Flavor In Every Language
Chain menus go global as patrons let their appetites roam across the continents
By Margaret Casey, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 7/1/2004
From 1 to 400, it’s not hard to find the world’s flavors mingling on menus. The trend goes far beyond teriyaki chicken at Leeann Chin’s, fettuccine Alfredo at Olive Garden and tacos at Rubio’s. As restaurant chains seek to spice up offerings with international flair, the notion of what constitutes American cuisine is being upended and redefined. In a growing number of chains, familiar standards line up side by side with more-esoteric items designed to draw an increasingly sophisticated clientele.
In addition to Big Macs and fries, McDonald’s offers Spanish Omelete Bagels and breakfast burritos. Besides Whoppers, Burger King touts Fire-Grilled Shrimp Garden Salad with fajita-spiced shrimp. Hooters serves chicken wings, quesadillas and Cuban sandwiches while Chart House menus miso-glazed salmon with ginger-soy broth along with steamed Maine lobster.
Finding the perfect mix of mainstream and adventuresome, says Rich Vellante, executive chef and senior vice president of food operations for Boston-based Legal Sea Foods, “is a matter of achieving balance, especially in multi-unit chains. You have to have familiar items but also a broader spectrum of flavors to reach younger audiences.”
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Curiosity about new tastes is a common trait within that highly desirable demographic—the next big generation of restaurant users, Vellante says. “They have to be stimulated. They like a twist, something a little different on menus.”
Different at Legal Sea Foods might mean Indian spices that define three of its menu items or a typically Spanish approach to simple preparations or platings. “These items sell pretty well. They won’t be our biggest sellers but people get passionate about why they go to restaurants. For some, these dishes spark a great memory of travels or childhood.” Vellante also notes that the ethnic explorations on his menu reflect the philosophy of the chain’s CEO, Roger Berkowitz. “He’s an owner with a vision and part of that is to appreciate other cultures.”
Reaching for the Edge
At Max & Erma’s, a menu dominated by burgers, steaks
and chicken takes an ethnic turn with Mexican tortilla soup and
Asian pot stickers. “Putting these items on the menu extends
our reach,” explains Bob Davis, executive chef for the
Columbus, Ohio-based chain. “We have core guests who love
us as we are but we try to attract more people. To do that, you
have to be a little edgier.”
“Edgy” is a fast-moving target and Davis understands that to be on the cusp of a trend demands a lot of research plus trial and error. “We add a couple of items to the menu that are more exciting. You take the risk and see what the guest says.”
In acting as a culinary tour guide for customers, Davis often adopts an “on a need to know basis” approach. “We use poblano chiles in the tortilla soup but for now we call them green chiles. It’s easier for customers to understand that term. Even jalapeños used to scare people until they got used to seeing them on menus.”
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Among Max & Erma’s summer offerings is a chicken sandwich inspired by Italian Caprese salad. To avoid a fear-of-the-unknown factor, Davis omitted Caprese from the name. “We didn’t try to teach people a new word,” he says. Without that barrier, the sandwich has sold “almost too well, more than twice the test sales,” he says.
Legal’s Vellante agrees that it’s better to phase in new food knowledge. “A menu with a lot of foreign words or too many ingredients to comprehend takes guests too far from their comfort zone. It confuses them.”
At Captain D’s Seafood, several menu items, including fried shrimp salad with sesame dressing, have been designed to let patrons wade into new ethnic waters without overwhelming them.
“We make sure there’s a safety net for customers, a default mechanism in case they start to get too far out,” explains Charles Bruce, senior vice president of marketing for the Nashville, Tenn.-based chain. Safety comes in the form of options: a different dressing or sauce if they so choose.
“We don’t want to exclude anyone by serving a spicy sauce. Guests can always have plain tartar sauce.”
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American as Pizza Pie
The push for exotic tastes has not significantly changed Pizza
Hut’s staple offering. “We stick to pretty mainstream
tastes,” explains Leah Evans, senior vice president of
research and development for the Dallas-based chain. “Pizza
generally is a large product shared by a lot of people. You don’t
want to have a taste that someone in the group doesn’t
like.”
