Metro Detroit’s restaurants aren’t the only places around to experience an elevated dinner prepared by a professional chef. In fact, the local catering world is full of high-caliber culinarians who can bring incredible fine-dining experiences to your wedding, a corporate event, or even the comfort of your home, making taste memories that linger long past dessert.
Here are three local catering options sure to impress your guests.
Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails
The legendary partnership between restaurateur Sandy Levine and chef Doug Hewitt (Freya, Dragonfly, Dirty Shake) started in 2015 with Midtown Detroit’s Chartreuse, an acclaimed eatery known for seasonal dishes in a shared-plates format. Hewitt’s innovative dishes are formed at the intersection of personal preferences, seasonality, and venue capabilities. Think spring basil ricotta agnolotti with guanciale, pickled ramps, and hazelnuts, or a wintery short rib cassoulet with corn bread, horseradish, rémoulade, pickled beets, and charred fennel.
As for catering, the chefs accommodate off-site events for eight to 250 guests. Another option for parties of up to 80 is to rent out the whole restaurant. Some may find this option more economical, as it avoids expensive equipment rentals.
Pricing varies for private rentals, and meal formats include multicourse plated dinners, strolling dinners with hors d’oeuvres and food stations, or progressive tasting menus.
Semiprivate rentals for groups of up to 20 offer a three- or four-course dinner option. Pricing is determined by day of the week and final menu selection. Starting prices for semiprivate dinners are $75 per person for three courses or $85 for four, before beverages, tax, or gratuity.
Reva Constantine Events
Reva Constantine-Smith is known for her deeply flavorful and creative reimagined old-school favorites that resonate with everyone. She uses everyday playful props like small metal pails to hold crudités or marble and gold shelving to feature cups of velvety tomato soup with grilled cheese dunkers, french-fry bars with endless dips, and takeout boxes of tempura cauliflower with sticky rice, pickled vegetables, and Korean barbecue glaze.
Her catering business, Reva Constantine Events, is the only Black-owned company on Rock Events’ preferred caterer list (which is very short). Other clients of hers include the Great Lakes Culinary Center, where she is the exclusive caterer, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
The Schoolcraft College grad founded the business in 2019, with husband and partner Elijah Smith, after holding executive chef positions at Villa Maria in West Bloomfield, Gravity Bar & Grill in Milford, and Joe’s Produce Gourmet Market in Livonia.
Constantine-Smith designs menus around your palate with a personal goal of exceeding your expectations. Her business can handle affairs of up to 600 guests.
Packages for plated, buffet, and family-style service range from $38 to $150 per person. Full-service events including servers, bartenders, and tableware are available.
Abode Fine Dining
Abode Fine Dining aims to bring a dining experience on par with Michelin standards to you. The company is best known for customized five-course tasting menus, which include an amuse-bouche and bread and coffee service. Chefs Mike Eckles and Marcus D’Onofrio source the highest-quality ingredients available, creating delicacies like homemade cavatelli with Maine lobster, Calabrian chile, and Parmesan, and Kaluga caviar with Hokkaido scallop, pickled ramp, chervil, and crème fraîche. Family-style platters include a lemon-saffron glazed king salmon, beef tenderloin with demi-glace, seasonal vegetables, and herb-roasted potatoes.
Eckles and D’Onofrio, both Michigan natives, met in the kitchen of Detroit’s acclaimed Coach Insignia. Eckles is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and D’Onofrio an alum of the former Art Institute of Michigan in Novi.
Working in high-end kitchens, they trained at notable restaurants like the Michelin-starred Yugen in Chicago, Birmingham’s Forest, and Selden Standard in Detroit. Eckles was also a top finalist on the 2023 Netflix cooking competition Pressure Cooker.
During the pandemic in 2020, Eckles started doing private in-home dinners, and D’Onofrio joined the business as a partner after the two worked several events together. Based on popular demand, it would later evolve into a catering service, earning a contract as the exclusive caterer for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Pricing is based on the number of guests and courses, making larger groups more affordable. Five-course tastings range from $175 to $300 per person, prix fixe dinners between $125 and $250 per person, and family-style meals from $50 to $150 per person. Bookings include all equipment, tableware, and staff.
This story originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on March 10.
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