I really enjoyed reading Restaurant Business for the first
time yesterday. It is mostly the typical
trade magazine claptrap: overly positive, very general, news-ish, content. But they also talk about some emerging trends
in the business. So it was worth the
15-minute skim.
Here are some of the ideas I liked:
- burrito-sized sushi rolls: A cheapo company could use the additional diameter to load it up with rice and cheat the customer. But a good one could use this to create some multi-layered sushi recipes that blow your mind. None in the article, but one can imagine.
- trash fish & chips: Most fishing boats catch a ton of smaller fish species that are not typical restaurant fare (e.g. smelt). So they throw them away. Not back into the ocean alive, but dead and into the trash. This is a real waste of good fish protein as well as eco-unfriendly. And ethically questionable. The idea of trash fish & chips is that when you deep fry the buggers, they aren’t as icky as they might be on your plate. Everything is good deep fried with vinegar, mayo, or tartar sauce.
- varieties of English breakfast: The original is blood sausage, bacon, fried egg, and baked beans. Here are some ideas I can think of: a Spanish variety with chorizo, frittata, pork shoulder, pinto beans. Or middle eastern: sujuk, poached egg, pork kebab, and garbanzo beans. Asian: lap chong, tea egg, boneless spare rib, soybeans. Etc.
- slider sandwich combos: fennel salami on rosemary roll, smoked turkey on baguette with spinach pesto, and that kind of thing. Instead of getting one big sandwich that you get now (and get bored with halfway through), imagine getting to choose three or four different sliders in one order.
- There was also a bit more on portability, but I am saving that for an article on EID.
