Former Flea St. Cafe chef starts meal delivery service | Peninsula Foodist | Elena Kadvany | Palo Alto Online |

Local Blogs

Peninsula Foodist

By Elena Kadvany

About this blog: Get the latest food news with the biweekly Peninsula Foodist newsletter.
We are constantly on the lookout for new and undiscovered meals, from Michelin-starred restaurants to tac...  (More)

View all posts from Elena Kadvany

Former Flea St. Cafe chef starts meal delivery service

Uploaded: Sep 13, 2020
Charlie Parker, the former executive chef of Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park, has struck out on his own with a new weekly food delivery service.

Parker is now offering multi-course dinners for delivery three days a week, with dishes like white sea bass roasted in miso butter, chicken liver mousse with rosemary focaccia and a dry-aged rib eye steak with tomato, corn and bread salad, fresh mozzarella and pickled red onion chimichurri.


Local chef Charlie Parker has started delivering meals locally. Photo courtesy Charlie Parker.

The chef and Menlo Park native started Charlie Parker Provisions after his most recent employer, Mayfield Bakery & Cafe in Palo Alto, closed permanently in late July. It started informally, with Parker making dinners once a week for friends and family. On Wednesdays, he'd send that week's menu out to a group text and friends would come pick the food up on Sundays.

"It was a way to stay in touch with friends and help them out," he said.

This eventually snowballed, and he was introduced to the owner of Namesake Cheesecake in Menlo Park, who happened to have a kitchen available for use. He's been preparing all of the meals out of that space for the last month.

Parker has cooked at numerous notable local restaurants, including Manresa in Los Gatos, The Village Pub in Woodside, Ubuntu in Napa and three Daniel Patterson establishments (Plum Bar in Oakland, Haven in Oakland and Alfred's Steakhouse in San Francisco).

His goal with the meal delivery service is to provide "well-rounded, thoughtful dishes that can be reheated and not lose their integrity." All the components of a dish are kept separate to preserve their quality and come with reheating and plating instructions. (The sea bass, for example, was cooked to medium rare so it could be reheated in the oven without being overcooked.)


Charlie Parker is cooking seasonal, multi-course meals three days a week, from local fish to rib eye steaks. Photo courtesy Charlie Parker.

Parker describes his cooking style as French- and Italian-based, using Northern California ingredients. For this Sunday, he offered a roasted bone-in pork chop with smoked country potato salad, grilled peaches, frisée and basil and a pickled chanterelle mushroom jus as well as tomato soup and smoked eggplant hummus.

Parker said he wants to work in restaurants again, but with all the uncertainty facing the industry, he's planning to focus on the meal delivery service for as long as it's successful.

"I don't see this going away anytime soon," he said of the pandemic.

The meals are available on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday; Parker delivers the meals between 4-5 p.m. To place an order, go to charlieparkerprovisions.com.
Local Journalism.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by AlexDeLarge, a resident of Midtown,
on Sep 17, 2020 at 11:21 pm

AlexDeLarge is a registered user.

Well, I've experienced Charlie's cooking. To sum it up it a single word, delicious...


Follow this blogger.
Sign up to be notified of new posts by this blogger.

Email:

SUBMIT

Post a comment

Sorry, but further commenting on this topic has been closed.

Stay informed.

Get the day's top headlines from Palo Alto Online sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.

Worried about the cost of climate change? Here is some hope.
By Sherry Listgarten | 25 comments | 3,797 views

The Time and Cost Savings of Avoiding a Long Commute
By Steve Levy | 2 comments | 955 views

 

Sign-up now for 5K Run/Walk, 10k Run, Half Marathon

The 39th annual Moonlight Run and Walk is Friday evening, September 29. Join us under the light of the full Harvest Moon on a 5K walk, 5K run, 10K run or half marathon. Complete your race in person or virtually. Proceeds from the race go to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund, benefiting local nonprofits that serve families and children in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

REGISTER