Restaurant 3000

I found out about Restaurant 3000 while I was working on my June wedding in Menlo Park. This relatively new restaurant is a hidden gem just off the 280 freeway exit.

Restaurant entrance (from their website)

They can hold private events for around 50 guests for a seated meal or around 120 guests for a cocktail reception. It is available for private events during weekdays after 3:30 pm and on weekends. You can use the cafe area outside the restaurant for dancing or for a buffet setup. This place is perfect for a small wedding or a bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, baby shower or any celebration. There is even a small garden area outside where you can choose to have your event. They also offer off-site catering as well.

Cafe area

Restaurant from cafe area

Garden area

Now, for the food... The chef is classically-French-trained and uses his skills and local, seasonal produce to create fresh California cuisine. I had the opportunity to try their salads, main entrees and desserts. The salads were fresh as can be; the quinoa and roasted corn salad, black bean and avocado with a lemon dressing was to die for, the sweetness of the corn complemented the tangy-ness of the dressing so well.

The pièce de résistance though, in my opinion, is their desserts. I tried their crème brulee (can never resist a crème brulee), very creamy and delicious, and their Grand Marnier chocolate pot de crème, which was rich and decadent. They also make croissants in-house every morning and they are buttery and flaky, just like the ones I had in Paris!

Truffle fries

Grilled chicken with melted brie and pesto on a baguette

Crème brulee; Grand Marnier chocolate pot de crème with fresh-baked cookies

The owner, Joel, is very friendly and jovial, and will work with you on your event needs. Their pricing is very reasonable for that area and they offer customized food and beverages packages too. Go check them out, you will not be disappointed!

Destination Weddings at Silicon Valley NACE May Meeting

The other continuing education event I attended last month was held by the Silicon Valley NACE chapter at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose. I was really looking forward to this event as there was going to be a panel of wedding industry professionals who were going to talk about destination weddings and high-end celebrations.

The theme of the event was Alice in Wonderland and it was perfectly conceptualized in the main ballroom of Silver Creek Valley Country Club, where we spent the main portion of our time that evening.

Check out the centerpieces!

Dinner at Silver Creek Valley Country Club never disappoints; for salad, we had mixed baby greens, artichokes, tomatoes and carrot curls with balsamic dressing.

For the entree, we had petit filet mignon, roasted shallots with Merlot reduction sauce, garlic herb potato au gratin and fresh seasonal vegetables.

For dessert, we had yummy mini cupcakes from Jen's Cakes.

After dinner, we awaited excitedly to hear from the panel of speakers; planner Sasha Souza of Sasha Souza Events; videographer Andrew Hsu, of Studio MSV; baker Jen Kwapinski, of Jen's Cakes; and photographer Brook Todd, of Alisha + Brook Photographers. They shared valuable information regarding what issues to watch out for in planning and coordinating destination weddings. Do you know that you have to pay customs tax for flowers you bring into certain countries? Do you know what kind of wedding professionals you should hire locally and whom you should hire from where you are located? That is definitely useful information to know beforehand!

I think this event has been very informative and it's nice to see how other wedding professionals work with destination weddings.

ACPWC May Meeting

What a whirlwind past few weeks it has been! After completing my biggest wedding yet (500+ guests!) a couple of weeks ago, I also attended 2 continuing education meetings/events, the first one held at We and Our Neighbors Club clubhouse in San Jose, hosted by ACPWC.

We and Our Neighbors Club clubhouse is a San Jose Historic Landmark and a well-kept secret. It is a Craftsman style bungalow and started out as a meeting place for a women's club in 1892. It is still in use today by several Scout troops and can be rented for special events at a minimal cost.

The main room can accomodate 80 people, there is a small stage area and an upright McPhail piano that is in place and still in use.

This evening, we had floral arrangements sponsored by Christine Le of Pink Lincoln Designs, linens and chair covers by Blanca Samano of A Touch Of Elegance and dinner provided by Michi Sushi.

I love the color combination of Christine's gorgeous centerpieces!

The amazing dinner was a 7 course meal that consisted of salad, appetizers, assorted nigiri and rolls.

The sushi was ultra fresh as Michi brought a sushi bar to the venue.

Our speaker for this meeting was Karmen Reed of Kickoff Topic, a Social Media Marketing Solutions company. Karmen is a social marketing expert and educates, coaches and consults small businesses and entrepreneurs on maximizing the benefits of social media marketing. She taught us about Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube in particular. Social media is so important for small businesses nowadays, I am still learning about the benefits and how to harness the power of using social media.

Stay tuned for future posts of 1) the other continuing education event I attended this week and 2) of my biggest wedding so far!

Fire Safety, Anyone?

Last Tuesday night, I attended the Silicon Valley NACE meeting at the Stanford Faculty Club in Palo Alto to hear Natti Pierce-Thomson give a presentation on fire and electrical safety in the events industry. She is the President and Senior Lighting Designer of North American Theatre Technology. (You may recall that Natti also provided the lighting at the ACPWC meeting in February.) One of the first ETCP Certified Entertainment Electricians, Natti is also a member of the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association). Who better to teach us on fire and electricity safety than Natti!

She gave plenty of useful tips and information to teach us about how to use extension cords properly, what kind of extension cords to use and not to use in different situations and how to check if a piece of fabric is flammable, among other things. She also showed us the latest in LED lighting technology. Lots of useful information! I also learned that there is a product that is essentially a single-use fire extinguisher about the size of a water bottle. Guess what I'll be adding to my bridal emergency bag from now on!

If you look closely at the centerpiece, you can see that different kind of extension cords have been incorporated and would later be used in Natti's presentation, how clever!

For dinner, we started with an artichoke carpaccio and mâche salad with shaved Parmesan, tomato concassé and balsamic vinaigrette.

The entree was a duet entree consisting of Painted Hills Natural Angus petit filet mignon topped with frizzled leeks and filet of halibut with lemon thyme beurre blanc with white and green asparagus and Gruyère potato strudel.

After the entree, we were treated to a cheese course; various Cowgirl Creamery cheeses with lavender honey, quince paste and herbed flatbread.

Last but not least, the dessert was an Opera cake; layers of almond sponge cake with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache.

All in all, good food, excellent presentation, getting to meet new event professionals and catching up with old ones, what more can one ask for?