain social distancing restrictions for your safety and my own. I will be getting the vaccine ASAP once it becomes available to the general public so this shouldn’t be an issue too much longer.

Do you offer Online/Zoom/GoogleMeet cooking classes, instead of just the Q&A/Consultations?

Unfortunately, not. I simply don’t have a high enough quality of setup to demonstrate the methods and provide you with quality content. I refuse to do work I cannot ensure is of the highest quality, so as of now this not currently an option.

But I sure can walk you through stuff! If you just want a heart-to-heart convo about how to get down with your ingredients and make something great, I would be more than happy to schedule a consultation with you and answer any cooking questions you may have. I can present you with lots of info, including how to make things like that super popular sourdough everyone’s been doing during the pandemic (including some time-saving shortcuts!).

Why is it BYOB?

The law, man! While I would love to provide you with adult beverages, the simple fact is that there are many laws and liabilities that make this cost way more than I can actually recoup in expense. Chef Matt Lewis LLC asks that if you choose to imbibe while enjoying his service, you behave responsibly, don’t drink and drive, remember hot things are hot and sharp things are sharp so must be treated with care, and above all remember that nudity is often funny but is also unhumorously considered “sexual assualt” so none of that now. Not after what happened to those poor raccoons….