Milly Berman, Event Coordinator, grew up in Brooklyn and still calls Park Slope home. A recent Wesleyan University graduate with a professional chef certification from Rouxbe Culinary School, she’s always had a passion for food—but it was hosting a series of dessert pop-ups with her sister, called the Night Café, that sparked her love for events. From crafting exquisite sweets to orchestrating unforgettable gatherings, Milly brings creativity and care to every detail.
More Than Just a Meal: The Performance of Making a Salad
I discovered Alison Knowles’ seminal performance art piece “Make a Salad” years ago, but even before that, I was performing it a couple times a week.
The piece is simple: the score reads, “make a salad,” and that is all there is to it. Knowles premiered the performance at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1962, making a simple salad in front of museum visitors among the art. The most recent performance was at the High Line in Manhattan in 2012, where Knowles made a salad for thousands of people with ingredients thrown from above onto a tarp and mixed by a group of volunteers. While she could have been the next big thing in large scale catering, Knowles chose to prioritize the process of making over the result of feeding people. She does not serve her audience a salad; she has them watch her make one.
Preparing a salad—or cooking any meal—is usually a domestic task, typically restricted to the feminine realm of the home and neither respected by nor visible to the public. Salad in particular is seen as a women’s food, perhaps because of the delicacy of its material, the implied abstinence from indulgence, or even the bourgeois ideal of skinny-girl self-starvation. By drawing out a uniquely feminine type of labor from its domestic relegation and bringing it into the public eye, Knowles’ “Make a Salad” is a decidedly feminist performance.
Of course, I was intrigued by this piece when I first learned about it. I’m a big fan of badass female artists, and an even bigger fan of salad. However, I only truly began to understand Knowles’ work in the weeks and months after. I thought of Knowles when I added freshly misted, just-picked lettuce to my basket at the farmer’s market. I thought of Knowles as I silently spooned vinaigrette over tender pink cups of radicchio, and then when I listened to those cups crunching in the mouths of my dinner guests. I thought of Knowles as I stuck my fingers into fresh soil to plant early spring seedlings in the garden. I especially thought of Knowles when I would I arrive home after a late night at work, throw open the fridge, and slavishly make a meal for only myself with no one watching.
It takes a lot to make a salad. And the making of that salad is something beautiful. In fact, it is a performance which thousands of people would come to see! At Great Performances, our outstanding chefs make hundreds of salads every day, whether in the noisy clamor of the commissary kitchen, the hushed urgency of the event kitchen, or in the darkened kitchens of their own homes while the rest of the city sleeps. Regardless of how many are watching, or who is eating, making a salad is a performance — a great one.
At Great Performances, we know that the best culinary experiences start with curiosity, adventure, and an open mind—qualities that Morgan Golumbuk embodies in every bite. As a Senior Event Director, Morgan brings her passion for food to every event she creates, drawing inspiration from her global travels. Guided by her motto—“Go everywhere, talk to everyone, eat everything”—she seeks out flavors and experiences from every corner of the world, from hidden street food gems to Michelin-starred marvels. Whether she’s savoring a $2 bowl of noodles or a multi-course tasting menu, she believes food is a universal language that connects people and cultures.
Morgan has shared her insights in several of our past blog articles, and we’re thrilled to have her back with another delicious story.
A Food Tour of Mexico City and Oaxaca
Mexico is a country of rich and diverse culture, ubiquitous warmth, and – of course – incredible food. I spent eight days eating traditional dishes, modern delicacies, and everything in between.
Friday 1/17
11:12pm: Our first round of tacos and a big bowl of Sopa Azteca (tortilla soup) at a lovely little restaurant called Tucco near our Airbnb in Condesa. I ate so much junk food on the flight that I’m not particularly hungry but it’s delicious & we take home plenty of leftovers.
Saturday 1/18
9:24am: Leah eats a leftover taco while we sit on our balcony overlooking Parque España and plan our day. I’m holding out for fresh tacos, hopeful.
9:59am: We share an almond croissant at the coffee shop downstairs, Fuego & Café, and nibble at the little cookies that come with our cortados.
(Shoutout to GP’s Pastry Chef, Albert, who is often the recipient of a shrill “GALLETITAS!??” from me in the late afternoons, a semi-urgent request for any little cookies he has lying around.)
10:35am: It is taco time (again)! We walk a few blocks to Barbacoa Dani for – you guessed it – barbacoa tacos. The server asks us how much fat we want on our cuts of meat (we say half fatty but probably would’ve been best served going for full fat) and we take seats on small stools under the stand’s tarp tent. Our tacos arrive almost immediately, and we dress them with the requisite condiments from the middle of the table: salsa roja, salsa verde, diced white onion, cilantro, and lime.
10:42am: We decide that we also need to share a bowl of consommé. Naturally.
11:17am: A sign as we enter Chapultepec Park advertises “Hot Dogs Sensuales.” We don’t indulge but I think you should know that those exist.
