Trends

“Anti-French feelings may be high,” says Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm. “But the palate doesn’t play politics. French dining is doing very, very well.”

Sure, the nation’s politics swung anti-French last year when France loudly protested the Iraq war. Sales of French wine hit the skids.

So did business at some French restaurants. But a surprising number of them, particularly on the West Coast, have entered 2004 standing taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Behind this: diners’ growing desire for variety, particularly international fare. In a nation seemingly overrun with Italian and Southwestern outlets, there’s actually a dearth of French fare, Paul says. [Read more…] about What backlash? Diners say oui to French cuisine

A preference for dark meat is not merely personal, but a matter of tradition for David Fortuna, chef/owner of Wholly Ravioli, Sacramento, Calif. Ever since his family’s first restaurant was opened in 1945, its members have preached the virtues of chicken thighs. “In Italy you use all parts of the chicken,he says. “Dark meat has a more ‘chickeny’ flavor, and it absorbs marinades and holds sauces better than breast meat.

[Read more…] about A preference for dark meat

https://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2001854944_tea11.html

Tea’s potential health benefits have made it the new hot drink of choice

From left: Green, red, white and black teas have all been shown to have potential disease-fighting effects.

Freud famously wondered, “What does a woman want?” He never figured it out, but many business owners have-and are making money in the process. What women want right now is attention to detail in product design and service; [Read more…] about What Women Want

Grand opening preparation at New York’s Time Warner Center, will feature six restaurants.

About a New York minute. The soon-to-be-unveiled feasting options are audacious even by the standards of a city that calls itself the restaurant capital of the world. Five of the country’s top chefs and a rising international star will dish out fare at six upscale restaurants designed by the biggest names in the business – all under one roof.

https://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2004-02-03-time-warner-main_x.htm

Restaurant revue summary from The Restaurant Magazine

The Fat Duck, Malik’s, The Anchor & Hope, Rhodes Restaurant, Restaurant Martin Wishart

The Daily Telegraph’s Jan Moir got to sample the now three-star molecular gastronomy of The Fat Duck this week. Beginning with what she described as a “culinary joke,” Moir was served two squares of jelly – one orange, one beetroot coloured – which turned out to be of blood orange and golden beetroot. She found the food “oddly masculine”, appealing to “chefs and industry professionals.” She admitted it was “technically brilliant” but “challenging”. The £85 tasting menu began with a “gummy” selection of amuse dishes: green tea and lime meringue, a single oyster in a pool of horseradish cream and passion fruit jelly, a teaspoon of mustard ice cream in a pool of red cabbage, and quail jelly with pea puree. Next, a spoon of snail porridge, a slice of poached and glazed foie gras that “melt[ed] on the tongue, not in an entirely pleasant way.” Savoury ices followed, with Moir finding the experience “actively horrible”. The textures were “relentless” and “pappy” and Moir was desperate for “a proper lunch”.

“No fat, low fat – that’s gone. No carb, low carb – that’s going to be gone, too,” says Pratt, author of SuperFoods Rx (William Morrow). “The message should be, focus on healthy carbs, whole grains as well as legumes. You’re going to be full long before you get fat.” [Read more…] about "No fat, low fat – that's gone. No carb, low carb

We are a country of the carb-crazed. Robert Atkins, the protein prophet who started this trend, may be gone, but his low-carb diet plan lives on in an ever-expanding industry of imitators, spinoffs and products. Not only have major fast-food chains joined the bun-less, bread-less trend

[Read more…] about Low-Carb Crazed an overview