// NEWS
EVENTS
McCarty Set To Be Feted At Annual NYC C-CAP Gala Renowned chef and restaurateur Michael McCarty, Proprietor of Michaels New York and Michael’s Santa Monica will be honored at the annual Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) culinary event on Thursday, February 16, 2012,
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he event is set to take place at PIER SIXTY at Chelsea Piers to support the scholarship and enrichment programs offered by C-CAP. Since 1990, C-CAP has awarded high school students $31 million in scholarships, and donated $2.5 million worth of supplies and equipment to classrooms. The event raised over $550,000. “This year we are delighted to be honoring Michael for his extraordinary achievements and contributions to the culinary industry, his long-time dedication to C-CAP, and his commitment to nurturing the next generation of chefs, “ commented C-CAP founder Richard Grausman. Some of the country’s finest chefs began their careers at Michael’s, including Jonathan Waxman, Mark Peel, Nancy Silverton, and Sang Yoon. “Michael has been a visionary in the culinary industry, and his groundbreaking initiatives helped establish California Cuisine as a movement that transformed cooking in the United States,” Grausman added. “Along with Alice Waters, Michael pioneered the organic, sustainable, seasonal, local, ingredient-driven farm-
This year we are delighted to be honoring Michael for his extraordinary achievements and contributions to the culinary industry, his long-time dedication to C-CAP, and his commitment to nurturing the next generation of chefs. to-table explosion of New American regional food that has now become the gold standard for great American dining.” Bette Midler and Martin von Haselberg longtime friends and eating partners of Michael and Kim McCarty will serve as honorary chairs. The benefit will showcase creations from more than 30 of New York City’s top chefs. Celebrity chefs will be on hand to offer their creations to our guests and will be assisted by C-CAP students and alums, the chefs of the future. The funds raised at the benefit are extremely important to their organization. With funds raised last year, they were able to offer over $3 million in culinary school scholarships, career and college advising, and job readi-
2 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
ness training to underserved teenagers across the country. More than 600 guests will enjoy an evening of signature dishes presented by 36 of New York’s long time favorites as well as the city’s hottest star chefs with champagne and wine donated by The Charmer Sunbelt Group. More than 60 New York City C-CAP high school culinary students and graduates assisted the chefs of these renowned restaurants. The evening’s festivities also included a silent auction including once-in-a-lifetime culinary and travel packages. “The walk-around tasting event raises funds to support C-CAP’s mission to provide underserved high school students with training, scholarships, and jobs in the restaurant and
foodservice industry,” says Richard Grausman, Founder and President of the 21-year-old non-profit Careers through Culinary Arts Program. CCAP has worked with over 200 culinary teachers, 200,000 high school students whom they’ve taught, and 2,000 CCAP scholarship winners who went to college. We’re proud that more and more qualified students are going into the industry.” Past C-CAP Honors Awards have gone to notables including Marcus Samuelsson, Drew Nieporent, Alfred Portale, Lidia Bastianich, Thomas Keller, Charlie Palmer, Danny Meyer & Michael Romano, Daniel Boulud, Jacques Pepin, Egidiana & Sirio Maccioni, Nina & Tim Zagat, and Saul Zabar & Stanley Zabar.
Michael McCarty will be honored at Chelsea Piers
3 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
// NEWS
RESTAURANTS
Sherry Brothers Debut Manhattan Landmark Old Homestead In Las Vegas Continuing to reinforce its positioning as a premiere dining destination in Las Vegas, Caesars Palace has become home to one of New York City¹s most historic restaurants Old Homestead Steakhouse.
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aesars Palace and brothers Marc and Greg Sherry, whose family has been associated with Old Homestead in New York for decades cut the ribbon late last month to open the new restaurant. A classic eatery known for its quality steakhouse selections and legendary history Old Homestead will replace Neros restaurant, near the famed resort¹s Colosseum theater and the planned Nobu Restaurant and Lounge, opening in 2012. Neros, will forever be remembered as a favorite dining spot for the resort’s prominent visitors and was featured at the James Beard House as a distinctive modern steakhouse. Old Homestead at Caesars Palace boast more than 16,000 squarefeet. The space features a total of 250 seats with a full dining room, private dining room, lounge and bar. “Old Homestead Steakhouse is a
The Old Homestead is bringing the best of NYC to Sin City
4 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
dynamic addition to the superior selection of restaurants and celebrated chefs at Caesars Palace,” said Gary Selesner, president of Caesars Palace. “This premier location adjacent to the Nobu Hotel, Restaurant and Lounge planned to open in 2012, will become the new epicenter of the resort, offering our guests a fresh and contemporary experience.” San Francisco based EDG Interior Architecture + Design previously created designs for Rao’s and Bradley Ogden restaurants at Caesars Palace. The Old Homestead design pays homage to the original Old Homestead restaurant and its location in New York City’s historic Meatpacking District, while reflecting the neighborhood¹s latest incarnation as one of Manhattan’s trendiest and hippest restaurant, entertainment and club districts. Old Homestead at Caesars Palace offers an urban steakhouse and bar with an updated menu to match, but one that also features
Caesar’s Palace is home to Old Homestead’s newst Out Post
the Old Homestead¹s iconic cuts of meat, and many of its famous sides, appetizers and desserts. “We are absolutely elated to bring our signature Texas-size slabs of porterhouse, sirloin and filet mignon, whale-size lobster and awardwinning wine list to the magnificent venue of Caesars Palace,” said Old Homestead Steakhouse co-owner Marc Sherry. “This is the fusion of two iconic institutions in the restaurant, entertainment and hospitality industry. We plan to raise the bar to unprecedented heights in Las Vegas with our
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grilled-to-perfection, finest, prime aged steaks and a dining experience that far exceeds the expectations of Caesars Palace guests,” added coowner Greg Sherry. Guests will experience several signature dishes from the classic NYC menu including the popular Colossal Crab Cake, 32-ounce Gotham Rib Eye Steak and the Old Homestead New York-Style Cheesecake, to name a few. Additionally, new menu items will be created special for the Vegas customer. The plans include a wine program inspired by the New York location’s award-winning wine list featuring a robust selection of wines by the glass. More than 15,000 bottles will be housed on-site. The bar menu also features signature cocktails such as the Manhattan and classic martini along with variations served with a modern twist.
continued on page 75
Main Office: 282 Railroad Avenue Greenwich, CT 06830 Publishers: Leslie & Fred Klashman Advertising Director: Michael Scinto Creative Director: Ross Moody Phone: 203.661.9090 Fax: 203.661.9325 Email: tfs@totalfood.com Web: www.totalfood.com
Total Food Service ISSN No. 1060-8966 is published monthly by IDA Publishing, Inc., 282 Railroad Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830. Phone: 203.661.9090. This issue copyright 2012 by IDA Publishing Inc. Contents in full or part may not be reproduced without permission. Not responsible for advertisers claims or statements.Periodicals Postage paid at the post office, Greenwich, CT and additional mailing offices. Additional entry at the post office in Pittsburg, PA. Subscription rate in USA is $36 per year; single copy; $3.00. Postmaster: Send address changes to Total Food Service, P.O. Box 2507, Greenwich, CT 06836
6 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
// NEWS
FINANCE
Tri-State Friendly’s Finds Path Out Of Chapter 11 With Sun Capital Partners Friendly Ice Cream Corp., the 76-year-old restaurant chain, will cancel an auction after receiving no offers to compete with its proposed sale to the private-equity firm Sun Capital Partners Inc.
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he deadline to submit bids for late December’s proposed auction passed with no challengers stepping up to test Sun Capital. The company notified the bankruptcy court of the cancellation. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross then approved the sale to a Sun Capital unit at a hearing. Sun Capital, Friendly¹s current owner, will pay about $75 million and retain ownership through its unit while allowing the Friendly¹s chain to slough off debt. Friendly, which opened in 1935 with one shop in Springfield, Massachusetts, sought bankruptcy protection in October citing the struggling economy and rising commodity costs.
Debt is about $297 million and assets are valued at more than $100 million, according to court documents. The Wilbraham, Massachusettsbased company, commonly known as ‘Friendly¹s,’ closed 63 sites as part of the bankruptcy filing. Another 424 locations will stay open.
Sun Capital, based in Boca Raton, Florida, reached a settlement with the committee of unsecured creditors and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. allowing it to use about $50 million in debt to bid for the company. Since there was no competition, Sun Capital didn¹t need to use the debt. The creditors and the PBGC disputed Sun Capital¹s ability to use debt forgiveness to bid at the auction, known as credit bidding. The creditors argued the notes owned by the Sun Capital unit should be treated like equity. Sun Capital will make a $2.5 million cash payment, which is expected to go to unsecured creditors, as part of the settlement.