2:04pm: On our way home from El Museo Nacional de Antropología, we stop at Jabalería for a late lunch. I have a grasshopper taco (chapulines, a Mexican delicacy), a wild boar quesadilla (jabalí, hence the name of the restaurant), and a few sips of a local beer also named after wild boars. We watch soccer and compare sunburns.
6:25pm: After a nap and some shopping, we drop into La Xampa for drinks, a classic espresso martini for Leah and a clarified espresso milk punch cocktail with orange for me. We also treat ourselves to some decadent manchego cheese and jamón to snack on.
8:19pm: Dinner at Gaba begins with delicious ginger cocktails. We order chicken liver pâté with hibiscus gel, Hamachi crudo with fava beans and chaya (a plant known as the “spinach tree” that is native to Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula), mussels with river shrimp and ayocote beans in “red sauce,” grilled oyster mushrooms with eggplant and salsa macha, and rockfish with cuaresmeño (jalapeño) beurre blanc, avocado, and a side of kale. We can barely breathe from overeating, so Leah and I order an espresso and an amaro – respectively – in anticipation of dessert, a delicate, tangy nopal (cactus) sorbet with cucumber and shiso. On our way out, we trade recommendations we’ve collected with a fellow American and wish him well on his similarly food-centric journey.
10:36pm: We ascend to Bijou Drinkery Room, a speakeasy bar hidden inside a gastronomy school (if you book an event with me, I’ll tell you the passcode). I drink a classic Bijou (gin, green chartreuse, and sweet vermouth) and nibble at Leah’s cocktail’s nori sheet garnish. We walk home and are back by midnight; a perfect Saturday night.
Sunday 1/19
11:20am: We get a late start, as this is when my altitude sickness starts to kick in. Another cortado from Fuego & Café.
12:45pm: A “Volcán de Taurino” from Tacos Los Alexis, a mix of cecina (salted meat), chicharron (deep-fried pork rind), and chorizo (sausage) with adobo sauce, melted cheese, caramelized onions, and refried beans on a crunchy corn tostada; incredibly wolf down-able. Also: as much water as I can physically put into my body.
4:20pm: I think this is around the time I ate most of my Friday night soup leftovers in hopes that they would fill my stomach without disparaging my compromised GI tract.
5:13pm: Some addicting popcorn and a giant Michelada at a lucha libre match. Probably unwise considering my condition but it really hit the spot.
7:53pm: Cocktails, cacio e pepe capellini, and an octopus hotdog at the current number one bar in the world, Handshake Speakeasy. I have a Lychee Highball (tequila, lychee, sake, jasmine tea, soda), a Matcha Martini (tequila, mezcal, matcha, Cocchi Americano, coconut, crème de menthe), and a flirt with the bartender (Javier); doctor’s orders.
Monday 1/20
12:25pm: We – of sound minds but still very unsound, altitude-warped bodies – tour Tlatelolco and la Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe before we get even an ounce of sustenance, and that first fare comes in the form of tiny sips of mezcal and pulque. We continue on to Teotihuacan and on the car ride home, I am finally getting hungry and consider eating the airplane cookie in my bag (I resist).
3:18pm: Our appetites are back!!! We each put down two quesadillas (mushroom and potato) from roadside stand Quesadillas Paty in under five minutes.
5:39pm: Dinner at Contramar begins with a crisp bottle of Albariño and continues with a duo of tostadas (clam and tuna), shrimp aguachile, kingfish al pastor tacos, soft-shell crab in a flour tortilla, whole grilled fish with red adobo and parsley rubs, a meringue with fresh strawberries, a fig tart with mascarpone, and a carajillo to share. Our server gives us what I consider a great gift this evening: he speaks to us only in Spanish, but slowly and with patience for our grammar and any confused faces (neither of us knew the word for “crab”). I eat a little branded dinner mint on our walk home and marvel at the perfect weather.
8:03pm: Pit stop at the Pokémon-themed 7-Eleven (no, I don’t know why) for big bottles of water before bed.
Tuesday 1/21
10:50am: I start the day with a green juice (“El Verde Whitman”), a cortado sencillo (single!) with a mini sugar-coated palmier, and huevos leñero (fried eggs on a sope with refried beans and goat cheese covered in three chili and sesame adobo sauce) at bookstore Cafebrería El Péndulo. Many of the streets in this neighborhood, Polanco, are named after writers, and we commemorate our visit by buying books: poetry for me and a bread cookbook for Leah.
2:18pm: We visit an aviary and a contemporary art museum and then head to Yucatecan restaurant Fonda 99.99 for lunch before our ticket time for Museo Frida Kahlo. Both of us get a cup of sopa de lima (lime soup) and I wash that down with a plate of cochinita pibil tacos (slow-roasted pork, that I promised I wouldn’t finish but obviously did), horchata, and café de olla. Leah finishes her meal with a delicious Nutella marquesita – a thin rolled crepe stuffed with edam cheese – that I obviously have to try.
