Albert Pit BBQ

Graduation Party Catering 2012–Year of the Chalkboard

albertpitbbq — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:59:18 +0000

Moms, if you have a child graduating this year and you are as taken with the new chalkboard paint as I am, I envy you. For you could have a chalkboard themed graduation party. I was at the Poudre School District Technology Center in north Fort Collins this past week where they do the training for the new Smart Board technology. It turns out not one of my kids has a chalk board in their elementary school classrooms. My kids will grow up not knowing what a chalk board is (which, by the way, seems to me like a gaping hole in our educational system). They’ll imagine the only thing one can do with chalk is drag it behind the wagon to make really long lines in the street.

Ladies, I’m telling you. If your beloved graduate remembers chalk boards you will be the last of the long line of moms who know that chalkboards make a great graduation theme Just look at what you can have that I never will: a chalkboard table runner, chalkboard invitations, chalkboard football field, and a chalkboard menu outlining the great bbq meal you’ve planned.

Speaking of BBQ, you should know that we typically “sell-out” during graduation weekends and so you should place your order now. We can prepare just the meat or the entire menu. Prices range from $2.50 per guest to $15.00 per guest. See our BBQ menu here.

Graduation Party–The Lobo Way

albertpitbbq — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:19:55 +0000

The Senior Class at Rocky Mountain High School has chosen our Honest-to-Goodness Real Barbecue for their senior picnic. It will be our pleasure to be led in our old age by kids with enough good sense to choose slow cooked BBQ over hot dogs (and still get their administrators to serve and wait on them that day.) See the world is in good hands!

HOWL!!!

Baby Shower Barbecue a Baby-Q Bash

albertpitbbq — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:16:39 +0000

I like everything about this baby shower bbq invitation I found on etsy.com here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/81579709/baby-barbeque-shower-invitations-baby-q?ref=sr_gallery_5&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=retro+baby+shower&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=US&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Funeral Food Delivered After Funeral Service

albertpitbbq — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:46:49 +0000

A gathering with food, family and friends after a funeral is a way to continue the celebration for the life of your loved one and serves as a transition time from the funeral and commemoration to everyday life. We see this meal as an opportunity to show your hospitality, spend time with family and friends, and honor your loved one.

Funeral Food Delivered

Albert Pit Barbecue Catering in Fort Collins can help during this stressful and sad time. Our experienced funeral catering professionals take care of all the details and work so that you can focus on caring for you and your loved ones.

We can suggest a menu and level of service that suits your situation, budget, and respects your privacy. We will be as visible or as low profile as you prefer.

Funeral Food Menu

During this difficult time when you have a lot to do in a short period of time, it may be easiest to let us come up with a menu for your group. We have a lot of experience and can craft a menu that fits your budget and the style of service you are planning. Simply call Barbara at 970-213-7427 and she’ll make some suggestions. You can see our catering menus here. Prices run from $10.00 to $25.00 per guest.

Here are some menu ides that other families have included in their funeral meals. They are easy to serve and are suitable for sit-down or stand up memorial receptions at a residence, funeral home or church:

Breakfast Pastry and Coffee Service before the funeral
Deli Trays of Hickory Smoked Turkey and Ham
Hot Turkey or Ham Buffet
Barbecue Sandwich Buffet
Green Salad
Barbecued Beans
Vegetable Tray
Fruit Tray
Meat & Cheese Tray
Brownie Tray
Peach Cobbler
Cookies
Iced Tea, Lemonade, Coffee and Hot Tea
Water Bottles

Funeral Meal Checklist

Here are some other details we can take care of for you to be sure that you have everything you need to make a comfortable meal.

Punch Bowls
Linens
Tables (for dining, meal serving, and memorabilia tables)
Chairs
China and flatware
Projection equipment and screens
Coffee pots
Chafing dishes

Funeral Services

We have several different ways to help take care of you and your guests.

Drop-off Service: We can prepare and deliver your meal and then let you provide your own serving. We have disposable/recyclable chafing dishes for you to use to keep the food hot/cold.

