Housemade pickles and pickled vegetables, a trend started by DIY chefs and farm-to-table advocates, are trickling down to the fast-casual segment. According to Technomic’s MenuMonitor, the appearance of pickled items on fast-casual menus has increased 20 percent between 2012 and 2013. Americans are embracing sour flavors and restaurants in every segment are out to tempt their taste buds.
Technomic offers a sampling of some of the pickled selections appearing on fast-casual menus:
- Fire-N-Ice Pickles, Hill Country Kitchen: house-made spicy pickles
- Chilled Pea Soup, No. 7 Sub: with roasted onions, ham and pickled blueberries
- Korean Taco, Doc Chey’s Noodle House: Korean beef, pickled veggies, Korean barbecue sauce and scallion
- Tandoori Chicken Kati Roll, Bombay Bowl: wrapped in roti with pickled onions, tikka sauce and cilantro garlic chutney
- Roast Beef Cheddar Melt Panini, Bruegger’s Bagels: roast beef, cheddar, pickled red onions and horseradish sauce on ciabatta
- Modern Asian Salad, Chop’t Creative Salad Company: edamame, pickled broccoli-and-carrot slaw, crispy Chinese noodles and slivered almonds tossed with spinach and romaine
- Urbanbelly Chix, Franks ’n Dawgs: Vietnamese chicken sausage, pickled green papaya, curry mayonnaise, crispy shallots, Thai basil gelée and lime
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.