9:05pm: Our highly anticipated dinner at two Michelin-starred Quintonil begins with warm welcomes and a glass of chilled Ruinart champagne. Over the course of three hours, we enjoy the following:
- 9:11pm: Chileatole with huitlacoche and Mexican herbs
- 9:22pm: Grilled pickled mussel tostada with mole del mar and charred onion sauce
- 9:37pm: Butternut squash and tomato salad with rice horchata and pumpkin seeds
- 9:55pm: Bluefin tuna with aguachile de brassicas, wasabi ice cream, pickled watermelon radish, and mustard leaves
- 10:07pm: “Agua de Quintonil” cocktail (mezcal espadín, mandarin orange, lemon, agave honey, worm salt rim)
- 10:11pm: Red lobster from Baja California with chilhuacle rojo and orange gastrique and cauliflower cream
- 10:25pm: Pibil duck tamale with young corn cream
- 10:30pm: Interlude during which our lovely server, Saul, brings us a list of recommendations for Mexico City and Oaxaca. We love Saul.
- 10:42pm: “Entomophagy festival”: Vegetable ceviche in smoked cactus leche de tigre; charred avocado tartare with escamoles; oyster mushrooms alambre with salsa macha and grasshopper chintextle; santanero beans from Oaxaca and confit onions; homemade chorizo with cocopaches; salsa roja with jumiles and epazote; red corn segueza; criollo corn tortillas from Opichén, Yucatán
- 11:04pm: Interlude II: Saul Shows Us the Bugs We Just Ate
- 11:15pm: Chichilo negro (traditional mole), rib eye, and pico de gallo with huitlacoche and charred vegetables
- 11:28pm: Cactus paddle sorbet
- 11:35pm: Coconut sorbet, plankton, physalis, and caviar
- 11:48pm: Mignardises
We depart our Kitchen Counter stools just past the stroke of midnight, very pleased and very, very full.
Wednesday 1/22
8:45am: Bitter coffee and a stale croissant in the airport. How the mighty have fallen!
12:31pm: We land in Oaxaca, drop our bags at the unbelievably charming Boulenc Bed & Bread, and head to Las Quince Letras for a sumptuous lunch of molotes de plátano, a memela de barbacoa, and two soul-nourishing soups with a dried beef tlayuda on the side. We sip espressos and plan our excursions for the next two days, languishing on the terraza in the warmth of the afternoon.
5:10pm: This is around the time I take a break from reading to snarf down half of the cinnamon-spiced muffin that was awaiting us in our hotel room.
7:03pm: Cocktails at Sabina Sabe (mezcal-based, obviously; we are in Oaxaca, after all).
8:07pm: Dinner at Levadura de Olla, helmed by one of the preeminent female chefs of the region. We share corn soup with wild herbs and zucchini flowers, guava mole with shrimp, a barbacollita tamale with chicken, pork, chiles, avocado leaf, and spices, and one of Chef Thalía Barrios Garcia’s signature dishes: a kaleidoscopic Oaxacan native tomato platter with beet puree and fruit vinaigrette.
Thursday 1/23
7:30am: A day-old cardamom bun from the hotel lobby (the bakery downstairs isn’t open yet; the bun is still amazing) and one sip of iced coffee that bounces into my stomach in a dangerous way. In preparation for a 90-minute drive to Hierve El Agua, I ditch the coffee and opt for water instead.
11:45am: We hike to stunning views of petrified waterfalls, swim and soak in a natural spring, sunbathe, and eventually head over to a market stall for a delicious beef torta and café de olla.
3:58pm: Back in the city, I take a solo trip to Mercado 20 de Noviembre for mole negro and lemon water at Fonda Sofi. It tastes exactly how I hoped it would, rich and nutty.
4:35pm: I cross over to the neighboring Mercado Benito Juárez to meet up with Leah for a nieve (“snow,” a traditional sorbet-like frozen treat). I get a scoop of the coffee flavor topped with a scoop of the coconut flavor and it’s absolutely perfect.
5:33pm: We finally find the esquites that we have been hunting for since we left the hotel this afternoon!!! Corn, mayonnaise, cheese, hot sauce, and lime; what more could you ask for? (Both of us politely decline the addition of chapulines; I’m tapped out on grasshoppers for this trip.)
9:08pm: Dinner at Crudo begins with some wonderful artisanal sake made in Mexico. I’m so tired of eating at this point that this meal honestly feels like a bit of a slog, but I highly enjoy the soft-shell crab “taco” wrapped in nori and watching the fish in the tank goof around.
Friday 1/24
8:35am: Finally eating the airplane cookie on our way to Palenque Mal de Amor, a mezcal distillery just outside of the city. (Another great argument for planning ahead, as there were no bakery leftovers this day, much to my disappointment.)
9:50am: It should probably be noted that I already know that I should’ve eaten an actual meal before tasting nine mezcals. I know! I know. Yes, they did let me chop agave with an ax – which was misguided on their part – but that was before the tasting.
10:50am: Tasting portions of another six mezcals, two gins, and a whiskey (plus nuts and homemade chocolate, gracias a Dios) at the next distillery, Gracias a Dios. My face is bright red and Leah is on the floor playing with the house dogs.
