DeJavu Appreciation Banquet

Welcome to "Cooking With Chef Gary".  I have two announcements for you today.  First it is the Holiday Season and all of you having parties, go ahead and get your pre-order in and your dates on the calendar at DeJavu Restaurant. Next on the Agenda, I want all my friends to know that my first DVD from the Series "Cooking With Chef Gary" is out, and available for sale now.

Today we are going to take you to a special event and give you an idea of our full service setup and display for your buffet style catering. Sometimes we are faced with the challenge of a makeshift kitchen, because there may not be kitchen facilities on site. Of course we can make the bulk of the food at DeJavu Restaurant and transport it to the venue, but I prefer not to do it that way. What I do instead is prep as much as we can before we leave, then prepare your food on site.


First and foremost I pride myself on serving you as my guest the most fresh and perfect food possible. That is why I prefer to go out on location, and prepare your food on site.
So just recently we were entrusted with serving 700 employees for a Employee Appreciation Banquet. The company ordered some of the best foods from DeJavu Restaurant. Although we were to serve in a company substation we made it top of the line service and as if they were being served in a Five Star Hotel. This was a large job coming from a small place. No Problem for Chef Gary and the staff of DeJavu. Chef James Moore Jr, Nicole, Darnell, Jennifer, Erica, Abby and Chef Gary Shaw was the anchor staff; along with Toni and I. We have worked together closely for years and we all work well together.

The Menu

Employee Appreciation Banquet

Fresh Garden Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette, Italian and Ranch Dressing

Sun dried Tomato Pasta with Portabello Mushrooms, and Spinach

New Orleans Authentic Jambalaya

Mixed Vegetables

Blackened Catfish

Honey Herb Chicken

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Assorted Rolls

Assorted Cheese Cakes

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Angel Food Cake 

Red Velvet Cake

DeJavu showed up, we were greeted by the client, and everyone was in a great mood.  Its 4 P.M. and we are set to please our guests.  Three hours later we had stamped out the goods and we were ready to serve the guest.  They came they ate and enjoyed us and each other. All catering jobs have their little bumps, but we always know how to roll with the punches.  Some of the employees consider us long lost friends and have already started coming into the restaurant. We even ran across a homeboy from New Orleans, who recognized the aroma of the creole food.  Then there were two or three guests that could not get enough of the Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, but we don't mind a few stalkers.  Just kidding, folks; it is always a pleasure to serve you at Dejavu Authentic New Orleans Restaurant. 

Now that the Holidays are coming up we are coming up with a Special Holiday Menu.  Get your phone calls and orders in early.  

Bananas Foster Cheesecake

Hey Folks here we are at DeJavu Restaurant, 936 Florida Street, I'm your boy Chef Gary.  We are gonna do a dessert today, if you remember, last time we had the veggie rolls.  Today we're gonna make our World Famous Bananas Foster Cheesecake.  It's a dish that was created back in New Orleans in 1952.  A particular restaurant had exhaused all the desserts for the night, but when a guest requested dessert, so the chef created this dessert satisfy his guest.

Bananas Foster Cheesecake
2 Slices of Cheesecake
Sliced Bananas
Banana Liquer
Butter
Brown Sugar
Chopped Pecans
Strawberries to Garnish
Brandy for Flambe

Today we have an audience who are going to help us with the tasting.  We are gonna start by melting some butter.  Now add a little brown sugar, thats about  a cup, in New Orleans, but we don't measure or count calories in New Orleans.  We gonna flame this up; we gonna add little banana liquer, in other words flaming banana.  You ought to hear that sizzling.  Boy I can see these calories, but these folks on a diet so don"t worry about it.
After this is done we gonna put it right over the peices of cheesecake.  We have some pecans, just add the pecans right on in there.  Let the goodtimes Roll; we gonna add some bananas. Now we gonna flame this up.  the insurance is paid for so we ought to be good. Just a little joke there.
But the funny about it right now folks is that we have a vegan in the restaurant, with all this butter and sugar, she going bananas.  the good thing about DeJavu, here o Florida Street in Memphis Tennesse, by way of New Orleans is that we have vegan desserts, so we got everybody covered.
We gonna Flame this with a little Brandy, so get you pan real good and hot along the bootom back edge.  so you can get you a nice little flame going there.  I love to drive the vegans crazy with this, but we have banana nut cake, and chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberry.  We also have Carrot Raisin Bread for our vegan friends.
While  stirring really good you should see the pecans and the caramel in this.  Long as you don't come here looking for me to do it all the time, I'll be happy to Flambe you some sauce to go with the Bananas Foster Cheesecake.
while we here I would like to thank you guys for helping us celebrate our 4th Year Anniversary on September 22.  You guys have been great, great customers, great friends, great family.  You keep it coming man and let everybody know.  Don't let the little hole in the wall fool you, we getting down over here.
Here we go; you got your pan nice and hot on the bottom, just pour a little brandy.  We don't want the flame too big, there you go.  now less the pecans you can serve this over ice cream which is the traditional Bananas Foster.  But we put a twist on the Bananas foster by adding pecans and serving over the cheesecake.  We gonna quadruple the calories, after that you can take you a long walk and back, then the calories are gone.
Here you are folks Bananas foster Cheesecake, we gonna pour this right over the cheesecake then garnish with some strawberries, and you have it.