Basikneads Catering

I purchased a deal from Living Social for the Taste of Morocco cooking class. After registering for the class, I had a question and emailed the chef. He never responded to my email.
On the day of the class, we arrived at the location in a sketchy looking parking lot to find a note on the door stating the facility had a gas leak and provided a nearby address for the alternate location. The alternate location was a dirty manufacturing kitchen that did not have air conditioning. It had been 100 degrees that day and the kitchen was extremely hot. Several fans were blowing in a feeble attempt to cool things down.
The advertised menu was lamb tangine but the chef announced that the meat was a beef and lamb combination. The class started at 7 but we did not have anything to eat or drink except water until almost 8:30 — even though the class was ending at 9pm. We finally asked him to serve the wine and he did about15 minutes later. The wine was good but hot. Not warm, HOT.
The carrot dip was served before the wine but the chef forgot to bring appetizer plates. I am not sure why he would not let us use the dinner plates but we sat there looking at it not sure what to do until I finally announced that I was hungry and would make do without a plate. After that the chef gave out some small napkins for us to use.
The food was mediocre and the chef did not have enough copies of the recipes for everyone in the class. One recipe he only brought 2 copies, another 3. There were 12 people registered for the class. He said he would email the recipes but I have yet to receive anything from him. Chef Coulon did not follow his recipes and used different ingredients from what was listed. The Chef took shortcuts on everything and the flavors reflected that. I did not taste any lamb at all and the tangine was made with low quality beef.
The chef is a very friendly and nice guy but I am guessing he was more concerned with possible refunds than in presenting a quality experience. He should have canceled the class and both the food and the experience given should have been below his standards. The chef could have made the experience better by serving the wine sooner, cooling it down before class, providing something to snack on before 8:30, among other things. I am not sure how different things would have been if he had been in his own facility but I doubt the pace of the experience would have changed significantly. It was unacceptable to advertise a lamb meal and serve low quality beef in its place.
I understand that things were disrupted by the gas leak but the level of preparedness was on par with the gas leak having happened 1 hour before the class, not the day before the class.
I do not recommend Basikneads for a cooking class.

We bought a Groupon and went to the Seafood Cooking Class. My husband isn’t much of a cook and since he’s retired and I’m still working, I want him to take on more of the cooking duties. I was worried at first because the class started slowly and I know my husband gets antsy. I shouldn’t have worried. We both walked away as huge fans and he’s even tried some of the techniques (not recipes!). Great class; food is good; I learned a lot and will use what I learned.

I had a great experience with Basikneads for my wedding. Given that there was a hurricane that day and all the servers showed up and did an amazing job helped a lot. They were all properly dressed and the food was mouthwatering.
My husband and I had two food tastings and we had good control on the food options (we had some vegetarians, kosher, food allergies, etc) but they met all the requisites.
The Chef is very personable and knowledgeable and our coordinator, Lena, was exceptional. I highly recommend them!

My girl got me a cooking class groupon last year as a gift. Finally was able to head to Basikneads last night with her and use it. I can’t believe I waited this long!
We signed up for the Creole 101 class, as the food interests us. The menu consisted of gumbo, mac n’ cheese, and bread pudding. All were home runs.
At the beginning of the night I found myself antsy that we weren’t immediately chopping and moving along with a recipe. Shame on me for not relaxing in the kitchen and enjoying the process!
Chef Cornell Coulon moved at a deliberately relaxed pace as he explained his beliefs on cooking (learn methods, not just rote repetition of recipes), how you can alter recipes (you want more cheese? add more cheese!), and the secret to all good cooking (lots of heavy cream), and also his sense of integrity about his cooking and the food business.
I finally began to relax and take in all the knowledge that was coming my way. Got some great stories about the industry and had a great time (and great meal.) Check them out, whether for catering or classes.

My review is based on my experience with Basikneads over the past six months concerning my wedding reception. My wife and I both found the people at BK to be very friendly and flexible. Back when we were first looking for a catering vendor, we called BK for a quote and some information, which lead to our first meeting and tasting. Going on just «tropical themed wedding», Chef Coulon and the staff at BK created a menu specially for us. And they hit the nail right on the head.
hors d’oeuvres:
–Plantain Chips with Black Bean Tomato Salsa
–Smoked Mozzarella and Caramelized Onion Empanadas
–Jerk Chicken Skewers with Spicy Pineapple-​Banana Dipping Sauce
–Shrimp Croquette on Sugar Cane with Cucumber Sauce
–Mango BBQ Sliders with Julienne Plantains
Main:
–Cayman Islands Mango Chutney Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Tropical Fruit Salsa
–Chipotle Marinated Flank Steak with Salsa Verde
–Island Black Bean, Rice, and Vegetable Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
From that first tasting to the reception we only ended up changing out one of the hors d’oeuvres.
I mentioned that BK is flexible and can meet your needs. Having a tropical theme, we greatly desired to have a frozen piña colada machine, and after a few attempts of finding one on our own we turned to the resources of BK. They don’t have the machines themselves, but were able to find one at a reasonable price and just rolled all the paperwork into our contract to make it all very easy. BK also worked with us every inch of the way in helping us customize the whole experience.
On the big day BK was firing on all cylinders. From the deliveries, to food prep, to hors d’oeuvres, to dinner, and the bar there was not one issue I was aware of.
5 star service and personality to go along with a 5 star product. If you are looking to break the mold for your wedding, you should see what BasiKneads can offer you.