1:02pm: Back at Boulenc! We take a concha and a tomato tart to the hotel terrace, and I recreate the famous photo of Anthony Bourdain at an outdoor café. My face is still extraordinarily red.
2:19pm: Lunch begins at Alfonsina. Like the previous night’s dinner, I’m so oversaturated with food and drink that I don’t enjoy this meal, unfortunately. The food is delicious, but I have reached my limit.
7:00pm: Around this time, I down a bag of potato chips and a whole bunch of water at the airport.
10:23pm: Back in Mexico City, we order pozole and flautas from La Casa de Toño and they’re delivered minutes after we arrive back to the Airbnb – perfection.
Saturday 1/25
9:27am: It’s our last day in Mexico, and we endeavor to make it count. We snag the last two open seats at the Puebla Street location of Panaderia Rosetta and share a guava roll, a cardamom roll, a fig croissant, and two cortados. After walking over to see El Ángel de la Independencia monument, we part ways, Leah for the canals of Xochimilco to ride the colorful trajineras (flat-bottomed boats) and me on an Ecobici to cruise by the Monument to the Revolution and Palacio de Bellas Artes.
12:05pm: After a semi-harrowing bike ride and a still-pretty-harrowing-because-we-got-stuck-in-parade-traffic Uber, I finally make it to the destination I have been hoping to reach all week: Mi Compa Chava. This marisquería (seafood restaurant) was thrice recommended by trusted friends and I knew I had to visit. I do what I usually do on vacation, which is to ask the server to send me whatever they or the chef recommend – two dishes. Since this exchange happens in Spanish, I am about 50% sure of what I am getting, which is half the fun, I think.
12:12pm: They bring out a cup of a delicious consommé with lime to start – excellent first sip.
12:20pm: A massive plate of grilled shrimp is placed in front of me. Though initially extremely intimidated, I eventually begin gleefully ripping the meat out of the shells with my fingers, liberally dipping the pieces in salsa macha and green aguachile and shoveling them into my mouth. It is truly one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.
12:23pm: My second dish arrives: a tuna and octopus tostada with avocado. It is equally delicious, expertly balanced between light and rich. I’m so thrilled with the meal that I can barely contain myself from bursting into happy tears.
12:47pm: I buy a bottle of hot sauce for the road, naturally. This is also around the time my cousin starts texting me from Los Angeles, telling me that I need to go to Rosetta and that he can see on Tock that there are reservations available in the mid-afternoon. I push back that I literally just finished lunch but he is insistent, and I make a reservation for 2:45pm.
1:20pm: Quick stop at Grieta for a cortado before I wander through Parque México and Parque España back to our Airbnb to reset.
3:10pm: My first sip at Rosetta: a fizzy and delicious strawberry rye shrub. I am hoping that the carbonation will break up some of the seafood from earlier to make room for more food – wishful thinking.
3:19pm: Beef tongue carpaccio with sorrel sauce and caperberries. I love a salty dish, and this one has excellent variety.
3:38pm: Ricotta and lemon triangoli. I delight in finding that it tastes exactly the way I thought it would: smooth, bright, and creamy.
3:59pm: Some sort of beautifully designed, earthy cacao dessert that my server convinces me that I need. No regrets.
8:19pm: I start dinner at Tr3s Tonalá with a carajillo. I cannot fathom eating any more today but I am hellbent on going out dancing – and the nightclubs don’t open until midnight – so I need to do so. I eat a few chips with salsa and a bowl of chicken, rice, and avocado soup that does seem to have some healing properties.
9:54pm: We walk a bit to Licorería Limantour and I sip a Mr. Shirley Temple (tequila, homemade grenadine, ginger ale & citrus) in the back room and count the minutes until we can go dancing.
10:47pm: We walk over to Bar Félix and I have a vodka martini, for some reason.
1:35am: At Café Paraíso (finally!), I have a Stella Artois and a stout glass bottle of water that I hold in a vise grip while I scream-sing whatever Bad Bunny lyrics I know and learn how to dance cumbia. The perfect conclusion to a beyond perfect trip.
Read more from Morgan
At Great Performances, food is woven into every moment from a quick coffee break to a grand celebratory feast. We bring this belief to life through delicious food, warm hospitality, and boundless culinary creativity. At the heart of it all is our Chefs’ Choir℠ ensemble – a unique and diverse group of extraordinary chefs and cooks who power our catering, café, and restaurant services. With their diverse talents, perspectives, and culinary expertise, they shape the unforgettable menus that define our events, from corporate gatherings and nonprofit galas to weddings and milestone celebrations; and that feed our diners at our cafés and restaurants.
Chef Anastassia Batsoula-Deuel’s Mama's Russian Pelmeni
Makes about 80 dumplings
I grew up watching my mom and grandma cooking & baking at home. It was a special treat on the weekends to be able to join in. We would sit down and make a large batch of pelmeni (Russian meat dumplings) everyone joined in. It was a time of comfort and conversation. After freezing a batch for later, we would boil and get ready for feast. Nothing better than home made pelmeni with dollops of sour cream, butter, and broth. I hope to continue the tradition with our little one as she grows up!
