If the idea of a personal chef makes you weak in the knees with envy but the imagined cost of such a luxury sends your checkbook running for cover, there’s a new chef on the scene that is ready to assure people that her services won’t break the bank and her dishes are delish.
Certified Personal Chef Nita Roberts, a recent graduate of the California Culinary Academy Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco, can make your mouth water with tasty dishes and decadent desserts for a reasonable price.
“The dream to become a personal chef started before high school,” Roberts shared. “I used to help my mom in the kitchen and I’ve loved baking my whole life. I’m always inventing something new to make. This is a culmination of a life-long dream.”
Although Roberts specializes in patisserie and baking, she can whip up just about anything your palate desires from simple home-cooked comfort foods like baked macaroni and cheese (with plenty of cheese) to fancy French dishes with homemade sourdough flatbread; she can even pair the meal with an appropriate wine aimed at bringing out the dish’s varied flavors.
So basically, Roberts brings the restaurant experience — without having to leave your home — to you.
And while you’re enjoying a wonderful meal from the comfort of your dining room without the fuss and bother of having to put it together yourself, she leaves your kitchen nice and tidy with the leftovers packaged neatly.
“I clean as I go because I can’t stand a dirty kitchen,” she said.
She even does the shopping beforehand so you don’t even have to step foot in the grocery store if you don’t want to.
“Some people are so busy but they’d like a home-cooked meal,” Roberts said. “Life is hectic but I can help make a little part of their lives easier.”
Got an anniversary but don’t want to deal with traffic, reservations, or noisy restaurant chatter? Roberts will come to your home, set a romantic table for two for a reasonable price, and then leave you to your evening.
Roberts can even do meal planning.
“Whatever you need, the chef will do,” Roberts said. “I can do a week’s worth of meals and then freeze and date them for the client. This is really good for new moms who are busy with a newborn.”
Roberts can also design meals that fit lifestyles from Zone to diabetic-friendly fare and she can handle party sizes up to 200 people.
But where Roberts really shines is with her dark chocolate creations and her cakes.
“For some reason chocolate really connected with me. I only use dark chocolate, not milk chocolate. If you get a cake from me, you get real buttercream and you can taste the difference,” she said.
Recently, Roberts created a chocolate boot for demonstration at the Oakdale Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Taste of Oakdale event. The boot was given to the Most Wanted Winery for display.
For fun, Roberts handed out samples of her artisan hand-dipped chocolates at the Oakdale Farmer’s Market and the reactions were complimentary.
“People loved them,” Roberts said, smiling. Future plans include opening a web-based bakery with an eventual storefront as sales allow. “I’m going to call it That Chocolate Shop because that’s what people say when they’re trying to remember the name of something.”
For more information on how to contact certified personal chef Nita Roberts, call 815-4038.