7 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Booth #1437
// NEWS
FAST FOOD
With Trio Of Wendy’s Closings New Jersey County Seeks Fast Food Solutions Poor sales have led to the closings of three Wendy’s fast-food restaurants in Cape May County, and the likely culprit is a resort economy made worse by a poor national economy. Nobody is sure why fast-food franchises have been going belly-up in Cape May County.
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n addition to the three Wendy’s, the county has also lost two Burger Kings, two Kentucky Fried Chickens and a Papa John’s Pizza over the past several years. A Sonic in Rio Grande recently reduced the number of days per week it is open. The problem, Wendy’s spokesman Denny Lynch said, is the depressed national economy seems to be more pronounced in tourist areas, ranging from Las Vegas to Florida and up to the New Jersey shore. Lynch called it a “perfect storm” that led to the closing of Wendy’s restaurants in Marmora, Cape May Court House and Rio Grande. “Areas highly dependent on tourism are tougher in an economy where people aren’t traveling. Florida has fewer snowbirds and tourists aren’t staying as long. Areas of real estate speculation, these markets are having a tough time with this economy,” Lynch said. McDonald’s, however, appears to be doing fine in mainland areas such as North Cape May, Cape May Court House, and Upper Township as well as island towns such as Wildwood and Ocean City. The rise in popularity of sushi and other Asian foods has given several of these restaurants new life. The
The rise in popularity of sushi and other Asian foods has given several of these restaurants new life.
Wendy’s in Rio Grande and Cape May Court House have been converted to Japanese restaurants. “There’s been a lot of growth in Asian cuisine. Kids are going out for sushi. While we’re on a losing trend with fast food, we’re gaining in other areas,” Cape May County Chamber of Commerce President Vicki Clark said. Part of the change could be in the
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palette of customers as cheesesteaks and hoagies may be replacing hamburgers and fried chicken as the fast food of choice in this tourist county, which has less than 100,000 yearround residents but whose population swells in the summer as ocean waters warm up. Clark noted Subway, Tony Luke’s and Primo Hoagies recently opened up shop in the county. Many vacationers here, Clark also noted, want to dine out at restaurants that feature the local cuisine of the region, which in this case is mostly seafood. She noted they can get fast food in their hometowns. Sometimes competition from one fast-food franchise can doom another. A new Burger King opened up in Upper Township and the Wendy’s went under. Jennifer McDermott, of the Upper Township Business Association, noted new sushi restaurants have opened in Marmora and Ocean View.
The Wendy’s in Cape May Court
“It’s a new trend. Sushi is in,” McDermott said. Debbie Colubiale, of the Lower Township Chamber of Commerce, believes there are a few other trends in play including people eating healthier, the seasonal economy, and a decline in year-round residents. “A lot of older people are moving out of here because they can’t afford to live in New Jersey,” Colubiale said. The model to survive, Colubiale says, is to keep a very clean restaurant and make sure service is good. Places that are thriving, according to Colubiale, include a McDonald’s in North Cape May that is clean and is constantly being improved with renovations and the Domino’s Pizza in the Villas that she said is so clean “you can eat off the floor.” Adelia Jonas said it helps that she lives here. “They see us working here five to six days a week. We live in the community and we’re not going anywhere. It’s good putting your face out there,” Jonas said. “That could be why independent ‘mom and pop places’ are doing pretty well,” said Chamber President Barbara Frame. “A seasonal economy based on summer tourism is always a challenge,” said Frame. She noted the Sonic in Rio Grande just reduced its hours while some McDonalds on the islands are only open in summer, taking advantage of the period when the most customers are here.
Booth #1932
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// NEWS
REGULATIONS
Hartford Restaurants Welcome New Year With Debut Of Grading System Beginning this month, Hartford restaurants are required to post a letter grade based on their most recent health inspection. Restaurants with a score of 90 to 100 would earn an “A,” while those who score 80 to 89 would get a “B.”
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ur diverse, quality restaurants are just one of the things that make Connecticut’s Capital City a great destination,” Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said. Any restaurant scoring less than 80 would be re-inspected within two weeks, city officials said, and a second failed inspection could cause it to be shut down. Restaurants scoring less than 80 do not get a grade. “The inspection standards for restaurants won’t change,” said Raul Pino, acting director of the city’s health and human services department, but the new rules will provide transparency. “We read some articles and research papers that indicated the quality, hygienically speaking, increases with initiatives similar to these,” he said. “There’s room for friendly competition when you display the grades.” Employees in the health and human services department hatched the idea after reading about other cities that have adopted the grading system, like New York and Los Angeles. Pino said
Restaurants that receive a “B” can request a re-inspection usually within two weeks to try to raise their grade.
Employees in the health and human services department hatched the idea after reading about other cities that have adopted the grading system, like New York and Los Angeles.
“There’s room for friendly competition when you display the grades,” said Raul Pino
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Stamford and Farmington also have restaurant rating systems in place. “The grading won’t apply to school or hospital cafeterias, temporary events or nonprofits,” he said. “Restaurants that receive a “B” can request a re-inspection usually within two weeks to try to raise their grade,” Pino said, but they’ll have to pay for it. Otherwise, they’ll have to wait for the next inspection to improve their score. Restaurant owners, have mixed feelings about slapping a letter grade on their front door. “It¹ll certainly keep me on my toes, which is what they want. It’s the Scarlet Letter on the door, I guess,” Darrell Sullivan, owner
of Lena¹s Pizzeria, said. “City health inspectors typically perform checks on restaurants about three times a year,” he said. Inspectors review restaurants’ hygienic practices and methods of food storage and preparation, among other things. Although the grading system may put pressure on restaurants, Pino said, it’s not designed to punish them. He said city officials had considered including a “C” letter grade in the mix, but ultimately decided it wouldn’t be a business-friendly move. “For the most part, we have a great relationship with the restaurants,” he said. “The idea is to increase the quality, not to punish.” Following the inspections, restaurants must display the letter grades in the front window, in a display case on the outside front wall or on a drive-through menu board, according to a city ordinance. “We are committed to ensuring that food service establishments adhere to safety and cleanliness guidelines and that the information is in the public’s hands,” Mayor Segarra concluded.
Booth #1221
11 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
// NEWS
MENUS
Aramark Retools Concession Menu For Rangers Winter Classic Aramark brought a full menu including ballpark classics, seasonal hot items and local favorites for hungry fans attending NHL’s annual outdoor game on January 2nd.
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ramark, the concessions and merchandise partner for the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic®, has the winning game plan to fulfill fans’ hunger for Philadelphia’s best ballpark eats with warm, comforting foods and officially licensed merchandise. To help fans brave the cold at Citizens Bank Park™, Aramark added specialty hot menu items, like homemade gourmet soups and paninis to the game day menu at seven locations. These “Hot Spots” offered: Two soup options, tomato bisque or chicken, cannelloni bean and Tuscan kale soup; Hot Paninis, maple roasted turkey panini or whole grain mustard marinated petit filet and Vermont cheddar grilled cheese panini. Because an outdoor hockey game wouldn’t be complete without hot chocolate, Aramark chefs created a Flyers-inspired hot chocolate that was topped with whipped cream, orange sprinkles and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Fans also dug into hot apple pies, s’mores, coffee and tea. Guests dining in the Hall of Fame Club or Citizens Bank Park™ Suites were treated to Broad Street Bullies breakfast sandwiches made with cage free eggs and served on Liscio’s rolls. In addition, Aramark senior executive chef, Glenn Richmond, created a
“When we designed the NHL Winter Classic menu, we wanted to showcase Citizens Bank Park’s most popular items and adapt others to be relevant for a hockey crowd. The result was a fan-friendly mixture of Philadelphia classics and new items that became fan favorites.”
menu featuring comfort foods like slow roasted pork sandwiches, skirt steak sandwiches, lobster salad BLTs and Victory Lager braised beef brisket, among other menu items. For dessert, fans could choose between homemade butterscotch bread pudding with a bourbon creme anglaise, homemade cupcakes, cookies stuffed with chocolate ganache, hazelnut or spiced butter cream, or gourmet hot chocolate made with steamed whole milk, Belgian chocolate and mini marshmallows.
