Table by Elena, private dinners in Malibu
★★★★★ 5.0 · 52 Google reviewsFood safety certifiedInsuredAllergy friendlyGroceries included
Los Angeles · Malibu · Pasadena
A restaurant night, at your table.
Chef Elena writes the menu with you, shops the morning of, cooks in your kitchen and serves every course. You stay with your guests. The kitchen is cleaner when she leaves than when she came.
See a menu from last month
Dinners, meals, classes
Three ways to have Elena cook for you.
Groceries, service and the clean-up are in every price. You only open the wine.
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Private dinnersFrom $120 a guest
Dinner, cooked and served at your table
Four to seven courses for six to fourteen guests, written for you and cooked in your kitchen. Elena serves every course, pours if you like, and leaves the kitchen spotless.
- Four courses · $120 a guest
- Six courses · $145 a guest
- Seven-course tasting · $165 a guest
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Weekly mealsFrom $380 a week
The week’s dinners, in your fridge by Monday night
Five dinners planned around your family, the allergies and the kid who won’t eat anything green. Cooked in your kitchen on Monday, with reheating notes on each lid.
- Five dinners for two · $380 a week
- Five dinners for four · $560 a week
- Groceries included, menu by Friday
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Pasta classes$95 a guest
Three hours, flour everywhere, dinner at the end
Sunday afternoons in your kitchen for six to twelve. Egg dough by hand, tagliatelle and tortellini, two sauces, and you sit down to eat what you made.
- Six to twelve guests
- Sundays, 2 to 5 PM
- Aprons and pasta boards brought
The evening
How a dinner goes.
- Two weeks beforeThe call
Twenty minutes on the phone: the guests, the allergies, the table, the one dish your husband ordered in Rome in 2009. The menu is in your inbox two days later.
- The morning ofThe market
Elena shops that morning at the farmers’ markets in Santa Monica or Pasadena, and the fish from a boat she has bought from for nine years.
- 3:00 PMIn your kitchen
She arrives with her own knives, pans and plates if you need them. You won’t hear much from the kitchen.
- 6:30 PMYour guests arrive
Something small with the first drink, passed while people find each other on the terrace.
- 7:15 PMDinner
Each course served and told in a sentence. Elena stays out of the conversation unless you pull her in.
- 10:30 PMGone
Dishes washed, counters wiped, leftovers in your fridge with a note. You’d never know.
Recent tables
From the last few weekends.
Photographed by hosts and guests, with their OK.
Dinner for twelve · Pasadena
Anniversary dinner · Malibu
Pasta class · Silver Lake
Hamachi, blood orange · Malibu
Backyard dinner · Pasadena
Birthday brunch · Santa Monica
Olive oil cake · Beverly Hills
Tagliatelle, by hand · Silver Lake
The chef
Hi, I’m Elena.
My grandmother made pasta every Sunday in a kitchen in Glendale the size of a closet, and I was the one allowed to turn the crank. Her rule was that you don’t serve anything you wouldn’t argue about at the table.
I cooked on the line in restaurant kitchens in Venice and Pasadena for nine years, and spent one winter in Bologna rolling sfoglia for a woman who never once said I was doing it right. In 2015 a regular asked if I’d cook her fiftieth birthday at home. Twelve guests, a terrace in Malibu, a borrowed oven. Table by Elena started the next morning.
I still shop the morning of, still bring my own knives, and I still cook every dinner myself. If you can taste the market in it, I’ve done my job.
Elena
- Since 2015cooking in LA homes
- 700+dinners served
- Certifiedfood safety manager, LA County
Reviews
5.0 from 52 hosts on Google.
“Our guests are still talking about the duck.”
Rachel M.Dinner for eight, Malibu“Every course was a surprise. We’re booking again for our anniversary.”
Sam K.Dinner for two, Santa Monica“A nut allergy, a vegan teenager and my father-in-law. Nobody could tell whose plate was different.”
Priya N.Dinner for ten, Pasadena“Weekly meals for the five of us. My Sunday nights are mine again.”
Dana L.Weekly meals, Brentwood
Where
From Malibu to Pasadena.
Terraces in Malibu, Craftsman dining rooms in Pasadena, a rented house in Silver Lake for a fortieth. No travel fee anywhere on the map.
- Malibu
- Santa Monica
- Beverly Hills
- Los Angeles
- Silver Lake
- Pasadena
Journal
Notes from the kitchen.
Recipes, the market and what Elena has learned from 700 dinners.
- HostingHow to plan a dinner party menu that runs itself
- The marketWhat’s good at the Santa Monica market in November
- PastaEgg dough by hand: the only recipe you need
Questions
Before you book.
What does the price include?
Everything for the dinner: the menu, the groceries, cooking, serving every course and the clean-up. Wine isn’t included; Elena is glad to suggest bottles for each course, or bring a pairing for $55 a guest.
How many guests can you cook for?
Six to fourteen at a seated dinner. Twelve and up, a second cook comes with Elena at no extra cost. For two, there’s a dinner-for-two tasting at $420 for the evening.
How does the $250 deposit work?
It holds your date and comes off the final bill. Move the date once, free, up to two weeks before. The rest is paid the day after the dinner.
Can you cook around allergies?
Yes, always, and nobody at the table should be able to tell. Celiac, nut allergies, vegan, kosher-style, low-sodium. Tell her on the call and it’s written into every course.
Do I need anything in my kitchen?
An oven, a stove and a clean counter. Elena brings her knives, pans and anything else the menu needs, and plates and glassware for up to fourteen if you’d rather not use yours.
Do you travel outside Los Angeles?
From Malibu to Pasadena and the South Bay there’s no travel fee. Ojai, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs are a quote, usually a night’s stay and mileage.
Plan your evening
Pick the night. $250 holds it.
Saturdays from October to December go two months ahead. Choose yours, tell Elena how many are coming, and she texts you within the day to start on the menu.
Dinners from $120 a guest · weekly meals from $380 · pasta classes $95 a guest
- 1Service
- 2Date
- 3Details
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