Tenderloin of beef is the top requested beef / protein food items selected for catered dinners. With the down turn in the economy options had to be found to replace tenderloin and it has been fun cooking new dishes. Michael Jones executive chef at Catering Plus has come up with some great dishes. Last week we served a beef tagine on a food station in a tagine oven for the Moroccan theme, which had great flavor and was an exotic experience for the guest. Last year we had a request for short ribs for a seated wedding dinner and to make it more upscale we served it boneless, and got a great response from the guest. My top choice is our Texas style brisket of beef for the BBQ weddings or just a more down home type meal topped with caramelized onions. Also the bistro or sonoma cut of beef which many has names all over the country, is from the shoulder. This cut marinated or smoked and grilled and seasoned just right is winner. It has tobe cut on a 45 degree angle and cooked no more than medium to be tender. The bistro steak looks more like a shorter pork tenderloin in size and is also very lean and has very little weight loss after trimming. Great flavor and lower cost, but still great impact on guest feeling that theywere well fed.