THE NEW ENGLAND PRIVATE CHEF SERIES | NO. 02

Congrats! You've booked the house.

The bedrooms are assigned. The itinerary is taking shape. Everyone is getting excited. Then comes the part of group travel nobody particularly enjoys organizing: food.

Who’s grocery shopping? Where are we eating? Does the restaurant take a party of ten? Who’s driving? What are we doing with the kids?

And perhaps most importantly—who is cleaning the kitchen afterward?

Hiring a private chef for your vacation rental changes that conversation entirely. Instead of planning your evening around a restaurant, your dinner is planned around you. Here’s what you can expect when you invite Coastal & Countryside into your vacation home.

IT STARTS BEFORE WE ARRIVE

A great private chef experience doesn’t begin when Chef AJ turns on the stove. It begins with planning.

Every gathering is different. Some clients are celebrating a milestone birthday. Some have several generations of family vacationing together. Others are spending a weekend away with friends, hosting an intimate dinner party or simply want one special evening during their vacation where nobody has to cook.

We start by learning about your gathering. How many guests will be dining? What kind of evening are you envisioning? Are there dietary restrictions or preferences? Are there ingredients you absolutely love—or would rather avoid?

Some guests prefer choosing from Chef AJ’s popular menus, while others want something personally curated for their group. Both work beautifully. The menu should fit your gathering, not the other way around.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO SPEND YOUR VACATION GROCERY SHOPPING

Ingredient sourcing is part of what we do.

We care deeply about the quality of what goes onto the plate. Depending on the menu and season, we source from local farms, farm stands, fish markets and trusted purveyors throughout New England.

For us, sourcing locally and thoughtfully isn’t simply a marketing phrase. We’ve watched guests take the first bite of a beautiful farm-fresh tomato and immediately notice the difference.

Great ingredients don’t always need to be complicated. They simply need to be respected and prepared well.

That means you can spend your vacation exploring New England, enjoying the beach, hiking the mountains, visiting the farm stands or simply relaxing at the property while we focus on dinner.

WHAT ABOUT THE VACATION RENTAL KITCHEN?

This is one of the biggest questions people have when considering a private chef experience.

Don’t worry—we understand vacation rental kitchens.

We’ve cooked in beautiful vacation kitchens stocked with practically everything a chef could want, and we’ve worked in properties where the kitchen has only the basics. You don’t need to spend your first afternoon opening cabinets and taking inventory for us.

We plan around your menu and come prepared with the cooking and serving pieces necessary to properly execute the dinner we’ve designed.

If there is something specific we need to know about the property beforehand, we’ll discuss that with you while planning your experience.

A PRIVATE CHEF EXPERIENCE BUILT INTO YOUR STAY

One of the things we love seeing in New England hospitality is vacation properties thinking beyond simply where their guests will sleep and considering how they will experience their time there.

We are proud to partner with Chase Mountain Lodge in Vermont, where guests can now incorporate a Coastal & Countryside private chef experience directly into their mountain getaway.

The idea is beautifully simple: enjoy the lodge, enjoy Vermont and let dinner come to you.

Guests staying at Chase Mountain Lodge can access the private chef experience through the property's digital guestbook and submit a request for their preferred date. From there, they are connected directly with Coastal & Countryside to discuss availability, menu preferences, dietary considerations, group size, pricing and the details that will make the evening their own.

Sample menus are available for inspiration, but the experience isn't meant to be one-size-fits-all. Menus can be customized around the group, occasion and preferences.

For us, this is exactly where vacation hospitality is heading.

Travelers aren't only looking for a beautiful property. They're looking for experiences that allow them to enjoy that property—and the people they're traveling with—even more.

After a day spent exploring Vermont, hiking, leaf peeping, skiing or simply enjoying the mountains, you don't necessarily need another place to go.

Sometimes the best evening is the one waiting for you back at the lodge.

Dinner cooking in the kitchen. Your group gathered together. Nowhere else you need to be.

That is what private dining at a vacation property is really about.

Guests planning a stay can learn more about the Private Chef Experience at Chase Mountain Lodge directly through the lodge's website.



Book Your Stay>>>

Chase Mountain Private Chef Experience>>>

WHAT HAPPENS ON THE DAY OF DINNER?

This is when you get to stop worrying about it.

We arrive ahead of dinner service and begin preparing the kitchen and food. And then one of our favorite parts of private dining begins—the house starts to smell like dinner.

Someone pours a glass of wine. The kids peek into the kitchen to see what Chef AJ is making. People wander in from the patio. Conversations start while dinner comes together.

