Local Harvest Catering

We used Local Harvest for our wedding back in August. The food was incredible. You cannot go wrong with their menu, and their pricing felt fair and competitive. Denna was so awesome to work with, too. I can’t sing their praises enough. Thank you, Local Harvest, for such a wedding feast!

Our family was staying at Pajaro Dunes Resort for a special birthday and needed birthday dinner catered. I contacted several caterers in the area and settled on Local Harvest as a result of their menu options. Dinner was for 35, half an hour from Santa Cruz and Denna worked with the us on the multiple changes we made leading up to the night of the dinner. «Dinner was amazing»; «the potatoes au gratin were spectacular»; «everything was delicious»; this all from former caterers and a restaurant owner among others. Organic, local, fresh food prepared by a chef who obviously enjoys cooking and is knowledgeable about flavors and seasoning. Thank you Denna for making a special evening even more so.

Local Harvest Catering is amazing! I highly recommend Denna as a caterer. I organized a farm tour and found her less than two weeks before the tour. She was really easy to work with, and the food was incredible. It was important to us to source most of the food from the farm, and she did that easily. She customized the menu in advanced based on what was available. The food was beautiful and delicious. She and Ty were friendly, professional, and exactly on time. Several people on the tour asked for the name of the catering company.
We’re so excited to have found her and look forward to working with Local Harvest again!

Local Harvest catered our daughter’s wedding at Bargetto winery on July 14,2013 and we couldn’t have been more pleased. It’s not often that every guest at the wedding comments on how good the food is and that’s exactly what happened.
One of the main reasons we went with Deena was because we could pick exactly want we wanted and know the per person cost upfront. Most caterers quote a per person cost for the menu of their chosing and that cost increases when you attempt to tailor the food choices to your liking.
Every staff member was friendly and helpful, but the food stole the show. Everything was fresh and, like the company’s name implies, was from local harvests. My only regret was, being the mother of the bride, I didn’t have an opportunity to go up for seconds.
Trust me, you will not be disappointed in Deena’s food or employees and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Normally I am not impressed with food at weddings, so it was important to me that our food at our wedding was very good. I am So glad we decided to have Local Harvest cater our wedding! I used to say I would never have chicken at my wedding because it seems to always dry out, but Deanna’s chicken was so good I just had to have it! And at the wedding it was juicy and moist and so delicious!!! We received many compliments at the wedding on the food and we were very impressed with both the food and the service! I highly recommend Local Harvest if you need an event catered! I would definitely use them again if I need a caterer in the future!

Denna catered an all plant based (aka vegan) no oil event for us off site on a farm and did an amazing job! This farm was rustic and she had to bring everything over prepared and was able to do very little on site. She thought of everything and the food was spectacular! There were 240 in the crowd and they had been outdoors in the cold all day and she increased their experience tremendously.
Speaking with her leading up to the event she asked all the right questions and I could tell right away she was an experienced caterer. She brought a great crew with her and did I mention the food was great?! We do these events around the country and she set the new standard for us.
On top on being a great chef and a pleasure to work with she also went above and beyond going to a warehouse to get app plates at the last second when we didn’t have any.
I would recommend her again to anyone who is in need of a caterer!
Thanks Denna!!!

Denna and her crew at Local Harvest catered my daughter’s wedding last weekend, and we have been getting phone calls all week asking who our caterer was. Everyone that attended has said that it was the best food that they have ever had at a wedding. Local Harvest uses local, organic ingredients, and everything is fresh. There was no saucy, smothered «wedding chicken», just moist and flavorful chicken and grilled skirt steak. She makes a fantastic potato gratin with leeks, and her caprese salad with fresh mozzarella and lavender balsamic was amazing. Denna was easy to work with and was willing to accomodate our foody family. I will definitely use Local Harvest in the future for any catering needs that I might have.

If I could give 10 stars…
Denna catered our wedding and the food was unbelievable. Many said it was the best wedding meal they’d ever had. Her recipes are so good, plus local and fresh and organic. My wife requested that she prepare a dish that would be akin to her mother’s old recipe and that too, was to die for.
She picked a great staff for the event, everyone was friendly and courteous and hard-​working. She also went above and beyond in the planning stages, beginning with an incredible tasting appointment. She even met with us to aid in the rentals process as she was quite familiar with the company.
With an event like this there are 2 sides to a vendor relationship: working with them behind the scenes, and the final production that is delivered to your guests. Picking Local Harvest was a triumph in both regards. In our wedding full of non-​stop hiccups, not a single one came from our catering choice. To reiterate: a triumph!

Denna is competent, organized, helpful, calm, and talented. Denna was the single best decision we made for our wedding day.
It’s hard to know how to begin to praise Denna enough. I wish I could give her six stars, because she did her job with professional efficiency, competence, and grace, but also did so much more.
From the beginning, she was personable and a good communicator. I found her here on Unilocal,and even though she didn’t have many reviews, I really liked her website. I worried that she would be above our price point because many caterers who emphasize locally-​sourced organic produce, cheese, and other foods are also exceptionally expensive, but she came up with a menu that would work with our budget.
The day of our tasting, she was busy cooking for another event, but was able to work us in because we were coming from two hours away. Even though she was going between the kitchen (to manage things in there) and our table (to talk us through her food and our wedding choices), what I remember most is that she was patient and friendly throughout. One of Denna’s greatest gifts is that she’s able to stay sound and calm even when she’s busy. Caterers and their staff can set the tone at any event, and I think she is largely responsible for how stress-​free and fun our reception felt.
She also communicated directly with our reception site, met us at Alexis Party Rentals so we could pick out our tableware in person, managed all of the rental ordering, and went to the reception site with us to do a «walk through.» The reception site staff were sometimes disorganized, and Denna ended up doing a lot of the smoothing out of those complicated and confusing details herself. She also did several interventions during our wedding itself: Alexis didn’t have a BBQ grill for the rehearsal dinner the night before, so she borrowed her father’s; the reception site wrote to me to say there was a problem with the tablecloths, and Denna wrote back to them before I could; and on the night itself, I was never asked to make any decisions or put out any fires. If there were problems, Denna handled them. (It’s also possible that there just weren’t problems, which would also speak well of her).
Her staff were courteous, ever-​present, friendly and helpful. I was impressed by them.
At this point, you might be asking yourself: but what about her food? She did a wonderful job. Her «spring greens» salad with champagne vinegar dressing was some of the best food I’ve ever had. Her caprese salad was made with luscious heirloom tomatoes, basil, and delicate fresh mozzarella. The penne pasta with pesto was flavorful and cooked perfectly (wedding pasta is usually overcooked; hers wasn’t). Her herb chicken was delicious. Before the main dinner, she also had a varied assortment of cheeses, fresh fruits, and bread, as well as bruschetta.
Each couple or event is different, though, and what’s nice is that Denna will work with you on your menu. Because she’s so committed to organic and locally-​grown food, it also means that the produce is picked when it’s riper and more flavorful, and she did a nice job of letting the ingredients sing.
All in all, I can’t recommend Denna enough.