Catering to the stars

Friday, May 7th 2004, 5:18 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ In a fast-food culture, people not only desire convenience, they demand it. The problem with this American expectation is that not only have many providers forgotten the meaning of customer service, the customer has, as well.

According to Mark Lanman, owner of Chef's Catering, the art of customer service has been lost.

Lanman has served as many as 25,000 and as few as two during his career in the food business.

He has created menus and meals for the likes of Joan Baez and Carly Simon, Tommy Roe and Buddy Miles, The Rolling Stones and Van Halen. From folk to heavy metal, Lanman also prides himself in catering to the crooners, such as Frank Sinatra on his last five years out, and recently he prepared a special menu for Harry Connick Jr. at the Civic Center.

On a restricted, six-meal diet, Connick requested plain, dry oatmeal with organic fruit and egg whites for breakfast, lightly seasoned, sliced gilled chicken breast, spinach and long-grain brown rice for lunch, lean fish, long-grain brown rice, spinach, fat-free milk and room temperature water for dinner, an assorted fruit bowl and raw, unsalted almonds for a pre-show snack and a lightly seasoned, sliced grilled chicken breast with long-grain brown rice and steamed asparagus as a post-show meal.

``As the caterer, I'm the host,'' Lanman said. ``It's not about telling you what I can do, it's about what you want. And I will get you what you want.''

Connick's crew of about 155, however, was served balsamic chicken breasts, roasted pork loin, chicken cordon blue, southern carrots, roasted red potatoes, vegetable lasagna and field green salad, to name just a few items on the dinner menu.

While his career as a caterer has waned a bit since the days of Motley Crue and Def Leppard, Lanman is branching out to fulfill a dream. In June, he'll open Backstage Cafe at 1705 N.W. 16th St.

The restaurant not only will provide a venue for all the memorabilia he has collected over the years, it will provide an array of services for customers. Serving lunch and dinner, Lanman also will prepare beyond the traditional takeout by taking call-in orders and delivering home-cooked dinners, with no minimum, to a customer's offices should they be unable to pick up the order on the way home.

He said he plans to create an ``eclectic'' menu that will include carb-friendly, lowfat and vegetarian items, along with an array of breads, pastries and desserts. Additionally, he will carry homemade specialty sauces and other items available for purchase.

Lanman's partner, who will prepare the breads and pastries, in this endeavor is Dorie Shingledecker, a fellow caterer who has been in the business for about 17 years.

First and foremost, Lanman said, his ``neighborhood operation'' in the historic Gatewood community will be about getting back to basics, back to what customer service was meant to be _ about the customer _ and everything will be made from scratch.

``It's home cooked, it's real food, it's comfort food,'' he said. ``And I think this has been missing.''

Lanman is one of few location caterers who has primarily focused on the entertainment industry, to include concerts, movie and commercial shoots in the Central time zone, which he's done for 25 years.

``It's kind of a whole different animal in terms of catering,'' he said. ``You can take a perfectly good caterer and put him in that situation and they'll screw it up due to protocols and timing factors. You can't let the chaos come in, because there's enough chaos as it is.''

Many on tour, like Connick, have specific dietary requests. And many people, especially when away from home, long for something home-cooked. With the English artists, they may request Shepard's Pie, for instance. Many on Connick's crew requested Cajun dishes. Whatever the request, Lanman's clients get what they want.

For example, while he and his crew were on the road with Kiss, Lanman had prepared enough food to fill about 10 long tables. But Gene Simmons, he said, didn't look pleased.

``I walked over to him and asked if I could get something for him,'' Lanman said. ``He said he just didn't see anything he liked and asked if I could make him something.''

The two went back to the kitchen where Lanman fired up a wok and a curry chicken dish.

``That's what he wanted,'' Lanman said. ``And I'm going to get him or anyone else whatever it is they want.''

Of course, there are always those minor idiosyncrasies to deal with in his business, such as Belinda Carlisle's yearning for Lucky Charms each morning _ Lucky Charms with orange stars only, which, according to Lanman, requires going through about four boxes of the leprechaun's magical mixture to get enough orange stars per bowl.

In addition to musicians and actors, once in a while he'll get the opportunity to meet the press or even the president.

During the Oklahoma City National Memorial dedication, Lanman was hired by NBC to take care of the staff of the Today Show. After crews came and went, including Today Show host Katie Curic, whom Lanman admittedly flirted with just a tad, he stayed around to feed Secret Service agents, policemen and the like.

``Toward the end of the day, a (Secret Service agent) came up and asked if I could make lunch for his boss,'' Lanman recalled.

``I said, 'Sure, as long as I get to serve it to him.'''

As Lanman delivered former President Bill Clinton a barbecue sandwich, he asked ``So, how's the wife?'' as he frequently makes small talk with clients in his much-at-ease manner.

``He said, 'Are you married?' I said, 'Yeah.' And he said, 'Well, you know then.'''

There's no asking for autographs, no asking for photos. His clients are just like anyone else, they're not stars, at least not while Lanman's on the job.

Though he has been on a first-name basis and established a lasting friendship with artists such as Styx's Tommy Shaw, Ted Nugent and Sammy Hagar, when he's working, he strives to ensure the things so many take for granted, such as eating, isn't overlooked _ whether it's a sit-down steak dinner or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

``I've done the (Rolling) Stones for about 16 years now, and it takes years to develop a relationship with them to that point where they trust that you're not going to take advantage of them,'' Lanman said. ``When Mick Jagger calls you 'Chef' for a number of years, and you're young and you get wrapped up in that lifestyle, you do grow quite an ego. But you still don't cross that line.''