Catering by Andrew

Catering by Andrew.  Not a retail storefront, only for restaurants, hotels, food service, and events.  I know catering, in general, is not just randomly accessible to you.  But maybe you need to plan an event in the Boston area?

And, uh, maybe you need a Kosher caterer?  If so, check out Catering by Andrew. 

I don't know much about the company, besides that they offer a large range of dishes, from breakfast buffets to lunch boxes to elaborate dinners with appetizers to desserts to challah and other baked goods.

I also don't know who Andrew is.   But I was shocked by how good some of the dishes were - the Caesar salad remains a favorite, the chocolate mousse is to die for, and I had no idea that ready-to-eat seafood dishes could be so successful.  I highly recommend.

Salads

Catering by Andrew makes a decent selection of salads, ranging from mixed greens based, to egg or tuna salad, to seasonal offerings like beets with oranges or mustard tarragon green beans.  I've tried a number of them, and ... spoiler: I adore this Caesar salad.

Spinach Salad.

"Baby spinach salad,  goat cheese, cranberries, spiced pecans, tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette."

This sounded great to me, minus the goat cheese.  I planned to just eat everything else, since I like all the other ingredients.  And, I was very curious what the "spiced pecans" were like.

It turned out to be far less exciting than it sounded.  The pecans seemed ... well, not spiced?  Really, just plain pecans.

The baby spinach was fresh and crisp, the cherry tomatoes ripe enough, the dried cranberries not too hard, but, none of these are particularly exciting ingredients.

The balsamic vinaigrette was a bit too balsamic-y for my taste.

Overall, not for me, but not a bad salad.

Garden Salad / Balsamic Vinaigrette.

"Mixed greens with crisp garden veggies and a house made balsamic vinaigrette." 

The garden salad was fine.  Fresh vegetables (mixed greens, carrots, cucumber, radish, tomatoes), all crisp, nothing wilty.  The dressing was fine, fairly standard balsamic vinaigrette.

A very boring salad to me, but, they did it fine.

Caesar Salad.

"Classic caesar salad with crunchy garlic croutons." 

"Crunchy croutons" this did not have.  The croutons were soggy.  Really soggy.  I discarded them immediately both times I tried this salad.  They were always very mushy, likely due to the packaging.

But everything else about the salad was great.  The base was fresh romaine hearts plus just the right amount of radicchio to add some color and more complex flavor, but not too much bitterness.  The greens were fresh and crisp, although I did find a bit of brown lettuce in my second salad, but overall, a nice base.

But this salad was all about the dressing.

The dressing was incredible.  So flavorful.  Creamy.  Real anchovy.  Really fantastic.  The ingredients are fairly standard Caesar (mayo, garlic, anchovy, mustard powder, Worcestershire, lemon juice, sugar), and there actually isn't any cheese in it, but, somehow it is just ridiculously good.

Yes, somehow, just the greens and dressing were enough for me to be happy, a real testament to that dressing, as normally I'm all for jazzing up salads much more.

Caesar - my way!

But of course sometimes I do jazz it up a tiny bit.  I throw out the croutons every time, because they really are soggy every single time, but one time, I added a little Frank's red sauce to my dressing.  The dressing was good, but, I love Frank's, and though this might be extra fun.

And it was.  It wasn't necessary, but, it did give me a slightly different spin on the salad.

I could also imagine throwing on any sort of additional crunchy item (corn nuts? sesame sticks) and perhaps some marinated tomatoes, but, really, just the greens and dressing really is enough.

Entrees

Entrees change out weekly, and variety is such that I won't even attempt to enumerate.  There are plentiful seafood options, which I nearly always go for, along with an impressive vegetarian line up, and TONS of chicken.  Most meals come with simple sides, usually roasted herbed potatoes or rice and a seasonal veggie.  I've been impressed by many of the seafoods.

Pretzel Crusted Salmon with Cider Glaze / Vegetable Medley / Roasted Rosemary Potatoes.

This one was my pick.  I like seafood, and the description sounded great (pretzel crust!).

It likely would have been good fresh.  The pretzel crust was a fun concept, adding texture and saltiness, and I did really quite like it, except that it was soggy.  The salmon was fully cooked, so not my style, but a huge piece, and quality, not fishy.

The seasonal (summer) veggies on the side (cauliflower, summer squash, zucchini, bell peppers) were seasoned but pretty boring, same with the roast potatoes.

Quinoa Stuffed Grilled Rolled Eggplant / Vegetable Medley /  Herbed Basmati Rice.

This  vegetarian selection was for a friend, but I tried a few bites.

The marinara sauce was flavorful and went well with the eggplant.  The eggplant was nicely cooked, but I think this is another item that really would have been better fresh, as it was fairly soggy.   The filling was fine, but would have been much better if made cheesy.  Just quinoa and veg was too boring for me, even when smothered in yummy sauce.  They also make a Eggplant Rollatini with Ricotta, which I'd rather try.