But today’s mainstream, even at Pizza Hut, often comes with a punch. “We have 15 to 17 items on the make table. Jalapeños are a common ingredient that customers use to adjust their spice level,” Evans says.
Growing tastes for bolder sensations also have been seen at San Diego-based Jack in the Box, a chain that long had focused its offerings on the appetites of young males. Sharing menu space with burgers are a new line of Pannido sandwiches on Italian ciabatta bread, and a zesty Greek salad of fresh greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and feta cheese.
“We’ve seen a rise in consumer expectations of flavors and what they can get in a dine-out experience,” notes Tammy Bailey, division vice president of menu marketing and promotions. New items help draw a broader customer base, she says. “They’ve become familiar with these flavors in casual-dining restaurants. Now they can have them with the convenience of the drive-thru.”
Foreign Intrigue
Not every single ingredient in a preparation
needs to be mentioned on the menu, especially if they are a little
bit out of the ordinary. Bob Davis, executive chef for Max & Erma’s, says that,
without misleading guests, it’s OK to tap the taste or
textural qualities of unfamiliar ingredients. His all-American
strawberry shortcake, for instance, an assembly of macerated
berries and whipped topping over pound cake, has a little secret:
Italian mascarpone cheese.
“For structure and mouth feel, it’s perfect,” he says of the cheese that’s folded into whipped cream. “If guests knew it was there, who knows if it would it be a veto factor or the reason they order it?”
There’s another food about which he’s curious but expects to remain silent. As Thai food gallops straight to the heart of America, Davis envisions a time when nam pla—Thai fish sauce—is used, like soy sauce, to season a full range of foods. Yet in most chains, he predicts, “You will never see fish and sauce used in the same sentence. But it combines umami (the “fifth” taste)—sweet and sour—the perfect basis for a craveable food.”
Global Gastronomy
With the number of dining occasions on a
continual upward trend and the appetite for culinary adventures
keener than ever, R&D
chefs are challenged to introduce menu items that keep patrons
interested and intrigued. In short, that means that inspiration
and flavors come from all corners of the world.
Asian Adventures
Champps Restaurant & Bar: Mongolian Egg Rolls with pork,
beef, mushrooms and Asian vegetables, served with Thai peanut
slaw
Claim Jumper: Thai lettuce wraps with satay chicken, Asian noodles
and tamarind sauce
Joe’s American Bar & Grill: Seared ahi tuna with cilantro
rice cake, ginger-soy dressing and wasabi
The Yard House: California Roll (sushi rice cake layered with
cucumbers, crab, avocado and tobiko caviar; served with wasabi-soy
sauce, sesame oil, sirracha-chile sauce, nori and pickled ginger)
Indian Imports
Atlanta Bread Company: Curried chicken salad sandwich
Cosí: Bombay Chicken Salad with tandoori chicken, roasted
red peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and mixed greens
Legal Sea Foods: Grilled Chettinad Spiced Fish (blend of 12 Indian
spices sprinkled on salmon, trout, scallops, char or tuna, and
cooked over wood-fired grill)
Italian Expressions
Houlihan’s: Shrimp scampi linguine with Parmesan and grilled
zucchini
Planet Hollywood: Grilled Tuscan Chicken Sandwich with prosciutto,
provolone cheese and roma tomatoes on focaccia bread
Quiznos Sub: Tuscan Chicken
Salad Sub with low-fat mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion and spices
(right)
Middle Eastern Intrigue
Einstein Bros Bagels: Hummus
and feta-pine nut spread on ciabatta bread, with roasted
red peppers, red onions, cucumbers and butter lettuce
Gordon Biersch: Hummus
and goat cheese salad with roasted red peppers, cheese and vinaigrette
over warm
flatbread
Legal Sea Foods: Falafel Salmon (chickpea-crusted salmon served
on hummus with cucumber-yogurt sauce
Margaret Casey is a Chicago-based freelance writer.
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