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“When we designed the NHL Winter Classic menu, we wanted to showcase Citizens Bank Park’s most popular items and adapt others to be relevant for a hockey crowd,” said Chef Richmond. “The result was a fan-friendly mixture of Philadelphia classics and new items that became fan favorites.” Ashburn Alley, Citizen Bank Park’s outfield food mecca, lined with local food purveyors like Tony Luke’s Steaks, Chickie’s & Pete’s, Bull’s BBQ, Seasons Pizza and Campo’s, served Philly favorites like cheese steaks, Crab Fries, and the famous Schmitter® sandwich. Some stands in the Alley, like Planet Hoagie, also offered special cold weather fare, including warm chicken cutlet sandwiches, grilled chicken Italiano sandwiches and turkey sandwiches, as well as chili. Additionally, the ballpark offered two beer gardens featuring lo-
The Italian Sausage Sandwich
cal microbrews and premium beer. “Aramark was excited for the opportunity to showcase Citizens Bank Park’s award winning menu, featuring Philadelphia favorites and some new items for the NHL Winter Classic,” said Chrissy Flannigan, Aramark’s general manager at Citizens Bank Park™. “The Flyers and Rangers are both storied franchises, with extremely passionate fans, so our goal was to exceed their expectations with a great Philadelphia experience. ” Fans without a coveted ticket to the game were invited to partake in the pregame “feast”ivities outside the ballpark, by stopping by the designated food and beverage area in the “Spectator Plaza” on Citizens Bank Way. Here, fans were treated to barbecue fare from Bassett’s Original Memphis BBQ from Moorestown, NJ, gourmet tacos from celebrity Chef Jose Garces’ taco truck, Guapos Tacos, and wood fired brick oven pizza from Nomad Pizza Company’s pizza truck. Citizens Bank Park™ raised money to fight childhood cancer during the NHL Winter Classic by hosting two Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation stands. One hundred percent of the stands’ proceeds benefitted this organization that aims to raise money for, and awareness of, childhood cancer causes and encourages others, especially children, to get involved.
Booth #1930
13 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
// NEWS
ACQUISITIONS
Metro New York’s Morton’s Acquired By Landry’s Morton’s Restaurant Group announced last month that it has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Houston-based restaurant operator Landry’s Inc. in a deal that values the storied
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wholly owned company of Landry’s Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta will pay $6.90 per share in cash for Morton’s, a 33-year-old chain known for its large, prime steaks. This offer represents a premium of about 34 percent to Morton’s closing stock price of $5.16. Fertitta, who previously owned five percent of Morton’s, plans to finance
Chicago steakhouse chain at about $116.6 million. continued on page 73
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// SCOOP Russians Singing New Tune In NYC SCOOP hears the Russians are expanding their sphere of influence in New York’s food and hospitality industry. The Ginza Project, a Russian restaurant group with holdings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, launched Maya Vanya, in the Gramercy Park/
Jelsamino, a Russian style Karaoke Bar Lounge
Flatiron District two years ago, and has since invested in the Meatpacking District’s MPD. This month Jelsamino, a Russian-style Karaoke bar lounge in Midtown’s Dream Hotel, will open this month and there’s more to come. “We have this in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” said Sasha Polin, one of Ginzas partners, along with Tatiana Bruneti and Dmitry Sergeev. “It’s more upscale than Korean karaoke. There is nothing like it in New York. It’s a new concept.” The lounge is about 4500 square feet. It will include eight tables for people to book karaoke. There will also be live music and back-up for karaoke singers. “They will make you feel like a superstar,” Polin said. He added that the concept works in Russia, where the stages are bigger. “Here, we will do New Yorkstyle, smaller than in Russia. We will adapt to New York,” Polin said. The Ginza Project will also be opening a
INSIDER NEWS FROM METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE SCENE Maya Vanya in Washington, DC and another Jelsamino will open this April in Miami.
Manhattan Wine Merchant Gavels $100 Million Plus SCOOP says wine drinkers worldwide are calling him the anti-Christie’s. John Kapon, a 40-year-old New Yorker with a scruffy beard and gravelly voice, has become the world’s biggest wine auctioneer during the span of a few years and he has uncorked the growth with unlikely methods. Flooding bidders’ tables with complimentary doses of rare, pricey vintages, Kapon’s auctions, staged by Acker Merrall & Condit, his family’s 191-year-old Manhattan wine shop, are liable to get a little rowdy. “He may pound his gavel a couple of times and tell people to ‘shut the hell up,’” says Raymond Tuppatsch, a 47-year-old investor from Tewksbury, NJ, who is a longtime attendee. With Kapon working wine-obsessed bidders into a party mood from New York to Hong Kong, his events are on track this year to rake in $110 million revenue. That will make Acker the first
John Kapon, a 40-year-old New Yorker with a scruffy beard and gravelly voice
wine auctioneer to cross the $100 million mark, despite the fact that Kapon began Acker’s auctions just 13 years ago. “I work hard and I drink harder,” Kapon said. But Kapon’s nose for the global wine market has also led him to
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shrewd, lucrative bets most notably a pioneering push in Asia. An event in Hong Kong is also slated to sell prize lots of a 55-bottle collection of Conti, the most expensive in the world $600,000 to $800,000.
Eli’s Bread Returns To Grand Central SCOOP notes that the departures
Eli Zabar has opened a bakery, Elis Bread in the Grand Central Market Space
and arrivals have come quickly this winter for Grand Central Terminal’s shops and vendors. Now Eli Zabar has opened a bakery, Elis Bread, in the Grand Central Market space previously occupied mainly by Corrado Bread and Pastry. Everything sold at Eli’s Bread is made at Mr. Zabar’s bakery on the Upper East Side; construction of a kitchen one floor above the market is expected to be done in a few weeks, and the breads, breakfast pastries and coffee cakes for Eli’s Bread will be baked there. Fancy pastries will still be made uptown. Among the highlights at Eli’s Bread is what Mr. Zabar calls the Grand Central baguette, handmade bread sold plain or with a liberal scattering of green or black olives in the dough. It’s the same as the Amagansett baguette he sells in the Hampton’s in summer.
Schrager Goes Public With Manhattan Return SCOOP notes that hotelier-tothe-stars Ian Schrager, who recently cashed out of his New York holdings is returning to Manhattan by teaming up with developer Douglas Durst on a new construction project. A 250room hotel operated by Mr. Schrager will anchor the lower 16 floors of a 56-story residential tower that’s being planned by Durst Fetner Residential just south of Herald Square. The developers expect to break ground on the project, designed by Cook + Fox Architects, this spring. The hotel, which will be named Public New York, is part of a new line of stylish but strippeddown hotels that Mr. Schrager hopes will counter the so-called boutique hotel craze he pioneered in the 1980s with the opening of the Morgans Ho-
Mr. Schrager
tel on Madison Avenue. “The boutique is overcrowded now and very competitive,” he says. “People are now just replicating someone else’s idea, only in a different color.” The 65-yearold hotelier says that boutique hotels, which typically pack guests into smaller rooms while offering elaborately designed lobbies and see and
be seen restaurants, have dropped the ball on service while charging over the top prices. Rates for run of the mill rooms can be as high as $500 and a pot of coffee can go for $20. Mr. Schrager said Public New York’s rates will be in the $300 range when it opens in about three years, with a focus on rapid room service and that same pot of coffee for $5. It won’t skip on amenities with plans for a 10,00-square-foot restaurant, nightclub and bar, gym and outdoor garden. The Public New York is Mr. Schrager’s first project with Durst Fetner, though he has known Mr. Durst since the 1970s when the developer visited Mr. Schrager’s popular Studio 54 discotheque.
E&S Community Mourns Passing SCOOP was sorry to hear of the passing of the much loved Herb Schuval. He started in the food service equipment industry in the early 1950s at Barth Equipment Co. in New York City. He In 1963 when he joined Long Island based Superior Restaurant Equipment. In 1973, he became associated with Elaine Products, Queens Village, N.Y. where he formed a lasting friendship with its President Harold Karmin where he was in charge of the equipment and project division. During this period, he initiated an export department where he opened up many markets of international business, particularly in the Middle East and Asia. He enjoyed working in the international arena and cherished the relationships he formed with these clients. While at Elaine Products, he met Tony Brucia. In 1986, Herb and Tony formed Premier Food Service Equipment Co., in Levittown, N.Y. At Premier, Herb began to focus on projects with general contractors, which included schools, hospitals, and institutions. He also continued to pursue his export accounts. Many of these projects played a role in the ongoing development of such areas as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. In 1997,
Herb and Tony were hired by Jay Pattinger of Premium Supply Co., Inc. Herb continued to work at Premium Supply until he passed away. “Herb was an icon and mentor in the food service industry.” Brucia noted. “He was a gentleman and treated everyone with dignity and respect and was known for his wit. He will be greatly missed by his family and many people in the food service industry.” SCOOP and the industry’s special thoughts go to his wife Sandra, his children Sharon Tompkin, Dr. Barry Schuval and Michael Schuval and five grandchildren, Matthew, Brandon, Evan, Cayla and Allie.
cans. These iced teas can be dispensed through a custom mini-tower that takes up less than 6” width of counter space. “Foodservice establishments need to keep up with the latest beverage trends that their customers want and these new iced teas hit the spot!” says Sanders. Sea Breeze is the largest fourth generation independent, family-owned manufacturer and distributor of Premium Beverages On Tap in the Metro New York - New Jersey Area since 1925.
