2006 In Review
A time of tugs, teamings, and toss-ups: global-local, sonic-slow, jumbo-petite, minimalist-baroque, sweet-salty, cocktails-mocktails, BTU blasts and flash freezing. Of escalating quality combat, rattling food scares, and the unstoppable steak and Asia juggernauts.
Bryan Miller
Posted: January 5, 2007
Buzz speak afterparty • agar-agar • anti-oxidant • apiary • art installation • avian flu • beer pairings • branding • cage-free • certified • charcuterie • chefs council • cocina de vanguardia • collection (seasonal) • cured • direct shipping • dry-aged • E. coli • enzymes • full menu disclosure • fromagère • grass-fed or -finished • green card • hotel restaurant • Ibérico • lobster cruelty • local • mega-restaurant • mercury • molecular gastronomy • mulch • online reservations • organic wines • pairing program • partially hydrogenated • pata negra • private label • raw • school lunch • single-crop farming • slow poached • sous-vide • subsidies • superfoods • sustainability • tea sommelier • theproduct (pronounced as one word) • Third World wines • trios • try-before-you-buy • upscale Mexican • upsell • wine glut
Chefpreneurs Expect to see chefs further raking in on their reputations by defining themselves as retail brands. While chefs like Todd English, Emeril Lagasse, and Wolfgang Puck (who, according to Forbes, is the highest earning chef at $16 million) have hawked kitchenware and other products for years, the new trend is to branch out with a wider range of vanity products like wine, dinners-in-a-bag, cheesecake (curiously, one of the most popular), designer seasonings, dishware (Alice Waters and Ferran Adrià are marketing tabletop), glassware, chef raiment, and every conceivable substance that can be labeled organic. For example, David Burke's recent rollout of "flavor sprays," 37 of them, promise instant ecstasy at the push of a nozzle. Among the flavors: Memphis BBQ, Hot and Sour, Teriyaki, Smoked Bacon, Root Beer Float, and Banana Split.
Most talked about dessert wild strawberries and raspberry brûlée-filled blown sugar orb with currants and raspberries at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York City's Four Seasons Hotel
Stop calling them tapas! It seems you can't go into a restaurant these days without being titillated by "small plates," which are erroneously called tapas. Spanish tapas are tidbits of food set out on a bar for snacking before dinner (or, in some cases, as dinner). They come hot and cold, and in two sizes: a pincho, which is a one or two bite serving, and a ración (smaller than an American appetizer). What's more, you have to eat them standing up!
Good books with good titles Bill Buford's Heat • Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma
Good book with bad title David Kamp's United States of Arugula
Foodie destinations Alsace • Atlantic City • Beijing • Buenos Aires • Croatia • India • Shanghai • Sydney • Valencia
Preferred pasta spaghetti
Vegetable love cauliflower
Favorite fruit pomegranate
Popular pig Berkshire pork
Finless friends sea urchin (oursin) • octopus • eel
Flower power spray orchids
Equipment of the year combi-ovens • induction ranges of all sizes • second-mortgage cooking suites • vacuum packaging machines and their sidekick immersion circulators
Rebuilding New Orleans As much a symbolic victory as a gastronomic coup, Commander's Palace, the 125 year old doyenne of haute Creole cuisine and an avatar of New Orleans hospitality, reopened in early fall after a 13 month, $6 million renovation.
When the tide finally receded, it was soggily evident that the restaurant industry had suffered a devastating setback. An estimated 54 percent of the metro area's 3,000 restaurants remain shuttered today, from white tablecloth establishments to po'boy shacks. And of those that have managed to reopen, finding staff is a challenge, as a large slice of the labor pool moved away. The city itself lost 60 percent of its population.
