# Action Stations



## willb (Mar 27, 2013)

Looking for ideas for new and interesting action stations, for any cuisine and any type of event.... some of the ones I have now include

- hand pulled mozzarella

- "living lettuce" clipped on station and tossed with shaved radishes, cheese etc

- live rolled sushi

- 3 kinds of sliders cooked live, each with different toppings / accompaniments

- risotto (not that new but guests always love)

Any ideas that anyone has would be appreciated


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## brandon odell (Aug 19, 2012)

One of my favorites is gourmet grilled cheeses to order. Get a couple George Foreman or panini presses, a couple nice breads, some interesting sliced cheeses and toppings, and you can quickly pound out gourmet grilled cheeses to order.

I like to build to order taco stations too. Customers pick their toppings and a chef par fries corn or flour tortillas to order. They are fried just until the edges start to crisp, but before the tortilla loses it's pliability.

Omelet stations are a classic.

Love the sliders done to order, especially when other meats such as turkey, chicken, pork or veal are used.

Pasta stations are also an old standard. Two different pastas. Two sauces and two cooked meats all held hot. Selection of other raw ingredients cooked and tossed to order.

Tossed salads to order do well too. Use a couple interesting homemade vinaigrettes with a choice of greens and fun toppings, tossed to order.

You could also do popsicle sized fried foods to order with a selection of dips. Have things like chicken chunks, hot dogs, vegetables and even desserts skewered on popsicle sticks. Dip and fry on demand in cornmeal batter or tempura batter. I suggest having any meats precooked before battering, except maybe shrimp.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Mashed or baked potato station. All differnt toppings


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Dessert  : Crêpe Suzette

Or just a Crêpe Station and have all the frest fruit and or savory ingredients ready in front to garnish & fill along with sauces towards the end.

Petals.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

I attended a wedding last month and the station with the longest line was a take on the standard salad bar.

16 oz clear plastic cups with well fitting lids, you pointed out what you wanted and it was assembled for you (way easier to make everything fit, lol) added the dressing and put the top on.

You got to shake it and it was fun and delish, not to mention way less dressing was needed to get a good coat.

Good topic!

mimi


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## veghead (Mar 31, 2013)

I like to do a cake decorating station. Crumb coat all the cakes, premix all the icings, and bag up all the decorating icing. Have the person start decorating the cakes as they start serving or part way though and than cup and plate. Works great for larger events and will be talked about for weeks.


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## tigerwoman (Jul 18, 2002)

we do the salad station that flipflop mentioned but let guests add their own toppings to the clear disposable cups which are attractively displayed in vintage drawers - hand back to attendant who places cover on cup and squirt dressings through straw hole and shakes it up baby - we've had female servers wearing red checked aprons too - cute vintage look. http://simcha-licious-catering-nyc.blogspot.com/2012/05/nyc-bar-mitzvah-party-celebrating-13.html keep scrolling down, it's a long blog

in that same blog we show a make your own nacho bar - a bevy of fun salsas - corn/black bean apple/grape pico avocado crema tropical grilled pineapple pickled radishes etc with assortment of chips and a sprinkle of cheese (could have hot cheese sauce too) also displayed in the vintage drawers --a great find in my building's basement that someone was tossing - left the frame behind and took 5 of the 8 drawers - now wish I had taken all 8! The perks of urban living...

another fun one for salad is to have the salad tini tenders wearing a black tee shirt with the ingredients of the signature salad listed - have two or three choices and guests go to one they like and it's made to order and shaken not stirred in martini shaker and poured into martini glass.

Yet another is a rustic presentation with dressing at the bottom of a mason jar and ingredients and lettuces piled in with lid screwed on and bamboo fork tied with raffia around the middle sticking straight up. Guests shake their own.

catersource's signature party featured a spin art station - guests created their own plate - and for dessert they got to decorate their own tie dye cupcakes with frostings from tubes - that was cool and could be spun into different presentations - I saw a fb posting today from a caterer who skipped the spin art but offered the frosting in tubes and candy toppings in bowls for a create your own cupcake station.

Catersource's party also featured an "art of the cocktail" wall of colored beverages -

you can see full details of both of these stations as well as all the other ones

like the magic mushroom smoked salad stations (also interactive)

on my blog coverage by googling "caterBuzz party like a rockstar " there are two parts so you may have to add part one and part two to that search..

We also do an international quesadilla station but limit the action to pre-made selected fusion fillings that are griddled to order in front of guests. - keeps things moving.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

pot stickers.....steam baskets, you can get large ones at chinese markets

grilled cheese works great when you have a mixed group (weddings....) have plain jane white bread and co-jack, then brie with tapenade or chutney, chevre with ?, etc.....so adventure eaters get a fun treat as well as those who are picky.

sandwich carving stations......prime rib, tenderloins, turkey etc

pasta


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