Introducing the latest sandwich sensation: The BLA

Yep, if Mother Nature doesn’t cast some more sunshine our way, we might find a curious addition to normally unchanging diner menus: The Bacon, Lettuce and Apple sandwich*.
Here in Ontario, the lack of summer sun has been bad news for some vegetable growers and “a challenge for chefs who use local produce.”  Specifically, chefs have [...]

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Soups, salads and apps feeling left out

A report recently released by Technomic in the U.S. reveals that Americans as less willing to order “from the left side of the menu” — namely, appetizers, soups and salads.
Some interesting facts from the May 21 news release:

Nearly 60% of consumers are not fully satisfied with the variety of appetizers on the menu at full-service [...]

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It’s okay to get sauce on this bow tie

Food pros will — or oughta! — know this info like the backs of their well-muscled hands, but I wanted to post this as a reminder for all.  And, well, because the photos are just so darned pretty.
Chow’s When Pasta Met Sauce is a beautifully illustrated guide to which sauces go best with which noodles.  [...]

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American chefs pick top menu trends for 2009

More goodness from the NRA (National Restaurant Association): the top 10 food trends for restaurants in 2009.
In October, NRA surveyed mote than 1,600 professional chefs, who ranked over 200 foods/menu items as “hot trends,” yesterday’s news” or “perennial favorites” (or, as we like to say in Canada, “favourites”).
Four trends cracked the 80% mark:

Locally grown produce [...]

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Culinary archaeology

I have no official confirmation of this, for that would require walking up a flight of stairs and asking a question, but imagine my HORROR when I found these titles tucked away in an office alcove, seemingly destined for that Great Big Blue Box In The Sky:

Orlando Cuisine: The Menu and Dining Guide to Orlando’s [...]

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High-end humble

It takes a special kind of creativity to develop event menus — the offerings need to be fresh but familiar, affordable and accessible, and most challenging of all, scalable and reproducible for gatherings of 12 or 1200.
Bizbash magazine honed in on this challenge in their recent article, Big Flavors, Not-So-Big Prices. As they describe [...]

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