Leave Dinner to Lettie

Leave Dinner to Lettie is a catering and personal chef service in Annapolis, MD. The business prepares healthy, seasonal, home-cooked meals for individuals and families, with custom weekly, biweekly, or monthly menus built around each client's eating style. Meals are made using fresh ingredients, with grocery shopping done at the store of the client's choosing. The service accommodates dietary needs including gluten-free, vegan, Paleo, and allergy-specific cooking, and can work with organic, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients or to a set food budget. Meals are prepared in the client's home or in a commercial kitchen and delivered with reheating instructions, with each custom meal providing four portions. Beyond weekly dinner service, Leave Dinner to Lettie caters intimate dinner and holiday parties, birthdays, anniversaries, bachelorette gatherings, and cocktail parties, and offers in-home cooking classes covering topics such as knife skills, pasta from scratch, and regional recipes. Service covers Maryland, DC, and Virginia within a 30-mile radius of Annapolis, with express service available within 20 miles of Arnold, MD. The business holds a 5.00 rating from its customers.

The kitchen draws on roughly 30 years of watching the owner's grandmother cook and working through her recipes, alongside techniques picked up from restaurants and study at L'Academie de Cuisine. Cooking professionally began in high school, about 27 years ago, when the owner's father bought the local restaurant. Family experience with Celiac disease and Crohn's disease shaped a working knowledge of dietary restrictions. Menus range from comfort food to casual and classic dishes, and clients can supply family recipes to be prepared. Sample dinner party offerings have included seared scallops and asparagus in lemon beurre blanc, braised lamb shanks with citrus gremolata, roasted beef tenderloin with blue cheese sauce, and a range of composed salads. The process starts with a complimentary consultation by phone or in the home, followed by a menu sent for approval at least five days before the scheduled cook day. Office hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 pm.

For Annapolis households that want a home-cooked dinner waiting in the fridge, Leave Dinner to Lettie turns a weekly cooking routine into a scheduled, personalized service.