New Jersey Sea Breeze Adds Trio To Tea Line
SCOOP says a cooking class in an Umbrian castle and an authentic truffle hunt are two highlights of a unique nine-day culinary tour of five regions of rustic Italy, offered by The Culinary Institute of America from March 24 to April 1, 2012. “Culinary Italy: From Milan to Rome,” created by renowned Chef Erik Blauberg, will explore five regions of Italy, from Emilia-Romagna to Tuscany, with stops along the
SCOOP says congrats to Sea Breeze who is proud to announce the addition of three new items to its Select Iced Tea line, White Iced Tea with Mint, Peach Passion Iced Tea with Ginger and Diet Cranberry Pomegranate Iced Tea. These three items complete the line of ten Iced Teas in the offering. Sea Breeze offers these beverages in environmentally friendly bag-in-box packaging. Each three-
gallon bag-in-box is concentrated and offers approximately 250 12oz iced beverages at a fraction of the price and space when compared to bottled or canned beverages. “The minimal bag-in-box packaging helps foodservice operators cut down on their carbon footprint since there is no added water in our packages as you have when shipping bottles and cans,” says Josh Sanders, Vice President of Sea Breeze. Additionally, there is no storage or recycling of bulky bottles and
17 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
CIA Partners With NYC Chef For Italian Culinary Adventure
Chef Erik Blauberg
way in Milan, Bologna, Umbria, and Piemonte. Chef Blauberg will bring participants to exclusive, little-known culinary paradises that are not accessible to the general public. “Worldclass chefs know that great culinary
dishes begin with the freshest food obtained from unique sources,” said Mark Erickson ‘77, CMC, vice president and dean of culinary education. “This special CIA journey, led by the celebrated Chef Erik Blauberg, brings food lovers together with premier farmers and food artisans of Italy, to better understand the quality ingredients that are integral to creating culinary masterpieces at home.” “The CIA is offering you, quite simply, the food and wine journey of a lifetime,” said Chef Blauberg, who created and has led these culinary excursions for several years, making them available to discerning food enthusiasts from across the globe. This special event has been shaped by Chef Blauberg’s personal connections with Italy’s top food purveyors, vintners, and restaurateurs. The itinerary for “Culinary Italy: From Milan to Rome” includes many behind-the-scenes locations involving small artisanal food and wine operations.
New Spin On Finding The Right Parts SCOOP hears that Rich Farrell Jr., formely of Malachy Mechanical has created a great online source, www. PartzCafe.com for restaurant parts, equipment, and accessories. “You can get the products we offer from many places but you can’t get us! Sometimes, parts are not always easy to locate and that’s where we come in. We will always respond quickly to get you the information because we know this is your business and time is money. Send us a manufacturer, model and serial, what you need and we’ll take it from there. Every call, every e-mail, every order is handled as top priority and you will see the difference when you join our family,” Farrell added. Visit www.partzcafe.com today.
// NEWS
ACQUISITIONS
Greenwich Based Catterton Partners Sells First Watch Restaurants To Freeman Spogli & Co Catterton Partners, a leading consumer-focused private equity firm, announced late last month that it has sold First Watch Restaurants, Inc., the country’s fastest growing Breakfast, Brunch and Lunch restaurant company, to Freeman Spogli & Co. First Watch’s existing management team of Ken Pendery (CEO), Ken Cruley (CFO) and Chris Tomasso (CMO) will continue to operate the Company and will retain a meaningful equity stake in the business.
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ince partnering with First Watch in 2004, Catterton has worked closely with the First Watch management team to implement an aggressive growth plan, doubling the total number of restaurants and expanding into new markets throughout the Midwest and Southeast. In addition, these coordinated efforts have led to a significant increase in traffic through culinary R&D, menu engineering, strategic pricing and branding enhancements, while maintaining a focus on delivering a superior customer experience. As
a result, First Watch has delivered industry-leading results that include consistent same store sales increases and earnings that have more than quadrupled over the past five years. “Working with Catterton, we were able to significantly expand our brand and solidify our position as the largest and fastest-growing daytime-only restaurant concept in the United States,” said Kenneth L. Pendery Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of First Watch. “Catterton has a remarkable track record of supporting and growing great
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restaurant concepts. With their strategic and operational expertise in site selection, pricing, brand development, and marketing, Catterton has helped us grow and expand our business, and has been instrumental to our success. We believe that First Watch is uniquely positioned to continue our aggressive growth and development and look forward to doing so together with our new partners at Freeman Spogli, who have also demonstrated an ability to work with management to drive significant value.” Jon Owsley, Partner, of Catterton
Partners, said, “We are proud of the significant growth First Watch has experienced and are pleased to have participated in the company’s great success. Through its dedication to superior customer service and great food at a great price, the First Watch team has established a leadership position in its category with a loyal customer following. We are confident that First Watch will continue this successful trajectory in years to come.” Catterton’s current restaurant investments include Cheddar’s, Noodles & Company, and Outback Steakhouse. Catterton’s restaurant investments include Baja Fresh, PF Chang’s China Bistro, and Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges. North Point Advisors LLC acted as financial advisor to First Watch in connection with the Freeman Spogli transaction. First Watch specializes in creative menus featuring traditional favorites like cookedto-order eggs and omelets, fluffy, plate-sized pancakes, hot soups, fresh salads and mouth-watering
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// NEWS
SECURITY
Preventing Restaurant Employee Theft The National Restaurant Association estimates that internal employee theft is responsible for up to 75% of inventory shortage which is approximately 4% of total restaurant sales.
I
n a recent anonymous survey, which was sponsored by the National Food Service Security Council, 49% of respondents answered “yes” to the question, “I can steal from my employer anytime I want.” With the proper controls in place one can ensure that employee theft will be a rare occurrence. Important steps that should be taken to eliminate/prevent employee theft in your restaurant: • Your restaurant should have security cameras installed at all the key points within your establishment. All employees should be informed that these cameras are in place. • Food inventory must be recorded. Purchase orders, usage and waste must be accounted for and a paper trail and computer printout must be
reviewed on an ongoing basis. Data should be updated at the close of each shift. • All sales must be recorded. All food and beverage sales should be tracked through your POS system. The mantra here should be “No Freebies” without your knowledge. • With regard to your PCI (Payment Card Industry Security Standards), the restaurant computer fire walls and other safety precautions should be periodically updated to ensure that your customers credit/debit card information is not hacked or stolen. • The owner or senior manager(s) should have access to the safe. There must be limited access to cash drawers and the restaurant safe. With regard to cash drawers only the assigned employee should be allowed to com-
CONNECTICUT NEW YORK
NEW JERSEY
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• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
181 Marsh Hill Road 91 Brainard Road 566 Hamilton Avenue 15-06 132nd Street 1966 Broadhollow Road 720 Stewart Avenue 43-40 57th Avenue 1335 Lakeland Avenue 650 S. Columbus Avenue 305 S. Regent St. 777 Secaucus Road 45 East Wesley Street 140 South Avenue 1135 Springfield Road
plete transactions from “their” cash drawer. The fewer hands that touch the cash the less the chance it will be stolen. • For complete accountability of all cash handled by employees you should ensure that a receipt is provided for every transaction. • You should use a drop-safe so that you will limit the amount of accumulated cash in any register. • One should always check and review cash-to-sale ratios. Discrepancy here along with unusually frequent refund transactions is a red flag for employee theft. • All applicants must be screened properly before they are offered a position within your restaurant. To prevent over or under pouring of liquor you should have a house policy
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Orange, CT 06477 Hartford, CT 06114 Brooklyn, NY 11232 College Point, NY 11356 Farmingdale, NY 11735 Garden City, NY 11530 Maspeth, NY 11378 Bohemia, NY 11716 Mt. Vernon, NY 10550 Port Chester, NY 10573 Secaucus, NJ 07094 S. Hackensack, NJ 07606 S. Plainfield, NJ 07080 Union, NJ 07083
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
that jiggers must be used at all times. To ensure that all drink and food is rung up for patrons at all times a check must be opened once an order is placed. • Secret-shoppers/mystery shoppers pose as customers who record their observations and rate the restaurant, food and employees. These shoppers can also observe the employees with regard to trends or loopholes that allow for employee theft. • Clear signs should be posted indicating areas that are open to the public and employees. Storage/supply rooms and offices kept locked so as to limit access. • If your employees know that there is a theft security system in place then most will not attempt to steal. Professor
Patrick
O’Halloran
teaches
at New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn. His
latest
book is titled Detailed Job Descriptions in the Hospitality Industry. His email address is pohalloran@citytech.cuny.edu
203-795-9900 860-549-4000 718-768-0555 718-762-1000 631-752-3900 516-794-9200 718-707-9330 631-218-1818 914-665-6868 914-935-0220 201-601-4755 201-996-1991 908-791-2740 908-964-5544
// NEWS
EVENTS
New York Magazine Sets Chef Line-Up For Foodie Fantasy Camp On April 28-29, 2012, at The International Culinary Center in New York City, passionate food-lovers will enjoy an intimate weekend of hands-on master classes, cooking and conversation with more than 30 of the culinary industry’s most respected talents.
