Culinary Misfits

Chef Eric was referred to me by a friend. I had friends coming into town & we were looking to spend quality time together without anyone having to shop or cook. Chef Eric planned a great menu and introduced us to the coolest tool, the sous vide. He made an amazing sous vide salmon with sweet pea purée. We all consider ourselves to be foodies & we were all beyond impressed! He was fun, professional and efficient. Everyone enjoyed the night and I looked like a rock star for having him cook for us! We will definitely have him do so again. Highly recommended!

A few months ago, I started searching for a personal chef. After reading all the positive reviews, I decided to give Eric a shot. Eric had no idea what he was about to take on when he agreed to cook for my (picky) family. One kid doesn’t like cheese? No one likes tomatoes? I’m surprised he didn’t turn us away after our first conversation! Nope. He was up for the challenge. Week one was a jaw dropper. Did I just hear my son say he liked everything? Pinch me, this can’t be real. Our menu for the week looked somewhat like this: Baked salmon with sriracha sauce, Chicken caprese (gf) pasta, Mongolian beef with roasted broccolini and a pork tenderloin. Every dish was cooked to perfection — all I had to do was heat it up. I’m thinking I like this personal chef idea! Week two was just as awesome… as well as week three and four. Eric has been cooking weekly meals for my family for over a month now. I can honestly say he knocks it out of the park Every.Single.Week.
Last weekend, we hosted a big (Star Wars) family event. There were over 40 people attending, so of course I wanted Eric to prepare all the food! Once again, everything was incredible — from presentation to taste. The cupcake bar was a huge hit, too! Heidi served custom cupcakes that were phenomenal! It was definitely a night to remember and we are so thankful Eric and his team were part of it.

A few months ago, I started searching for a personal chef. After reading all the positive reviews, I decided to give Eric (Culinary Misfits) a shot. Eric had no idea what he was about to take on when he agreed to cook for my (picky) family. One kid doesn’t like cheese? No one likes tomatoes? I’m surprised he didn’t turn us away after our first conversation! Nope. He was up for the challenge. Week one was a jaw dropper. Did I just hear my son say he liked everything? Pinch me, this can’t be real. Our menu for the week looked somewhat like this: Baked salmon with sriracha sauce, Chicken caprese (gf) pasta, Mongolian beef with roasted broccolini and a pork tenderloin. Every dish was cooked to perfection — all I had to do was heat it up. I’m thinking I like this personal chef idea! Week two was just as awesome… as well as week three and four. Eric has been cooking weekly meals for my family for over a month now. I can honestly say he knocks it out of the park Every.Single.Week.
Last weekend, we hosted a big (Star Wars) family event. There were over 40 people attending, so of course I wanted Eric to prepare all the food! Once again, everything was incredible — from presentation to taste. The cupcake bar was a huge hit, too! Heidi served custom cupcakes that were phenomenal! It was definitely a night to remember and we are so thankful Eric and his team were part of it.

Chef Eric Daniels is the real deal! After finding him on Unilocal with 22 amazing reviews I hired him for my wife’s Birthday party.
He was very responsive and professional in his dealings. On time, thorough, and with a great personality he outdid my expectations as well as our guests.
Chef Eric does it all from grocery shopping to prep and cooking to serving and cleaning up.
All we had to do was relax with our drinks and enjoy a sumptuous 3 course meal.
All our guests had the 12 oz Ribeye cooked to perfection! I had the Sea Bass which was among the finest I’ve had in any 5 star restaurant. We enjoyed an Ahi tuna ceviche along with a grilled shrimp and chorizo appetizer.
The salad was a standout with blue cheese stuffed strawberries on arugula with candied walnuts and a honey vinaigrette. YUM!
After dinner Chef Eric cleaned up and left the kitchens as he found it.
Since we had 11 people we paid for a server to assist Chef Eric. Heidi was a delight. All our guests enjoyed the fun of watching a master chef at work and Eric was very gracious in answering all our «foodie» questions.
Believe me I actually saved money engaging Chef Eric because this kind of meal at an equivalent restaurant environment would have been twice what it cost.
Plus we were in the comfort of our home with our friends. This was an outstanding evening that will be remembered fondly by all.

