Chef Eat Cook Joy Eat Cook Joy

Personal Chef in San Marcos

We are a talented team of local chefs to bring the magic of personalized, from-scratch, home-cooked meals directly to your kitchen. With a variety of meal options and snacks to choose from, we've got your week ahead covered.

Our company, Eat Cook Joy was born out of our personal pain point of wanting delicious home cooked meals for their families but lacking time to do so. Takeouts were expensive and unhealthy, meal prep kits created a lot of trash, and we still had to cook. Personal chefs were an expensive luxury so we decided to get creative and find a way to use technology + training to make a luxury personal chef service more accessible and affordable.

For me, cooking is...

is a heartfelt way to gather loved ones, sharing not just great food but also the warmth of memories forged around the dining table.

I learned to cook at...

home. Driven by a desire to nourish my body and create memorable moments of comfort and delight for my loved ones.

A cooking secret...

endless exploration! I embrace new ingredients, flavors, and techniques. Cooking is a timeless journey of new and delicious experiences.

My menus

Fish & Seafood

STARTER

Choose 1 dish

Shrimp Skewers with Garlic Herb Butter

Crispy Calamari with Lemon Aioli

Smoked Salmon & Cucumber Bites with Cream Cheese & Dill

FIRST COURSE

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Creamy Clam Chowder with Oyster Crackers

Seared Shrimp over Mixed Greens with Citrus Vinaigrette

Mussels Steamed in White Wine, Garlic & Fresh Herbs

MAIN COURSE

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Grilled Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce, Roasted Vegetables & Jasmine Rice

Garlic Butter Shrimp Linguine with Fresh Parsley & Parmesan

Classic Crab Cakes with Roasted Potatoes & Seasonal Vegetables

DESSERT

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Key Lime Cheesecake with Whipped Cream

Coconut Panna Cotta with Pineapple Drizzle

Chocolate Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

Vegetarian Farm To Table

STARTER

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Stuffed Mini Peppers with herbed goat cheese and balsamic glaze

Crispy Cauliflower Bites with spicy aioli

FIRST COURSE

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Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with apple, candied pecans, and maple vinaigrette

Heirloom Tomato & Burrata Salad with basil oil and sea salt

MAIN COURSE

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Wild Mushroom Risotto with white wine, parmesan, and truffle oil

Spaghetti Squash Primavera with roasted vegetables and fresh pesto

DESSERT

All inclusive

Flourless Chocolate Cake with berry compote

Lemon Olive Oil Cake with whipped mascarpone

South Congress Supper Club

STARTER

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Pimento Cheese Crostini with Pickled Okra

FIRST COURSE

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Mixed Field Greens with Blackberries, Feta, and Balsamic Reduction

MAIN COURSE

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Coffee-Crusted Pork Chop with Sweet Potato Purée & Charred Brussels sprouts with texas hot honey

Blackened Sea Bass with Sweet Potato Purée & Charred Brussels sprouts with texas hot honey

DESSERT

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Mini Texas Sheet Cake with Toasted Pecans

Light & Fresh Texas Garden

STARTER

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Watermelon & Feta Skewers with Fresh Mint with Lime drizzle and Tajin rim

FIRST COURSE

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Citrus Kale Salad with Toasted Quinoa & Goat Cheese

MAIN COURSE

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Lemon-Dill Roasted Salmon with Wild Rice & Roasted Zucchini

Seared Cauliflower Steak with Wild Rice & Roasted Zucchini

DESSERT

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Honey-Lavender Yogurt Parfait with Berries

Hill Country Comfort

STARTER

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Baked Brie Crostini with Crispy Prosciutto w Honey Thyme drizzle

FIRST COURSE

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Arugula + Apple Salad with Candied Pecans & Honey Vinaigrette

MAIN COURSE

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Lemon Meyer Roasted Herb Chicken Thighs with Truffle Mashed Potatoes & Seasonal Greens

Ribeye Steaks with Truffle Mashed Potatoes & Seasonal Greens

DESSERT

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Peach Cobbler with Vanilla Whipped Cream (seasonal sub: apple crisp)

Modern Tex-Mex Table

STARTER

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Street Corn Elotes with Cotija & Tajín Aiol

FIRST COURSE

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Charred Romaine Wedge with Avocado Lime Dressing & Pickled Red Onion

MAIN COURSE

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SW Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Grilled Peppers, Cilantro Rice, & Smoky Roasted Vegetables

New York Strip with Grilled Peppers, Cilantro Rice, & Smoky Roasted Vegetables

DESSERT

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Dulce de Leche Churro Bites with Chocolate Sauce

Indian Menu

STARTER

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Bhel Puri (raw mango, coriander chutney, yoghurt)

Potato Baratha with yogurt

Methi Chicken

FIRST COURSE

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Vegetable Pakoras with tamarind chutney

Kanghou: Stir Fried Mixed Vegetable

Tandoori Shrimp Skewers with Mint Chutney

MAIN COURSE

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Chicken Malai Tikka with rice