T
he New York Culinary Experience offers attendees the chance to cook side-by-side with some of the world’s most renowned chefs. Guests will take part in intimate, interactive cooking classes with acclaimed chefs, restaurateurs and industry insiders, including David Bouley, Todd English, Morimoto and more. They will prepare, then enjoy, dishes under the direction of these culinary giants, participate in Q&A sessions with industry leaders, and at the close of each day, attend a private reception for NYCE students and chefs. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, and attendess are then emcouraged to bring home the dishes they create during the day. The International Culinary Center is one of a few schools in the United States offering an artisanal bread-baking program which teaches both the practical and theoretical sides of baking. This year, a select Chef-Instructor of The ICC, specially skilled in the art of creating sweet and savory brioche, will lead guests in an exclusive handson class in the school’s state-of-the-art bread kitchen. “If you don’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen, don’t worry,” commented New York Magazine food editor Gillian Duffy “All you need is a desire to learn from and interact with
Acclaimed chef, David Bouley will be one of many chefs participating in interactive cooking classes at the event
the best in the business.” Highlighting this year’s event will be an all star lineup including Floyd Cardoz. He is the Executive Chef of the recently opened North End Grill. Cardoz was the executive chef of Tabla, a groundbreaking restaurant serving New Indian cuisine cooked with the sensual flavors and spices of his native land. A native of Tuscany, chef Cesare Casella oversees the kitchen and has developed a menu with salumeria and enoteca-style traditional Italian cuisine at Salumeria Rosi. Casella found his niche in the culinary world as his mother’s sous chef in their family trattoria, Vipore, where he eventually
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earned a Michelin Star for the restaurant. Michael Lomonaco currently operates the wildly successful Porter House New York at the Time Warner Center. He has hosted Epicurious and Michael’s Place on cable TV and published two books, The O21 Cookbook and Nightly Specials. He is strongly dedicated to community support and charitable causes, co-founding the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund for restaurant workers’ families in the wake of September 11, 2001. Chef George Mendes’ ability to blend modern techniques with the classic flavors of Spanish, French and
Berasategui, and cooked at Bouley, Wallsé and Tocqueville prior to opening Aldea, his first solo restaurant in New York City. Seamus Mullen is known for his modern Spanish cuisine. While chef of Manhattan’s Boqueria restaurant, he earned a glowing two-star review from the New York Times. He became enamored with the various cuisines of Spain while studying at Universidad Autonoma de Extremadura, before working in some of the country’s top kitchens (Mugaritz, Abac, Alkimia). He further honed his skills stateside at restaurants such as San Francisco ‘s Mecca, as well as Manhattans Tabla and Suba, where his
“If you don’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen, don’t worry, all you need is a desire to learn from and interact with the best in the business.” Portuguese cuisines has helped make Aldea one of GQ magazine’s ten best new restaurants of 2009. Mendes, a New York magazine 2009 ‘Best New Chef,’ honed his talents under the guidance of several culinary masters, including Alain Ducasse and Martin
menu led the New York Times to raise its rating to two stars. As the son of displaced farmers, Michel Nischan, CEO, Founder and President of Wholesome Wave, grew up
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// NEWS
HOTELS
NYC’S Loews Hotels Tabs Whetsell To New Posts Jonathan Tisch, the Chairman of Loews Hotels and Co-Chairman of the Board of Loews Corporation, recently announced earlier this month that Paul W. Whetsell will join Loews Hotels as President and Chief Executive Officer effective January 17.
H
e succeeds Jack Adler, who is retiring from the company. Whetsell, who holds a Bachelor of Arts from Davidson College, has more than 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Most recently he served as a member of the Board of Directors of Virgin Hotels, providing strategic guidance in its operations and property acquisition activities. In 1987 he founded the original CapStar Hotel Company, which became one of the industry’s largest owners with over 110 hotels and $3 billion in assets. In 1998, CapStar was divided into Meristar Hospitality Corporation and Meri-
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Booth #1244
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// NEWS
BARS & NIGHTCLUBS
Trio Of New Bars Make New Years Debut In Atlantic City Casinos New Year’s Eve brought three new bars to Atlantic City, Live Bar and Rush Lounge at the Golden Nugget and 21 Bar @ Dusk at Caesars Atlantic City.
L
ive Bar replaces the Red Room, which was formerly The Wave when operated by Trump Entertainment. Located right off the casino floor and hotel lobby and situated across from Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse, the new club will offer a rock bar concept that should appeal to a wide demographic. “It’s going to be a great, upbeat place where people will be able to find awesome live entertainment on a regular basis,” says Golden Nugget Vice President and General Manager Tom Pohlman. “It’s going to be a lot brighter and more energetic than any club that has ever been in that space.” The room was completely renovated and now features a permanent stage, a new dance floor and reconstruction of both bars. “We really want to have fun in there with some great specialty cocktails and live entertainment ranging from bands to possibly dueling pianos,” Pohlman says. The Golden Nugget is also finishing work on its Rush Lounge, which will
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// Q&A Daniel Holzman & Michael Chernow Co-Owners at The Meatball Shop, NYC Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow of The Meatball Shop chatted with Total Food Service about their life-long friendship, their successful new book, and their plans for the future.
H
ow did you two meet? Michael Chernow (MC): We both grew up in New York City. We went to high school together, but Dan’s a year older. Our mothers introduced us, actually: They worked
in the same building, and they got to talking one day, and then they brought us to meet each other on the Met steps and it was love at first sight. Where did the idea for the Meatball
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Shop come from? MC: When Dan first came back to New York, we had a totally different concept in mind. We were looking for a space for that concept, and we found one on the Bowery. The space had a side window, and right next to that space was a very busy bar, which had a lot of drunken people outside all night and all day. We realized that was a revenue stream we ought to take advantage of. So we came up with the idea to serve meatballs out that side window--it’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s delicious. Eventually, that space on the Bowery fell through, but we decided that we were going to stick with the meatball concept, because it was the kind of innovation that we felt we needed to compete in a market as tough as New York. Dan, you spent some time in San Francisco. What impact did that experience have on building the Meatball Shop menu? MC: The creative role of being a chef is different out there. In New York, we were always asking ourselves how we take these ingredients and make them into something special. Out there, it was more a matter of taking these special ingredients and staying out of the way. My approach is always to start with what’s available and what your resources are. I once worked for this
fancy French chef who was screaming and screaming because he was making this very unstable dish and his waiters couldn’t carry it to the table intact, and I was thinking, if your waiters can’t handle it, just make a more stable dish. What are you screaming about? Everything has limitations, and you have to recognize that. When I’m in a situation where I’m just cooking at home or cooking for friends or family--where everything doesn’t have to be perfect--I try to challenge myself. Let’s try cooking a dinner for 15 using only the fireplace, things like that, and if we screw up, well, it was fun. But no one wants to eat at a restaurant that someone screwed up the experiment. What are some of the more exotic meatballs on the menu? MC: We have so many different meatballs. Right now we’re running tandoor meatballs in a tikka sauce, which I guess is fairly exotic. We also have rabbit meatballs, which are the most difficult to prepare because of the time it takes to remove the meat from the bones. The goat meatballs are certainly out of the ordinary, but I don’t know if you’d call them exotic. What’s the approach to dessert? MC: We looked at a wide variety of restaurants, and we were usually disappointed, because it never tasted as good as a piece of pie or an ice cream sandwich. Those are our two favorite foods. We went back and forth, whether we wanted to do pie or ice cream sandwiches. We ended up going with ice cream sandwiches: we found this place in Los Angeles where college students line up and they pick their ice cream and their fresh baked cookies, and we said, “let’s do that.”
