Laura Henshall

Laura is a marvel. Oh wow this girl knows how to COOK!
I am a fussy eater, I LOVE healthy organic food and I’m a gluten free vegetarian, and that’s not an easy palette to please. I want my food to be flavorful, interesting and delish. I don’t necessarily want it to taste healthy, you know?
Laura just BLEW ME AWAY with her creative cuisine, her amazing recipes, her versatile menu. She’s a phenom and I’m so happy I found her to be a personal chef and for a very important event I need catered. WOW! Just WOW!
Plus, she’s fun, organized and easy to be with. I’m really thrilled I found her!

With about a week to go to my planned party, I finally decided on a location (my house) and knew I needed someone to do the food… I don’t cook. Laura was referred by a mutual acquaintance and we quickly got to work. She was flexible in the menu and has a gourmet palette. She was accommodating and was able to have some Gluten Free options. After some tweaking, we settled on something to fit my palette:
BBQ pulled pork sliders and tacos
Teriyaki chicken and rice
mozzarella and tomato crostinis
cheese crostinis
asian cole slaw
Chinese chicken salad
gluten free mac and cheese
a crudite platter with dips which included her own hummus
My guests could not stop raving about the food. And there was a ton of it! So much so that several co workers were able to enjoy it the next day.
She prepared most of the food in her own kitchen, came to my location to set up and returned the next day to clean up.
It was a good deal for the quality and service.

Having never thrown myself a birthday party (I haven’t even told the exact day to most of my friends), I decided to go all out for 30. But it was at the last second so I hurried to secure singlebarrel for 3 hours on a Saturday night. Once that was accomplished, I thought I was done. But then I got to thinking that I needed food there to keep people from getting smashed before our time was up and for the drunk-​munchies.
Two days before the party, I looked at caterers on Unilocal but I wasn’t really looking forward to working with them. Yeah, Unilocal surfaced them first but I didn’t really know what to expect. Were they big companies? Could they do an event this size? Would they even have time? I called two places (I think out of the first 2 or 3 that Unilocal surfaced), one of which told me 30 – 40 people would be too small to cater. Whatever.
Among these more established businesses, I had seen Laura’s Unilocal page. I had also checked out her homepage. While her reviews are good, my only concern while trying to decide was the relatively small sample size of her reviews. But the menu that people were reporting sounded good and I could overlook the small sample size because it seemed to me that she was an independent businesswoman, which I totally respect. Especially since I just been soured on the idea of working with any of the caterers on Unilocal.
So I sent her an email. I got a response on Friday morning (party is Sat night). She could do it! She gave me some info, asked some questions, and even provided alternative ideas in case this couldn’t work out. Nice! But I was undeterred on having great food if she could get it made in time. We hammered out the details over email, I Paypal’ed 50% of the total expected cost as a deposit, and when I arrived at singlebarrel Saturday, everything was taken care of. Amazing!
I had many people telling me how amazing the party was /​singelbarrel was /​the food was. Basically, best birthday party ever. And I couldn’t have done it without Laura. If she had been unable to cater, I probably would have dragged the drunken party around downtown to scavenge for food after drinking for 3 hours.
Here was my menu (I wanted two cold and warm items) :
— Heirloom tomato, mozzarella, basil & balsamic crostinis
— Citrus & chive tossed smoked salmon with crème fresh on a sesame seed tuile
— Asian style pulled pork with Asian slaw & slider buns
— Spicy and sweet Italian sausage with a bell pepper medley & cannellini beans.
I feel the price was reasonable. Grain of salt: I’ve never hired a caterer, so I wouldn’t really know what to expect. But she told me what she could make me and how much it would cost. I felt it was a fair price so I paid for the food and chowed down. *shrug*
And finally, a tip for those who also want to throw a party at a bar: Arrange for something to happen to your leftovers before you get drunk. I did have leftovers, which myself and some friends would’ve LOVED at about 3:30 am at the hotel party. But this is one detail I let slip through the cracks. Learn from me.
Also, Unilocal is asking me if the business photo is helpful: She’s had her hair cut a little shorter.

My client hired Chef Laura to cook for her family and twin 6 year olds. I selected her from a half dozen other chefs based on her knowledge of organic foods, accommodating attitude, and willingness to get the children involved in cooking. Chef Laura was always on time, fun to work with, and prepared delicious food.
Laura is very organized, packaged all meals with clear directions for the family to heat and eat later in the week.
Chef Laura was great with the kids, worked extremely well with me (the family’s Estate Manager), and an accomplished chef.
I highly recommend her for a special event or ongoing meal preparation.

Laura is not only a talented chef, but also one of the most kind and modest people I have had the privilege of meeting. She provided some delicious bites for a friends birthday celebration, and I was quite impressed with what she brought to the table. Laura strives for excellence, and that is precisely what she delivers.

Laura did an amazing job for our recent event. She quickly came up with a suggested menu and pricing and accommodated all of our needs, including providing everything for the tables… she made it sooooo easy!
The food was outstanding! Here salads, teriyaki chicken skewers, etc were top notch. I will use Laura for my next event, without a question. Awesome service!

Laura catered a Mother’s Day picnic/​BBQ that a bunch of us Dad’s decided to throw. She did a fantastic job and the food and presentation were great! She came in and set up the picnic tables, had a great of meal choices for adults and choices for adults and kids alike and account for the vegetarians in the group.
She had burgers with avocado, bacon, blue cheese, cheddar and sauted onions as add-​ons beyond the normal lettuce, tomato and onions and condiments. She also had pasta and potato salads and cookies and cupcakes. it was awesome! Best burger I’ve had in a while.