Catering to Celebrity

Jacqueline Lombard is just excited to be photographed in something other than her chef's jacket. As a chef and sommelier for events in the fashion world, she says she's usually on the outside looking in on the world of beautiful people. She's notably modest for a lanky blonde: "I feed the beautiful people," she says with an incredulous laugh. "I get the beautiful people drunk."

Lombard prepares customized menus and settings for her clients -- she works Elle MacPherson's favorite ingredient into every dish for her parties, picks up the crystal she knows Jil Sander prefers, and has mastered vegetarian dishes for Stella McCartney, whom she calls her "mommy client." Her Greenpoint, Brooklyn-based company, Jacqueline Lombard Events, is zoned for commercial use so she does everything by hand out of her 325 square-foot kitchen and small herb garden, which she expanded to grow vegetables this year (she is particularly proud of her purple asparagus). Lombard does the shopping herself -- "tromping [my] ass to farmers' markets on Saturday morning" -- and has always used organic or local ingredients.

At Otto Enoteca in Greenwich Village, where she was once a sous-chef for renowned chef Mario Batali, Lombard sends a kiss back to her old friends in the kitchen and orders a fragolini -- Prosecco with real wild strawberries. She says she's ready to expand her wine business, which already includes tastings and judging Wine Enthusiast's restaurant wine awards. Enthusiast indeed; you don't have to see her in a chef's jacket to know she loves her job. She takes a sip of her fragolini and says, "There's just no substitute for passion."