One of the Spectacular Malibu
Galas…
“First Class Passage Under The Stars”
Makes And Here’s Lilly’s Star Shine Again!
Malibu, California – On a
gorgeous, warm clear September evening as a radiant sun set on the shores of exclusive
Malibu, And Here’s Lilly drew the curtain on yet another celebrity-filled event.
Five hundred entertainment
celebrities, Fortune 500 businesses from all over the United States, and Pepperdine
University Center for the Arts Guild Supporters gathered for this scintillating evening,
joining Grammy-winning record producer Mr. David Foster, and his wife Linda
Thompson-Foster on the immaculately landscaped grounds of their fabulous estate in
beautiful Malibu to help support the annual Pepperdine University-sponsored Arts Guild
fund raiser.
Over two months of intense
planning went into coordinating and executing this star-studded gala evening which
included the design, preparation, decorating and execution of the entire food service
program by the corporate dining experts at And Here’s Lilly. The event included
a cocktail reception complete with five hosted bars and a scrumptious array of hors
d’oeuvres during the University’s Silent Auction of beautiful art pieces and
then a sit-down dinner for five hundred guests prior to the live Las Vegas-style floor
show starring Mr. Paul Anka!
It all started in July when And
Here’s Lilly was selected from among some of the most famous catering and event
planners in California. And Here’s Lilly’s Executive Planners, owner Mrs.
Lilly Wilkerson, and President Ms. Charmaine Wilkerson set the planning stages in motion
during meetings with Pepperdine’s Event Committee who coordinated the annual event.
Working closely with the
University committee comprised of five members chaired by Jasmine Runnels, And Here’s
Lilly began the process of choosing just the right chefs, selecting menus, planning the
theme decorations which were to reflect the blue water of Malibu, and developing the
complex logistics and coordinating the actions of the ultimate staff of 15 chefs, 45
waiters and a corps of bartenders and servers.
AHL chose well-known Executive Chef Brad Toles and his Executive Assistant Carlos
Vargas to prepare the selected menu. During the planning stages, Toles and two
additional chefs prepared five separate, complete menus for the event committee to
sample. Such was the importance of this function that each dish in the final menu
and the hors d’oeuvres had to be carefully selected, prepared, and served to
perfection before the event! And, of course, the vintage wine selection underwent
the same exacting scrutiny.
As the menu was being selected, other components of the plan were put into motion…
the theme decorations were selected and coordinated to the nth degree… white piped
railings were to line the pathways decked with bright blue and white life preservers; five
color-coded dining sections, each section serving 100 guests, were to be set in front of
replicas of ships’ masts complete with gaily-colored signal flags that would snap in
the onshore breeze; each dining table would be covered in shades of crisp blue linen with
a delightful arrangement of nautical sand and shells in floral centerpieces. The
hosted bars were also decorated to complement the scheme. Fifteen chefs under the
direction of Toles were carefully selected to man the five satellite kitchens to be
erected on the estate grounds; expert waiters were chosen and dressed in white-gloved
livery complete with a colored ribbon to show which dining section and kitchen they were
assigned to; and, expert stewards and runners were selected to facilitate cocktail and
dinner serving.
All the hors d’oeuvres and the dinner menu were planned to be executed on the
estate grounds so that the food was absolutely freshly prepared.
Every minute detail was submitted to the most careful
scrutiny and, finally, event time was here… Two days before the gala, AHL chefs
arrived on the estate grounds to install and prepare the five kitchens each containing
three large stoves and ovens; refrigerated trucks containing the fresh food were located
conveniently to the kitchens but hidden form guests’ view. Pepperdine
University provided a classroom where And Here’s Lilly’s executive staff held
final briefings with the chefs, waiters, stewards, bartenders, and runners, complete with
dry-run through situations to ensure that each participant knew their duties inside and
out. This would be extremely important as the sit-down gourmet dinner for 500
hundred guests had to be completed within one hour before the live entertainment began!
The evening was a tremendous success… From the moment the limousines started
to arrive to the last wave goodbye… the proceedings went exactly according to
plan. The cocktail reception featuring exotic hors d’oeuvres such as smoked
duck empanadas, provided a casual introduction to the evening’s festivities; the
annual fund raiser silent auction was a huge success; and, the sit-down dinner was served
precisely. Mr. Foster and the Paul Anka Orchestra with Paul Anka performing, played
many of Mr. Foster’s songs, including ones that he had composed for Ms. Barbra
Streisand. A choir from Pepperdine also performed in the Grand Finale.
The end to a perfect evening was made even more so when Mr. Foster came to thank us
personally for And Here’s Lilly’s own magnificent performance. Mr. Foster
and Pepperdine University put another “Star of Excellence” on our list of
accomplishments!
To all… please accept our immense thanks for selecting the corporate dining
experts from And Here’s Lilly. You were the culmination of the summer
festivities that And Here’s Lilly was proud to participate in.
