Catering By Victoria’s Blog

Love Notes are the sweetest little cards,letters and emails that we have received from our very happy customers after their encounter with us. We appreciate that they have taken the time to write a note of gratitude to us!

Victoria,

I wanted to say thank you! The desserts were awesome!~ Hillary W.

Dear Victoria,

Just wanted to thank you again for doing such a great job!  Your food was fantastic and your staff very professional.  It is always great working with you and we so appreciate the extra effort you go to in using Colorado products.  In the thank-yous we have received, the “wonderful food” is always mentioned.

Warmest Regards,  Jeanne & Les Gelvin

Victoria,

Well, you did it… You made the perfect wedding cake! To say we were pleased is an understatement!  We are still getting comments from our guests about the quality, flavor and the design!  Victoria, thank you!    ~ Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Brandi Thompson (Loveland, CO)

My Dear Victoria;

I wanted to thank you again for the lovely food that you served at Julie & Tim’s wedding.  Everyone was so impressed at the way the food looked but their praise went sky high when they started eating the delicious feast!

I am pretty picky about cake.  But I do have a new love now.  I could have eaten the whole white tier by myself.  Delicious!!

Everything about the food, the generous portions, the service, and the sparkling kitchen afterwards was unimaginable.  You made the day for my husband and myself.  Please put us on the top of your list for referrals.  We will recommend your abilities far and wide.  Thank you, again!

Sincerely, Patricia & Leo O’Connor

Juliette & Anthony's Cake

Dear Victoria ~

I cannot stop thinking about that wedding cake.  It was the most wonderfully delicious cake I have ever had.  Ever.  Thank you!

~ Juliette Parker

Dear Caffè Victoria,

On behalf of the Windsor Middle School 7th Grade Orchestra we would like to thank you for the delicious lunch!!  The sandwiches were fantastic and exceeded all of our expectations.

Thank you, again!  Cory Swanson

Congratulations on your fourth anniversary!  We have enjoyed many hours of good food and hospitality.

Best wishes to each of you,  Dick & Mary Boyer

Victoria ~

Thank you for the lovely job you did on our wedding cake and on the custom groom’s cake.  Jeff loved the surprise as well as the RED VELVET!  We appreciate your creativity and efforts in making this portion of our wedding a success!

~ Rita & Jeff

Dear Victoria,

I wanted to personally thank you for the wonderful food, and presentation that you provided for us.  You are so talented, and your food is always so good.  Your hard work and style are greatly appreciated!

Sincerely, Rosie Hirsch

Dear Victoria,

Thank you so much for creating such a beautiful and delicious cake for our wedding.  We absolutely loved it!  And thank you for accommodating my gluten sensitivity.  We couldn’t even tell the cake was gluten-free!

Thanks!  Phil & Alyssa

Victoria,

Dwight & I would like to thank you so very much for including us in your wine and food pairing on Friday evening!  We had such a great time and the food was truly exquisite!  What a fun event to get to be part of!

Thanks for your hospitality and opening our taste buds to foods from Argentina & wines too!!

Sincerely, Dwight & Dana Sailer

Michael Soloway

Catering Royalty
By Michael Soloway
Chef Track Observation Paper
May 18, 2009

There’s a cold, persistent rain falling the day I visit Windsor—an average day overseas in that Windsor, but a most unusual day for ordinarily dry, sunshiny Colorado.Ironically, I’m there to visit the Queen—Chef Victoria Queen. But this Queen is no figurehead. Chef Victoria is the owner, operator and visionary behind Catering by Victoria and Caffé Victoria. Unlike most royalty, she is a Queen that insists I call her “Vic” and is most comfortable in jeans and an apron, rather than the formality and whites of a Chef’s Coat. Growing up in an Italian household as one of eight children, Chef Victoria’s cooking inspiration came early and often. Chef Victoria recalls her mother giving her bread-baking lessons in First Grade. She also remembers her mother serving meals on 12-inch plates, filling them to the very edge, with each member of the family assigned a particular culinary task, or territory on the plate. “I was always in charge of mashed potatoes and whipped cream it seemed,” says Chef Victoria. “I’m not sure how I got all of the white, whipped items, but I didn’t mind . . . I loved to cook.”

