Bi-Rite Catering

Update Review, Reception Catering, July 2024

I recently attended a reception catered by Bi-Rite.  I've enjoyed their breakfast catering at events in the past (see below!), and know the business has a good reputation, so I was pleased to see them picked as the caterer, rather than say, Costco platters.

Menu Part One.

We had an extensive menu: 3 platters, 2 kinds of savory tartlets, 2 kinds of skewers, 2 kinds of cucumber cups, and two desserts. 

Menu Part Two.

The menu cards were quite detailed, with all ingredients listed, plus easy to skim common allergen marking (e.g. gluten, soy, etc) and dietary preferences (vegan, vegegarian).

Platters

Platters are reception staples.  Bi-Rite offers all the standards: cheese, charcuterie, veggies.  Alone or mixed.  We had several different styles.

Specialty Cheese Platter. $235.

"Calling all cheese lovers! This elevated platter features five guest favorite cheeses, including: a buttery triple crème; a sharp yet milky cheddar; a bright and nutty semi-firm sheep cheese; an alpine that is robust and savory; and a semi-firm goat with truffle. These cheeses are accompanied with fresh and dried seasonal fruit, fig jam, almonds and cashews, and Rustic Bakery crackers."

Classic decent cheese platter.  I was a bit let down that the seasonal fruit seemed to be fresh grapes and dried apricots, which, given that it was peak summer, doesn't really seem so "seasonal".  

I tried the triple crème, and it was nicely oozing and soft, but I didn't find it particularly flavorful (I prefer a nuttier flavor to the rind at least).  The crackers were local Rustic Bakery flatbreads that are pretty good.  ***.

This was designed to serve 15 to 20. They also have a cheaper, smaller cheese platter.

Specialty Charcuterie Platter. $225.

"A robust selection of the most popular cured meats from our favorite makers. Salami Rosa, Soppressata, salami piccante, prosciutto, and duck pâté are garnished with marinated olives, housemade cornichons and pickled vegetables. Served with whole grain mustard and Rustic Bakery crackers."

Next was charcuterie, also designed to serve 15 to 20, which was priced slightly lower than the cheeses, a slight surprise to me.  It came loaded with meats as expected. The full lineup of meats was: Salami Rosa, Pate Rillette Perigord Natural (Duck), Salami Picante, Salami Sopressata, Prosciutto Sliced, the crackers were Rustic Bakery Olive Oil & Sel Gris Flatbread Crackers, and the pickled vegetables were carrots and cauliflower.

The pickled veggies were really quite tart.  I appreciated that they included a pate, as I do love a good pate.  This one was fairly lower end of average though, not particularly smooth, creamy, nor flavorful in the way I like.

Vegetable Crudité Platter. $85.

"A selection of #PeakofSeason, fresh, crisp veggies accompanied by our creamy, tangy plant-based Green Goodness dipping sauce."

The final platter, just veggies. Only designed to serve 10 to 15. 

The platter had a mix of raw (celery, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, radishes) and steamed (broccoli, cauliflower, green beans) vegetables.  While I do like all of the cooked ones cooked, I would have preferred them left raw.  Something about soft room temperature veggies doesn't do it for me.  But otherwise, these were fine vegetables, the fresh ones nicely crisp.  The green goddess dressing as a bit boring, not as herby or vibrant as it can be.  ***.

Skewers

Skewers are their most popular appetizers, available in 3 varieties.  All arrive cold and are meant to be served at room temperature.  All priced at 30 pieces for. $80.00, or 50 for $130.

Our hosts selected the most popular (chicken) and one vegetarian (tofu) for skewers. Bi-Rite also has mozzarella/olive/pepper skewers that our hosts did not select.

Ancho Chile Chicken Skewers. $80.

"Our most popular platter, tender marinated free-range chicken breast is grilled and served with a tangy chipotle-lime aioli dipping sauce."

I don't care for chicken, so I didn't try these.  I did try the aioli, and found it pretty bland.

Sesame Glazed Tofu Skewers. $80.

"Locally made tofu is marinated with soy, sesame, and ginger then grilled for a delicious plant-based appetizer. Served with a tamari ginger dipping sauce."

The tofu had lovely grill marks.  I didn't try it.