Ingredients
- 2 lb ground meat, we do a 1:1 mix of either, pork and chicken, pork and beef, or chicken and turkey
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/4 bunch parsley finely chopped
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 packages of frozen dumpling wrappers, defrosted
- Butter & sour cream (for serving)
Equipment
- Small bowl of water for sealing edge of wrapper
- Sheet tray dusted with flour for ready made dumplings
- Large pot of salted boiling water
Directions
- In a large bowl, mix the ground meats, chopped onion, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper with your hands until well-combined.
- Place the meat mixture in the middle of a wrapper, wet the edge with your finger, and fold over the sides into a half-moon shape. Next pinch the edges together to secure the filling inside, use more water if necessary. Connect the two corners together. Place on sheet tray and repeat until you have no dough or meat mixture left.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, you can add a bay leaf and some black peppercorns for flavor. Add as many pelmeni as you want to cook, and freeze the rest on the sheet tray before transferring them to a bag to have, for a quick homemade dinner. Once they float to the top, about 5-7 mins (frozen ones will take a few minutes longer), they are ready to be taken out. Drain the pelmeni, saving some liquid to use as a broth if you’d like. Add nobs of butter and serve with a side of sour cream. Enjoy!
This past February, we celebrated Gluten-Free February, exploring delicious ways to enjoy meals without gluten—without sacrificing flavor or creativity. As part of our Chefs’ Choir™ series, where our talented culinary team shares their favorite recipes and inspirations, one of our chefs put together a simple yet satisfying guide to Chaffles—a crispy, cheesy, waffle-inspired treat that’s naturally gluten-free.
Whether you’re following a gluten-free lifestyle or just looking for a fun twist on breakfast, Chaffles are endlessly versatile. Read more from Chef Mike Deuel below!
If you’re looking for a quick and satisfying gluten-free option for breakfast or a snack, look no further than chaffles! A clever combination of cheese and eggs, chaffles are naturally gluten-free and low-carb, making them a great alternative to traditional waffles.
Chaffles are incredibly versatile—you can keep them simple with just two ingredients (cheese and eggs) or customize them with almond or coconut flour for a more bread-like texture. They can be made sweet with vanilla and cinnamon or savory with herbs and spices. The best part? They cook in just minutes in a waffle maker, giving you a crispy, golden bite without the hassle.
Enjoy them as a stand-alone treat, use them as a bread substitute for sandwiches, or top them with avocado, berries, or sugar-free syrup. Whether you’re following a gluten-free diet or just want a quick and delicious meal, chaffles are a game-changer in the kitchen!
Try them today and discover your new favorite gluten-free delight!
Gluten-Free Two-Ingredient Chaffles Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup shredded cheese*
*You can use any cheese that melts well, like mozarella, fontina, cheddar, or gruyere or a combination of cheeses
Procedure
- Heat your waffle iron.
- Beat eggs and mix in shredded cheese.
- Spray waffle iron with cooking spray, then add cheese mixture
- Cook according to waffle maker instructions or until golden
Networking events are an essential part of any high-level summit, offering valuable opportunities for industry leaders to connect and share insights. This reception, held at one of New York City’s iconic venues, combined the perfect setting with thoughtfully curated culinary experiences to foster meaningful connections among guests. From interactive food stations to a refined cocktail menu, every detail was designed to encourage engagement and celebrate the vibrant energy of New York.
Event Snapshot
- GP Team: Amanda DiUglio, Senior Event Director
- Client Industry: Professional Services
- Event Type: Networking Reception
- Guest Count: 250 people
- Venue: 3 World Trade Center
- Date: February 2025
- Event Style & Ambiance: Sophisticated, High-Energy, Networking-Focused
- Food & Beverage Service Style: Cocktail Station Buffet
The Challenge
As part of an exclusive industry leadership summit, this evening reception was designed to foster meaningful connections after a full day of high-level discussions. With attendees immersed in forward-thinking conversations on innovation and industry trends, the event needed to provide a seamless setting for networking while delivering an exceptional culinary experience.
A leading event planning firm, renowned for crafting impeccable experiences, engaged Great Performances to manage the reception’s catering, staffing, and execution. The goal was to create an event that reflected the energy of the summit while celebrating the vibrancy of New York City.
Our Approach
To complement the dynamic discussions from the summit, Great Performances curated an NYC-inspired culinary experience, showcasing the city’s diverse flavors through interactive food stations. Our approach included:
- Thematic Menu Design: Guests enjoyed an array of regionally inspired stations highlighting New York’s culinary heritage, from the flavors of Arthur Avenue to the bold offerings of a Brooklyn steakhouse.
- Seamless Service for Networking: A cocktail station buffet format allowed guests to move freely, engaging in discussions while enjoying beautifully plated bites.
- Collaborative Planning: Partnering closely with the event planning team, we ensured a sophisticated and memorable experience that exceeded client expectations.