I hired Eric with Culinary Misfits for a bachelorette party this past weekend. The bride wanted to rent a house on Lake Travis for the weekend and didn’t want to go out to the bars in Austin on Saturday night (what a difference bachelorette parties are in your late 20s vs. your early 20s ha). Everyone was so excited for a relaxing weekend drinking by the pool and getting on the lake Saturday day. The only problem was that we wanted something fun for Saturday night seeing as how we were not going to be getting dressed up and hitting the bars. I thought a private dinner would be something fun and different and started searching. I reached out to about 4 – 5 different companies during my search and Eric by far was the best in customer service. I sent email requests to everyone and everyone wrote back fairly quickly but Eric picked up the phone and called me. In a world where text and email rule, it was nice to have a phone conversation. I explained the bachelorette plans and he was more than happy to go into detail about the menu and options we had available to us. Needless to say, I picked Eric and I’m so glad I did!
Saturday afternoon, Eric showed up and got right to work prepping the food and making himself at home in the kitchen. The food was amazing and all the girls raved about it! He is not only a great chef but super personable and we all loved getting to know him.
I have had a few of the girls from the party asks for his contact because they want to hire him for upcoming events around Lake Austin! I promise you can’t go wrong with having Eric as your private chef! He does everything from start to finish — grocery shopping, prepping, cooking, serving, AND clean up. All we had to do was sit down, be wowed and drink. Life was good :)
Thank you Eric for a job well done!

I just had Chef Eric from Culinary Misfits cater a 15 person business holiday dinner in Denver and it was fantastic. He delivered on everything that he promised. He was professional, friendly, a great cook, organized, on time and fun. His menu is varied and terrific. His pricing is very fair. He is a great add to the Denver community and I highly recommend him.

We were lucky to be one of Eric’s last clients in Austin last month during my daughter’s bachelorette weekend. He was SUPER easy to work with throughout the entire planning process and the night of the dinner. He served us incredibly delicious, melt-​in-​your-​mouth short ribs, awesome tamale cakes, and roasted veggies… and a fantastic tiramisu to end the meal. YUM! We really enjoyed listening to his great stories; it felt like we were just a bunch of good friends hanging out together in the kitchen, yet he also knew when to just «meld» into the background. Austin’s loss is definitely Denver’s gain; welcome to Colorado, Eric!! We’re thrilled that you’re settled in Denver now and are looking forward to our next dinner!

We had the most wonderful experience with culinary misfits. They came out to cook for a group of 10 women while we were staying at an amazing rental-​The Loft House-​in Austin. They were beyond professional and the food was fantastic. We plan to hire them again when we come back to Austin. It was such a treat and I recommend them highly.

My family and I had the opportunity to use Eric and the Culinary Misfits for a family get together in Austin. We chose the Italian dinner served family style and the result was a smashing success. Each dish independently was likely the best I had ever enjoyed (chicken/​shrimp, calamari salad, pasta, meatballs, variety of desserts). As a combo it was truly incredible. Our party ranged from 8 year olds to oldies and Eric customized the entrees for pallets of each age group.
If you want a treat I highly recommend the Misfits and I intend to use them whenever I have the opportunity to visit Austin.
Tom F
Atherton, Ca

Great experience with Chef Eric. We were on a Girl’s Weekend near Austin last weekend and he cooked a magnificent dinner. He showed up exactly on time and prepared. It was a wonderful experience and would use him again and again. Thanks Eric!!!

Chef Eric is wonderful! He is 100% reliable, I had no worries about him showing up on time. Most importantly, he knows how to cook up a phenomenal meal. We will be using him again for any other events we put on.

