Restaurant: Picasso Café
Is anyone else still suffering from Royal Wedding fever?? In honor of Harry and Meghan’s nuptials plus my upcoming 8-month wedding anniversary (I think it’s not too obnoxious to count month anniversaries in your first year), I’ve decided to feature the incredible food we had at our wedding. I’ll be starting with our reception on October 6, 2018 and working my way backwards to our actual wedding day on September 23, 2018.
There were only two restaurants on our short list to cater our reception at Plenty Mercantile, and one never answered my emails. You snooze, you lose! Picasso Cafe was really my top pick anyway, and I’m so glad we went with them.
Chef Ryan Parrot sat us down and asked us tons of questions—which we both appreciated, by the way—ranging from our favorite dishes at Picasso to our vision for our reception in general. Picasso is someplace we dine at at least once or twice a month anyway, and they’re renown in the city for their abundance of vegetarian dishes.
The loveliest spread. Photo by Dani G Photography.
I can’t remember if this was our idea or Ryan’s idea, but the star of the show was a build-your-own Frito Pie bar. Frito Pie is one of my favorite dishes ever, so whenever I see a vegetarian version on a menu I order it without fail. Picasso’s pie stands apart because the chili includes chunks of tasty veggies like carrots and onions. Whenever I order it in the restaurant, I always add avocado and an over easy egg, too. For the build-your-own-bar, we had the veggie chili as the base and included serve-yourself toppings like red onions, cheese, sour cream, salsa and ground beef. This was a huge hit!
Ed’s favorite dish from Picasso is their Chicken Avocado Sandwich, which comes with crispy bacon, Swiss cheese and creamy Bourbon honey mustard. Ryan adapted this into a Chicken Avocado Slider; pretty sure all of these got eaten. I personally could guzzle a gallon of the Bourbon honey mustard, but I chose to restrain myself.
Probably the one time you'll see meat featured on this blog. Photo by Dani G Photography.
But when I think of Picasso Cafe, I always think of their dip trio: Spinach, Artichoke & Triple Cream Cheese Dip, Hummus and Kalamata Tapenade. The reception wouldn’t have been complete without it! When you order this in the restaurant it’s traditionally served with Herbed Mozzarella Flatbread, but we added fresh veggies too for a healthy option (and to accommodate our gluten sensitive friends).
Spinach, artichoke & triple cream cheese dip. Photo by Dani G Photography.
We also had Kung Pao Cauliflower (Chef Ryan introduced this to us and we instantly fell in love) and Spaghettini Croquettes. I was so obsessed with Picasso’s spaghettini, but unfortunately it’s no longer on the menu. Apparently it wasn’t a big seller. Shame on you, OKC, for turning your back on one of the best pasta dishes in town!
RIP spaghettini.
Anyway, as I was lamenting the loss of my darling spaghettini, Chef Ryan quickly whipped up the idea of turning the dish into a croquette. Done and done. This essentially ended up being the same as their Risotto Croquettes off their main menu, but I like to think they were extra special just for us (delectable either way).
Croquettes FTW. Photo by Dani G Photography.
But perhaps the least traditional aspect of our reception was that *gasp* it didn’t even feature a wedding cake. Nope! We are strong devotees of Pie Junkie and thought miniature pies for our guests would be a much more fun and laid back option. Choices included Coconut Cream, French Silk, Apple Crumble and Pecan (Drunken Turtle by the slice was available, too).
Hey there, gorgeous. Photo by Dani G Photography.
Ed and I talk all the time about how our wedding reception perfectly represented our personalities and was one of the most fun days of our lives. I wish I could've cloned myself so I could've enjoyed every aspect even more rather than running around with my head chopped off. Anyone figured out the time machine thing yet?
