Curiocity Catering started in 2010, when Jason McAllister — in his own site's telling — set out to take a passion for food to the streets of San Diego with a truck and the goal of serving locally sourced fresh cuisine. He teamed with executive chef Antonio Friscia, whom the site credits with over 30 years of experience and a background spanning Italian and Asian-inspired cooking and restaurant development, and the two built a rotating farm-to-table menu.
What began on the road turned into something else: the site says the strongest feedback came from food-truck weddings and corporate events, and the business reshaped itself around them. It now describes itself as a boutique caterer working across weddings, corporate events, memorials and private celebrations in San Diego County and Southern California, and it states it accommodates various dietary preferences, with inclusive options for vegetarians and the vegan community.
The method is the product. Curiocity pulls up, preps on site, and in its own words is literally cooking as we are serving — and it draws the contrast itself: it never transports prepared food across town to your event. Produce is described as hand-sourced from local organic suppliers in San Diego on the day of the event; meats and poultry are described as antibiotic- and hormone-free, fresh rather than frozen. The menu is seasonal tapas-style plates, assembled either as tray-passed cocktail-hour service or combined into a main plate, and the site invites requests for dishes that are not on it. Bartenders are available. Tastings run bi-monthly, typically around noon on a Sunday, by enquiry. The published service area names 25 cities, from Oceanside and Carlsbad down through La Jolla and Coronado to Chula Vista and Imperial Beach. No per-person pricing, minimum spend, guest minimum or lead time is published. What the company does publish is a sample of the menu, and it reads like the fine-dining technique it claims for itself. Lamb lollipops are herb-oil marinated New Zealand chops under a balsamic glaze. Kombu dashi seared ahi comes with napa cabbage slaw, soy-ginger sauce and crispy wonton. The Strawberry Seduction salad is organic spinach, local strawberries, crumbled goat cheese, cocoa-roasted almonds and red onion in a house-made strawberry vinaigrette. A mixed wild mushroom risotto runs portobello, crimini, shiitake, button and oyster mushrooms with organic spinach, truffle oil and parmesan — and the menu notes it is vegan without the parmesan. The Deadliest Catch risotto is king crab, sweet corn, heirloom cherry tomato, mascarpone and sherry. Beef sliders use Cedar River beef with mustard-grain truffle aioli on a toasted potato bun, the Serious Mac & Cheese is a five-cheese version with roasted garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano, and there is a crispy salmon skin taco with napa cabbage and crema. The list is seasonal and illustrative rather than a fixed menu, and no prices appear anywhere on it.
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Michele Leocadio creates restaurant content for Elev8ed Table. We decide who's featured on merit alone and never sell placement or ranking. Figures above are read from each business's own published materials and dated when the source is old.
