Jump past the navigation
Private ChefChicago

Your kitchen. Their menu. Nothing reheated.

Ask about an evening

Private Chef ChicagoEvery profileLaSandra Armstrong

Island plates and elevated soul food from a chef who builds a menu around whatever the table cannot eat.

LaSandra runs SAN’s Kitchen and Catering and cooks the widest book on this site — Caribbean one weekend, a French sit-down the next, a seafood boil for a birthday after that. She took an associate degree in culinary arts at Robert Morris University and went back for a business degree at Governors State, and the years in between were spent in corporate kitchens, golf-course dining rooms and event catering, which is where the portioning and the allergen discipline come from. It shows in the bookings: guests keep writing that she absorbed a long list of dietary restrictions without a word of complaint and still sent out an extensive menu. Her own favourite brief is elevated soul food — smoked-paprika lamb chops with a garlic-molasses glaze, blackened catfish with lemon-caper brown butter, gouda mac and cheese in unapologetic portions — and she is equally at home cooking four straight days of meals for a full house.

Plates from recent dinners

A caribbean & soul dish from LaSandra Armstrong, plate 1A caribbean & soul dish from LaSandra Armstrong, plate 2A caribbean & soul dish from LaSandra Armstrong, plate 3

What they cook

These are published menus with published prices, per guest. Any of them gets rebuilt around your table before the number is agreed.

Caribbean Escape

Four courses · 2–20 guests

$253/headUSD

The fullest expression of her island cooking, and the top of her book. Three openers land at once, then a salad course, a choice of main off the grill or the braise, and a dessert that is usually the thing people photograph.

  • Openers — Coconut shrimp bites with pineapple-chilli dip · ceviche shooters with mango and jalapeño · avocado and roasted-corn salad on sweet-potato coins
  • Salad — Charred rainbow carrot and beet with goat-cheese mousse, toasted pistachios and citrus vinaigrette
  • Main — Oxtail stew with butter beans, jerk chicken skewers, or blackened salmon with brown butter and herb gremolata
  • Dessert — Passion-fruit mousse with coconut biscuit, or beignets with mango syrup

From Sea to Table

Four courses · 2–20 guests

$175/headUSD

Built for the summer table. Opens rich, turns fresh, then finishes either as a boil tipped straight onto the table or as a plated fish course, depending on how formal the evening should feel.

  • Openers — Garlic-stuffed shrimp, lobster bisque with parmesan crisps, or crab dip with a fresh baguette
  • First — Cajun potato salad or a bistro salad
  • Main — Seafood boil with crab legs and crawfish · shrimp and steak scampi pasta · pan-seared scallops with whipped potatoes
  • Dessert — Chocolate lava cake with fresh fruit, or apple-cinnamon bursts

Bonne Soirée

Three courses · 2–20 guests

$156/headUSD

Her entry-point French menu and the floor price on this profile. Short, classic and easy to scale to a bigger table without losing the plating.

  • Openers — French onion soup and salad Lyonnaise
  • Main — Coq au vin or ratatouille
  • Dessert — Chocolate mousse or crème brûlée

Three dishes LaSandra is known for

  • Oxtail stew braised in brown gravy with butter beans
  • Jerk chicken skewers with grilled plantains and cilantro-lime crema
  • Seafood boil — shrimp, crab legs, crawfish, corn and a mild house sauce

Booked more than anything for milestone birthdays, tables with allergies to work around, multi-day house cooking and seafood spreads for a crowd.

Travels to South Side, Hyde Park, Bronzeville, The Loop, North Side, Harbor Country, North-west Indiana.

Left by the guests themselves

rated 5 of a possible 5
Booked her for my partner’s thirtieth and she made the whole run-up easy — kind, professional, on top of every detail. The drinks were as good as the food, and she went well past what I asked for to make the night feel like something.
Chicago
rated 4 of a possible 5
I challenged her to do an elevated soul-food menu for my sister’s fortieth and she came through — lamb chops with a garlic-molasses glaze, blackened catfish, gouda mac in generous portions. When neither of her dessert ideas landed for me she offered sweet-potato cheesecake instead, and that was the home run.
Chicago
rated 5 of a possible 5
Communication was excellent all through the planning and on the day. She handled a long list of dietary restrictions without blinking, the menu was enormous, and the kitchen looked like nobody had been in it.
Michigan
rated 4 of a possible 5
A small family dinner for my father’s seventieth. Thoughtfully put together for everyone’s tastes, easy to work with, and she made the evening feel special without ever making it a production.
Chicago

The other two