What a special treat!
Chef Eric came to my home and made a fantastic dinner of small plates that were really creative and delicious! The entire process, from booking him to the end of the evening, was super easy and worth every penny.
He is very personable and was a pleasure to have around. He arrived early, took over the kitchen, and voila… a gourmet meal appeared. He also did all the clean-​up and topped off our meal with a delicious cheesecake!
Chef Eric listened to the kinds of food we like and our style of dining, and he put together a menu that was perfect. Not only was the food amazing, it was great to talk to him and get culinary tips.
I highly recommend getting some friends together and hiring him for a fun and unique experience … you won’t regret it.

I would most certainly rate this company higher if we could get a simple price quote for our wedding. I was called on the phone the day I put in my initial request (which was impressive.) It was explained to me that they took customer service very seriously and our request was important to them. I’d believe that if they actually followed through with what they promised. I never got a my price quote and never heard from them again except for a message several weeks after our first conversation saying something about e-​mail not working etc… I’m sorry, but in this day in age, there are so many ways to communicate and provide customer service. I’m thoroughly disappointed by this company and their lack of following through. Fortunately, we won’t have to worry about their lackluster service at our wedding.

I am the Event Manager for Henningsen Cold Storage (one of the largest 3^rd party logistics providers in the US) based in Portland, Oregon. We flew Chef Eric to Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon for a week to cook lunch and dinner for 25 of our warehouse managers and guests. We gave him a company credit card and let him plan the menus from top to bottom with no limit on budget. He cooked lunches and dinners everyday and he did breakfast for our house which was an added bonus. We had everything from a Seafood/​Salmon Feed to a New York Steakhouse menu to Texas BBQ. The food was great and everyone really enjoyed NOT going to a restaurant, as we could be casual and spend time relaxing and chatting with everyone, not just the 2 or 3 people sitting around you. Not that feeding 25 was hard enough, we had him prepare lunch for the same 25 at another location since it was closer to our meeting venue. And, he had to prepare box lunches for a golf activity one day as well. Eric handled the logistics and challenges with ease and was always fun, interactive and professional. We are already talking about where we are taking Eric next year. If your are an event planner at your company you already know how stressful the meal planning is, just contact Eric and let him take care of everything.

From the initial frozen margarita for our brief wait… to the divine dinners for 6 that feasted on AND shared a peek/taste…to the coconut and keylime pies w/​coffee… PURE DIVINE. The sun was setting, the «cast» knew our friends and we were soooo happy we chose that time to travel to TX.

Chef Eric Daniel is possibly the most talented and passionate chef I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. His attention to detail in his work as well as his clients goes above and beyond anything I have ever experienced. The culinary delights that I’ve been privilege to partake in were exactly that, delights — exceptional in every way. I’ve visited several higher end restaurants in the DC area (recently just moved) as well as the Austin area, and haven’t experienced anything that has come close. That being said, I will recommend Chef Eric Daniel and Culinary Misfits to all of my friends, coworkers and anyone else looking for that unique culinary experience that can only be found here.

Chef Eric Daniel with Blue Fire Kitchen is amazing! He came to our home on a Friday night to cook a 4-​course meal for my family. We were celebrating Mother’s Day, and he worked with me to create the perfect menu for the occasion!
We spent the evening chatting, watching him cook and asking lots of questions and just enjoying family time together in our home. He did all the prep, all the cooking and all the clean-​up! He made himself right at home in our kitchen and came prepared with all of his necessary tools, and wouldn’t allow my mom to lift a finger!
The food was absolutely amazing! Our meal consisted of heirloom tomato caprese salad on toasted rosemary (yum), crab cakes with a lemon aioli, a beautiful Italian main course of butternut squash risotto and beef with a rustic tomato and veggie sauce, and TWO fantastic desserts. Everything was specifically chosen for my mom and we all loved the food! Not to mention, we were able to pair beverages throughout the evening and — when all is said and done with all things considered — made this meal an incredible value over eating out for the quality of food and service.
Chef Eric loves to cook and is dedicated to making sure that his guests have an amazing experience. It was unique, fun and a very special evening!
Add it to your list as a must do!!!

