Food
Food trends and recipes to keep menus fresh
Food
Soft drink refresh
Chia is the new superfood. Yes, that chia, of the “pet” craze in the 1980s. Favored by the Aztecs, this herb is still popular in Mexico, where the whole seeds are mixed with fruit juices to make chia fresca.
Food
Grown in Oregon
Many Asian restaurants rely on imported dried and canned ingredients to create dishes close to the originals. But that’s not the way chef Gregory Gourdet cooks at Departure, a modern Pan-Asian spot in Portland, Oregon.
Greg Atkinson was buying and promoting local foods long before it became the routine thing to do for top chefs. The former chef of Seattle’s Canlis then took time off from cooking in restaurants to teach culinary arts and write about food. Now Atkinson is back at the stove in his newly opened Marché on Bainbridge Island in Winslow, Wash., where he’s again preparing the most indigenous ingredients he can get his hands on.
The limitless possibilities of making a meal between two slices of bread have catapulted the sandwich into new menu territory. Breakfast and lunch sandwiches still dominate, but these days, bars and late night menus are featuring mini ethnic sandwiches and full-service restaurants tout overstuffed dinner-size versions.
The 50-foot salad bar at Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes is a big draw for guests who come to create customized salads. But the 125-unit chain also offers four varying “recipe” salads tossed fresh every 20 minutes in exhibition kitchens at each location. The most recent of these is the Grilled Steakhouse Salad.