NieVee's

HOME-GROWN from page 73

Restaurant and Lounge

Open Monday thru Saturday, 11 a.m. til 2 a.m.

GOOD FOOD • GOOD DRINKS • GOOD TIMES

steamed cattail dinner.
Sanfield attended Harrison High
School and a New York boarding school
before setting off for East Lansing,
where he majored in psychology.
During summers away from his studies,
Sanfield went to work in the kitchens of
caterers and restaurateurs, including
Classic Capers on Martha's Vineyard,
whose clients included Art Buchwald,
the du Pont family and Jules Pfeifer.
There, he relied on his mother's recipe
for chopped liver for a customer who
requested the dish for a brunch. The item
became such a hit that people from the
area traveled to pick up his concoction.
His skill also helped him get in the
door of The Black Dog, the East
Coast eatery made famous by Bill
Clinton's knick-knack buying for para-
mour Monica Lewinsky.
"The owner of The Black Dog
went to a party where I had cooked
the pate. He loved it and made a deal
with me to make it for the restaurant,"
Sanfield says. "Every morning, I
would get up at 5 a.m. and go to The
Black Dog to make pates."
Somehow, his love for being in
sweaty kitchens won out over his
interest in psychology "We had hoped
at that time he would be a professor
or something like that," says Sally
Sanfield. "What else would you expect
a Jewish mother to say?"
Her son decided the place to be was
either on the East or West Coast, so he
headed to San Francisco where he lived
for a while, working at three notable
restaurants before being wooed into a
position as executive chef at the "hap-
pening" L.A. eatery, Sugar Shack.
While there, he received the proposal
of a lifetime. A new friend, Paul Hibler,
had been a manager of eight trucks for
another hot caterer for the movie indus-
try. He and Shanfield worked together to
buy a truck and start their own business.
In no time, the pair were working
four trucks, all equipped with Wolfe
ranges and full-sized refrigeration units.
Deluxe Catering nabbed contracts- for
films that shot in Atlanta, Chicago,
Baltimore, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont,
Maine, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico.
The business involves providing two
meals, called breakfast and lunch no
matter when they are served, to all of the
cast and crew, as well as to the extras.
"Breakfast is a hot meal, cooked short
order. We give them pancakes, breakfast
burritos, waffles, bagels — you name it.
Then, according to the guild contract,
they work for six hours and then they
eat lunch. This is a sit-down meal,
served from a standard menu that

changes daily," Sanfield says. "We make
everything from roast chicken and meat-
loaf to filet mignon and stuffed sole
with crabmeat or crab cakes. We have
ethnic food theme days like traditional
Mexican food or Japanese menus."
And all this food isn't for a mere hand-
ful of people. These meals serve a mini-
mum of 125 up to thousands of persons.
If the filming runs a certain amount of
hours, a third meal, imaginatively dubbed
the "second meal," must be called up.
The chefs have to accommodate
late film schedules and the special
dietary needs of actor types, such as
macrobiotic meals or vegan items.
Kosher food is sent in, since it is not
possible to keep the trucks kosher.
So, which actors or actresses are
picky or idiosyncratic eaters? Who will
or won't eat beets or brussel sprouts?
Which famous Jewish name opts for a
bagel during Pesach instead of the
matza brei that makes the menu at
that time? Sanfield isn't saying.
"If I could tell you how many sto-
ries have not been printed because [I
won't reveal that information], you
would be surprised," he says, adding
that the secrecy of certain individuals'
food preferences is an element of
many contractual agreements.
The job of overseeing a staff of 22
and four trucks providing fare for these
masses six days a week would have
worn down less hardy stock. However,
Sanfield and Hibler have turned the
workload into an opportunity. Because
their trucks have worked such magic,
they have been able to expand their
catering services to provide food for
such occasions as glamorous movie
premieres and social functions.
Just last month, they catered the
wedding of Titanic director/producer
James Cameron and actress Suzy Amis.
Another time, Sanfield made a Passover
seder for a famous director and his
family. In addition, they have started a
small but successful chain of restaurants
specializing in barbecued pizza, called
the Pitfire Pizza Company.
While the job definitely takes up a
large chunk of his time, Sanfield still
tries to vacation regularly with his
family in northern Michigan, where
he is not often called on to cook.
"They know better than to ask me
to do that," says Sanfield, who adds he
prefers his mother's cooking. "She's a
genius at apple pie."
In his free time, he also takes his
beloved pet vizsla/Weimaraner mix,
Sophie, for runs in the shadow of the
"Hollywood" sign near his home, col-
lects art and rides his prized vintage
motorcycles. ❑

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Complimentary Dinner

With Purchase Of A Second Dinner
Equal or Greater Value
Pally Specials Excluded

• Expires 8/3/00
• 1 Coupon Per Couple
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