Componere Fine Catering

Componere catered our wedding last year. Even though we had a destination wedding, out of their normal service range, the event couldn’t have been smoother.
We had the opportunity to visit their farm before our wedding and see some the produce growing, as well as their bee hives and chickens, which was very cool.
The food they served was more like what you’d get at a top Michelin starred restaurant than a catered event, and the service was perfect without being snooty or pretentious.
Definitely recommend!

Componere catered our wedding up in the foothills near Yosemite National Park. I am not much of a writer but the main compliment we get about our wedding is always about the food. The quality of the ingredients, the variety of dishes, the skill of the chefs and the overall presentation made the experience top notch. It’s a big relief when you are managing your wedding to know that such an important item as the food is completely taken care of. John Wells was our point of contact and made sure every detail was executed to our desired specification and on top of that he was always a pleasure to be around. I would highly recommend Componere to cater any event where you want amazing food prepared and presented in a professional and hip manner. Also plank salmon, plank salmon.”

Ethan and his staff at Componere served us the most amazing food for our wedding. I don’t pretend to know what is common in the catering business, but I do know that even though our venue did not have a kitchen, Componere was able to set up an outdoor kitchen that produced a meal that our friends and families are still talking about. Many of our guests said that our wedding served «hands down, the best food ever served at a wedding» and I completely agree!
We wanted «elevated comfort food» served family style at our wedding. Ethan took that idea and ran with it. In addition to blowing our minds with his menu suggestions for our cocktail hour and sit down dinner, Componere also suggested mini-​pies with milkshakes as a delicious dessert, which was a huge hit with our guests. Everything was just so delicious. We’ve been trying to think of another reason to throw a big party just so we can hire Componere to put together another amazing meal for us!

Componere exceeded all expectations for our recent event at the Yerba Buena Center. From the elegant tasting prepared for us at their kitchen to a flawlessly executed event onsite several months later, the attention to detail and quality of service was unwavering. Annie Calbeck was dedicated in helping us to curate the perfect experience for our guests, down to the last pieces of service-ware.Chef Ethan and his team never compromised quality or flavor while magnifying our tasting choices for a final headcount of 500. Beautifully done, can’t wait to work with the Componere team again!

The only bad thing about Componere Fine Catering is the fact they are a catering company and not a restaurant. (Although that’s probably a good thing for my waistline.)
I attended a party last week where I enjoyed the amazing lamb; so, so, so, SO good.
The best part, hands-​down were the chocolate covered, bourbon flavored ice cream, with caramel corn pops. Those were amazing.
Plus, it was fun to watch them make them on the spot. They had the ice cream already on the stick. Then, they dipped them in chocolate, then a quick dip into nitrogen to help them set, then a gentle, light covering of crumbled, salty, caramel corn bits, and finally in my mouth. Ok, they handed them to me first, but it gave a new meaning to hand to mouth. I helped myself to, well, I actually lost count how many I ate.
Bottom line: hire Componere to provide your event with these ice cream pops.

Ethan, Kerri, and the rest of the crew at Componere are awesome. They catered our wedding recently, and everyone raved about the food. Ethan really listened to our ideas and thoughts, put together a menu we liked, happily made adjustments, and worked with us when we went back and forth and took a while to finalize some parts. He gave us clear info on which kinds of things worked best, but let us make calls that we felt strongly about — serving family style, bringing our own wine and beer and scotch, etc. The food turned out amazing; everyone loved it. Thanks guys!

I discovered Componere because it was on the preferred caterers list at our wedding venue, The Julia Morgan Ballroom. After reviewing proposals from many well-​known SF Bay Area based caterers I decided to book a tasting with Componere because of Ethan’s impressive background. Due to our limited availability to schedule meetings with other caterers, Componere was the only vendor I met with for a tasting.
We booked Componere for our November 2012 wedding. The guests were impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the everything from the passed appetizers, three-​course meal with entrée choices of sea bass or strip loin and the staff’s quality of service.

Ethan and his crew serve up the best event food you’ll ever taste! Guests who attended our daughter’s July 31 wedding are still raving about them. Creative menus. Great presentation. Easy to work with. Willing to modify and accomodate for special circumstances. Lisa D

Where oh where to begin to sing the praises of Componere Catering and Ethan Mantle’s genius? We were referred to Componere along with a couple other caterers by our wedding planner. From the first phone conversation with Ethan, the owner and head chef, it was clear that Componere was the perfect caterer for us and we need look no further. We’re San Francisco foodies, and we had a very clear vision of what we wanted from our wedding food — no dried out sad piece of chicken sitting next to some string beans on a pre-​plated dish was going to work for us.
The entire process with Componere was a breeze. During the first conversation, Ethan totally understood and embraced the ideas we were going for — a family-​style meal with sophisticated food but an intimate and casual feel. His first menu was so perfect we made virtually no changes — from mouth-​watering canapes (strawberry napoleon with gorgonzola? exploding ricotta filled squash blossoms?!) to the amazing starters (burrata cheese, arugula & asparagus!) through the main course (hanger steak, mirepoix farro, whole snapper, haricot vert!) we were in HEAVEN. Ethan also totally accepted our lack of desire for traditional wedding cake, and proposed an amazing (our guests are still raving) brownie sundae bar with made-​to-​order ice cream. AND we haven’t even mentioned the cheese station. (I should add that we also had budgetary constraints, and he was totally willing to work within them and help us trim things while not losing the character of the meal or the event.)
Throughout the whole process, we also consistently felt like Ethan and his representatives totally «got» our vision, were willing to work with us and be flexible about executing things the way that we wanted (even when that was somewhat nonconventional) and simply had one agenda: to give the customer the best culinary experience out there. I get the feeling that this would remain true no matter what kind of meal you are looking for — formal, casual, family-​style, whatever. He and his people just really seemed focus on working with us to execute our dream event. Bottom line: if you love food, Componere is the caterer for you.
Oh – and I almost forgot the best part! I had pretty much resigned myself to enjoying our meal at the tasting only, because let’s face it, brides aren’t known for getting much of a chance to eat their food. BUT not with Ethan! He made sure to send out our passed hors d’ouevres while we were stuck interminably in photos, and then he ALWAYS had a server at the ready to give us a fresh helping when we made it back to the table in between saying hello to our guests and making the rounds. Then, at the end of the night, we came back to our room to find a picnic hamper with «leftovers» — which I promptly devoured at 2:30am. AMAZING!

If you want a catering service that places the quality and taste of food above and beyond everything else, Componere catering is the company you’re looking for. My fiancé and I recently met with one of the owners (co-​owners, I guess) for a taste test, and we immediately fell in love with each and every bite offered to us. Food is a big deal to us, so had it not been for the high-​end price, we would’ve gone with this company for their high-​end eats.

i can’t believe that I am the first to write a review about componere. we just had our wedding at the harvest inn up in st. helena and they did the most amazing job.
ethan and his team created a beautiful custom menu for us that made our event feel creative and unique; we flipped over the mini fish & chips and yorkshire puddings that we had during our cocktail hour, and the entrees of fish, lamb, and porcini ravioli were delightful. the serving staff were delightful and attentive to all of our guests.
we hope to work with componere again in the future, feeding more of the special events of our lives :)