As of publication, the following restaurants are back in business: Acme Oyster House, Antoine's, Arnaud's, Bourbon House Seafood & Oyster Bar, Brennan's, Broussard's, Clancy's, Cuvée, Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, Galatoire's, Herbsaint, Irene's Cuisine, K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, Mosca's, Parasol's, René Bistrot, and Upper-line. Dookey Chase Restaurant is set to open by Christmas, and Willie Mae's Scotch House, famous for fried chicken, is being rebuilt.
Among places that remain on the disabled list are Gabrielle, Gautreau's, Mandich, and Mandina's.
Memoir Lane Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey • Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess by Gael Greene • Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball by Molly O'Neill • My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme • The World in My Kitchen: The Adventures of a (Mostly) French Woman in America by Colette Rossant, completing an indelible recipe sprinkled trilogy tracing her Egyptian childhood and French coming of age
Drive your car on Pinot Noir So severe is the wine glut in France and Australia this year, owing largely to overproduction and a softening demand at home and in Europe, that vignerons have resorted to selling their surplus to ethanol plants for conversion to auto fuel—in some cases, right out of the bottle. One French report, unconfirmed as yet, described road tests that demonstrated Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah offer the best miles-per-gallon (45 highway, 35 city), while Merlot and Petit Verdot ranked last (17 and 9, respectively). Curiously, Muscadet from the Loire Valley, which performed poorly on the road, has proven to be a superior radiator coolant.
Good piggy A truffle weighing close to 20 pounds was unearthed in northern Italy earlier this year. Price on the street: $50,000. The formidable fungus—the previous record was five pounds—had its coming out party at (natch) restaurant Alain Ducasse, in Manhattan's Essex House hotel. Rumors have it that, as the evening transpired, hotel guests as far up as the 12th floor began complaining of a fusty smell in the bedroom. Housekeeping ventured that it might have been the new rug shampoo.
Sue-she scare Tests on tuna sushi served in Chicago, San Diego, and Los Angeles restaurants detected mercury levels nearly as high as those for king mackerel, which is so contaminated the USDA recommends that women of child-bearing age, nursing women, and young children avoid it altogether (a mandate that might logically prompt fish-loving men to ask, "What about me?"). A public watchdog group called GotMercury.org said that these and other findings could expose restaurants to litigation by states and private organizations. As of now, say several food safety groups, no adequate federal regulations exist regarding mercury in seafood.
Vacuum sacked Chefs suffered a one-two rabbit punch this year. First was the foie gras ban in Chicago and California that is sure to spread beyond those states, followed by an assault on the cooking technique sous-vide, which involves slow cooking ingredients in vacuum-sealed bags. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene cited concern that in the wrong hands the process could lead to botulism and listeriosis. The department said that the restriction will be in effect until the federal government or the city devise strict guidelines for its use. Those caught sneaking a chicken breast into a vacuum pouch face a $300 fine.
Blowhards' pub In rural England a pub installed a breathalyzer so patrons can check their sobriety level before driving.
Diamond anniversary Sixty years of The Culinary Institute of America. In 1946, a storefront cooking school opened its kitchen doors in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, to provide vocational training for returning World War II vets. By the fourth year the school had educated 600 former GIs and moved to larger quarters. In the early 1970s it again busted its britches and decamped to a 150 room former Jesuit novitiate overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. The institute, often described as "The Harvard of Cooking Schools," has ballooned to 1,600 students. In 1995 it opened a Napa Valley food and wine educational center called Greystone.
Fill 'er up…and check under the husk As gasoline prices this summer shot up over three dollars a gallon, a number of biotechnology companies stepped up the genetic engineering of corn, beans, and other commodities in order to make them more efficient producers of ethanol and other biofuels. This announcement brought out environmentalists who fear that the modified plants could cross-pollinate into the fields of food crops.
OK, now eat your spinach The spinach scare in late summer had diners coast-to-coast eschewing "Market Garden Salads" and anything carrying the adjective "Florentine." As it turned out, E. coli was limited to the bagged product from one producer in California's Salinas Valley.
