Passing Through

I’ll give you two tries to guess our favorite part of a cocktail party... If you thought the passed bites, then you know us pretty well.

There’s something expected about a bite arriving in the middle of a cocktail party on a passing tray. That’s why, for us, it’s important to turn that expected moment into something your taste buds will actually remember.

It needs to pack an entire meal’s worth of flavor into a single bite (Chef Bob’s specialty) and be good enough that you’re already looking for the tray the second (or third) time it comes around.

But for us, the bite is only half of the equation.

At Pinch, we think just as much about how food moves through a party as we do about how it tastes (literally, this is what we do all day).

The tray is an extension of the passed hors d’oeuvres it holds. Think of them as best friends: different, but designed to complement each other.

Sometimes a new tray begins with a bite we want to serve. Other times, a material, shape, or serving idea comes first and inspires what will eventually be passed on it. Our chefs and design team work together to imagine the situations these trays might find themselves in: How will someone pick up the food? How will the tray move through a crowded room? How will it feel in a server’s hand?

The goal is to make the food and its presentation feel like they were always meant to exist together.

Because passed bites are small, every element has a job to do. Texture, acidity, richness, sweetness, heat, and crunch all have to come together in just one or two bites.

A few recent favorites include:

Beef Sirloin Nigiri
Wasabi-horseradish cream puff and parsley.

Sesame Miso Eggplant

Tamari Quail Egg Ramen Bite

Rutabaga Tempura
Raspberry, crispy rosemary, and orange blossom agave.

Karaage Chicken Wing
Orange marmalade and wasabi-chive Kewpie mayo.

Each one is designed to be complete on its own, while still leaving you wanting another.

Passed service creates its own rhythm. Instead of guests going to the food, the food finds them. One tray appears, disappears into the crowd, and another comes back carrying something completely different.

That movement gives us another opportunity to play with design. A tray can become sculptural, unexpected, playful, or even a conversation starter before anyone has taken their first bite.

Our goal is for you to remember both: the trays you saw and the bites you ate.

Photos by: Kelsy Cherry