Crab Cakes

Lump crab cakes, surrounded by a buttery beurre blanc

Caesar Salad

This is a Caesar salad that has been deconstructed. It is composed of a romaine heart, Parmigianno - Reggiano, and a thin crouton

A Little Bit About Myself

My name is Sarah Mills. I am 20 years old, and rest assured that I am not your average 20 year old. My parents have always encouraged me to take on a great amount of responsibility. I was fortunate enough to have a mother that cooked every meal for us; this instilled a great passion for food in me. I began cooking when I was just big enough to reach the stove top. I thought that this made me very important to the family, and I truly enjoyed seeing food that I had cooked on the table, no matter how small it was. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from my mom, as it is becoming a rare tradition with most families now having both parents working. I love to have kids help me with the small things, like peeling vegetables or washing fruit, and I love to share what I know about food anyone who will listen.
My dad taught me a lot of what I know about cooking, as he used to be a chef in Chicago. He is no longer a chef, but a pastor at a small town church near Austin. My extended family has owned several restaurants throughout the years in the Illinois area. When visiting my grandparents for Christmas, my best memories are from the kitchen, making strawberry and rhubarb pies, apple pies, cookies, eggs and fried "corn meal mush" as my great-grandmother calls it (so do I at home still) for breakfast, and huge meals with most of the extended family. Food is a major focal point in out family, to say the least.
I graduated high school a year early, so that I could start my college education as early as possible. This meant moving 45 miles away from my family and into my own apartment at 17. I took on 3 classes, majoring in restaurant management, and had a total of three jobs. I kept running into a problem...when I should have been writing papers for English class, I was cooking food for whoever would eat with me! I decided at the end of my first semester that I was going to pursue a job cooking at a higher level in downtown Austin. I applied at several places, with no calls returned, and finally took a job as a server at a certain high end hotel on 6th, to get my foot in the door of the kitchen. During the 2 week wait to start, I was serving at a large out of town party for Sterling Affairs Catering and I was offered a job in the kitchen. I was overwhelmed to say the least; I had tried to get into the kitchen for months. I quickly called the hotel and told them that I was unfortunately not going to be able to take the job. Sterling Affairs took me in, and taught me a huge amount. I hadn't realized how little I actually knew. After about a year I was transferred to the restaurant in the hotel that Sterling rented from (The Mansion at Judges Hill) and learned more than I could have asked for. I began in the salad station where I learned to create a daily amuse bouche, and to properly season a salad, and moved to the sautee station where I learned to cook sides, and create sauces, and how to manipulate food into doing what I wanted it to. I learned the importance of presentation, and garnish, and organization. I then moved to the grill station where I learned to cook all of the proteins, and their characteristics. In the 2 1/2 years that I have been with the company, I have learned more than I knew there was to learn about food.
The idea of being a private chef came to me when I was asked by a friend to cater a small party for him. I realized that I could make a living doing something that I love, while helping families to spend quality time together around the dinner table. This makes me feel like a part of your family for a night, and that is where the name "La Nostra Tavola" came from. La Nostra Tavola translates to "Our Table" in Italian. While I am not Italian, I love italian food, and it constantly influences my cooking. Italians are also very big on family, which I feel is very important to my company. Let me bring your busy family together for a night or two, while you kick back and relax. Let me do your shopping, cooking, and clean up, while you enjoy a restaurant quality meal with no one around to distract you from what really matters, your family.