There isn’t a commercial kitchen wall separating the chef from the people he is cooking for. You’re able to experience dinner coming together right in the home where everyone is already comfortable.

That interaction is part of what makes a private chef experience so different from simply going out to eat.

THEN YOU SIT DOWN

When dinner is ready, we take care of getting it to the table.

Depending on your selected menu and experience, that might mean individually plated courses or a more relaxed family-style presentation.

Either way, Chef AJ’s food remains the focus.

Private dining doesn’t have to feel stiff or overly formal to feel special. It should still feel like you, your family or your friends—just with someone else taking care of the details.

AND YES—WE CLEAN

This might be everyone’s favorite part.

After dinner, we handle the kitchen cleanup associated with our service. Our goal is to leave the space so you can continue enjoying your evening.

You shouldn’t hire a private chef and then spend the rest of the night washing pots and cleaning the kitchen.

We prepare. We cook. We serve. We clean.

You enjoy dinner.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PROVIDE?

For our standard private chef experience, the home or vacation property provides the everyday dining pieces your guests will use for the meal, such as plates, flatware and glassware.

We come prepared with the cooking utensils and serving pieces necessary for your particular menu.

Vacation rentals are all different, and that’s okay. Our focus is making sure your menu can be prepared, cooked and served properly without you having to worry about whether your rental kitchen has every piece of restaurant equipment.

For gatherings where you’re looking for a more complete dining and tablescape experience, additional options can also be discussed during planning.

CAN THE MENU BE PERSONALIZED?

Absolutely.

Some clients come to us knowing exactly what they want. Others tell us what they enjoy and give Chef AJ the freedom to create.

Menus can be personally curated around your preferences, dietary considerations, number of guests, season and style of gathering. We also offer popular menu selections for guests who would rather have a thoughtfully designed place to start.

We source the best ingredients available to us for the menu—from farms and seasonal produce to fish markets and quality purveyors throughout New England.

The food should make sense for the people sitting at your table.

WHO HIRES A PRIVATE CHEF WHILE ON VACATION?

There really isn’t one type of gathering.

We cook for family vacations, milestone birthdays, anniversaries, friends’ weekends, bachelorette gatherings, multi-generational trips, intimate celebrations, business dinners, ski weekends, coastal vacations and groups who simply value sitting down to a beautiful meal together.

You don’t necessarily need a special occasion.

Sometimes having everyone together under the same roof is the occasion.

WHY NOT JUST MAKE A RESTAURANT RESERVATION?

We love restaurants. We’ve spent a large part of our lives working in hospitality and restaurant environments.

But private dining offers something completely different.

Nobody needs to drive. Your group isn’t divided between tables. Young children can remain comfortable in familiar surroundings. You choose the music. You can open the wine you brought for the weekend. Nobody is watching the clock because another reservation needs your table.

Most importantly, everyone gets to stay together.

When you’ve traveled hours to share a beautiful vacation home with people you may not see every day, that time matters.

THE REAL LUXURY IS YOUR TIME

Luxury doesn’t always have to mean extravagance.

Sometimes luxury is walking back into your vacation home after spending the day exploring and smelling dinner being prepared.

It’s sitting down with your family instead of standing over the stove.

It’s enjoying your friends instead of coordinating reservations.

It’s having your full, undivided attention available for the people you came here to spend time with.

And when dinner is finished, it’s knowing the kitchen is being taken care of too.

That’s the kind of luxury we believe in.

HOSPITALITY IS AT THE HEART OF IT

Food may be the centerpiece of what we do, but hospitality is what surrounds it.

It’s preparation. It’s anticipating what people need. It’s understanding how an evening should flow. It’s knowing that presentation matters, but so does making people feel comfortable.

Good food holds memory and emotion.

Long after a vacation ends, you might not remember every stop you made or exactly what time dinner was served—but you’ll remember everyone sitting around that table.

That’s why we do this.

BRING THE RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE HOME

Whether your New England getaway takes you to a coastal vacation home, a quiet countryside retreat, a mountain lodge or somewhere beautifully in between, one of the best evenings of your trip might happen without leaving the property at all.

You choose the home.

You gather your people.

We’ll take care of what’s for dinner.

Coastal & Countryside Private Chef

Private chef experiences for homes, vacation rentals, intimate gatherings and celebrations throughout New England.

Explore our private chef experiences, menus and availability at coastalandcountryside.com.

CONTINUE THE SERIES → NO. 03

Leaf Peeping & Private Dining: Planning the Perfect Fall Getaway in New Hampshire & Vermont