Cucumber Tartar Cups

Cucumber cups ... I'll admit I haven't seen these on a cocktail reception menu in years.  Something about them kinda screams out dated to me.  Yes, cocktail menus often have tartar, and yes, it often comes on top of something grabble, but wonton chips, squid ink crackers, nori wraps, and the like seem far more common as a base, or, tartar comes in a cute little cone.  But Bi-Rite has chosen cucumber "cups", which were really just big hunks of cucumber, as the base.  Available in two varieties,  30 Pieces for $80.  We had both.

Albacore Tuna. $80.

"Jewel-like cubes of albacore tuna are dressed with an umami-rich, tamari-based sauce and mixed with diced, ripe mango, and scallions before being scooped into a crisp, refreshing cucumber cup. Garnished with black sesame furikake for added flavor and depth."

Albacore, while probably the most consumed form of tuna in the US, is a bit of a non-standard option for raw tuna, compared to something like ahi.  But Bi-Rite uses albacore.  It was diced and mixed with little bits of mango for a fruity sweet pop and slightly tropical slant.  It was fine, but the sauce/marinade I didn't really taste, so besides the mango, the flavor felt a bit flat.  Luckily, we had the tamari sauce for the skewers that I used to amp it up a bit.

Fine, but nothing special, and the thick slice of cucumber really dominated.  Low ***.

Salmon. $80.

"Jewel-like cubes of Skuna Bay salmon are dressed with an umami-rich tamari based sauce and mixed with diced scallions before being scooped into a crisp and refreshing cucumber cup. Garnished with shaved bonito flakes for added flavor and depth."

We also had the salmon option, same base, same fine dice.  This one was a bit more flavorful as the marinade had gochujang and sweet miso in it, but there was still minimal saucing.  The cucumber again dominated.  But the fish was fine, not chewy, not fishy, etc.  Another low ***, and I had no clear preference between the two.

Tartlets

Bi-Rite has two small savory tartlets available, both vegetarian. 30 pieces for $65.00, 50 pieces for $95.00.  Our hosts selected both.

Sweet Corn and Goats Cheese. $65.
(Seasonal).

"Featuring seasonal sweet summer corn and roasted piquillo peppers paired with creamy cheeses on a buttery tartlet crust. These handheld bites are perfect for everything from lunch meetings to happy hours, receptions, and dinner events."

These sounded almost awesome to me: ricotta cheese, onion am, sweet corn ... but, they had goat cheese, and I just really don't care for goat cheese.  I skipped them, but nearly went back to try them several times.

Roasted Mushroom and Truffle. $65.

"Our most popular appetizers are back and better than ever! These buttery tartlet crusts are topped with an elegant combination of roasted mushrooms and cauliflower, along with black truffle tartufata and delicate cheese for a creamy, savory bite."

Well, these were a true delight.  I'll admit that I didn't really taste truffle, but, the filling was creamy, super rich in umami flavors, and just very enjoyable.  I didn't detect the cauliflower either, nor the cheese precisely, as mushrooms were the dominant flavor, but I really did love the complex flavor.  The savory tart shell was better than average too, made with a mix of different grains (wheat, rye, spelt, barley), so it too had some complexity.  

My favorite item, and I was happy to go back for more of these!  ****.

Desserts

Of course, sweets are an important part of an event!  Bi-Rite has cookie, brownie, and blondie platters, mini tarts, cupcakes, full size cakes, and pudding jars.  Our hosts only went for tartlets, available in two kinds: lemon meringue or chocolate salted caramel.  I didn't try the lemon meringue, as I don't care for meringue.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Tartlets. $50.

"These delightful tartlets feature a buttery, pastry crust filled with soft salted caramel cream, a layer of decadent dark chocolate glaze, and then topped with chocolate cookie crumbles. They're a delicious, perfect end to any get together."

This was a decent little sweet treat.  Lightly soft, lightly sweet tart shell that wasn’t particularly good nor bad.  Fairly standard thick, sweet, rich caramel.  I didn’t particularly taste the salted element.  A bit of chocolate ganache on top.  Basically, sweet, caramel forward, fine, but not really memorable. ***.

Original Review, Breakfast Catering, May 2018

Bi-Rite Creamery.  A SF institution.  The lines for the ice cream on a rare warm SF day are well known (which, I've never really understood.  Its fine ice cream, but, honestly, I've never been that impressed). 

