Chef Craig

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Tucson Services

The Practical Chef specializes in catering and private chef services.

A graduate from the Culinary Institute of America and Certified Executive Chef, Chef Craig brings over 20+ years of experience to the art of cooking. We have no pre-set menus because there are no pre-set tastes. Chef Craig will work with you to plan the perfect even and have ideas for a variety of budgets and tastes.

– Catering –

Whatever the occasion – wedding, birthday, anniversary, holiday party, open house – I’m pleased to fulfill your catering needs. The Practical Chef offer flexible service options and personalized attention to make your special event as special as it should be.

– Corporate –

The Practical Chef can create a variety of dining occasions that make your corporate activities or event something special and memorable. I will design the menu, the preparation, will be onsite and provide the wait staff to fit your individual ideas and needs.

–Vacation Meal Prep–

If you’ve ever traveled and stayed in a private home or condo thinking that you’ll cook rather than eating in restaurants? Consider the option of an in-home chef. With The Practical Chef, you’ll enjoy stay-in convenience without sacrificing great food and special service

Yelp Reviews

  Craig is a true professional that you can trust. He takes pride in his work and will go above and beyond to make sure your event exceeds your expectation and impresses your guests.

I hired Craig and his team to cater my wedding, which took place at a remote venue about 2 hours outside of Tucson. The event was a challenge because not only was it remote, but I was also planning the event from the other side of the country. That meant I didn't have the benefit of meeting with caterers in person, trying food in advance, and undertaking all the traditional steps of finding vendors for a wedding.

I knew I had found the right person to handle the event from the very first call. He was cordial, asked the right questions, clearly communicated his requirements, and was honest. He didn't disappear or go radio silent after I signed the contract and he was communicative all the way through the planning process and leading up to the event.

About two months before the event, he graciously drove the two hours out to the venue to conduct a property walk-through with me when I was in town for the holidays. He refused additional reimbursement for his time or gas money to get out to the venue.

In the last month leading up to the event, I communicated to Craig that a few of my guests had some allergies, and one was vegan. This was a quaint wedding of only about 20 people, so that meant coming up with some original alternatives for those few individuals. Furthermore, I hired him to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner the day of the wedding, which exasperated those challenges. On the day of the event, he had a custom vegan-friendly dish prepared for all three meals and took extraordinary precautions to prevent allergen cross-contamination.

Every single meal was punctual, artfully presented, and delicious. This is not your standard wedding food or copy-and-paste banquet meal. Craig is extraordinarily talented and was continuously present throughout each meal to greet guests and present his dishes. Every guest was impressed and raving about the food.

In addition to the tremendous food, Craig also helped to arrange servers for the event and even helped bring additional tables for the event.

Craig is just a genuinely good person and you cannot do better than hiring him for your next event.

Austin A.
3/12/2022

  Craig is fantastic. Incredibly versatile - we worked together on some fairly high pressure corporate events with some high maintenance, perfectionist and picky executives. He never flinched, not even once, even though I tossed him some wacky curveballs from time to time.
He never even showed that he was stressed - a consummate professional and one of my favorite vendors to work with.

Everything Craig has ever done for me has come out fantastic and gets rave reviews.

Highly, highly recommend.

Heather W.
1/02/2020

  Awesome! We hired Chef Craig and his crew for a birthday dinner party for 10. He and his team are true professionals. Everything was perfect. Food was incredible (we had southwest chicken salad, sea bass, prime filet, asparagus, and quite possibly the best mashed potatoes I've ever had). In addition to the main meal, we had lobster quesadillas, shrimp cocktail and a signature margarita to start with. All the clean up was taken care of. Will definitely be working with him again.

Sarah S.
2/19/2018

  Big praise for The Practical Chef! Our whole family (14) was visiting Tucson over the weekend and my brother hired him for a family party last night and it was fantastic! Every detail was covered from set up to clean up - and the FOOD! WOW...the food was simply perfect...from appetizers to dessert. We're all still talking about it today and will be for a long time to come for sure. We are from Seattle so all arrangements were made over phone/email, and every detail was as expected and better.
Highly recommend Chef Craig and his fabulous sous chef!!

Ann K.
11/14/2016

  Craig catered my daughter's baby shower and he did a spectacular job! All the food was delicious. We had several appetizers passed around and then a great variety of main dishes. In addition, Craig took care of all the cleanup. Altogether, he helped make it a perfect event!

Leasa C.
7/09/2016

  I googled "personal chef tucson" to find someone as a Christmas gift for my Mom and her boyfriend and found Chef Craig. We emailed, got it set up. You never know what you're going to get on the internet... Craig & Sous Chef Mike did the dinner for mom & 6 guests. When she called the next day she couldn't stop gushing. "Unbelievable" she said. The food was better than she's had in the top restaurants in Tucson, Craig and Mike were both friendly and professional at the same time, the whole experience was, as she put it, "just tops". By the end of the night Mom's guests were impressed, happy, and full. So this seems like a "home run" to me. Thanks Craig! You've given Mom something to talk about for years. P.S. I'd say the whole thing was very reasonably priced, especially for what they got.

RV A.
3/07/2016

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Catering Services

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