Will Harlem become the next meat packing district? As Columbia University moves toward gobbling up far west Harlem to expand its ivy presence, restaurateurs are planting roots amid the forlorn warehouses and auto shops. Among those planning to move in: Alma Thai Latin Cuisine, in a 60,000-square-foot two-level space; a yet-to-be-named two-story pizzeria and bar; and The Hudson River Café, in a former auto shop. A ferry will shuttle to and from New Jersey.
Best restaurant customer request "Sir, may I have a table near a waiter?"
Second best restaurant customer request "Gary, may I call you waiter?"
Miss, can I buy you half a glass of wine? Responding to consumer demand for more flexibility and convenience when it comes to wine, a growing number of winemakers are marketing single-portion bottles (as well as single-portion cans and cardboard vacuum boxes). The containers hold about 187 milliliters, equal to a typical restaurant pour, and come in four-packs that, in total, equal about as much as a standard 750 ml bottle. According to a recent report in the Arizona Republic, the mini portions appeal to those who consume wine only occasionally at home and do not want to waste what's left in the bottle. It's also convenient for those who cook with wine but don't want to crack open a bottle. Prices vary, but most four-packs come in at $12 and under. Don't expect mini boxes of Château Margaux in your supermarket; for now, it's aimed at the mass market. One exception is the Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery, which offers single-serving pink aluminum cans of its sparkling Sofia Blanc de Blancs for $5.
Dinner and a room As if acquiring sweetheart deals to lend their names to hotel restaurants weren't enough, star chefs may now want to own the joint. Most notably, Charlie Palmer is building his second hotel—his first is the boutique Hotel Healdsburg in Sonoma—a $400 million, 33 story edifice a block from the Las Vegas Strip. Best feature: no gambling. By the same token, wineries are getting into the act. Architect Frank Gehry has designed a spectacular hotel, roofed with curved plates of titanium, for Marqués de Riscal in the Rioja region of Spain.
"A Diet Pepsi, straight up, please" For a middle school science project, Jasmine Roberts, 12, of Tampa, visited a number of local fast-food restaurants in order to test bacteria levels in both the toilet water and the ice used in drinks. Her discovery: in 70 percent of the cases, the ice harbored more bacteria.
Sad good-byes R.W. Apple Jr., 71, New York Timesman who wrote about food and drink with the same intelligence, verve, and depth he applied to politics and government • Dr. Patricia Bartholomew, 61, a pioneering chef/educator and among the first women to command a major restaurant kitchen at the Waldorf-Astoria • Charles Condy, 69, founder of San Francisco's Aqua • Victor del Corral, 84, founder of Victor's Café in New York City and Miami • Francesco Giambelli, longtime owner of the gracious, Old World Italian restaurant, Giambelli's, in Manhattan • René Lasserre, 93, chef/owner of Paris' vaunted Lasserre • Edna Lewis, 89, grande dame of Southern cooking • Claude Terrail, 88, urbane owner of La Tour d'Argent in Paris
Wurst news The beloved, 107 year old Berghoff Restaurant, in Chicago's downtown Loop, served its last wiener schnitzel in February. Herman Berghoff, the 70 year old grandson of the restaurant's founder, and his wife, Jan Berghoff, 68, decided it was time to retire, much to the dismay of tradition-loving citizens and fans of the increasingly hard-to-find German cuisine. Herman Berghoff had worked at the historic, oak-lined dining room, festooned with photos of old Chicago, since 1952. Berghoff's had the dubious distinction of maintaining one of the city's last men-only bars, a practice that ended in 1969 when seven members of the National Organization for Women strutted in and occupied bar stools, refusing to leave. "I feel such a personal loss for Chicago," said Richard Melman, founder of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, upon hearing the news of its closing. "It's like losing the Cubs or something."
Salsamania Expect to see more Latin-influenced restaurants of all kinds in 2007. Latino/Hispanics now comprise the largest minority group in the United States and are growing by double digits annually. This trend will be reflected in home cooking and cookbooks as well, now that a wide range of Latin ingredients are readily available.