The Venue: 3 World Trade Center, A Premier Manhattan Skyscraper
Held at a high-rise venue with panoramic city views, this reception showcased New York’s energy and innovation. The space seamlessly blended hospitality with a tribute to the city’s landmarks, offering an experience that was both aspirational and grounded in local culture. From culinary nods to iconic boroughs to design elements reminiscent of classic NYC moments, the event immersed guests in a distinctly metropolitan atmosphere.
As attendees reflected on the day’s thought-provoking sessions, they embarked on a culinary journey through the city’s most beloved flavors. Interactive stations encouraged movement and conversation, facilitating organic networking while guests enjoyed dishes that captured the essence of New York. A well-curated bar menu, featuring classic New York-inspired cocktails and mocktails, added a refined touch to the evening.
Menu Highlights:
- Hudson Valley Delicacies: Boneless Lamb Chop, Red Pepper Puffed Tortilla, Miso-Glazed Black Bass Bite, South Street Seaport Lobster Roll
- Ditmars Boulevard Station: Classic Chicken Gyro Bowl, Roasted Vegetable Gyro Bowl
- Arthur Avenue Station: Chicken Parm Slider, Panzanella-Style Chopped Salad, Penne Cacio e Pepe
- Brooklyn Steakhouse Station: Chef Carved Strip Steak, Cedar Plank Salmon, Chimichurri Cauliflower Steaks, Creamed Spinach Twice-Baked Potatoes
- Signature Cocktails & Desserts:
- Drinks: The Staten Island Ferry Mocktail (Apple Cider, Orange Wheel, Cranberries), Manhattan (Rye, Sweet Vermouth, Angostura Bitters)
- Desserts: Black and White Cookies, Junior’s Cheesecake
The Experience
With the stunning city skyline as a backdrop, the evening struck the perfect balance between relaxation and engagement. The interactive stations encouraged fluid conversation, allowing guests to connect naturally while savoring curated bites inspired by New York’s iconic neighborhoods.
The event planning team, in collaboration with our expert catering staff, ensured a flawless execution where service was polished yet unobtrusive. The sophisticated bar menu, featuring thoughtfully crafted cocktails and mocktails, enhanced the refined yet approachable ambiance.
The Results
- Elevated Networking Experience: The station-style format encouraged organic conversation and seamless movement.
- Culinary Success: Guests raved about the NYC-themed menu, with the Brooklyn Steakhouse and Arthur Avenue stations being particular standouts.
- Seamless Execution: Thanks to meticulous planning and expert service, the event flowed effortlessly, allowing attendees to stay engaged without interruption.
This reception exemplified how Great Performances brings high-touch hospitality and culinary creativity to professional gatherings, transforming post-conference networking into an unforgettable experience.
At Great Performances, food is woven into every moment from a quick coffee break to a grand celebratory feast. We bring this belief to life through delicious food, warm hospitality, and boundless culinary creativity. At the heart of it all is our Chefs’ Choir℠ ensemble – a unique and diverse group of extraordinary chefs and cooks who power our catering, café, and restaurant services. With their diverse talents, perspectives, and culinary expertise, they shape the unforgettable menus that define our events, from corporate gatherings and nonprofit galas to weddings and milestone celebrations; and that feed our diners at our cafés and restaurants.
This month we’re celebrating Valentine’s Day, and Daniel Dougherty has cooked up some love potions to enhance any celebration.
Pucker-Up Cherry Limeade (Zero Proof)
Combine 1 oz Lime Juice, .5 oz Elderflower Syrup, .5 oz Cherry Syrup in a tall glass (a highball, collins glass, or pint glass will work). Fill with Club Soda and garnish with a Cherry.
Special Someone Spritz
Shake together 1.5 oz Aperol, .5 oz Strawberry Puree, .5 oz Basil Agave Syrup and pour into a Coupe. Top with Prosecco and garnish with a sprig of Basil.
Strawberry Fields Forever
Combine 1.5 oz Tequila, 1 oz Creme de Cacao, 1 oz Strawberry Puree, 1 oz Lime Juice, .5 oz Agave Syrup in a shaker. Shake well and pour over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with two sliced Strawberries to form a heart.
At Great Performances, we believe in nurturing creativity—not just through the incredible events we produce but also by supporting the artistic passions of our team members. That’s why we were thrilled to celebrate the winners of our 2024 Artist Fellowship Awards at a special ceremony at Mae Mae Café and Plant Shop!
This year, we awarded $20,000 in grants to four talented GP team members, each receiving $5,000 to further their artistic careers. The projects they’re working on are as diverse and inspiring as the city we call home.
A Celebration of Creativity and Inspiration
On Monday, February 3rd, we gathered at our Mott Haven campus to recognize the incredible work of our 2024 fellows. The ceremony was filled with heartfelt speeches, shared stories, and an overwhelming sense of support from the GP community. It was a joy to witness the excitement and passion of our awardees as they spoke about their projects.
Check out some highlights from the event below!