To give one example, we get all our vegetables from spring to fall from a woman named Linda. She owns a small farm upstate called Newton Farm. She asks us what we’d like her to grow and she grows it--it’s super artisanal, it’s incredible. What’s your approach to building a team? MC: I focus a lot of my time on the staff. Danny Meyer is an icon of mine, and his philosophy in his book, is pick out your employees first. My staff doesn’t work for me, we work together, and communication is key for me. I meet with the general managers twice a week, and I’m in every restaurant every day. I make a point of remembering everyone’s name. I hire people who are really good at what they do so they can do it, not so I can tell them what to do. If they make a mistake, we try to figure out what they did wrong and move on. When we implement a policy, we run it by every single manager. We try to learn from our mistakes, as well. Can you give us an example of a mistake you made and how you learned from it? MC: When we opened our third restaurant, we started focusing on the numbers a lot more, and we discovered we were spending a lot of money on family meals. We allow our staff to eat pretty much whatever they want, and some of our staff were taking advantage of that and eating two or three meals in a shift. So we had all our managers remind the staff that they could only have one meal per shift. There was an immense amount of blowback. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a big mistake, but it made a lot of people angry, and that matters to me. What was your approach to designing the building?
Daniel Holzman (DH): We did it all on our own, and at this point, we feel really good about it. We walked down the Bowery together. We both had experience working in restaurants, but you look at the price tags of everything you want and just throw all your opinions out the window with the first pass. We learned that for some things, the cheap stuff is just as good as the expensive stuff, but there are some areas you really don’t want to skimp on. The first time your oven breaks and you don’t have a
The Meatball Shop interior design reflects a hybrid of both comfort food and hip design
backup, you learn that the two or three thousand dollars you saved just isn’t worth the headache and aggravation. I go to New York Restaurant Equipment. They’ll make twenty trips back and forth to your restaurant if that’s what it takes. They’ll haul big pieces of equipment down to your basement, and pick it right back up if it doesn’t work for you. What about a green or sustainability agenda? Is that something you think about at all?
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DH: Everything we use in our restaurant is a green product, right down to our to-go cups. The big paper companies have pushed us away from sustainable products at every step of the way. But sustainability is one of the things that we won’t compromise on. We’re not going to let the price of our product dictate our moral principles. What’s your approach to buying? DH: We’ve stuck with the same vendors since the beginning. If we find someone we like, we stick with them. Because of those relationships that we’ve developed, people really do well by us. To give one example, we get all our vegetables from spring to fall from a woman named Linda. She owns a small farm upstate called Newton Farm. She asks us what we’d like her to grow and she grows it--it’s super artisanal, it’s incredible. How has your business evolved from restaurant one to restaurant three? DH: Each opening has gotten easier and easier, because we’ve been able to refine our training processes. For our newest place, we were able to hire 75 people and train them at our other restaurants, so they could hit the ground running. When we opened our first restaurant, on Stanton Street, we were in there every day for eight months without a day off. For our second restaurant, on Bedford Avenue, we were in there every day for three months. For our most recent restaurant, it was three weeks. The ease with which the restaurant has stabilized has been something special. What was the idea for the book? Is the book doing what you wanted it to do? DH: We didn’t know what we were getting into. When we opened our first restaurant, we had book agents three months in come to us and say, “hey, we think you should write a book,” not only because of the food, but also because of the story, because we’re best friends and we’ve been in the industry since we were kids. It was a year-long
process, picking an author and a photographer we felt comfortable with and putting together all the recipes and the other materials. The fact that it’s taken off has been incredible. So what’s the vision? Vegas, Atlantic City, South Beach? DH: I think we’ve cornered the hip, cool, downtown market in New York City, which is one of the hardest mar-
The Meatball Shop’s menu offerings span from the traditional to the exotic
kets in the world to tackle. Now that we’ve opened up in the West Village, we see that the concept appeals to families, so I see us going into more familyfriendly areas. It’s special to see young kids coming into the restaurant and sitting down and eating their food and not screaming and running around, and looking across the room and seeing a 75-year-old woman with the same exact bowl of food in front of her, just as excited about it as that little kid. So I see the Upper West Side, places like that. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we could potentially take it out of the city eventually. Are meatballs a fad, or are they here to stay? MC: I don’t think they’re a fad. I think people are really excited about them right now, but meatballs have been a part of peoples’ lives forever, they’re one of those staple peasant foods that has and always will exist and be popular.
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Booth #1033
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// NEWS
EVENTS
NYC’S Great Performance Catering Co-Hosts Annual Latke Festival If matzo balls are the proverbial nice old lady of Jewish cuisine, then latkes, the golden, lacy-edged potato pancakes eaten during Hanukkah are the enchanting ingenues.
A
nd last month at the third annual Latke Fest and CookOff held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the ingenues were out in full force, holding court amid hundreds of fork-wielding attendees in all of their shimmering, oil-drenched glory. Co-sponsored by Great Performances Catering, City Winery and Edible Brooklyn, the Latke Fest featured 16 celebrated New York chefs offering unique takes on the classic Hanukkah dish. Not surprisingly, their creations reflected the city’s playful and decidedly global palate. Noah Bernamoff and Rachel Cohen of Brooklyn’s Montreal-style deli-restaurant Mile End paired their latkes and applesauce with duck pastrami and gribenes (cracklings) in a nod to Old World flavors. Meanwhile, The Plaza Hotel’s Jack Kiggens opted for a foie gras-crowned latke, and Thad Davis from Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, who said that his holiday celebrations are all about family and barbecue, topped sweet potato latkes with hickory-smoked brisket, homemade barbecue sauce, coleslaw and paperthin slices of fried jalapeno. While most of the chefs in attendance celebrated the latke’s traditional savory side (and many piled meat on top of them), a handful of the latkes tended towards the dessert end of the spectrum. Food Network personality and master pastry chef Ron Ben-
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Israel offered parsnip and potato latkes with a cap of torched sugar brûlée, served with a cranberry-orange sauce and baked applesauce. Nearby, Alex Raij of Basque restaurant Txikito paired classic potato latkes with rose-scented quince sauce, tangy kaymak (cultured cream), and a sprinkling of black nigella seeds. Next year, Raij and her partner Eder Montero will launch La Vara, a restaurant celebrating the Moorish and Jewish heritage in Spanish cuisine. Some chefs, like Mark Spangenthal of Kutsher¹s Tribeca highlighted the latke’s sophisticated side with a mixture of chanterelle, maitake and black
apple and lemon juice. In each case, the participating chefs’ latke riffs were part of a long history of eating fried foods during the eight-day festival of lights. In the Hanukkah story, the Maccabees, victorious in their revolt against the Syrian-Greeks to reclaim the defiled temple in Jerusalem, only had enough oil to rededicate the temple’s menorah for one night, but the oil miraculously lasted for eight days. So perhaps the lesson in terms of latkes is if you¹ve actually got enough oil for frying, break out the frying pan and go wild. The original latkes (the name stems
Some two hours and 6,400 latkes were a part of last month’s event. trumpet mushrooms and a dollop of herbed ricotta cheese. Others kept things deliciously simple. Bill Telepan of Manhattan’s Telepan, for example, kept an eye on tradition by topping his potato and celery root latkes with a sour cream accented by grated green
from the Ukrainian word for fritter) were actually made of a soft white cheese, not potatoes, and were typically fried in butter or olive oil. According to Gil Marks’ The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food it wasn¹t until the late 18th century that Eastern European and
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German Jews began to trust the humble New World vegetable enough to begin featuring it into their holiday foods. The switch had everything to do with seasonality. During the cold winter months, schmaltz (rendered chicken or goose fat) was more readily available for frying than butter or oil. Kosher laws prohibit the mixing of meat and dairy, which rendered schmaltz-fried cheese latkes an impossibility. Meanwhile potatoes, which grew easily and stored well through the winter, were quickly becoming a staple of Jewish peasant cuisine and offered a hearty, warming substitute pancake for the Hanukkah table (and could be fried in delicious schmaltz). The same seasonal logic applies the famous latke topper: applesauce, which is made from winter’s most storage-friendly fruit. Latkes arrived in America with Jewish immigrants in the mid-19th century. They remained at first just a Hanukkah staple, but eventually turned up in Jewish deli menus and were thereby introduced to the wider New
York and American consciousness. In recent years, the latke has enjoyed something of a culinary revival. They regularly appear as an hors d’oeuvre at upscale events, usually under the guise of ‘potato pancake’ and lavishly topped with crème fraiche, caviar or smoked salmon. Some two hours and 6,400 latkes were a part of last month’s event; it was then time to crown a winner. The panel of judges, which included former New York Times restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton, Edible Brooklyn editor Rachel Wharton, and Brooklyn’s favorite Jewish politician, Borough President Marty Markowitz, awarded top honors to Jason Weiner’s Manhattan restaurant, Almond. His leading latke came smothered in goat yogurt and topped with smoked bluefish; a sublime, onebite tribute to Hanukkah’s favorite pancake.
// NEWS
LEGISLATION
Connecticut Restaurants And Food Service Operators Brace For State Sick Leave Bill Companies across Connecticut have been preparing for a new state law that took effect on New Years Day, which requires firms with 50 or more employees to provide certain workers with paid sick leave.
