Chef at Large Catering

03/11/2025

Join me at my April 2nd Frost to Flower Dinner at Seven Acres where I will be showcasing the elements of nature; exploring how Smoke, Fire, Water, Ice and Earth shape the foods around us and the dishes we create as chefs. Featurings lots of foraged goods, exciting local crops and highlighting the responsible, sustainable inclusions of animal products, this dinner will be like no other menu you’ve tried before! 

Part of a two-part “Hunt and Gather” series with my wife Lauren Montelbano of The Vibrant Veg, we will also look at how different views on food and ethics can affect the way we look to our environments for inspiration in the food we bring to our table. Join us the following evening for the “Gather” portion and hear Lauren's story and how we navigate being a house divided, a Hunter and a Gatherer! Tickets can be found at Seven Acres website and also the link in my bio.

09/13/2024

Come see us tonight for some new menu items, good music and lots of flavor!

Stop by the sunny Garver Patio today to enjoy food from the following vendors:
☀️ 🌺 🚛 🍗 🌮 🍛








Trucks 5pm - 8pm
starts at 6pm 🎶

08/30/2024

Happy Friday! Stop by the Garver Patio today to enjoy food from the following vendors:
☀️ 🚛 🍗🍦🌮

The Roost
REAP Food Group
The Walking Jerk
Chef at Large Catering
Frios Gourmet Pops - Madison
Jolly Frog

Trucks 5pm - 8pm
Les Cordes en Blue starts at 6pm 🎶

08/30/2024

Come see us for dinner and enjoy some live music!

Happy Friday! Stop by the Garver Patio today to enjoy food from the following vendors:
☀️ 🚛 🍗🍦🌮

The Roost
REAP Food Group
The Walking Jerk
Chef at Large Catering
Frios Gourmet Pops - Madison
Jolly Frog

Trucks 5pm - 8pm
Les Cordes en Blue starts at 6pm 🎶

01/26/2024

These beauties are fresh off the block from

I have spent years scouting trees, checking back weeks for on end, hiking for countless hours to find these out in the woods. When blessed with a nice flush of them, the intensive cleaning begins to remove dirt, bugs and leaves from them.

Now all I have to do is drive 5 minutes down the road from our kitchen to have access to these stunning, delicious and hearty mushrooms. And they are clean and completely ready to use!

Go check them out at the Vitruvian farm store and at my upcoming dinner with

01/24/2024

I'm excited to be collaborating with The Deliciouser and using their spice blends to create dishes that really speak to me.

Using quality ingredients to help tell a story through food is one of the reasons I became a chef.

Come see the magic that is created when local produce, chef-crafted spices and a lifetime of culinary experience hit the table together!

The dinner is coming up on January 31st. Buy tickets on Thedeliciouser.com

12/20/2023

The only thing better than a tiramisu is one finished with Barista Sea Salt. Rich, complex and a touch smoky from roasting fresh espresso beans, this finishing salt gave just the right crunch and hit of coffee flavor to crank this dessert to 11!
Come see what else it can do when I crash the kitchen January 31st for a 4 course tasting of all my favorite flavors. More details and tickets available at https://thedeliciouser.com/upcoming-events/kylejulius. Hope to see you there!

07/15/2022

Mmmm…pozole.
I live for a good rich broth, plus some tasty wood ash hominy to round it all out

06/23/2022

Welcome to the world Quinn! From baby shower to wedding to celebration of life, we are always happy to be a part of someone’s special day. Like it or not life events bring us all together for celebration. Let us come take care of your next gathering and make it truly memorable. Thanks to this wonderful family for making us part of their day!

06/06/2022

Oyster mushrooms are here! Every year as a forager, we all look forward to the first mushrooms of the year, the darling of the forest, the morel mushroom. Hours and hours are spent hopping from one spot to the next, painstakingly searching for little gems in the undergrowth, desperately hoping to find more than one, if that. I spend countless hours each season in the hopes of finding that perfect flush, where the morels just seem to be everywhere, but alas, it hasn’t happened yet.

Then, about 2-3 weeks into morel season, a new yet familiar color begins to appear everywhere! The product of escaped spores from cultivated mushrooms, the woods of southern Wisconsin begin to turn yellow with flush after flush of beautiful, bright and tasty treats. Pleurotus citrinopileatus, or Golden Oyster Mushrooms makes their appearance, and for the most part my cares for morels plummet into almost nothing.

When these beauties come around, instead of spending hours staring at the ground, a casual walk in the right place can net you pounds and pounds. Better even still, the bright pop of yellow against the springs first vegetation is like a homing beacon, I can even often spot them driving full speed down the highway.

But with good comes the bad, and often I am left with 20 # of mushrooms to clean a day, sometimes for days on end as I check different spots following rains and warm spells.

I like mushrooms. But not that much, and I wouldn’t recommend eating your weight in them, regardless of how nice looking and delicious they are. Instead, I like to break them into small clusters as I clean them, and give them a light spray of avocado oil and salt, and fire up the grill. Cooking the mushrooms help to break down the cells and release moisture, and allows them to be frozen for later use without substantial change in quality.

I like to mark them lightly on a very hot grill and then flip them and roast them for a few minutes, then cool them and bag them for the freezer in zipper portion bags. When I want to add some to a dish, all I have to do is add them to my recipe straight from the freezer!

What are some of your favorite ways to prepare them?

04/26/2022

Did you know I take groups out to the woods and teach them to forage their own food and how to cook it? If you or a group are interested DM me for details! The season is just beginning...

04/02/2022

I've now got my website up and running!
Check out my about page to learn more about my journey as a chef and see what I offer. I'm excited for this upcoming event season and to see how I can best be of service to you.
www.chefatlargecatering.com

04/02/2022

01/28/2022

Had a great time at Lindsay Christians book release. A bit delayed on the photos, but what a wonderful event. Congratulations to Lindsay and everyone involved in a wonderful addition to the story of the Madison food scene! If you haven’t had a chance, check out her amazing writing!

11/18/2021

Congrats Chris And Katie!

11/18/2021

11/18/2021

Welcome to Chef at Large, purveyors of fine cuisine. From casual summer picnics to haute cuisine, we specialize in custom dining experiences to elevate your event. Combining local, farm to table sourcing and cooking with a backbone of classical techniques and skills, Chef at Large is here to provide memorable meals, whether in the heart of the city or the middle of nowhere. With a depth of knowledge in off-site catering, even the deepest backcountry event is no challenge for our talented staff.