Serving their slogan “restaurant-inspired chef-prepared meals at home,” Elite Meal Service is a food prep and delivery company co-owned by executive chef Brian Grebow and his wife, Bianca Harms.
Grebow began in Denver, where he caught the “food bug” at a culinary summer camp and was asked to return the next summer in a leadership position. His culinary career took off from there, graduating from the Culinary Institute of America and then cooking professionally in Colorado, Spain, Napa and the Bay Area.
Living in Santa Cruz, he and Harms had a child weeks before the pandemic hit and they found themselves inspired to create a food delivery business that they wished already existed. Elite Meal Service was thus born, putting paramount value on local sourcing, zero waste and personal client relationships, customizing to specific preferences, allergens and aversions.
Two menus are featured every week with choices both new and rotating, from Californian to Asian Pacific, Latin, Caribbean/tropical cuisines. Showcasing this diversity of deliciousness, favorites include deviled eggs with maple sriracha bacon, spicy tuna sushi bake, Italian-style tuna tartar, quesabirria tacos, duck confit, beef bulgogi, red curry mussels, pistachio-lemon crusted salmon with bacon-wrapped asparagus and lentil dahl, a cassoulet-style vegetarian Indian dish. Grebow says the do-not-miss-desserts are the s’mores-stuffed chocolate chip cookie and crème brûlée cheesecake.
From where do you draw your culinary inspiration?
BRIAN GREBOW: Growing up, I have nothing but good memories that revolve around food enjoyed at our dinner table with my family. My parents loved food too, and would encourage my siblings and me to try different and diverse cuisines from a young age, saying, “You can’t hate something if you haven’t tried it.” That was the seed of my culinary inspiration, and then going to summer culinary camp at age 14 really sealed the deal for my love of food and I haven’t looked back since.
Tell me about your passion for hyper-locality.
My wife and I just really love Santa Cruz, she was born here and we love raising our family here. Food-wise, it’s quite diverse and we are able to source all of our ingredients and packaging from within a 60-mile radius. It’s an honor and a pleasure to provide our business with products that support local businesses and the community at large.
831-600-5462; elitemealservice.com
