Category: Food and Drink

Here Comes The Guide’s Find Ideas section is full of expert advice help you plan your bridal shower, rehearsal dinner and wedding menus. We bring you tips from our Certified By The Guide California wedding caterers and the latest trends in catering. We’ll help you plan the hors d’ouevres and appetizers for your cocktail hour and wedding reception, and introduce you to some rehearsal dinner and wedding locations even true “foodies” will love.


FEATURED CHEF:

Chef Ruben Ortiz, Las Casuelas Nuevas

Chef Ruben Ortiz, Las Casuelas Nuevas

Chef Ruben Ortiz helms the (busy!) kitchen at Las Casuelas Nuevas, an award-winning Rancho Mirage restaurant that’s a favorite banquet spot in Greater Palm Springs. The Chef’s catering menu features authentic recipes that have been passed down through four generations of the Delgado family, the restaurant’s owners. Ortiz augments these fresh, homemade offerings with his own uniquely flavored versions of regional South of the Border specialties; but if Mexican isn’t your thing, then Chef will whip up other crowd-pleasing dishes, like prime rib or linguine primavera. It’s all done with good-natured flair, because Chef Ortiz exemplifies the Las Casuelas motto: Why have a party when you can have a fiesta?

Viva Victoria!

Viva Victoria! posted by Jolene

I admit it—at heart, I’m an old-fashioned girl. Add to that a hopeless romantic and a bit of an Anglophile, and it’s no wonder that I was a huge fan of the magazine classic, Victoria. Lest you cool chicks think that’s the sort of rag read only by grandmas, take note: Besides a healthy dose of lace and roses, Victoria also profiles chic boutiques, insider travel destinations (it’s never too early to fantasize about your honeymoon!), innovative recipes, and plenty of tips for creative entertaining. And as a bride, you’ll be doing plenty of that, girlfriend!

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Ode to Restaurant Week

Ode to Restaurant Week posted by Lisa

Wedding Planning Tip: if you’re still hemming and hawing about where to have your rehearsal dinner , Restaurant Week’s a great way to test drive your faves without breaking the bank!

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Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #5

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #5 posted by Jolene

Thank goodness I discovered Dagoba. Fair Trade, Organic and award-winning, Dagoba’s unique “chocolate alchemy” combines flavors in innovative, tantalizing ways. Dagoba chocolate tastes genuine—that is, biting into a small piece, the first taste is chocolate, rather than sugar. Its authentic musky flavor sings of forests and unspoiled wilderness, invariably lifting my spirits. I’ve come to prefer my chocolate dark & spicy, and Dagoba’s Xocolatl, accented with cocoa nibs and chile peppers, satisfies my cravings. My husband isn’t as adventurous and fancies less intense varietals, such as New Moon, the best of bittersweet.

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Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #4

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #4 posted by Jennifer

For wedding favors, I love Vosges’ adorable takeout containers which can include truffles like the Black Pearl (ginger + wasabi + dark chocolate + black sesame seeds). Their two-piece truffle boxes can be customized with your names or message and your choice of ribbon colors. And, you can feel good about Vosges’ green commitment.

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Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #3

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #3 posted by Julia

Unlike my colleagues Lisa and Meredith, I didn’t even think about what chocolate my significant other would be. Instead, I grilled my poor boyfriend on what kind of chocolate he thinks I’d be. After vetoing every type of chocolate he came up with (“What? Really? Where the hell did you get that idea?”), the answer dawned on me while I was restocking on shampoo at the drugstore. An M&M! Or is it an M?

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Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #2

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #2 posted by Meredith

Woodhouse Chocolates makes so many delicious sweet treats that everyone will find a fave. They’ve become my go-to gift when I want to send something to a person I really adore and their Valentine’s gift boxes are sure to wow your honey (or, your friend. Why don’t we girls start sending Valentine’s Day chocolates to each other? Good idea, huh?). Each box is gorgeously wrapped and shipped very carefully with special cold inserts to make sure your gift arrives as perfect as it was sent. Trés chic!

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Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #1

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gift Guide, #1 posted by Lisa

If my husband were a piece of chocolate (yes, there are times I wish that. That’s not weird, is it?), I’m pretty sure he’d be a Smoked Salt Caramel from Fran’s Chocolates. I don’t know ya’ll well enough to go into the details of why I think that, but let me just say the salt dusting on top makes the flavors in these chocolates so much more complex than any other fine chocolate I’ve tasted, and that’s a very good thing.

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Calling All Hungry Girls

Calling All Hungry Girls posted by Jolene

Hungry Girl is for the food obsessed or just the food possessed; besides a wealth of recipe revisions (lifesavers, IMHO!), there is also a Q & A section, Girls Bite Out (tips for partying and dining), and a news section with the latest health and diet breakthroughs. And while I still can’t quite zip up my own figure-hugging wedding dress from 12 years ago yet, things are safely under control. And I still get to enjoy formerly forbidden foods, like HG’s Unpudged Fudge. Now that’s what I call livin’!

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VeroFoto Photography bride tossing bouquet

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Rehearsal Dinner?


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Wedding Dresses


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Central Coast Weddings


We have just opened up a whole new section for Central Coast wedding locations and Central Valley ceremony sites. We think this gorgeous region, full of beach wedding locations and winery reception venues is the “next big thing” in destination weddings.

Santa Barbara Weddings


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