No Work Catering Service: (recommended for groups of 50 or more guests) Larger groups need a little more tending, so our professional catering staff can come and set up a simple, but elegant, buffet for you and your guests and then stay during the meal to add more food to the buffet, keep it neat and tidy, and then clean up afterwards. They package any leftovers for you. Our staff can be as visible or as invisible as you want.

Set Up Service: If you are renting tables, chairs and linens, you’ll need someone to set up those items in your space before your friends and family arrive. We are glad to come early to take care of this detail.

Coffee & Beverage Service: May we deliver some coffee and pastries for your family to enjoy before the service?

A Few More Details

Most families will choose a menu package for either 50 or 100 guests. Our minimum is 20 guests. If you’d like the leftovers you are welcome to them.

Full-payment is required in advance and can be made by credit card.

We are pleased to prepare food for funerals and memorial services in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming including:

Fort Collins
Loveland
Windsor
Wellington
Greeley
Estes Park
Longmont
Cheyenne
and nearby areas.

We really do want to help, so please call Barbara at 970-213-7427. We’ve done this lots of times and know just what you’ll need for a nice meal for your friends and family.

Funeral Food I’d Cater to My Own Funeral

albertpitbbq — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:09:05 +0000

In my oven right now is the most decadent Oatmeal Cake; a recipe given to me by my friend Louise. Louise’s Oatmeal Cake is so awful for your body that if I die prematurely, I am sure this cake will be part of the reason. And I don’t care. In fact for my funeral, I’d love for you to make Louise’s Oatmeal Cake and bring it to serve to my grieving family. Louise’s Oatmeal Cake is comfort food.

In fact, the funeral food I’d choose is all comfort food:

Funeral Food I’d Cater to My Own Funeral

Hand Pulled Barbecue Pork

Spare Ribs

Spicy Sliced Sausage

Gingerbread Spiced, Spiral Cut Ham

Coleslaw

Barbecue Beans

Mashed Potato and Gravy

Jello Salad (with Cool Whip, of course)

Louise’s Oatmeal Cake

Peach Iced Tea

I am sure that this menu would not make me feel any better (seeing that this is my funeral food), but I can’t help to think that it would make my family feel better. These are the kinds of foods that satisfy your taste buds and release all that feel-good serotonin in your brain.

I’ve been making meals for people all my life. How lovely to think I can choose a meal to serve them after my death. Heck, why wait! The timer just beeped and my cake is done. Family, come eat!

Wedding Reception Catering–Vintage Style

albertpitbbq — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:02:22 +0000

In this world, we still get to marry for love. I can’t imaging a more lovely way then to celebrate your wedding on Valentine’s Day weekend, rent a hall, invite your friends and your kids’ friends, hire a band–with a fiddle, then call your caterer and say your main concern is that people go home and say that they had plenty of great food to eat. OK, that is already a great celebration but when the bride and groom love vintage you have an over-the-top memorable wedding.

I’d greet the wedding guests with a modern take on a punch bowl. The mason jars match the bride’s centerpieces and look fun with striped paper straws.

Of course, the bride and groom would need monogrammed mason jars.

To soften the room a bit and bring in a bit of vintage romance, I think doilies would do the trick, perhaps a bunting behind the appetizer tables, definitely on the appetizer trays, perhaps in a paper cone.

Then I’d add something with holding power for hungry kids…but in a cute heart shape…it’s peanut butter and jelly!

Vintage Wedding Menu Appetizers

Signature Pink Punch (both spiked and virgin)

Winter Crudites

Kettle Potato Chips served in Doily Cones

Cheese, Crackers and Grapes on Silver, Doily Lined Trays

Spicy Sausage served with Heart Topped Bamboo Picks

PB&J on Heart Shaped Bread

I can see guests mingling around the dance hall with their paper straw-ed mason jars nibbling on chips from Paper Doily Cones…ready for the main course. Since this bride and groom want to be sure all their guests are really full and happy, I’d pull out the caterer’s best meal…barbecue. Kids and adults both love barbecue. You can offer a lot of variety so that everyone finds several things that they like. Best of all, it makes for a lovely full plate of food that is full of the home cooking love that mom made.