A Child Psychology major at Colorado State University, where she met her husband, Scott, Chef Victoria never pursued the field after graduation, instead working in real estate and as an office manager before finally pursuing her dreams in 2003. With humble beginnings, cooking for friends and family events, today, Catering by Victoria, is a full-service, off-premises catering company located in Windsor, Colo., and the catering operations of Caffé Victoria, a breakfast-only restaurant open Saturdays and Sundays from 7 am to 1 pm. Catering by Victoria specializes in weddings, wedding and graduation cakes, holiday parties, open houses, fundraisers, and food and wine events. They cater to individuals, as well as a number of businesses in Fort Collins, Loveland and the Northern Front Range. “We understand that many of these events happen once in a lifetime and should be filled with fun and excitement,” says Chef Victoria. “Our creativity, experience, and partnership with the client make that possible.”

The day of my observation I’m up at 5 am, and I don’t know what to expect of a restaurant and catering operation running at the same time. I do know I’m awake in time to share the morning with who I assume are nurses, local DJs, Kodak plant workers and other food service employees—the Bread Bakers and Pastry Chefs of the world, or basically the underappreciated and underpaid. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” says Chef Victoria. Caffé Victoria offers the standard breakfast fare—bacon, eggs, hash browns, French toast, pancakes—but it’s their “specialty items” that get my attention. There’s a Caprese Omelette—fresh basil, mozzarella and diced tomato; and a Pesto Omelette—artichoke, basil pesto and provolone, both $8.95, served with toasted sourdough and roasted potatoes. Then, there’s the “extra BIG” cinnamon roll—with cream cheese icing—that’s weighed in pounds rather than ounces.

Cooking and kitchen management at Caffé Victoria is a family affair and she makes me feel right at home. Chef Victoria is Executive Chef as well as Line Cook. Her son, Alex, is Sous Chef on this day, working on the grill alongside his Mom, as though he’d been born in that very spot. Her husband, Scott, comes in to help organize a catering order. The Pastry Chef, Elaine Toepke—a Culinary School of the Rockies graduate herself—rolls out six feet of dough for Victoria’s over-sized cinnamon buns. Bacon is cooked on sheet pans in the oven. I offer, and Chef Victoria obliges, putting me to work right away on catering orders; she’s catering an engagement party at Noon. I put together a fruit tray—cantaloupe, kiwi, pineapple, watermelon, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries—admittedly my first. My experience with composed salads helps me artfully arrange the platter. I make Chantilly and fill cream puffs, slice apples for a cheese tray and submerge them in Sprite, a trick Chef Victoria happily shares. I arrange roses on a sandwich platter and cook a few omelettes in the afternoon, as Dorothy, Jen, Brandon and Bobby run orders and manage the front of the house, as well as the drive-thru coffee stop—an option that takes me by surprise and makes me wonder what kind of fast food restaurant had been there before Queen, Victoria, saved the day.

Unlike most restaurants today, Chef Victoria has taken great care to use new technologies to help market herself and her services. On her Web site—www.caffevictoria.com—Chef Victoria offers recipes for Rustic French Apple Tarts, Flan de Queso, Coffee Bar Brownies and Tax Day Tea Cakes. She also maintains a monthly Blog. You can even find Chef Victoria, and a Caffé Victoria group page, on Facebook.

When I moved to Colorado just over a year ago, I actually lived in Windsor, on 7th and Elm, only a few miles from Caffé Victoria, so I’m familiar with the town’s handful of traffic lights. I know the quaint downtown frozen in a simpler time. I appreciate the local coffee shop, hardware store and what it means to offer “old-fashioned.” And I remember the 2008 Windsor tornado that cut its path just three blocks from my own house. When unexplainable tragedies like that happen you realize what’s important. You realize you’re part of a community. You realize how important people like Chef Victoria are to the her customers and that it’s not the business but it’s about the people behind and in front of that business that counts.

The dreary, drizzly day exceeds my expectations. Everything and everyone runs so smoothly and with such grace under pressure. Although Chef Victoria would never admit it, to me, she is royalty, a true Queen in her profession—food royalty. Caffé Victoria is the castle of Colorado, and Chef Victoria, truly the Queen of Windsor. Not that Windsor of course, but this one—where you don’t need a crown to be royalty in anyone’s eyes, just a passion for food and a smile to brighten even the darkest of Windsor days.