Food for Thought - November 15, 2003
By The Editors -- Restaurants & Institutions, 11/15/2003
The Lowdown on Menus
Restaurant chains are scurrying to offer foods lower in carbohydrates or calories to cater to the millions of Americans following popular diet plans. Casting its lot with the low-carb/high-protein crowd, New York City-based Blimpie Subs & Salads is testing a Carb-Counter Menu in its Long Island, N.Y., stores. Included are five 6-inch sandwiches with no more than 8.5 grams of carbohydrates, a 7-gram antipasto salad and even a 5-gram brownie.
Madison, Ga.-based casual-dining chain Don Pablo’s joined the low-carbohydrate bandwagon with new menu items at all 109 units. Smoked-chicken, mahi mahi and sirloin fajitas use iceberg lettuce leaves as wrappers in place of tortillas and have no more than 18 carb grams. A special Low-Carb Margarita made with a sugar substitute and fruit juices has 1.5 grams of carbohydrates.
Pizza poses a carb conundrum since wheat flour tops low-carb diets’ do-not-touch list, so Pizza Hut focused on lowering fat with Fit ’N Delicious. With half the cheese of the Thin ’N Crispy pizza, Fit ’N Delicious pizzas are lower in fat (3.5 to 5 grams, depending on toppings).
Burger King, too, is counting fat rather than carb grams with its “Flavor from fire-grilling, not from fat” ad campaign. Its new chicken baguette sandwiches (l.) have 5 fat grams—less than a fifth of the fat in the chain’s Grilled Chicken Caesar Club and half the fat of its BK Veggie burger—but more than 45 carb grams.
Can You Hear Me Now?
At Boka in Chicago, a designated cellphone room off its entry allows guests to take or make calls without bothering diners or having to leave the restaurant for clear reception.
An Affirmative Action
Cited for creating a corporate culture that embraces diversity, Michel Landel (r.), president and CEO of Gaithersburg, Md.-based Sodexho USA, was one of 10 recipients of the 2003 Diversity Best Practices CEO Leadership Awards.
Sponsored by Diversity Best Practices, a Washington, D.C.-based service established in 1999 to foster shared insights on increasing diversity in the workplace, the award recognized Landel’s efforts to make Sodexho USA a more inclusive employer. The company’s corporate vision statement asserts its belief that “diversity is a business imperative and an ethical and social responsibility, grounded in our core values of team spirit, service spirit, and spirit of progress.”
Annual compensation for Sodexho USA senior executives and managers is linked to their diversity achievements, regardless of the company’s financial performance. By the end of this year, all managers—more than 15,000 of them—will have completed training in equal-employment and affirmative-action programs. And Landel himself chairs the company’s Diversity Leadership Council, which reviews Sodexho’s progress in meeting diversity goals.
“At Sodexho USA, we believe the principles of diversity and inclusion must rank among our top strategic imperatives,” Landel said in accepting the award in October.
Menu Focus
With all the seeds, it’s easy to regard pomegranates as too labor intensive. But the seeds are surrounded by tart-sweet juice ideal for adding flavor contrast to savories and desserts. Now in season, pomegranates offer an exotic but approachable way to accent menus.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
Bottega: Venison with gnocchi, grilled peaches and pomegranateNEW YORK CITY
Meet: Walnut-crusted rack of lamb with pomegranate glaze
Ola: Sangria with pomegranate, green apple, orange, lemon, brandy, orange liquor and red wineOAKLAND, CALIF.
Bay Wolf: Pomegranate sorbet with black-pepper shortbreadPALO ALTO, CALIF.
Zibibbo: Pomegranate-molasses-glazed pork loinSEATTLE
Icon Grill: Grilled pear salad with walnuts, greens, blue cheese and pomegranate vinaigrette
Seattle University: Pomegranate-marinated salmon with fried leeks, caviar, basmati rice and vegetablesVIENNA, VA.
Bob Kincaid’s Colvin Run Tavern: Endive salad with radicchio, Gorgonzola-stuffed pears, walnuts and pomegranate vinaigretteWASHINGTON, D.C.
Zaytinya: Seared salmon with pistachios and mint pearl couscous flavored with pomegranate oil
A Place of His Own
David Burke, a maverick of New American cuisine, is back in a kitchen that he can call his own. For 11 years, Burke was corporate executive chef for The Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group as the New York City-based company grew and expanded its concepts. At David Burke Donatella (scheduled to open earlier this month in Manhattan) the chef brings together a contemporary American fine-dining menu inspired by flavors from across the continents.
With business partner Donatella Arpaia, owner of three Italian restaurants, Burke’s Upper East Side spot features fine dining in a relaxed high-comfort setting distinguished by an Old World feel (crown molding and archways) tempered by modern flair (blown-glass fixtures and original artwork).
