New York Magazine

“I don’t think anybody in New York City makes better hors d’oeuvres than David Ziff does.”
—Food guru, Eli Zabar of the Vinegar Factory and Eli’s Manhattan

Zagat NYC Marketplace Survey

“These guys are top-notch, cheer fans of chef David Ziff and co-owner Alan Bell’s high end catering outift, known for culinary craftsmanship applied to a fantasic, globe-spanning variety of cuisines; impressive menus aren’t all that’s cooking here, though, since the service staff is always on top of things and it’s a real value given the quality.”

Tom Wolfe

“Thanks again for the outstanding food and service. Many compliments were directed your way by the grateful assembly. Special praise went to Ziff Chinoise.”

New York Magazine – 45 Hottest Caterers

AFFAIRS TO REMEMBER: Private parties for Howard Stringer; all parties for the New York City Opera; Wendy Wasserstein’s Hanukkah get-togethers. Tom Wolfe is a fifteen-year client.

WHO RUNS THE SHOW: David Ziff does the cooking, along with three other chefs, and attends many of his parties. Ziff and partner Alan Bell (the business guy) are celebrating the company’s twentieth anniversary this year. Ziff says he doesn’t do contracts: “I shake hands with people, and that’s it. You just have to trust the relationship.”

Last year, Ziff did a dinner for Steve Rattner and Maureen White, but they got stuck in Washington, D.C., because the weather turned nasty. Maureen called Ziff and asked him to play host. “Everybody had a ball,” he says.

TRAY CHIC: Ziff’s innovative menus run the gamut from Mexican to Caribbean to southwestern to Chinese. “I’ve had people ask me to do things I refuse to do,” he says. “The twelve-foot-hero people. You tap the phone and say, `I think you’ve got a wrong number.’ ” Ziff likes to roll seared tuna in tortillas (with wasabi mayo) and stand them on end, like totem poles, on a tray. At a fundraiser where pictures were to be auctioned, Ziff used framed pictures as trays. When one couple had a “burn the prenup” party, Ziff hauled in a Duraflame log to do the honors. As for the menu, “we did a lot of grilled stuff,” Ziff says, laughing.

THE DISH: “I don’t think anybody in New York City makes better hors d’oeuvre than David Ziff does,” says food guru Eli Zabar, of the Vinegar Factory and Eli’s. “My mother loves him,” says Wendy Wasserstein. “That’s a great little latke he’s got going.”

New York Magazine

“I’m a food nut,” says former lawyer David Ziff. He sure is. Mr. Ziff has studied Mexican cooking with Diana Kennedy, Chinese cooking with Virginia Lee, and Italian cooking with Marcella Hazan. He’ll make you an Italian, Mexican, or Chinese dinner, or any combination thereof. He also admires Simca Beck and uses some of her recipes too. Mr. Ziff has been a good student, judging by the dinner I sampled one evening last spring. He made a perfect mozzarella in carrozza, light and beautifully fried. A cold shrimp bisque was tantalizing because of a whiff of curry. The main course, called chicken escargot (a braised chicken which had been stuffed between skin and meat with shallots, garlic, chicken livers, and parsley and scented with cognac), was a little less successful, in my opinion, but I’m not especially fond of the dish. Sinfully good was his dacquoise, made with two butter creams, chocolate, and praline between ground nut layers of meringue. by Paula Wolf

From Our Clients

DEAR ALAN AND DAVID:

I wanted to get a quick message to you before the formal note of thanks for the amazing food, wonderful staff and fabulous professionalism.
The party could not have been more delicious and fun and well, great! It was fantastic.

Your guys were the best! Perfect. Fun. Totally great!

Tracey was 100% correct! And thank G-d I asked her for a caterer.

Thank you thank you thank you ALL…
Bernard

Dear David,

I did not get a chance to thank you before you left on Friday night.
Your food and staff were truly amazing. As always, our guests were raving and asking for your information.
You made the party.

Thank you,
Karen

Dear David and Alan-

Tuesday night was WONDERFUL! You did such a tremendous job and I can only hope you heard the raves and kudos echoing about the crowded room! Everything was delicious, beautifully presented and plentiful. (My mother commented that it was the most beautiful bar she had ever seen!) Thanks for helping to make our event such a success, and, as always, for being such a pleasure to work with.

All the best-
Marcy

David and Alan,

I just needed to send a personal thank you for the spectacular job you did for us. As a few days have passed, I appreciate even more the gargantuan task you accomplished for us. My anxiety level was high as we were forced to make the switch from the Armory at a time of uncertainty for all non-profits. The event turned out to be beyond expectations and much of the credit goes to you and your dedicated and professionall staff. Everything you did was delicious, presented beautifully, served constantly and politely, and graciously supportive of everyone. The bar food looked beautiful and exceeded my need for stations! MoMA wasn’t always as professional and easy, but you made it happen. You and your plentiful great tasting food were the rave as the calls keep coming. Please know how grateful I am personally and how much you contributed to the success of CCC’s major fundraiser. You are the best and I’d be happy to tell anyone at anytime!

Thank you!
Nancy

Thanks Alan.

I want to let you know that we were very pleased with the outcome of all three events. The food was awesome and your staff were excellent. I attended two of the events and gained at least five pounds at each. We heard nothing but positive feedback on all of them. Many, many thanks to you and your wonderful staff for all of your hard work in making these events a success.

Warm regards,

Cheryl

Hi Alan (and David)

I just wanted to thank you and your crew for a really special evening. EVERYTHING was perfect, I would have changed nothing. You did the set up beautifully, everyone raved about the food (my plate of food, which I finally got to eat at 1 a.m., was absolutely delicious), the service was outstanding — efficient and friendly, you really did us proud. You were even so gracious about feeding the kids snacks before the service started — something I know was above and beyond the call of duty. I’m sure you were (deservedly) ready to shoot us at that point, but you hid it completely. I cannot thank you enough. I’m trying to come up with another reason to throw a big party soon so that we can hire you again!

From the bottom of my heart, thanks to you both, and to all the crew that helped to make this a really perfect night for us.

Wendy

Dear Alan and David,

PLEASURE to work with you! Your staff was great, and you two are phenoms. Thank you for everything (including use of a certain red folder…) Until next time!

Sarah
ART New York

Hi David,

I can’t tell you what a pleasure it was for me to have such a professional team to help me. Every time I turned around to get something done during set up, it had already been accomplished. The food was fabulous and the staff always up beat, which is very important to us. They stayed till the very last glass was stacked. I too hope we will be able to work with you in the future and will happily pass along your name to all that ask.

Many thanks to you and your team for helping to make it such a magical night.

Have a wonderful day.

Anna

Thank you, Ryan, Jeff, Alan, David, et al, for the privilege and security of working with such treasured catering professionals again at the GQ hosted event at PHD! Needless to say, the event went off wonderfully and client — and I – together were thrilled!!

‘Looking forward to working with you all in my new spot at Golf Digest!!

Amy

Hi Alan,

I just wanted to thank you and your team for doing such a magnificent job! The party was a great hit and terrific fun. The food was amazing — I am still getting emails raving about it. And Jeff and Tommy were beyond superb. They were delightful and charming and exuded such calm confidence that I relaxed as soon as they arrived. They took care of absolutely everything and everyone, and made the evening flow seemingly effortlessly (by dint of a great deal of work). Not to mention leaving virtually no clean up for me — lovely.

Most importantly, my mother was just beaming all evening. It was I think her best birthday ever, and she still sounds happier than she has in ages. So thank you, very much.

Kind regards,
Anne