“M
andating Connecticut employers to provide paid sick leave to full and part time employees is an extremely costly measure that will result in fewer jobs and even less job growth in an already struggling economy,” noted the Connecticut Restaurant Association’s
Nicole Griffin. The state Department of Labor has been meeting with dozens and dozens of employers, law firms and business associations in recent months, trying to educate them on the nuances of the new law. Connecticut is the first state to mandate for paid sick leave.
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Mandatory paid sick leave is one of a host of new state laws that took effect as of Jan. 1. Others include a new tax credit program for businesses that hire new employees; expanded insurance coverage for breast MRIs, bone marrow screening and ostomy supplies; and a loan forgiveness program
for students who graduate from socalled “green studies” programs. For the new paid sick leave legislation, Heidi Lane, principal attorney for the labor department, has been holding informational sessions with businesses and fielding phone calls from concerned employers. The department held its third seminar on the law on Jan. 12 at its offices in Wethersfield. “With mandatory paid sick leave bill restaurants will be forced to doublepay for a shift when someone calls in sick,” Griffin added. “Employers will have to pay that worker for the day off, as well as pay his or her replacement to cover that shift. It is a cost that is simply unaffordable.”
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Booth #1830 37 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
// NEWS
REAL ESTATE
Casual Tavern on the Green Operator Sought By NYC Parks Department
M
ove over white tablecloths casual dining is officially coming to the formerly fancy Tavern on the Green. The city kicked off the public process of finding a new operator for the storied Central Park eatery, once one of New York’s most well known restaurants and a popular tourist attraction. In a request for proposals released late last month, the Parks Department said it wants a casual restaurant, outdoor cafe and bar at the Tavern site, which once served pricey prime rib beneath chandeliers. The famous name will stay the same, but the new incarnation of Tavern on the Green will be a “moderately priced” neighborhood dining destination, according to the 37page RFP outlining the city’s vision for the restaurant, which sits just inside Central Park, at Central Park West and West 67th Street. “Tavern on the Green has long been one of the city’s most unique settings and today marks a new chapter in its life,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “Now is the right time to re-envision the historic space and give it a new look and a new use.” In the RFP, Parks says it wants
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// CHEFCETERA
UP CLOSE WITH METRO NEW YORK CHEFS
Chef Arik Bensimon
Napa & Co. in Stamford, CT Nestled in the heart of downtown Stamford, Connecticut, you will find Napa & Co., a restaurant that embodies the energy of Napa Valley. In the kitchen you’ll find a talented individual, Chef Arik Bensimon and his team of 31. Chef Arik is a culinary graduate from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.
H
e has famed restaurants, Le Cirque and Picholine in NYC and LaPanetiere in Rye, NY under his belt. His many years in the culinary scene of New York shaped his passion and work ethic. Arik believes in the “farm to table” cuisine that Napa and Co was built around by owners Mary Schaffer and Charles Morgan. Fresh food, locally driven and unmanipulated. Who or what influenced you to get into the culinary scene? Well I started working in a family owned restaurant in Manhattan called Pasta Prego when I was about eleven years old, I’d work there on summer breaks and any vacations we had, going on deliveries, cooking , opening and closing, making sandwiches and pastas, everything was made from scratch
including the bread the restaurant was very busy and I always remember how much I loved that rush of getting bombarded and working under pressure. My love for cooking came much later on. You’ve had a successful career in the NYC culinary scene, what brought you to Connecticut and Napa & Co.? I’ve worked in Manhattan for about thirteen years once I graduated from Culinary school, I am originally from New York but most of my family lives here now and mainly I think I was just tired of the subway and the lack of trees. I do miss the energy a lot. When you arrived at Napa & Co., was the menu already established or did you give it a whole different feel entirely? When I came to Napa I definitely felt that I had to put my own stamp on as any chef would. It’s kind of a touchy subject because when you think about it all food does come from a farm. I believe people are becoming more aware and more health conscious and are curious as to where that food comes from and how it was farmed. I try to source as locally as possible I believe that is one of my responsibilities as a chef to know where my food comes from and to make sure I am offering the best possible ingredients.
“I try to source as locally as possible. I believe that is one of my responsibilities as a chef to know where my food comes from and to make sure I am offering the best possible ingredients.” 42 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
I have been starting to experiment with a lot more spices from around the world. Does your menu change depending on what’s available to you? Yes, our menu changes daily not the whole thing but a few items here and there, dishes evolve, that’s the fun part for me. Chef Arik’s dishes represent a true taste of Napa
Do you only use local produce, meats, cheeses, etc., in CT? As much as possible. What about wines, do you use only local vineyards? We have wines from all over the world. Any favorite ingredients you enjoy cooking with that make your dishes unique?
What’s your buying strategy? Do you go to bid every week? I speak with various farmers daily; when my schedule allows me I visit the farms as often as possible. What’s your approach to building the right team? Such as a sous chef, etc. An open mind. They need to bring ideas forward; I need to be able to learn from them as well.
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With the dining room flanked with ceiling high wine racks, Napa’s design reflects its name
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// EYE
PARTRIDGE CLUB
Partridge Club: Holiday ‘11 New York Athletic Club NEW YORK, NY - EYE joined fellow Partridge Club members in welcoming the holiday season at the club’s annual holiday shindig at the New York Athletic Club. Dennis Sweeney once again brought his touch of humor to the festivities, as the event once again marked a highlight of Christmas in New York.
EYE spotted such club notables as Larry T. Hines from The Princeton Club of New York, and the Woodmere Club’s Donald F. Mollitor. The Partridge Club was formed in 1935 at the Victoria Hotel in New York City. The membership was made up of leading purveyors to the hotel, club and restaurant trade. EYE toasted the holi-
days with many old friends, including: Dick Hynes of Hobart and The Park Lane’s Gladys Mouton Di Stefano and Flik’s Brian Donahue. The Holiday luncheon brought the mission of the Partridge Foundation to raise scholarship funds for institutions of higher learning and to provide training for students pursuing a career in the Hos-
(L to R) Fresh and Tasty’s Peter Fernandez and Marc Casaburi of At Your Service (L to R) Marc Fuchs of M. Tucker and Restaurant Associates chief Dick Cattani
(L to R) Yotel’s Geoff Mills, Stella Hollmann of the Paramount Hotel and Hal Sokoloff of HSL
PBAC’s Keith Fitzgerald and Barb Boden of JP Morgan Chase
(L to R) City Baking’s Barry Blaine and Maureen Cole of Minners Design
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pitality Industry. EYE visited with many corporate dining shakers and movers, including: Citicorp’s Ben Mandaro, Robert Sentie, and Sodexho’s John Herron; also spotted were Karen Grezner of White & Case, JP Morgan Chase’s Barbara Boden, and Bill Adams III. EYE spotted top food manufacturers including Pepsico’s Ryan Schimmel, Dorit Scherman and Bob North of True North Salmon. EYE toasted the holidays with M. Tucker’s Jeff Enda and local rep Bill Meile. EYE can’t say enough about the Partridge Club’s scholarship initiatives, which are led by Marc Sarrazin of DeBragga and Spitler. Once again with the meat maven’s lead Partridge grants went to such noted institutions as the Culinary Institute of America, Johnson and Wales, Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts.
(L to R) Romano Gatland’s Chris Brady toasted the holidays with Morgan Tucker of M. Tucker and Singer’s Fred Singer
// NEWS
CHARITY
Expanded City Harvest Facility Set To Increase Aid To NYC’s Hungry
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he work on nonprofit City Harvest’s new 45,400 squarefoot facility in Long Island City is not yet complete, but the organization is already sending out an average of 83,000 pounds of food a week to places that help the five boroughs’ hungry. “This facility will allow us to get to the next level,” said David Levy, City Harvest’s vice president of distribution, transportation and logistics. City Harvest is a food rescue, which transports edible but not salable food to those in need and has operated in the city since 1982. Through its 2,000 donors, the organization delivers food to about 600 emergency food programs throughout the city. “We’re just trying to do our share to end hunger in all five boroughs of New York City,” Levy said. Its corporate offices are based in Manhattan, but in the past City Harvest handled its food rescue operations out of a 3,000-square-foot facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, occasionally rented a freezer and kept its delivery trucks at locations throughout the five boroughs. With City Harvest’s new facility, at 55-01 2nd St. in Hunters Point, all that has changed. The facility’s zero-degree freezer alone is 1,000 square feet bigger than its old facility. The Long Island City location also includes a 38-degree cooler that can hold the produce that accounts for 60 percent of City Harvest’s output, space for non-perishable food and a 7,000-square-foot area that will be a food nutrition education center. The 20,000-square-foot parking lot can store all of City Harvest’s 17 trucks and other vehicles. “This seemed to have everything for
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// NEWS
HOTELS
Meyer/Çardoz’s North End Grill Debuts At Downtown Hotel The re-collaboration between restaurant impresario Danny Meyer and Chef Floyd Cardoz opened its doors late last month. North End Grill in the Battery Park City Hotel features an informal American-style bar and grill.
