Philly Chef Patrick

Introduction: I am an extremely affordable and highly skilled personal chef, available in Philadelphia and in surrounding areas, for all occasions. I can cook at your home, bring you fully prepared meals with simple instructions, or cater small parties. I am very flexible and very affordable. I am looking to get a name for myself, and let my reputation speak for itself before I want to become profitable. I am a self-taught at-home cook or personal chef. I've always been able to cook since I was a child, but over the past 8 or so years, my skill level has really jumped leaps and bounds. Long story short, I was about 23 or 24 when I was fairly broke. I am now 31. I had to work with what was in my pantry and refrigerator every night on a very tight budget. Combined that with books and the food network, I was able to create some really tasty and unique dishes. Over the years, I've come a long way in my career, outside of cooking, to be able to afford better and fresher products, and my skill level and technique have exceeded my expectations beyond belief. Over the past four or five years, I really started to notice that people I would cook for weren't just saying "Oh, this is good. Can I have the recipe?" It was more along the lines of "Wow, I would order this any day of the week in a restaurant." Or "This is amazing. You really should think about opening up a restaurant or get a TV cooking show." It was then when I realized this skill might be a little bit more than just an above-average at-home cook type of ability. I did some work in a professional kitchen, while I was in Colorado at a three-star restaurant. This was more of getting a feel of the day-to-day life of running a kitchen. The executive chef really took me under his wings, and showed me a lot of little things that I probably never would've even thought about. From there, I started doing personal chef work and small party catering for friends and family. I did this all free of charge, because I loved it so much. My brother, who can be a skeptic, or some might say a realist, of my crazy ideas, even told me this is something I should really go for. That brings us to the present. I got married and moved to Philly in a three-week period from early March to the beginning of April, so I had taken some time off, before and after that period, to get organized. Since then, I cooked for a mothers' day party at our tiny loft apartment in Old City, for 15 people, and it was a huge hit. I literally did everything when it came to food prep, cooking, and so on. My wife and I recently put together a fundraiser event for our dog's knee surgery. Society hill's newest restaurant let us take over the place for a day to help raise funds for our pup and local animal shelters. I took over the kitchen, and cooked for about 60 or so people, and probably put out 300 plus hors d'oeuvres, more or less by myself. We actually had a full-page article in the Philadelphia Daily News about it. We're going to be on Mary Talks Money, comcast channel 245, and NBC 10 is going to do a piece on it, too. So that's more or less my story. I hate to use a cliche term, but I do a lot of fusion. Italian and Asian, mixed with some modern American, is probably the best way to describe my cooking. For example, I called one of the hors d'oeuvres I cooked at the fundraiser as an Asian inspired eggplant Rollatini. It was thin eggplant slices marinated in sesame oil, and then grilled. Placed in a wonton wrapper, and topped with a garlic basil ricotta mixture, and rolled. After it has been pan seared for a crispy outside, I topped it with a sweet and spicy oyster sauce, and soy sauce reduction. That is probably a good example of me in a nutshell when it comes to my style. I am also excellent with normal Italian and Asian cuisine, and my modern American cuisine has really come along way. Usually, there is an Italian or Asian twist on my modern American dishes. With all that being said, I can do simple, traditional or more everyday cooking very easily. I love the farmers' market, fresh herbs, and cooking healthy. My website is coming soon, and referrals are available upon request. Feel free to contact me for any questions or concerns.