Expect to find Burke favorites such as pastrami salmon on the menu as well as newcomers such as Lobster Filet Mignon with Curry Shoestring Potatoes and Ginger-Coconut Broth. Risotto will stand in for mashed potatoes as a side and pastas will be offered, but Burke says the menu will indeed be global.
Fine Tuning
Brinker International enhances hospitality with customized music menus. Frank Sinatra croons in its Maggiano’s Little Italy chain, Moby plays at Chili’s Grill & Bar and Willie Nelson entertains at On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina. The artists are among hundreds of singers and groups included in music profiles for each restaurant concept.
Dallas-based Brinker recently hired an audio/visual systems firm to define a music style for each chain. “The challenge is to treat each [concept] as an individual customer,’’ says Robin Sibucao, COO of the Redmond, Wash.-based company. “Each chain has distinct demographics, ambience and pace of eating.’’
His company spent three months visiting restaurants, watching customers and talking with employees. Maggiano’s warm wood interior and upscale Italian food, for example, is better suited for Sinatra than for concertina music. Chili’s informality and family demographics are a match for classic rock and contemporary artists such as Moby.
Music delivery to the 1,100 restaurants is straightforward, says Louis Adams, a Brinker spokesman. Each unit regularly downloads preset music through Brinker’s intranet, allowing employees to concentrate on operations. “They don’t have to change CDs anymore,’’ says Adams.
Bankrkuptcy Line Foms Here
Two weeks after Dallas-based Consolidated Restaurant Operations (CRO) pulled the plug on an agreement to acquire it, Chevys Inc. filed a voluntary petition to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Emeryville, Calif.-based parent of the Chevys Fresh Mex, Fuzio Universal Pasta and Rio Bravo chains was one of several California-based operators that sought reorganization under Chapter 11 protection last month.
Although John Harkey, CEO of CRO, pointed to uncertainties in California’s “political and economic climate” as a reason for terminating the acquisition, Chevys said its filing was caused by problems with 37-unit Rio Bravo, which it acquired from Applebee’s International in 1999. The chain has performed poorly and is being closed, Chevys President and CEO Ron Maccarone said in a statement.
The filing by another Emeryville, Calif., company, Constellation Concepts, is the result of an “over-leveraged debt structure.” Constellation operates the Alcatraz Brewing, California Cafe and Napa Valley Grille chains and stand-alone restaurants Cafe Del Rey, Horizons and Ondine.
The 128-unit Chi-Chi’s Inc., 29-unit Koo Koo Roo Inc., and 14-unit The Hamlet Group, operating subsidiaries of Irvine, Calif.-based Prandium Inc., also filed for bankruptcy protection in October. In conjunction with its filing, Koo Koo Roo is being acquired by Fuddruckers Inc. Prandium itself emerged from Chapter 11 in July 2002.
Newport Beach, Calif.-based Spectrum Restaurant Group filed for reorganization in August. It owns the Crabby Bob’s, Grandy’s, National Sports Grill and Spoons Bar & Grill chains as well as a number of stand-alone restaurants in California.
Ivy Idea
Its interpretation of 18th century fine dining demands a completely-from-scratch menu, says Walter Staib, chef-owner of City Tavern (Ivy ’99), Philadelphia. The restaurant’s freshly baked Anadama Bread, Sally Lunn Bread and Thomas Jefferson’s Sweet Potato Biscuits are an integral part of the experience, he says, “and are so revered by our guests that we included the recipes in both the ‘City Tavern Cookbook’ and the new ‘City Tavern Baking and Dessert Cookbook.’”
That's Italian
Darden Restaurants’ Olive Garden concept is dedicated to upholding authentic Italian culinary and cultural traditions. That’s why it established its Riserva di Fizzano restaurant and Culinary Institute of Tuscany in an 11th-century Italian village, where it trains chefs and develops menu items. It also explains the Tuscan Farmhouse design developed for its restaurants. Additionally, the chain co-founded the Wine Institute of Napa Valley to help it expand and improve wine service.
One important element of the true Italian dining experience Olive Garden hadn’t focused on was coffee. But the Orlando, Fla.-based chain has changed that with its introduction of a new coffee service, Caffé la Toscana, at all 527 locations.
The program begins with adoption of a new signature Italian-roast coffee blend (though its cappuccino and espresso blends remain the same) and extends to how coffee is prepared and served in its Olive Garden units. A new coffee-brewing system in each location eliminates standard heating elements. Instead, freshly brewed coffee is kept in specially designed thermal coffeepots and will be held no longer than one hour after brewing. Coffee-service china carries the Caffé la Toscana name and is accompanied by branded Olive Garden sugar sticks for creating Italian-style coffee.
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