What are the holidays without caviar? Caviar fanciers worldwide are scrambling this holiday season to get their silver spoons into the festive briny baubles. For the first time, international environmental agencies, citing severe overfishing and danger of extinction, have all but shut down the pipeline of beluga eggs from sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. American caviar producers have been caught up short, and many are hastening to vastly increase production to meet soaring demand. A limited amount of Iranian wild osetra, considered just below beluga in quality, is going for $300 an ounce. Domestic caviar averages about $60.
Prop 65 California's controversial Proposition 65, a law that requires warnings about substances known to cause cancer or reproductive harm and is now aimed particularly at fast-food restaurants, has the restaurant industry up in arms. The regulation has sparked a flurry of lawsuits against chains. The California restaurant industry is anxiously awaiting Congress to pass its own law that would supersede California's and, presumably, mitigate the possibility of lawsuits.
Big spenders A bartender at an Applebee's restaurant in Hutchinson, Kansas, received a $10,000 tip on a $26 tab (38,462 percent) from a regular customer. The diner, who usually ordered two beers, cheese quesadillas, and an entrée, customarily left 50 percent. "I want you to know this is not a joke," he said, according to wire service accounts. "This will buy you something nice."
Not relying on customer largesse alone, restaurants competed to offer the most expensive indulgences: $25 hot dog at The Laundry, a white tablecloth restaurant in East Hampton, New York, that this summer began selling hot dogs made from Wagyu beef • $200 baked potato at the Four Seasons, New York City, sprinkled with white truffles (the highest price the restaurant has ever charged for this item, up about 33 percent from the $150 it charged for the fancy spud a year ago) • $5,000 wine and burger pairing at Fleur de Lys, chef Hubert Keller's restaurant at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. And yes, you get to keep the glass.
French flame out In early October the French parliament set in motion a smoking ban in public places, which includes restaurants, cafes, hotels, discos, and casinos (unless they provide "hermetically sealed spaces with air filtration systems"). Over the objections of many in the hospitality industry, the government is expected to work out enforcement particulars next year, with the last public puff expected by summer's end.
Did you return the room key, sir? Alain Ducasse announced in September that he was checking out of the Essex House hotel in Midtown Manhattan and carrying his bags over to the St. Regis Hotel, in the dining room that previously housed Lespinasse until it closed three years ago. He plans to close his current restaurant January 6 and reopen at the St. Regis next spring. The classically ornate dining room will get a cool makeover from architect David Rockwell. Tony Esnault, present executive chef, will continue at the new restaurant.
Be kind to animals Humane treatment of animals in the food chain is a cause gaining traction among chefs and food producers nationwide. Some of the country's leading restaurants are joining up with Humane Farm Animal Care, a government-sanctioned, nonprofit organization in Herndon, Virginia, that offers voluntary inspections and certifications of restaurants and producers.
Restaurants seeking certification in the voluntary program must demonstrate that items on their menus—game and seafood are not included—come from producers who practice humane raising and slaughtering methods.
Designated establishments may carry a "Certified Humane" logo on their menus.
Among recent participants are Marcel's, Equinox, Melrose, and Tosca (Washington, D.C.); 5 Ninth, Sapa, Sumile, and The Tasting Room (New York City); Restaurant Eve (Alexandria, VA); Hunter's Head Tavern (Upperville, VA); and Incanto (San Francisco).
Green giant Wal-Mart, the $312 billion retailer, announced that it would push ahead as a leader in all things organic and sustainable, pledging a $500 million investment in the next few years. It's already the nation's largest vendor of organic milk and the biggest buyer of organic cotton in the world. The company said it was also working with suppliers to cut down on wasteful packaging and energy costs. In late summer Target stores announced that they, too, would begin rolling out private label organic foods.