Meet the 2024 Artist Fellows
From music to animation, this year’s recipients represent a beautiful cross-section of New York’s creative energy:
Trifon Dimitrov
Trifon Dimitrov’s A View From Today (Ancestors) is a tribute album honoring legendary jazz bassists such as Jimmy Blanton, Sam Jones, Oscar Pettiford, Charles Mingus, Ray Brown, and Ron Carter. The project celebrates their contributions to jazz by featuring their compositions with a contemporary interpretation, performed in duo and trio settings with renowned musicians like Kenny Barron, George Cables, and Lewis Nash. The album aims to highlight the bass as a lead instrument while preserving and expanding the jazz tradition. With over 25 years of performance experience, Dimitrov sees this project as a pivotal step in establishing himself as a bandleader, with plans for recording, release, international promotion, and touring. The album will serve as both a tribute and a launching pad for future collaborations and artistic growth.
Trifon is a Bulgarian-born musician and sound artist specializing in experimental composition and live electronic performance. With a background in both classical and avant-garde music, his work bridges genres, creating deeply atmospheric and textured sound experiences. He is dedicated to exploring the intersection of sound, memory, and cultural identity.
Tira Adams
Tira is a poet, lyricist, and performer whose work navigates themes of exile, resistance, and personal transformation. With a sharp, evocative style, she collaborates with musicians and artists to bring socially charged poetry into new sonic landscapes. Her writing serves as both a personal narrative and a broader commentary on censorship, displacement, and resilience.
Natasia Filiaeva
klonklona is an electronic music project by Natasia, an exiled artist using sound as a form of resilience, protest, and reconnection for the displaced Russian-speaking community. Born from personal upheaval after fleeing Russia due to political repression, klonklona blends environmental sound sampling, haunting vocals, and satire to create a “bedroom rave universe”—a safe space for self-expression and defiance. Through viral tracks like Vo Slavu Satane, which exposed Russian corruption, and How Do You Do, which captured the absurdity of exile, klonklona has built a global community of listeners seeking solidarity. With the GP Artist Fellowship, Natasia plans to elevate klonklona from single releases to full EPs and live performances, requiring essential equipment to continue producing music. Looking ahead, she envisions klonklona as a platform for censored and displaced Russian artists, fostering connection through performances, collaborations, and bilingual songwriting to amplify these urgent stories worldwide.
Natasia is an exiled Russian musician and producer who founded klonklona, an electronic music project exploring resilience, protest, and reconnection through sound. Forced to flee Russia due to political repression, she channels personal and collective trauma into haunting, satirical tracks that resonate with the displaced Russian-speaking community. Her work has gone viral, offering a space for defiance and healing through music.
David Quang Pham
David Quang Pham’s Turnover: A New Leaf is an award-winning plant-based musical that explores themes of immigration, queer identity, and environmental awareness through the story of a mother-son pair of Cilantros navigating life in Dirty City. With a dynamic mix of pop, rock, and Vietnamese folk music, the show has earned accolades at the Philadelphia New Musicals Festival and has been performed at various venues, including The Tank’s PrideFest. David’s proposal for the Great Performances Artist Fellowship focuses on producing a professional studio concept album of Turnover, aiming for a Fall 2025 release. This album would enhance the musical’s reach, support future theatrical productions, and lay the groundwork for an eventual cast recording and a potential animated series. Featuring a talented team of musicians, directors, and producers, the project seeks to bring Turnover’s vibrant world and educational themes to a broader audience through streaming and physical releases.
David is a multidisciplinary artist and composer whose work blends experimental sound design, electronic music, and visual storytelling. Passionate about pushing creative boundaries, he explores themes of identity, displacement, and social change. His compositions weave together diverse sonic textures, inviting listeners into immersive and thought-provoking soundscapes.
We can’t wait to see these projects come to life!
A Tradition of Supporting the Arts
The Artist Fellowship Awards have been a cornerstone of GP’s mission, rooted in our company’s origins. When Liz Neumark founded GP, she was an aspiring photographer, and many of our earliest employees were artists looking for flexible work to support their creative pursuits. That commitment hasn’t changed.
“What started as two $1,000 grants has grown to four $5,000 grants and is a source of company-wide pride,” says Neumark. “We’re delighted to celebrate these artists and our commitment to arts and culture in New York City.”
A Panel of Esteemed Judges
A big thank you to our panel of judges—leaders from NYC’s arts and culture world—who helped select this year’s fellows:
- Ed Lewis – President and CEO, Caramoor
- Kamilah Forbes – Executive Producer, Apollo Theater
- Ryan Hill – Founder and CEO, Apotheosis
- Dr. Meisha Porter – Visiting Senior at the Center for Educational Innovation
- Adam Gwon – Composer and Lyricist
“We were all impressed that the applicants are working outside of their art and yet have created the time to pursue this work that means so much to them,” noted Dr. Porter.
This year, Chef Andrew Smith, Culinary Director, curated our Food Festivals and prepared some delicious recipes to help celebrate the ingredient!
We’re kicking off with Buckwheat Flour, which is gluten-free, grain-free that provides a nutty flavor, tender texture, and darker color to the dishes it enhances. It’s high in fiber, protein, and minerals, making it a great addition to your pantry and can be substituted for up to 1/4 of flour in traditional recipes.
