Tuna Tartare Endive Cups

Cheffing a 20 person cocktail party for my mom

9 ingredients•Prep: 20 mins

Ryan Nordheimer•

July 7, 2026

As I alluded to in my last newsletter, I’ve been gearing up to cater a 20-person cocktail party for my mom. When I private-cheffed my friend’s mom’s birthday brunch a couple of months back, and all of her friends were gathered around the dining table eating amazing food and chatting, I realized that my mom could have the same experience with all of her friends. All she needed was for me to make a trip down to Maryland to cook all the food.

I had originally envisioned this cocktail party as actually being for both of my parents and all of their friends. But when push came to shove, my mom and I realized that it would just be easier if my dad was simply cut out of the picture LOL (he has a tendency to overcomplicate food, drinks, vibes, etc.). So with him out of the house, I took full rein.

My mom, ironically, hates hosting. But with me essentially serving as the caterer, and my cousin Lily serving as the caterer’s assistant, there wasn’t much for her to worry about. A good symbiotic relationship: I use the lovely kitchen, she uses me to make the food.

My mom barely gave me any direction with the food menu. Every morning when we talked on the phone for the past like 3 or 4 weeks I would bring up the menu and try to hone in on it somewhat, which was always met with an immediate deflection toward another topic, leaving me quite in the dark as to what I was expected to make. The menu thus became whatever fun hors d’oeuvres ideas popped into my head in the span of us sending out the Partiful and me going to the Whole Foods in Maryland.

Hope you enjoyed the party mom since I know you’re reading <3

Ryan

P.S. If you're in the DC area, my parents’ kitchen designer is Sharon Dougherty Trifilo, and you can find her website here. She’s amazing!

Ingredients (9)

Spicy mayo

Mayonnaise(½ cup)
Gochujang(3 Tbsp)
Toasted sesame oil(2 tsp)

Tartare and assembly

Tuna(1–1 ¼ lb, cut into small dice)
bought the same day at a high-end grocery store
Scallions(2, thinly sliced)
plus more for garnish
Soy sauce(2 Tbsp)
Toasted sesame oil(2 tsp)
Toasted sesame seeds(1 Tbsp)
plus more for garnish
Endives(4–5, large leaves peeled off, small leaves and cores discarded)

Instructions

Spicy Mayo

Stir together all the spicy mayo ingredients in a bowl. Taste for seasoning. This can be made up to 3 days in advance.

Tuna Tartare and Assembly

In a separate bowl, stir together the tuna (1–1 ¼ lb), scallions (2), soy sauce (2 Tbsp), sesame oil (2 tsp), and sesame seeds (1 Tbsp). Taste for seasoning. This can be prepared up to 2 hours before serving, covered in the fridge.
On a large platter, lay out all your endive (4–5) petals. Use a small spoon to spread about 2 tsp of the spicy mayo inside each petal. Then spoon a bite-sized amount of tuna tartare on top. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.