I do hope the bride has some family silver we could use to add this cute little detail to the table…

So that the mason jar theme is carried throughout the wedding, I think this would be awfully cute on the wedding buffet table, too.

Vintage Wedding Menu BBQ Dinner

Pulled Pork

BBQ Chicken

Hickory Smoked Ribs

Barbecue Beans, Potato Salad, Coleslaw

Now, after appetizers and dinner, we get to the best part of a Vintage Wedding on Valentine’s Day Weekend…Vintage Valentine’s! Of course, you could add these special touches anyway, but they are so kid friendly I think they especially go on the table that every kid noticed the minute she walked in…the dessert table.

As the caterer, I love to add heights to a table and I think the pennent (made from mason jar lids–see how it all ties together) would be smashing. Then underneath, this family wedding will have just what all the kids want–candy.

This bride wants cupcakes and there are some beautiful choices:

And more choices with the decorations. Would you choose a sweet lace and vintage Valentine’s Day postcard theme or a table that draped in crepe paper?

I think this is a great space in the wedding to really include the couple’s children. How about this cute wreath? What about putting the kids to work making nut cups (so vintage!) for all the guests? I think it would be fun to set up a valentine making and mailing station to keep little hands busy during the evening. I bet many of the adults would hand craft a love note, too! Weddings are still about love!

Then, for a late night treat bring out these cookies with milk shooters.

Vintage Wedding Menu Dessert Extravaganza

Old-fashioned Valentine’s Candy

Cupcakes–definitely chocolate

Late night Cookies with Milk Shooters

A wedding celebration built on old-fashioned things…love, commitment, family. Vintage all the way.

Ellis Ranch in Loveland Wedding Show Feels Like Date Night

albertpitbbq — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:13:34 +0000

This wedding show at Ellis Ranch in Loveland is open to all brides and grooms (and quinceaneras, anniversary, and other special event hosts.) This is a fun way to see Ellis Ranch and meet their hand-picked wedding vendors. It is also a great time to taste some of our barbeque. And, unlike other bridal shows, I think this one feels more like a party so your groom will have a good time, too! The other thing that I like is that there are lots of vendors (around 40) but not as many brides as at some shows. That is great for couples that really want to make some decisions and have lots of questions as you don’t feel rushed or pressured. We think some of the finest vendors in the industry are at this show.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

6:00 -9:00 p.m.

Ellis Ranch Event Center

(Ellis Ranch’s beautiful Carriage House will be open for tours, too.)

Loveland,CO

Tell them you saw it here when you RSVP to the fine folks at Ellis Ranch by emailing eranch@verinet.com

We’ll have barbeque samples that night along with lots of other goodies.

You’ll notice that our barbeque catering company is on the preferred vendors list at Ellis Ranch. We cater barbeque a lot to both the Event Center and the Carriage House. One of our favorite venues in fact.

I’m excited already just thinking about this bridal show at Ellis in Loveland!

Halloween Ribs

albertpitbbq — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:59:43 +0000

When we eat ribs at our house we eat a lot of them. In fact, we love ribs so much that we start to run out of places on our place to collect all the spent bones. So our solution is simple. At the start of a rib meal, we place an empty plate on the table (we, of course, have a vintage BBQ plate) that serves as the place for people to discard the empty rib bones. We call this place the “bone yard.” So you see, ribs and boneyards are a natural Halloween accessory. And to celebrate that fact we are offering a great deal on barbecued ribs pre-ordered for Halloween. You can pick them up in advance and we’ll have them ready for you to warm in your oven on Halloween.

Since Halloween is on Monday, you can pick them up by 6:00 on Monday or on Saturday morning. We’ll be smoking all week so have your order in by Friday before Halloween.