Here Chef Andrew shares a recipe for Buckwheat Pappardelle that you can serve with your favorite sauce.
Buckwheat Pappardelle
Ingredients
- 200 grams toasted buckwheat flour
- 200 grams ap flour
- 300 grams semolina
- 300 grams durum
- 500 grams water
Method
- In a stand mixer with dough hook (kitchen aid) add all ingredients. Turn on mixer to lowest setting and mix till all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and the mixture is forming a dough ball. If too dry, add more liquid little bits at a time till hydrated.
- Remove from mixer and wrap in plastic and allow to rest for at least 45 minutes. Once pasta has rested, on a clean lightly floured surface, separate the dough into four equal parts and cover with a kitchen towel to prevent drying out.
- Roll each part of dough into a ball. Then using the palm of your hand press the ball flat. Using a rolling pin roll the dough out moving horizontally then perpendicular till dough is a sheet about 1/8th of an inch thick.
- With a pizza cutter square off the dough reserving trim for further use. Then cut dough into one inch strips, dust with flour, and set aside.
- Repeat this method till all dough has been shaped.
- Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and season to taste with salt. Shaking off excess flour place pasta into water gently stirring to avoid sticking together. Allow to cook for five minutes then strain off water and serve with your favorite sauce.
I started sewing in 2019. I had taken a costuming class in my undergraduate program and enjoyed it. As time went on things started to press on me:
- The prevalence of human trafficking in the supply chain of my clothing
- The water and environmental cost of fast fashion
- The fact that I just didn’t like so many things being sold in stores
I decided I wanted to give it a try.
Cut to the fall of 2020*. The pandemic was driving on, and I exhausted my options for painting by numbers**. I decided to put more concerted effort into making my clothes. I bought more supplies, patterns, pattern paper, fusible interfacing, the works.
I started with a simple t-shirt, and it went well enough to make want to get better. I gave myself milestones:
- Making a 3-piece suit
- having 50% of my wardrobe being of my own making
Once I did those, I could consider myself having “graduated” as a clothier (atelier? tailor? seamster?***).
While both of these milestones are still in the future, I have gotten better and better. I’ve made some pieces that I very much enjoy. I’ve made pieces for friends and loved ones. I’ve made shirts and pants, overalls and jumpsuits, dresses and skirts, and cloaks for LARPing. My next project will be a pair of double-knee jeans from a pattern I received from Lorraine Polchinski.
* Many are drawn to the assumption that sewing was a pandemic venture. Was it? It was definitely pandemic related that I did as much as I did when I did, but I find myself clashing with the idea of sewing being my sourdough. I’d been dabbling.
** THIS was my sourdough.
*** This is not my first bout with the lack of a gender non-specific word for “one who sews”. I have not found a suitable option. While it is not necessarily one of the reasons for my wanting to sew, gender subversion is a big influence on my drive to be GOOD at sewing. Therefore, I’m not interested in name that leans toward gender reinforcement. Boo gender reinforcement!
****Gender Affirmation refers to the phenomenon of individuals, feeling their gender identity is challenged or questioned, exaggerating or strongly reaffirming behaviors and attitudes traditionally associated with their gender, in an attempt to reassert their sense of belonging within their gender category.
In the sprawling web of all our venues, Book Club emerged to bring GP employees together. It grew out of our Women’s Employee Resource Group (ERG), a space we carved out to amplify and mentor each other. The ERG has hosted mentorship, networking, and leadership events, often at cultural and historical venues that sparked interesting conversation. Book Club felt like a natural extension – a gender-inclusive group to share stories and ideas. For the launch, we looked for stories about the powerful role of food. We had a shortlist that claimed our attention, but we landed on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
Picking a first book felt like scrolling through a never-ending To Be Read pile in late December. We started with a few contenders: The Kamogawa Food Detectives, a cozy, intrigue-laden escape, My Year of Meats, at the intersection of TV and agriculture, and Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line, 300 pages of adrenaline which at absolutely no point takes its foot off the gas. Each had its claim to our attention, but we landed on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
It wasn’t just the food-centric narrative, but it’s both deeply familiar and unexpected. The story follows Tita, the youngest daughter in a rigidly traditional Mexican family. It’s a story we’ve seen countlessly: duty taking precedence over desire, especially in the kitchen – a place long known for confinement to women. Yet, we can understand what it feels like to pour energy and emotions into food. Tita reveals her rage and declaration of selfhood through it. She grows prolific in her cooking which – through the lens of magic realism – finds its power to leave her family weeping, or euphoric, or moved in whatever chaotic ways.
Esquivel touches on a common modern narrative, one with women, in her words, “radically abandoning the kitchen space”. Through Tita, however, she highlights the beauty of reclaiming these traditions on her own terms.
Of course, reading this in the context of the food industry feels a little different. There’s not as much room for catharsis in the middle of a dinner service. Yet, the book plants the idea that food, even in its structured, utilitarian form, carries intense emotion. Part of the pleasure is discovering how this unfolds, and as book club conversations start taking shape, leaves us with plenty to think about.