Hold the fire sale Shortly before Guenter Seeger was to shutter his namesake restaurant for good earlier this year, a gentleman arrived for a farewell dinner. So impressed was he with the meal that he summoned the chef, expressed his displeasure with the closing, and arranged for a meeting the next day. The man was James C. Miller, Jr., chairman of Fidelity Bank in Atlanta. On the spot they worked out an arrangement whereby Seeger would remain open. This followed an outpouring of support from luminaries in the culinary world who urged him to stay open.
The fit list The restaurant industry, frequently buffeted from all sides for serving linebacker portions and dishes wanting in nutrition, has struck back. The National Restaurant Association has created a Web site, to debut January 2007, that tells where one can find salubrious fare—everyplace from diners to four-star restaurants. But what if you're not on the list? www.healthydiningfinder.com/site/
French toasts Las Vegas now holds the cards for inclusion in the rarified club of Best Food Cities in the World, as a result of its new tag-team of three-star tenants: Joël Robuchon at the Mansion in the MGM Grand and Restaurant Guy Savoy in the new Augustus Tower at Caesars Palace.
Robuchon, who was lured to the Vegas table by a deal he couldn't even think of refusing, presents his inimitable modern French cuisine in a subdued, polished 56 seat Deco dining room. (He also runs a string of more casual spots called L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas as well as in Paris, Monte Carlo, London, Tokyo, Macau, and, most recently, New York City.)
Restaurant Guy Savoy turns out his unique conflation of classical nouvelle fare in a formal cathedral-like setting (in a gambling joint?) sporting oval windows and dark wooden latticework. An added bonus: the restaurant's patio affords a breathtaking view of The Strip's fake Eiffel tower.
Third-ring circus In the spring, Manhattan's celebrated and peripatetic Le Cirque unveiled its third domicile in as many decades, this one a soaring, glass-encased, 16,000-square-foot performance in the Bloomberg Tower in Midtown Manhattan, just a baguette's toss from Bloomingdale's. Designed by Adam Tihany and Costas Kondylis, the big top theme boasts a two-story wine tower of white metal and glass, a winsome Calder-like circus figure dangling over the bar, and gold-and-brown striped banquettes. Pierre Schaedelin, who ran the kitchen at the former location in the Villard Houses on Madison Avenue, has reprised his role there. Owner Sirio Maccioni, whose resolve to maintain a strict dress code has been waning in recent years—he is famously known for inveigling Frank Zappa into donning a tie before dining at the original Le Cirque—has somewhat grudgingly conceded to the pressed jeans set by opening a casual cafe and bar near the main dining room.
U.S.-duh-A. In its crusade to eliminate trans fats in public eateries of all kinds, the Center for Science in the Public Interest monitored trans fats levels in restaurants, hospitals, and government cafeterias. Among its findings: the main cafeteria at the USDA—the federal agency charged with educating the public about nutrition and food safety—was serving six-ounce portions of french fries that carried 5.8 grams of trans fats. The American Heart Association advises consumers to limit trans fat consumption to 2 grams a day or less. Many restaurants—including the fast-food chain Wendy's—have eliminated them altogether by changing to more healthful frying oils. In late September New York City became the first municipality in the nation to urge restaurants to stop serving food containing trans fats.