"We may be known for our ice cream, but we started as bakers! Today our team bakes sweets like the ones we grew up with.  Our changing menu reflects the fruits offered by each season as well as holiday classics like pumpkin pie, Christmas stollen and hot cross buns."

But did you know that Bi-Rite started as a bakery?  And is actually known for their baked goods?  I didn't either, but, I was eager to learn more.

The bakery wing of the creamery makes a slew of items, ranging from cupcakes, bars, cookies, and puddings, to beautiful cakes, to breakfast pastries.  They are available at the Bi-Rite Markets, or, through their catering service, which is how I had them.

Granola. $45.

"Maple and brown sugar granola with almonds, sunflower and flax seeds, unsweetened coconut, and raisins." 

This was interesting granola.  From inspection alone, I did not think that I'd care for it.  It really looked quite plain, was loaded with way too many raisins, and had no chunks. Not my style at all.

My feelings on the raisins didn't change much (yup, raisins, but at least they were soft and not hard pellets, and yup, way too many).  And I did wish for chunks of granola (it did have chunks, they, uh, just were all of raisins).

But it was good.  The almonds surprised me, they were a small size, and well roasted and sweetened. Really crunchy and somehow more flavorful than your average almond.  I also liked the crispy coconut flakes, which the description said were unsweetened, but really did taste sweet to me.  Which is probably why I thought the granola was decent, as it was beautifully sweet from maple syrup, brown sugar, AND honey.  And it very crisp, toasted with butter.

The flax and sunflower seeds gave a bit of bitterness, but not too much, and I didn't mind them at all, another surprise.

So for the style of granola it was, I liked it.  Better as finger food or with milk than yogurt.

This came served with our choice of Straus whole milk yogurt or Clover 2% milk.  It was a huge bowl of granola, but $45 still seems a little pricey for a few tubs of yogurt and granola.

Fruit Salad. $60.

"Freshly-picked, peak of the season fruit salad."

The fruit salad too was actually really quite good.  The pineapple and cantaloupe I didn't care about, the blueberries were good but nothing special, and the kiwi and mango were both fabulous, really juicy, really ripe, nicely sweet.  I almost wonder if they had some agave drizzled over it all?  They were too good to be "just fruit"!

Again, a big bowl, but, $60?  Maybe it was reasonable for this premium fruit.

Mini Pastry Basket. $45.

"An assortment of 32 of our favorite mini pastries to start your day."

The part I was obviously most excited for was the baked goods.  Bi-Rite has many different options for catering pastry baskets - just croissants/danishes, just scones, or mixes, full size or mini.  This was the most inclusive option - mini mixed.  So I could try ... everything.

The selection changes depending on what they want to send you, so we didn't get any muffins, nor quickbreads, which was fine with me.  What we did have was plain croissants, pain au chocolate, almond croissants, cinnamon rolls, and struesel coffee cake.

Yes, I tried them all (except the plain croissant).  They were mini, after all ...

Almond Croissant.

I started with what looked the most decadent, an icing drizzled almond croissant.

It was ... eh.  Fine.

The pastry was a bit spongy, not very flaky.  The sweet glaze on top was nice.

Almond Croissant: Inside.

And it wasn't very well filled.  The gritty almond filling wasn't particularly great either.

My least favorite, not recommended.

Coffee Cake.

"Warm cinnamon and brown sugar coffee cake baked from scratch."

Better was the coffee cake.

The cake was just sour cream pound cake, dense, moist, not dry, very buttery and rich, but, still just fairly plain cake.

The streusel though was good, brown sugar, cinnamon, and regular sugar, and I appreciated the layer both on top, and the layer in the middle.  Nicely sweet.  Lots of sugar.

My third pick, because of the topping, but still not an item I really wanted more of.

They also sell the coffee cake whole for $40.

Pain au Chocolat.

Things improved with the pain au chocolate.

The pastry was a bit better, more flaky, more crisp, but still not that great.

What was great was the filling, three large bars of totally not melted quality dark chocolate.  I really liked the chocolate.

My second favorite, because I liked the chocolate, but, a stellar pastry it was not.

Cinnamon Roll.

And finally, I saved the best for last.  The cinnamon roll.

This was actually quite good.

I really liked the sweet dough used, good flavor, good texture, just a bit crisp.  The filling was cinnamon and sugar, again, lots of sugar, which created caramelized edges that seeped out.  And of course, icing on top for more sweet.

This was certainly my favorite and one I'd gladly have again.