Thoughts For A 35th Bday party

I am throwing a 35th Bday party for my wife. I rented out the wilmette bowling center and I am trying to decide what to serve food wise. We are having 50 guests and want to keep it casual, no servers just a buffet or trays. My wife suggested Pita Inn and their packages are extremely reasonable at about $9 a head. I have thought about Poochies, Michaels, etc or carrying in from Rosebud or Maggianos. Anyone have any other creative ideas in the area for around the same price. I dont want to use a caterer because I dont need delivery, set up or service. Just looking to be creative with the eats. The theme is rock and roll bowling, whatever that means. TIA

My brother loves Pita Inn, so I'm sure he'd agree with her!

You could get a couple of trays from a deli like Kaufmans in Skokie. Load up on the meats (corned beef, pastrami, turkey, salami, etc), maybe also have a fish/dairy tray or bagels/lox. Nothing would needed to be heated up either. Plenty of desserts there too.

It's not that close to Wilmette but I had a roast pig from La Unica, with sides (yuca, tostones--these didn't travel, moros and cristianos). Very cheap and everyone really liked the food. I'm pretty sure Sun Wah will do a whole roast pig as well--or you could get other carryout from them (e.g. spare ribs, char siu....)

Jimenez grocery store fro cheap, cheap mexican foods. I'm not sure if ALL of them cater, but I can vouch for the buffalo grove location pumping out decent catering options

I've used Pita Inn to cater a party for 50 in Wilmette (at the Bottle Shop), and it was a big hit. We've also used That Little Mexican Cafe for a similar party, and they did a good job, too.

I was just at Salerno's in Mt Prospect yesterday. They have trays of various chicken dishes @ $30/tray(20 pieces-cutlets). You could get 5 of these, considering 3 pieces/person, which is more than enough, plus a couple of their pizzas, perhaps salad and or a pasta. This would be more than enough food and I think would be within your budget.

We got the chicken saltimboca and the chicken marsala....both very good.

If your party is in Wilmette, it's a 20-25 minute drive (no rush hr!!) down Lake Ave. to Mt Prospect.

What about a pizza party? Would fit with bowling. There's a Lou Malnati's in Wilmette.