Prawn Malaikari

Saag Keema with Jeera Rice

DESSERT

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Pistachio Barfi

Gajar Ka Halwa

Kheer with Pistachios & Rose

Asian Inspired

STARTER

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Thai Chicken Satay w/ Peanut Sauce

Crispy Vegetable Tempura with Ponzu Dipping Sauce

Shisito Pepper with Smoked Salt & Lime

FIRST COURSE

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Asian Pork Belly Bites

Deconstructed Green Papaya Salad

Mini Banh Mi Bites

MAIN COURSE

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Cantonese-Style Crispy Sea Bass w/ Sweet & Sour Sauce, Jasmine Rice

Panang Curry w/ Grilled Beef (Or Chicken), Asparagus, Jasmine Rice

Sausage Gochujang Rigatoni

DESSERT

Choose 1 dish

Yuzu Cheesecake

Mango & Sticky Rice with a Coconut Lime Reduction

Ginger Infused Chocolate Tart

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Chef Eat Cook Joy's reviews

4.66

•

178 services

They were outstanding. Food was great ans kitchen was spotless when they left....

5++++! Chef Tracy and her food were phenomenal! I loved the "Chef at home" experience and will ask for her again! I couldn’t get enough of the street elote…it was delicious. Yumm! Tracy was so professional, made the evening noteworthy and so stress free. We had a wonderful time! Thank you so much!

Jacob did an amazing job! Would highly recommend him! Thank you for elevating our experience!

Chefs Gabrielle and Clayton were awesome! We were celebrating a big birthday and the food and presentation were perfect. The steak was cooked just right, the pasta had just the right amount of spice and everyone raved about the homemade dessert. Would love to host another event with them!

I really enjoyed working with our chef. He did a great job! My only negative would be that the communication that I shared was not relayed to him in advance. Also, the portion size that was picked up and given to him to prepare was much smaller than I anticipated. Please make sure your chefs know if it’s going to be a birthday party or any details because it helps that chef be set for success when they arrive.

Amazing experience!!

Will absolutely use this service again!

Chef Jose was the best - my friends and I enjoyed the whole experience -definitely worth doing again and or telling everyone!

We had 2 separate chefs for a Friday and Saturday night. Budha was Friday night and the dinner was servered family style (beef and chicken fajitas). Ceviche and street tacos were also served however all at once. The flavors were amazing! The food and presentation was incredible. He was professional and clean. He wasn’t familiar with the dessert we had requested (churros) however was upfront about that and was able to recreate it into something delicious we still all enjoyed. He was kind, respectful and did a great job. Horacio was obviously a pro! He served dishes in a timely manner. Crab cakes that were mostly crab and not just cake - just like we like them - were served first on a plate of micro greens that really expanded the flavor portfolio. And incredible Brussels sprout, apple, cranberry and hazelnut salad followed. Absolutely incredible! Surf and Turf as the main dish. The lobster was cooked perfectly and so was the ribeye with a delicious Jimmy churro sauce. And finally he presented the best tiramisu we’ve ever had. My dad’s favorite for his 60th birthday. Chef was engaging, professional, clean and we all said it we’d hire him again! Would recommend either chef! We had a wonderful experience!

Chef Horacio is very good and receptive to your needs. I highly recommend him to you.

Chef Horacio from Eat-Cook-Joy was fantastic. He was communicative on his arrival time and showed up right on time. From there he was very amenable to our schedule and let us decide when we were ready for each course. The food was unbelievably decadent. Every bite was better than the last, and neither my fiancée nor myself have any notes of improvements. Quite possibly the greatest part of the night was shortly after Chef left our home, we finished our dessert and headed to the kitchen to clean up (our usual process), but there wasn’t a thing for us to do. The dishes were washed and put away, the extra food stored and put in the fridge, countertops wiped and disinfected. It was spotless. It was an 11/10 experience, we’ll absolutely be using Take a Chef again for a romantic night in or fun dinner party with friends!

Chef Horacio and Chef Lindsay collaborated to make a complex family gathering a thoroughly memorable experience. They had to negotiate various dietary preferences including kosher and vegetarian, plus six kids of varying relationships to food. The resulting meal was a delight and made the entire event, a 50th wedding anniversary, a perfect one that each of us will cherish. I cannot say enough good things about Chef Horacio, his skill, his enthusiasm, his winning personality. As he was leaving, he got a spontaneous standing ovation!

Chef Horacio was excellent. The food was incredible and we totally enjoyed our experience. We hope to have him back again.

We loved this experience! Well worth it and had tons of leftovers!

Chef was phenomenal and helped curate an amazing experience!

Excellent experience! We loved being able to sit back and enjoined having someone cook an amazing meal for our group and clean up everything! Highly recommend this experience!

El servicio, la calidad, los alimentos fueron excelentes. Muy amable el equipo del Chef, atentas y todo estuvo maravilloso. ¡Volveríamos a contratarlas y recomendarlas 100%!

Incredible experience! Would highly recommend!

This was a perfect night at home for us, would definitely recommend!

Our private chef experience with Maria was incredible and very memorable, I can not recommend her and Take a Chef enough!