All of our ribs are pork and are massaged with a blend of our own secret spices and herbs, then hickory-smoked until they just have the slightest bit of tooth as you slide them off the bone.,

Rib-Tickling Halloween Rib Special

Baby Back Rib Rack $20.00 (regularly $24.00)more tender, but smaller, than a spare rib

St. Louis Cut Spare Ribs $17.00 (regularly $21.00) uniformly cut so that no one “gets the short end of the rack”, great flavor, the preferred rib at the Albert home

Slaw $7.00 quart

Bread Puddin’ $10.00 (just for adults–since the kids hate sharing their loot) serves up to 8

Rain Reminds Me of Mashed Potatoes

albertpitbbq — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:20:06 +0000

The short afternoon rain showers we had this week reminds me of my first summer in Fort Collins in 2002. I’d just graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln (or as it is called in Nebraska “THE University”–no need for any further clarification since when you say University in Nebraska every knows you mean UNL.) I was engaged to Korey (who cooked all the meat for our carryout night) but he wouldn’t move to Colorado until the week before we were married in the fall. It rained every afternoon. I was lonely. I couldn’t believe how much it cost to live here and I was broke. My parrot died. It was so cold that May and I didn’t have heat in my apartment. I read Gone with the Wind every night after work (under every blanket I owned and in two pairs of sweats) and then went to bed about 8:00. It was sad.

One bright spot? One of our local greasy spoons made great mashed potatoes and gravy. The rest of the food was average, but I tell you what, those mashed potatoes and gravy got me through that lonely period. Later, Korey and I ate those same mashed potatoes from Styrofoam boxes on New Year’s Eve in 2004 in the framed house that would become our first home.

When the rains start every afternoon I am always taken back to my first summer in Fort Collins. I am thankful that things got much better from there.

We don’t make mashed potatoes and gravy for our First Friday Carryout Nights, but I wonder if there is someone out there who has their spirit lifted by something we make or remembers eating our barbecue at a very meaningful time or place. I do hope so.

Customer Appreciation Luncheons

albertpitbbq — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:54:11 +0000

Everyone loves free food and so sending lunch to your best clients is an easy and welcome way to say thanks. But, while you are at it, why not let us take the extra step to truly make your customer appreciation luncheon memorable.

I started thinking about this because we just had our car fixed at Community Auto Center (where they do a great job and are quite professional) and their office manager, Stacia asked about sending some lunches to clients.

First, ordering a great barbecue menu is a must do. Check out our Albert Pit Barbecue Catering Menu. We have packages to meet every price range and meal needs.

Second, think of ways to represent your company well. When our client, Joe, wanted to take food to a training meeting, he advertised it as a coffee, then we met him in the parking lot with a full breakfast. He marched into the meeting with the breakfast on his shoulder. He looked like a hero!

You don’t have to attend the luncheon to make it a success, but you certainly want the client to know the lunch came from you. Think of ways we could incorporate your logo into the event. Do you already have some imprinted napkins from a past event that we could use? Do you have some bags with your logo we could use to pack the brown bag lunches? Could the sodas be slipped into your coffee mugs?

Wouldn’t it be neat that if Stacia was able to provide us with some car parts, bolts, etc. that would fit inside a clear vase topped with flowers. We’d make up the bouquet and deliver the flowers along with the lunch. Most likely, those flowers–with the unique vase filler and the Community Automotive Center card attached–would sit on the client’s front desk all week. Great for advertising. Great for reminding the client of your gratefulness.

For an event like Stacia’s, I’d recommend some black and white cupcake wrappers. Who doesn’t love homemade cupcakes after barbecue! We could add sprinkles in her corporate colors or add some cupcake picks that have the corporate logo or the words Thank You. Add a personal note to slip on top of the cupcake box, and you’ve added a personal touch to the event.

Your client will be so happy to receive a free lunch from Albert Pit Barbecue. Adding a little extra touch like flowers, cupcakes, and personal notes will just be the ~~icing on the cake~~ sauce on the brisket!