Chef Eric is the BEST! My friends and I were having our annual ladies weekend and asked Chef Eric to make us a great dinner. He arrived mid afternoon and worked all day while we relaxed and enjoyed the pool. He took care of everything, all we had to do was be ready for dinner at 7. Everything we ate was excellent, all 4 courses, all delicious. And he even cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. His dinner was the highlight of our weekend! He was well worth it, we can’t wait to have him come back again!

Chef Eric catered a ‘Girls Weekend Dinner’ for 6 of us and it was beyond delicious! He has a great personality and even cleaned up after :) If you want a delicious meal but want to enjoy the party then I would highly recommend chef Eric!

I was looking for a fun and out of the ordinary birthday gift for my husband so I decided to have a personal chef come make dinner for the two of us. I came on Unilocal to look up reviews and stumbled upon Chef Eric. With a 5 star review, how could I pass him up? I wrote him a message and right from our very first email he was nothing but polite and had me hooked.
We collaborated together to come up with a menu for the evening based on things we liked/​disliked/​etc. My husband and I love Chopped and Iron Chef and are always so intrigued with the dishes these chefs come up with. We always said we would love to have a chef come make us things that he thought were amazing and that is exactly what Chef Eric did. I simply told him ingredients to steer clear of and he came up with the rest. It was absolutely DELICIOUS!
He did all the grocery shopping, prep, and cooking and all we had to do was sit and enjoy an amazing four course dinner. We started with a fresh salad of greens, tomatoes and radish, followed by crab towers, braised short ribs, and an apple pastry for dessert. As full as I was, I didn’t want it to end. :)
The taste aside, on of my other favorite things was how personable Chef Eric was. We decided to sit at the breakfast bar and drink wine and talk with him as he cooked. It was like we had known him for years. It was so relaxed and comfortable and we even learned some cooking tips along the way.
Thank you Chef Eric for an unforgettable birthday dinner!

Dinner last night with Chef Eric was an amazing and delicious experience. We dined with good friends and met new friends. The food was excellent. To start — asparagus & prosciutto topped with poached egg (outstanding!); next came a wonderful consommé (yum!); entrée was either short ribs or salmon — both delish; ended with truffles and chocolate covered cherries. If you are looking for a delightful food experience at a reasonable price, choose Chef Eric Daniel!

A personal chef sounds like a luxury, but in reality, once you figure out the cost of babysitters, parking, and the overall PITA hassle of going downtown on a Friday/​Saturday night, the cost magically become pretty dang reasonable.
The fact that Eric’s cooking is restaurant-​quality (and he doesn’t need to be cooking on a $ 5000 range to make it so) is a bonus. If you get a chance, take a chance on Eric and Blue Fire Kitchen — it will be well worth it!

Eric came over last night to make dinner for ourselves and some friends. We were all delighted with his food and his service (I loved the creamed spinach, while my wife enjoyed the salmon with capers).
Eric has a wide selection of offerings in his menu, and works with his clients to tailor items to their tastes. He also makes himself as available or scarce as you desire: if you want to hop in and cook, he’s good to go; if you want him to make the meal and leave you to your business, that works, too.
Once you think about the cost and hassle of a night out at a fine dining establishment, plus the lack of intimacy you get in all settings but a chef’s table, Eric and Blue Fire Kitchen make for a most compelling in-​home option.

Blue Fire Kitchen is a great service. Eric meets with you to personalize your menu and seems to come up with the perfect selections. Whether you want a wonderfully romantic meal served for you and your loved one or a great meal to impress an important visitor, I wholeheartedly recommend Blue Fire! (Do it quick before Eric lands a spot on the Food Network and becomes famous.)

Eric gave me and my family an incredible dining experience recently. There were a total of six of us for my house warming party, and having Eric prepare dinner was the perfect choice to please everyone’s taste buds. He served wedge salads, a loaf of buttered bread, blue lump crab cakes, sweet BBQ salmon, chicken stuffed with ricotta cheese, pine nuts, and spinach, and for dessert, apple pies for 2! It was quite the feast! Not only was the food delicious, but the whole experience was one to remember — and certainly one to recommend to others!