Private Event Chef in Napa
Seated dinners and long-table feasts for 12 to 60 guests, cooked on site at your home, estate or rented house in the valley.
(707) 555-0147Occasions We Cook For
Celebrations big enough to need a chef, small enough to stay personal.
Platters Passed Down a Long Table
Not every celebration wants plated courses. For a birthday lunch or a welcome night, dinner arrives on big platters that guests pass to each other, with the cake already sitting on the table. It is looser, louder and closer to how most families actually eat together.
- ✓Platters topped up until everyone has finished
- ✓Seating charts welcome, or none at all
- ✓Sides that follow the season's produce
Celebrations, Plated and Passed
A few tables from recent seasons.
One Chef for the Whole Weekend
Couples often book more than one meal. Each is planned on its own, with one shopping run and one team.
Friday welcome night
Something easy for guests who just landed: grazing boards, a big pot of something and a bar you stock yourselves.
The rehearsal dinner
The most personal meal of the weekend — often seated, often with a dish from one family or the other.
The wedding dinner
For guest lists up to sixty, served by our team on the timing your planner sets for toasts and dancing.
Sunday farewell brunch
Eggs, pastries and plenty of coffee before everyone heads to the airport.
Eight Years of Winery Banquets, Then Smaller Tables
Hesketh spent eight years running banquet kitchens at a valley winery, cooking for two hundred at a time. Private events kept the logistics and lost the banquet hall: the same sixty plates, served in someone's garden instead.
The banquet years still show in the logistics: borrowed kitchens, rented ovens and a prep schedule that puts sixty hot plates on the table at once.
- Insuranceand a food-safety certificate
- Banquetexperience in borrowed kitchens
- Plannerswelcome on the day
What Arrives With the Chef
Servers for larger tables
One server for roughly every ten guests, in black, briefed on the menu and the allergies.
Rentals, coordinated
Plates, glassware and linens ordered through your rental company, delivered to match the menu.
A seat-by-seat allergy list
Every guest's restrictions tracked to their place card, so the right plate reaches the right seat.
Kitchen packed down
Equipment out, counters wiped and trash taken out before the team leaves the property.
Hosts and Couples on Their Evenings
Forty-two people at long tables under the oaks, and every plate came out hot at the same moment. My mother-in-law asked for the short rib recipe twice.
Three guests had allergies. Each of them got a plate that looked like everyone else's, and nobody had to explain themselves at the table.
We wanted our wedding to feel like a dinner party, not a banquet. Hesketh's team made thirty-six guests feel like they were eating in our kitchen.
From First Call to Final Numbers
Date and guest count
Send the date, the place and roughly how many are coming. We reply within a day.
A draft menu
Two or three directions to react to, with an estimate for each.
A tasting
For weddings and rehearsal dinners, the couple tastes the main dishes before the menu is set.
Final numbers
Ten days out: the confirmed head count, the seating plan and every guest's dietary needs.
Start With a Date and a Guest Count
That's all a first message needs. A draft menu and a plan for the day follow within the week.
Event Planning, Answered
How many guests can you cook for?
Twelve to sixty. Below twelve, ask about a dinner party instead; above sixty, a full catering company is the better fit.
Does the house need a big kitchen?
A working oven and some counter space is enough for most menus. For larger parties we bring extra equipment or set up a prep tent with power — we'll look at the space first.
Can you cook at a rented venue?
Yes, if the venue allows an outside chef. Many estates and houses in the valley do; we'll check with them for you.
How is an event priced?
Per guest for the menu and service, plus servers by the hour and groceries at cost. The estimate breaks each part out.
How far ahead should we book?
Three to six months for spring and summer, longer for harvest-season Saturdays. Weeknights are often open at shorter notice.
Where do you travel?
Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, Calistoga, Oakville, Carneros and the Sonoma side of the Mayacamas.
Tell Us About the Celebration
The date, the place, the guest count and anything you already know about the menu. Hesketh replies personally, usually the same day.