Buzzworthy wine trends American kitchen-sink blends • anything that bubbles • biodynamic • Carmenère • cool-climate • German Rieslings with Anglicized names • Grüner Veltliner • half bottles • half glasses • Pan-Latino wine lists • quality box wine • Rhône and California Rhône Ranger styles
Spirit sightings American microdistillery brands • cachaça and sugarcane rums • paired with food or served in flights • Pisco • rye whiskey • savory flavored vodkas • shochu
Cocktail darlings American regional cocktails • Caipirinhas • competitive bartending • corporate cocktail directors • foamed toppings • foraging bartenders • glacier-sized ice cubes • molecular mixology and liquid nitrogen Martinis • sorbet • vermouth redux • virgin drinks • wine and beer cocktails
Enough already birdbath Martini glasses • "most expensive" cocktails • vodka bashing • white cranberry
Desperately waiting to catch on sake
Just like buying a car Roth Käse is the latest in a lineup of food producers and equipment suppliers making sure that chefs have a chance to test-drive their products. In September they opened a new Culinary Education Center at their Monroe, Wisconsin, headquarters, where chefs can taste and work with their cheeses in a professional kitchen. Numbers of equipment giants, such as Enodis, Electrolux, and Vulcan-Hart, provide access to test kitchen facilities for chefs so they can actually see what it's like to cook on expensive pieces of equipment before taking out a mortgage. And when it comes to produce, chefs can visit and cook with farmer Lee Jones at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, or at the headquarters of Sid Wainer & Son in Bedford, Massachusetts.
Flush Daddy Nassau County, New York, spent $2,200 for automated warning devices that were installed in the urinals of its local bars. The apparatus, resembling a hockey puck, is placed in the bottom of the urinal and activates when a person stands in front of it, triggering a male voice to admonish: "Hey, you! Yeah, you. Having a few drinks? Then listen up. Think you had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or a sober friend for a ride home." Nassau County officials said funding for the devices came from drunk driving fines.
Here fishy, fishy… Personal prediction: Amid the controversy in the commercial fisheries industry over long-haul netting, bottom dragging, and other types of environmentally detrimental harvesting, a group of New England boat captains will perfect their revolutionary "Everybody's Happy" technique, whereby fishermen hold a specially modified megaphone and "talk the fish into coming aboard." Stranger things could happen.
The hot list ají peppers • aleppo peppers • almond milk • avocados • baby beets and turnips • Banyuls and Banyuls vinegar • beet and collard greens • beet and veined cheese salads • beurre rouge • blood oranges • brandy snap tuiles • budino • candied ginger and zests • cipollini • citrus • clementines and kumquats • coconut • coffee scented beef and veal • cold pea soups • Comté cheese • Concord grapes (desserts) • cranberry and fava beans • crumbles • cured tuna • dessert soups • dry-aged steak • farro • fish and seafood tacos • fish choucroutes • florentines • fresh chutneys • fresh currants • fruit soups • garlic sauces • gnudi • handmade tortillas • hen-of-the-woods mushrooms • honey panoplies • Idiazabal • individual cheesecakes • jus vinaigrettes • Key lime pie • Kobe burgers and dogs • lamb shanks • lentils • lychees • macaroons (French) • Meyer lemons • micro arugula • mint • molasses • mustard seed oil • olio novello • organic egg dishes (slow poached, etc.) • Parmesan on asparagus • peanut butter and jelly desserts • pierogi • pine flavoring (includes Austrian liqueur) • pork belly • pretzel rolls and croissants • prosciutto wraps • puddings: lemon, sticky toffee, etc. • pulled pork • raisins, figs, and dates • ramps (fresh and pickled) • rhubarb • roasted fruits • Robiola • rösti potatoes • saffron salt (flavored salts) • salted or spiced caramel • salumi and charcuterie • savoy cabbage • Scottish langoustines • smoked corn • smoked salts • Spanish hams • speck • tonka beans • udon • vinaigrettes on meat • Wagyu beef • wasabi • watermelon • wattle seeds • whole-grain mustards • yellowtail RETURNS: American country hams • celery seeds • chocolate mint • classic napoleons • consommés and bouillons • fine breading (alla milanese, etc.) • meatballs • parfaits • Sherry vinegars • stuffed vegetables • vegetables gratins • walnut oil • West Coast Chenin Blanc • wild strawberries TAKEN IN EVERY DIRECTION AND THEN SOME: aïolis • bacon • carpaccios • gazpacho • gelées • gnocchi • grits • peanut butter & jelly • tabbouleh • trout
