Private Chef & Catering · Ukiah
Private Chef in Ukiah
Ukiah is the county seat and the largest town in Mendocino County, which makes it a different job from cooking on the coast. There are proper venues here, larger homes with real kitchens, and businesses that need feeding as well as families. It is also hot in summer in a way the coast never is, and the menus reflect that.
We cook where you’re staying
Ukiah work splits between private homes and hired venues rather than vacation rentals. We cook for families in their own kitchens, for companies in meeting spaces that were never designed for catering, and at properties out toward Vichy Springs and the lake. If you’re hiring a room, tell us what’s in it — often the honest answer is nothing, and we plan for that.
Yokaya — the deep valley
Ukiah takes its name from the Pomo word Yokaya, meaning deep valley, and the Pomo were here for thousands of years before anyone else. The mineral springs east of town have been in continuous operation as a resort since the 1850s, which makes them among the oldest in California. As county seat, Ukiah has always been the inland county’s working center rather than its scenic one — and it has the kitchens, venues and infrastructure to match.
Our services in Ukiah
Ukiah is the county’s working center, and the bookings are more mixed than the coast:
Family celebrations at home are the other half — larger kitchens here make plated multi-course service straightforward. Full detail on all our services.
Worth knowing while you’re here
Things we’ve picked up cooking in Ukiah, for whoever is staying:
- The name comes from the Pomo word Yokaya, meaning deep valley. The Pomo were here thousands of years before anyone else.
- Vichy Springs east of town has been operating as a mineral springs resort since the 1850s, among the oldest in California.
- Summer is properly hot — frequently over a hundred. Anything outdoors wants to happen after seven.
- The Grace Hudson Museum holds her paintings of Pomo life along with a substantial basketry collection.
- Ukiah has the county’s real infrastructure: hospital, airport, full groceries and hardware. It’s where the coast comes to resupply.
Good for
- Corporate lunches, offsites, and client dinners
- Family celebrations at home
- Larger parties with real kitchen space
- Events at hired venues and meeting rooms
What we source here
- Inland Mendocino County wine and produce
- Stone fruit and tomatoes from the valley’s summer heat
- Lamb and beef from ranches along the 101 corridor
- Coast seafood, brought inland the morning of
What it costs in Ukiah
Guide rates, per person, by the meal we’re cooking — every event is quoted individually.
- Dinner from $175 a head, where most tables land $195–245. Brunch, lunch, weddings and tasting menus are all on the full rate card.
- Travel is billed separately. Ukiah is about sixty miles inland from Mendocino — roughly an hour and a half — well outside our 15-mile radius — we’ll quote it with your proposal so there’s no surprise on the invoice.
Every rate includes menu design, sourcing, all shopping, cooking, service, and full kitchen cleanup. See the full pricing guide.
Good to know
Do you cater corporate events?
Yes, and Ukiah is where most of that work happens. Offsites and multi-day programs are quoted per person per day against your schedule; a single client dinner follows the rate card at $195 per person. We invoice properly and work with EAs and planners.
It’s a long drive from the coast. Does that affect the price?
Travel is quoted with your proposal rather than hidden in the rate. For a single lunch that’s a real consideration, and we’ll be straight with you about whether it makes sense. For a full-day or multi-day program it’s a small share of the total.
Can you cook at a venue with no kitchen?
Regularly. We bring the equipment and do the prep where prep belongs, then finish on site. Tell us what the room actually has — power, water, table space — and we’ll build service around it.
Also cooking nearby: Willits · Boonville · Philo · see all services, sample menus, or the pricing guide.
%s
Tell us the date, the guest count, and where you’re staying. We’ll reply with a menu and an exact quote, usually within two business days.