James Simpkins

Not only did James prepare delectable treats, but he was fun to hang out with, share stories with, and have a glass of wine with. He even threw in a bonus course for fun. I would highly recommend James to anyone interested in great food from a great guy.

say? No problem. Does your boss need to impress that 100 Million Dollar investor? Don't sweat it.

Seriously, just ask for James. All of your problems will solved, and you'll look like a rock star for hiring him.

He is truly the best of the best.

even got a few preview tastes while he was cooking.

The food was delicious. The braised short ribs, tuna sashimi and flour-less chocolate cake being standouts.

In addition to our wonderfully prepared meal, Chef James was also friendly addition to our party. He is very personable and had some great stories to share.

All in all our experience with Chef James a real treat and I would wholeheartedly recommend him.

love Chef James!

rived very promptly and dove into cooking.

He was very personable and fit in well to the flow of our party as our kitchen is centrally located where the party took place.

Best of all was the food. Everything James made was very, very good. Everyone ate everything.

I would highly recommend both James and Kitchit if you're looking for a great experience for your next event. Everyone at my event thought it was just such a great novelty to have a chef preparing our meal on the spot. It really gives your event an energy that take-out and/or catering will lack.

A private chef is very expensive, but for the most special occasions, I believe it's definitely worth it.

Thank you James!

e we have had in 10 years of hosting this holiday dinner.

friendly. An absolute pleasure to work with!

nt. Each course boasted subtle accents and flavors which we very much enjoyed. Chef James gave us a brief description before each course and fielded culinary questions from our guests with great aplomb. Seth lavished attentive but unobtrusive service on us all, and I have never ever enjoyed being the hostess of a dinner party more. Our guests were all quite impressed, and we are already trying to think up an excuse to invite Chef James to cook for us again soon. Thank you, James and Seth, for a terrific and very enjoyable evening !!!
P.S. They left our kitchen in apple pie order...much appreciated !

luded a mix of foodie vegetarians, pescatarians and carnivores. James created an amazing menu which all our of guests loved. People LOVED the food and the service was excellent! I even got quite a few requests about making this an annual event (including a request from our neighbor's kid). It was a very successful celebration. Needless to say, James will be our go-to chef for future events.

ed up on time, greeted everyone warmly, and then got right to work. He was incredibly self-sufficient and resourceful, which is pretty impressive in a vacation home whose kitchen inventory is unknown.

After an hour or so, the house began to smell heavenly. He also allowed my two-year old and mother-in-law to assist and chat with him while he worked.

Finally, it was time to sit down to eat and the spread he had prepared for us was as visually appealing as it was sure to be delicious. He found platters and serving dishes and created what could have been found in the pages of Better Homes & Gardens.

At last, we began to eat and that warm, heady feeling that comes over you when you're eating something incredible took each one of us to a place of bliss. At our request, he also prepared enough for leftovers the following night, which our guests stayed late for before heading home. We were incredibly grateful to be able to enjoy his food twice.

Do yourself a favor and book Chef James. He will be sure to make your event memorable!

ompletely understandable.

So, how could we have a restaurant-quality meal, at home, where a baby could be closely watched? Kitchit to the rescue!

Kitchit recommended James as our chef. As this was our 6th Kitchit dinner, and we have loved (adored, actually) each of the other Kitchit chefs who have cooked for us in the past, we were open to trying someone new, because, hey, it's fun...

Well, we couldn't have been more thrilled with James. He was proactive, creative, thoughtful, and flexible during the entire planning process. Two of our guests keep kosher, but James didn't bat an eye, and he handily suggested a menu that they could fully enjoy. I have my own quirky sense of what I like to eat, and James was still able to work around my preferences. In fact, he even came up with two separate menus, and let me choose the one I liked best. Truth be told, I wanted both!

On the day of the event, James arrived promptly, and I gave him a tour of the kitchen.

We chatted about the dinner for a while, and I showed him what I had in the kitchen by way of tools, bowls, pans, etc. After getting the lay of the land, James mentioned that he was trying to decide how he wanted to serve the dessert -- a strawberry pistachio cake (which was divine, by the way). Out of the blue, James asked me whether I have any cookie cutters. Do I have cookie cutters?! Only about a hundred. I'm a mom, after all.

Thinking out loud, I mentioned that it might be a kick to use cookie cutters to cut the cake in the shape of each guest's first initial. James loved the idea -- which scored major points with me, because it showed that he wasn't too stuffy or high handed to do something that was a little "cute". As it turns out, I had almost all of the letters, except for two -- I sent my husband on a mission to Sur La Table to pick up the missing cookie cutters.

With dessert fully planned, James quickly got to work to prepare the dinner. I kept popping into the kitchen to chat with him, because he is so warm and open about sharing food ideas, cooking tips, war stories, etc. I loved it!

Before long, my guests started arriving, and we sat down for one of the most memorable meals that I have had in a long time. Every course was flavorful, balanced in terms of color and texture, and composed and plated spectacularly.

With each course, James explained not only what was in each dish, but also the history of the food, and the particular preparation style he used. Without the explanations, I'm sure that we would have enjoyed the food fine (because each dish was flawless), but James' explanations brought us to new level of appreciation that I'm sure we would never get in a restaurant.

