A garden party goes wild with custom cocktails, summer cuisine, and fantastic florals
When Katie Skoloff, founder and principal designer at In Site Designs, decided to throw a birthday party for Tao Brody, she had two initial thoughts: she wanted to host a dinner in her garden, and she wanted to take the food, the cocktails, and the decor over the top. A few calls to talented friends and the party details quickly came together. Though rain threatened to derail the garden party plans, the skies cleared and guests were able to mingle under the string lights by the garden fountain.
Read on to find out how signature cocktails, a special menu, and custom florals—plus good friends—collaborated to create an unforgettable summer celebration.
Upscale Garden Party Cocktails and Wine Selections
Vegas Placas, a bartender for more than 15 years, is often found creating drinks at The Loft at Soby’s, Table 301’s private event space. For Skoloff’s party, he worked with Table 301 Chef Nico Abello to ensure his drink matched the flavors and mood of the cuisine. He created Champ de Fraises (“strawberry field” in French), a cocktail that balances sweet and herbal flavors, plus St. Germain foam for a unique texture.
Champ de Fraises
- 1.5 oz Hendricks gin
- 0.5 oz balsamic reduction
- 1 oz strawberry juice
- 0.5 oz lemon juice
- 0.5 basil syrup
- St. Germain foam
*For St. Germain foam, use 4 egg whites, 3 oz St. Germain, 2 oz water, and 2 oz lemon juice. Charge with carbon dioxide (using a small CO2 charger) or shake vigorously.
More with Vegas
Tell us about your background.
I’m from Lithuania, and moved here 24 years ago.
What inspires you as a bartender?
I’ve been around some of the best chefs in the world. For me, making a cocktail is not just putting ingredients together. I like to think about the outcome, like a chef.
What inspired this drink?
I wanted it to be fruit-based. Chef Nico was creating the dinner, and we receive so many strawberries from really local farms. Strawberry, balsamic reduction, and basil are ingredients that go so well together. This is an updated version of an award-winning cocktail from 2023.
Tell us about St. Germain and why you used it.
It’s a liquor from France, and it uses elderflower. It offers amazing aromas on the foam, and that’s what you smell first.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
I’m all about enjoying beverage culture. I like to educate guests on where the ingredients are coming from, and what is the purpose of an aperitivo, or a digestivo; or the story behind a new tequila.
What’s the key to a good cocktail?
Everything has to be balanced. Balancing between citrus and syrup, balancing the mouthfeel. I never like an overly sweet cocktail.
Wine and Champagne
Skoloff served a collaboration wine by Ed Buffington, co-owner of The Community Tap, and Limited Addition Wines. The dolcetto/arneis blend is a light-bodied red made from grapes grown at the Aurora Vineyard, a Ponzi family property in Oregon.
She also served a Champagne from the Pertois Moriset family and a grenache by Anne Pichon procured through Mission Grape, a Greenville wine distributor.
Garden Party Decor and Menu
The Flowers
Katelyn Pinner Studio, a floral and event styling company based in Travelers Rest, provided vivid arrangements for the party, adding to the feel of summer abundance with a jewel-toned color palette.
The team used rosemary and wire vine to create rings surrounding the terrarium appetizer. They also created a showstopping arrangement along the table for twelve, using locally grown flowers including peonies, Dara (a Queen Anne’s Lace variant), snapdragon, Black Baccara rose, Black Knight Scabiosa, Cupcake roses, freesia, and Smokebush.
The Food
Nico Abello of Table 301 is a classically trained French chef with a Michelin star and a long history in the hospitality industry. When Skoloff reached out to him about providing cuisine for a garden-themed birthday party, he came up with an elegant menu that appeals to the eyes as well as the taste buds.
The menu
- Avocado
- Tomato
- Pesto
- Olive
- Cod
- Lemon Verbena
- Asparagus
- Rabbit
- Artichoke
- Eggplant
- Chocolate
- Raspberry
- Tarragon
To fit the garden theme, Abello and Skoloff agreed that the tall glassware they had selected provided the perfect opportunity to create a layered terrarium-style appetizer. “I like to see layers,” Abello says. “We thought the appetizer in the glass, with a floral composition around it, would be very summery, and I just started to build it in my head.”
Avocado / Tomato/ Pesto/ Olive
Serves 6
Avocado Mousse
- 2 Avocado ripe, peeled and cut in big chunks
- ¼ of Greek Yogurt
- 2 Limes juiced
- 1 ½ Tablespoon of cider vinegar
- 1 ½ Tablespoon of Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
In a blender, put everything together and mix it. Your avocado mousse needs to be very smooth.
Combine avocados, yogurt, lime juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender. Pulse together until you get a smooth and still little bit thick but whipped avocado mousse.
Tomato Confit
- 1 pound of beautiful cherry tomato
- ½ cup of great quality olive oil
- 1 ounce of Garlic cloves chopped
- Few fresh thyme spring
- ¼ cup of sugar
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- In a bowl, combine the tomato cut in half, olive oil, garlic, thyme, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Mix everything together and taste your tomato to see if more salt, pepper or sugar is needed.
- In a medium skillet, place your mix over medium high heat.
- Once the mix start to get hot, the tomato start to blister, reduce to low heat and let simmer for about an hour. Let stir from time to time. When the tomatoes are falling apart and everything looks like a chunky marmalade, remove it from the heat, and let it cool down on a tray. Remove the thyme.
- On a cutting board, chop everything, taste and place your mix in a container in your fridge.
Pesto
- 1 Very large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed, and dried
- 1 ounce of garlic peeled
- 1 small handful of almonds with skin
- ¾ cup of parmesan freshly grated
- ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
- Salt to taste
Combine everything in a blender and mix it together. After a small minute you should obtain a nice paste looking pesto, not too chunky and not runny. Everything should be bind together.
Taste it an add salt if needed.
Olives
2 Cups of Kalamata Olives, strained and rinsed.
Place your kalamata olives in a dehydrator, for 24 hours at 145 F. If not dehydrator, you can absolutely use your oven in low temp. Check on it regularly. You want them to be dry before to be place in a food processor. Blend it. You should get a nice crumbly texture.
Burrata
2 balls of burrata cheese
Strained it and then chopped it with a knife.
Seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Plating
In a glass, place your different elements.
There is no order necessary, you can follow as the picture or just do what makes sense to you.
Topped the final element with some fried red onion crumbs, some toasted breadcrumbs, some flowers, or micro herbs.
You can also serve your dish with toasted Sourdough bread.