The veggies on side (summer squash, zucchini, bell peppers) were the same as the previous dishes, although no cauliflower here, kinda eh, same with the rice (and why serve rice on the side with a quinoa stuffed dish anyway?).

Thai Fish Cakes with Mango Salsa / Steamed Basmati Rice / Steamed Green Beans. (December 2019).

Another one I selected, and this one was a real winner!  I *really* liked it.

The fish cakes were cod based, with very little filler - some celery I think maybe (there was a bit of crunch), but mostly, these were just cod, panko, herbs, and mayo.  Two decent sized cakes, quite thick.  They were not a crispy style though, again, since pre-made and fully cooked, so if you wanted a crispy fish cake, this would be disappointing.  But for a softer style, I kinda even liked the bite I had cold.  Yup, cold and mushy fish cake ... it worked.   

I did scrape off the mango salsa and put the fish cakes into a panini press to grill them up, which worked quite well, forming a crusty layer.  Yes, they were better this way.  They were ... delicious this way in fact.

The mango salsa was tasty, sort of like a mango chutney, with chunks of mango, tomatoes, and onions, sweet yet savory, slightly acidic.  Quite flavorful, a good condiment.  I wouldn't really call it "thai" though, no thai chilies, no heat, but it was very good, and went well with the fish cakes.

I gave the rice to my father who had run out of rice with his Indian takeout, so I can't evaluate that.  The green beans were simple but nicely cooked, not too mushy, they tasted fresh and vibrant.

Overall, a nice dish, I'd get it again.

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Scrod Florentine.

This was really shockingly good, the first item I tried from Catering by Andrew in fact.  I can't say I had high hopes for a pre-cooked seafood item, but, it was great.

The fish was scrod, mild and tender, not at all fishy.  The standard Boston fish of choice, and it was good.  I loved the filling, and it was quite generously stuffed.

I don't have a photo, as I didn't intend to review Catering by Andrew, but, this dish is what inspired me to do so.  Really quite good, and an insanely huge serving.

Desserts

Always my favorite category of food items, Catering by Andrew produces a nice line up of desserts.  Spoiler: I LOVED some of them.

Chocolate Mousse.

This. Was. Incredible.

It is no secret that I have a sweet tooth and love my desserts, and especially puddings, but, I also tend to be a snob about them.

This was so good that no snobbery was warranted.

Very fluffy, very rich, very good chocolate mousse.  It had only a dollop of whipped cream, but, it didn't really need it.  I liked the chocolate garnish too.

Very, very good and I'd gladly devour another one of these on the spot.  They also make a chocolate mousse cake, and a chocolate cream pie, both of which I'd love to try.  And a lemon mousse and a pomegranate mousse, both of which I immediately wanted to try.

Lemon Mousse.

Since the chocolate mousse was so good, I was happy to try another one, even though I don't generally like lemon desserts.

The lemon curd at the base was as expected, eh, lemon curd.  I figured I could just skip that.

The majority of the pot was a fluffy light mousse that I would have loved … if it was not lemon.  While not lemon curd, it was lemon flavored, and just wasn't for me.  But the texture was amazing.

I did adore the fluffy non dairy whipping topping on the very top.  A unique flavor and texture, whatever it is made of (HFCS is the first ingredient ...), it works for me!

I think the chocolate mousse, with more of this non-dairy topping, would be amazing.

Assorted Mini Pastries: Chocolate Roulade / Apple Pie / Cake.

Next I went for a little dessert trio.

I started with the chocolate covered one, which looked like a swiss cake roll.  They call it a chocolate roulade, much fancier.

The chocolate shell on the outside reminded me instantly of Little Debbie.  The chocolate cake inside was eh however, kinda dry, not very chocolate flavored.  The cream filling was fine.  About the same quality level as a packaged junk food counterpart, no better nor worse.  Sometimes what you want.  My second favorite.

The roulade is also made in lemon and a seasonal variety.

The mini apple pie was the worst of the bunch.  The crust was soft, mushy, and seemed almost like a gluten-free item, if you know what I mean.  Not good.  The cubes of spiced apples were fine.

Apple pie is also available full size, as are blueberry and chocolate cream versions.

Cake: Inside.

Catering by andrew makes a large range of cakes, including crowd pleasing chocolate mousse, or local favorite Boston Creme, all available in multiple sizes.

Inside this one was two layers of cake, one plain, one chocolate colored, and a thin layer of caramel.  The cakes were both dry and fairly flavorless, the caramel was nice but not nearly enough of it.  The sweet coating was the best part.

This was the best of the trio of mini desserts, but it wasn't actually very good.

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Apple Strudel.

The apple strudel was also not very successful.

The pastry was not flaky.  The apples were too crispy.  It wasn't well spiced.  Not good.