Like its namesakes, the new catering operation will stress “clean food” – supporting sustainable regional agriculture and local foragers – and showcase seasonal highlights of the region. The supply pipeline includes items like “Farmer Bob’s” Washington County tomatoes, Core vodka from Chatham, and meats from local farms. There is also a full and extensive menu of vegan and gluten-free fare, including wines and spirits. 

Global, local, rustic, retro, vintage and elegant.  It’s hard to imagine food can be all those things, until you sample the fare of Ric Orlando. His 30-year creative culinary crusade is pressing northward with the launch of New World Catering by Ric Orlando in Albany. The two-time Chopped™ champion, longtime locavore, and perennially-feted chef has moved the new business into 250 Delaware Avenue and quietly begun booking events, with an official grand opening set for early October.

Orlando, who honed his culinary skills and sensibilities in New Haven, Cambridge, Boston and New York, first rooted in Saugerties with New World Home Cooking Café and Catering in 1993. In 2009 the brand seeded in Albany with the launch of New World Bistro Bar, where Ric serves as a consultant and executive chef. Now, Ric and his wife and partner Liz Corrado are branching out with the opening of New World Catering by Ric Orlando.

“Albany has treated me better than anywhere.” says Orlando, adding that the choice of the Delaware Avenue location is a testament to the ongoing growth of the vital and diverse neighborhood. “Albany embraced me when I cooked at Justin’s in the 90s. With the success of the Bistro Bar, it’s clear to me that this is my home market.”

Joining Orlando and Corrado in the new venture are catering designer and front-of-the-house director David Jackson, and Gabe Pollow, the award-winning former Bistro Bar chef. The team is ready to use the newly-renovated and outfitted space to extend its catering territory as far as Lake Placid and Lake George and as wide as Cooperstown and the Berkshires. “With this location right at the crossroads of 787, I-87, I-90 and I-88 and access to an incredible pallet of classic and non-traditional venues, we bring our customers a mass expansion of possibilities for creating their perfect event,” said Corrado.

“We’ve got our arms around Woodstock, our fingers stretched to Brooklyn and Boston, and our toes buried in the Capital Region. And, we offer our own unique blend of global local classic modern,” said Orlando. “Vintage is cool when you give it a little edge. And we can do it anywhere from boardrooms to penthouses, beaches to apple orchards and white tents to Dutch barns.”

New World Catering by Ric Orlando is open for consultations, bookings and tastings by appointment at 250 Delaware Avenue in Albany and is expected to be fully operational by Sept. 2.  “In full swing, we cater up to four events a day out of the new kitchen,” Orlando said. “Our first corporate catering bash will likely be the Albany Barn’s Fusion 2014 event on October 17. We’re going to have a great time there showing the world what we can do.”