To sum up, we were beyond thrilled with James, and I would be fortunate to have him cook for me again. In fact, I'm angling for an opportunity in the near future, as after all of the preparation and planning, the wife of the new couple was unfortunately sick, and she didn't actually make it to our Kitchit event. She shouldn't miss out...right?

active and also create a wonderful ice cream bar that everyone absolutely loved! Definitely will use him again!

service. It was great to work with someone who had the confidence and ease to assure me it would all work out and then made it happen while I was completely distracted with the guests. That takes some good humor and patience. Oh and did I mention the food was amazing? Beautiful spreads that whetted appetites just to look at them. James, with my input, worked up a menu that took into consideration pleasing a lot of palates without being humdrum in any way. Afterwards to my great relief, everything was cleaned up and tucked away including some delicious leftovers waiting for me the next day.

with- it was cool kicking back prior to the event and watching him do his prep work and talking about cooking and fine foods.

I'll definitely be using James again in the future.

mpkins and Kitchit!

lly high expectations. James outperformed on every metric.

He came up with a fantastic menu, and when the original plan was over budget, he figured out how to get it in our budget without sacrificing any dishes. He was a fantastic teacher and demo leader - super engaging, with the right level of information vs. letting people socialize and have fun, and when things went awry with the pasta roller, he was extremely professional--let me know what was going on, which was nice, but then turned it into a learning experience. Everyone raved about the lesson part of the evening, and I thought James did a great job of thinking about a good flow (start with wine, then a demo, then eat, then more wine, another demo, eating again, and then dessert).

The star though was the food. The menu James came up with sounded amazing, but the quality of the ingredients he picked--especially the pancetta for the gnocchi, which was the best pancetta I've ever had--and the last minute tweaks he made really turned the food into something special (e.g. the spicy, chunky red sauce was supposed to be with spring veggies, but he found some amazing shrimp and did it with shrimp instead, which we loved). He was also extremely acommodating with people who didn't RSVP that they were vegetarian, but sprung it on us at the last minute.

James was also really fun to interact with in general- he has some great stories, and a really interesting perspective about food.

Here's the menu we ended up with - I will absolutely be eating with James again!

***
Foodies and Pasta with Chef James Simpkins

spring lettuces - sweet onion, cucumber, blanched asparagus, feta, red pepper puree
baked potato gnocchi (gnocchi demo) - creme fraiche, thyme, crispy pancetta, Parmesan
pasta (tagliatelle) w/thick n' spicy red sauce & tiny shrimp (noodle demo)
praline cheesecake - w/salted caramel sauce and candied pecans

mes was a dream to work with - responsive, creative, thorough, flexible, not to mention warm and charming. A fabulous chef and a fabulous guy!

ts (Soy-Ginger Glazed Chicken Wings! Mini Chorizo-Adobo Meatloaf!). Leading up to the event, he kept me updated on all the details, which reassured me the dinner was going to be amazing. Every dish came out heavenly, and James was a fabulous host, explaining each plate as it came out of the kitchen. By the end of the night, every party guest was friends with James and he definitely left with a hug or two. I can't wait to start planning another event with him!

ed an enticing, Parisian themed menu. All the ingredients were incredibly fresh since he visited the farmer's market that morning. From the moment of his arrival at our house to the stacking of the last clean dish in the afternoon, he was not only professional and friendly, but also happy to share his intimate knowledge about cooking with us and our guests (including helpful tips to make our kitchen more chef-friendly!). I would recommend James in a heartbeat. It was a meal we will all remember for a long time. Did I mention the food was delicious too?!

of town the best the Bay had to offer) James immediately suggested a menu inspired by the various SF food trucks that I frequent, on a more than regular basis. After planning three courses on three different trucks, James messaged me less than a week before the event and said he wouldn't feel right with himself if he didn't offer crème brûlée inspired by the crème brûlée truck (as a surprise to my guests).
Upon arriving at my house, James was nothing but professional and fun to chat with. His deep knowledge of food and culinary preparation methods, is almost better and more interesting than the food itself. Almost. All my guests thoroughly enjoyed the excellent food and James's entertaining mid course exposés.
After the meal my kitchen was spotless and all the leftovers were conveniently wrapped and in tupperware for todays lunch! I can't wait to plan another Kitchit dinner soon.

l the particulars, and gives you confidence in the outcome.

With some Kitchit team guidance, I settled upon James Simpkins. Then, James took over. He was a pleasure to work with, offering insightful suggestions on menu and staffing. He is an experienced professional, with tremendous knowledge of his craft. He is also one heck of a nice guy, so I enjoyed all our discussions (including the numerous menu changes from my side) and the time we spent together the day of the event. He certainly did not feel like a stranger in my home, nor did he make himself too comfortable.

Everything James prepared was delicious and well-presented. He also offered a cocktail to start things off, and the "nearly" flourless chocolate cake with salted caramel and orange zest was a terrific close. I would certainly work with James again.

red to not have to deal with at midnight. A small imperfection in an otherwise great evening.

gine bringing together two very different worlds: Sport and Food. However, Chef James made it all happen with a 56 pound pig!

s we were to have him! It was a night filled with laughter, friends, great food, flowing wine and endless memories. The feedback from everyone was what a fantastic idea it was and how thoroughly enjoyable the entire evening was for all! The homemade pasta was a huge hit - both the making of and the final product - and the shortbread was to die for! And - take it from a bit of a type A control freak - handing my kitchen over to James was easy considering how communicative and respectful he was, plus it was left just the way he found it by night's end!

to work with. We look forward to working with him again!