“T
his fits in with my casual restaurants, like Union Square Cafe, the tavern at Gramercy Tavern, Maialino, and the Bar Room at the Modern,” Mr. Meyer said. “I don’t see this as a special-occasion place.” Cardoz and Meyer ended a long run at Tabla, at the end of 2010. The new restaurant’s menu is dominated by seafood. A dining counter faces an open kitchen and there will be a bar for drinks, not food. The restaurant, on North End Avenue is behind the new Goldman Sachs
building with a glimpse of the river. Mr. Meyer said that the area is “tremendously under-served” when it comes to dining options and yet, he said, it has the highest-income Zip code in the city. His Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) is also opening a Shake Shack and Blue Smoke in the building.
North End Grill’s dining room.
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Highlights on the opening lunch menu include Nantucket bay scallops in blood orange juice; crab soup with a shot of sherry; clam pizza; coddled egg with peekytoe crab; Welsh rabbit with roasted pears; and Nova Scotia lobster on smoking seaweed. The opening also signifies that highend dining continues to be part of the Firm’s vision. Much of USHG’s focus has been on the expansion of the wildly successful Shake Shack chain. Mr. Cardoz’s menu follows the classic three-course format, with added categories like salads, eggs and grills. Highlights on the opening lunch menu include Nantucket bay scallops in blood orange juice; crab soup with a shot of sherry; clam pizza; coddled egg with peekytoe crab; Welsh rabbit with roasted pears; and Nova Scotia lobster on smoking seaweed. Joining Cardoz’ culinary team is Chef Alexandra Ray, from Gramercy Tavern. The new pastry chef will bring
a creative touch. This will include the use of Scotch, a feature of the bar, in the butterscotch pot de crème with chocolate streusel and single-malt scotch marshmallow. The black-stained wood that covers the walls is not from some New England barn; recycled Wyoming snow fences were used. The entryway leads into a spacious bar with more than 99 bottles of Scotch on the wall; to get to the dining room, guests pass an open kitchen, a pastry area and a seafood station.
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Booth #1945
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Booth #1931
// NEWS
MANAGEMENT
Connecticut Based Subway Restaurants Names Duo To Key Management Posts The SUBWAY® submarine sandwich and salad chain has announced that Joe Chaves will head-up operations for the 35,500-plus restaurant chain as Director of Operations, while Rebecca Audet has been named the brand’s Director of Worldwide Training.
J
oe, who has been with the SUBWAY® restaurant chain for five years, has 28 years experience in the QSR industry, including time as a Dunkin Donuts/ Baskin Robbins franchisee. Rebecca is a SUBWAY® franchisee, owning two locations in Vermont, while also overseeing 1,000-plus restaurants as the Manager of U.S. and International company run (or held) territories. Rebecca will continue this fieldwork in addition to training. “Training is the cornerstone of any organization, especially in franchising where we need to teach people how our system works and how to achieve the highest level of efficiency. As the largest QSR in the world, I know I have been entrusted with a critical responsibility,” said Audet a graduate of Columbia University who lists one of her favorite sandwiches as the egg white on flatbread with spinach, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, chipotle sauce and salt & pepper. “Subway is doing extremely well, especially considering the current global economy,” said Chaves, a devout fan of the Italian BMT sub. “It continues to be a remarkably good investment for our existing and future franchisees.
I am looking forward to supporting all of our partners by building on the brand’s great track record.” A Connecticut native, Audet moved to Vermont after attending college in New York City. During her senior year at Columbia University, Rebecca purchased her first franchise, skipping her graduation rehearsal to attend a zoning meeting on the location. As Director of Training, Audet will oversee the brand’s entire training program, which includes thirteen global training centers, an e-leaning program, as well as the education and training of Sandwich Artists, managers, franchisees, field consultants, and Development Agents. “I am excited to welcome new franchisees joining the Subway team so they can feel part of the family and excited about their investment and new endeavor,” she said. A Rhode Island native who has also spent time in Florida, Chaves joined the SUBWAY® chain five years ago and immediately made an impact working on several projects, such as expanding catering capabilities and improving the Customer Service experience. He also led the company territory teams to improve operations and profitability.
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Joe Chaves will head-up operations and Rebecca Audet will be taking on Director of Worldwide Training duties
“This will be a challenging and exciting opportunity, and a privilege to serve this great brand and the thousands of franchisees, development agents, and staff,” Chaves said. Headquartered in Milford, Connecticut, and with regional offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Brisbane, Miami and Singapore, the SUBWAY® chain was co-founded by Fred DeLuca and
Dr. Peter Buck in 1965. Their partnership, which continues today, marked the beginning of a remarkable journey – one that has made it possible for thousands of individuals to build and succeed in their own business.
// NEWS
CONCESSIONS
Day And Nite Partners with Design/Build Teams Madison Square Garden Renovation For over 30 years, the Sher family business, Day and Nite Refrigeration, has served the New York metro area, providing commercial clients with top-quality service for their cooking, refrigeration, and HVAC equipment.
2
011 saw them take on one of their biggest jobs ever: installing new concession equipment at Madison Square Garden, as part of the arena’s full renovation. This is the largest arena renovation in the world. It comes on the heels of Day and Nite’s successful completion of a similar project at Citi Field, the new Mets’ stadium in Queens. At Madison Square Garden, Day and Nite installed beer and soda serving lines, along with cooking equipment and a refrigeration system. “The job kept on evolving over the course
“The place came out amazing. If you’re a season ticket holder, your mouth is going to drop open when you see this place. You won’t even recognize it.” of the contract,” says Day and Nite cofounder Ken Sher. “The Perlick system we installed was the largest one they’ve ever built. The size of the system, and the fact that we had to work around the existing arena infrastructure, meant we had to connect the dots left by all the
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other contractors.” The project illustrated Day and Nite’s ability to work as part of a team. Day and Nite worked closely with MSG Director of Foodservice, Charles Troccoli as well as the project’s equipment and supply dealer Stafford Smith. Day and Nite coordinated much of the installation with BSE who represented many of the project’s specified lines. As part of the project, Day and Nite installed room-size gear boxes. “There are multiple distribution points in the building,” says Sher. “The primary boxes for the beer and the soda syrup are both on the fifth floor, but there are another set of soda syrup boxes for the concessions on the sixth, seventh, and eighth floors. On top of that, we’ll be installing another set of boxes next year, to serve beer concessions on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors.” Sher has nothing but great things to say about the entire MSG renovation. He says, “The place came out amazing.
If you’re a season ticket holder, your mouth is going to drop open when you see this place. You won’t even recognize it.” Sher points to new marble floors and tile walls as particular places of improvement. Since its founding in 1977, Day and Nite has developed a sterling reputation based on its top-notch service of commercial kitchen equipment. Founded by brothers Ken and Irwin Sher, the duo has since brought on the next generation, Matt, Rick, and Brett. Day and Nite’s commitment to its customers has not changed even as it has expanded the breadth and reach of its services in recent years. Day and Nite now operates in the Carolinas and Florida, as well as New York, and now offers food service plumbing installation, along with an addition to its food service hardware division that expands its ability to help restaurateurs meet New York City’s grading system requirements. In the coming year, Day and Nite looks forward to installing concession equipment at the Barclays Center, the new Nets’ arena rising in Downtown Brooklyn. Sher says, “The expertise we’ve gained from the Madison Square Garden project will ensure that our work on the Brooklyn project will continue to be top quality.”
// NEWS
TRENDS
Garden State’s A-1 Sets Standard As National Linen Innovator Founded in 1989, A-1 recognized the need in the Special Events industry to provide quality linens at lower prices. A-1 was the first company to both rent and sell linen nationwide. The firm services every state in the U.S. along with many international venues and businesses.
“W
e have developed efficient methods of getting linens to our customer at the lowest prices in the industry within the short lead time that the special events industry has grown accustom to,” commented Oren Fox, A-1’s Director of Sales. A-1’s ability to both sell and rent offers strategic advantages to its customer base. It allows for the customer to accomplish all of their needs in one phone call. “We are a one-stop-shop and a customer can rent items that they don’t necessarily want to inventory and purchase those items that they feel they will get continuous use out of,” Fox added. “We also boast the largest inventory in the nation and specialize in response time to our customers needs, “ he continued. “We can normally ship out orders within 24 hours of their requests.” Our products are made in the USA, which means a lot to both our customers and us. We take pride in the work we do and the jobs that we provide. “As an added benefit, our products are superior to all of the Chinese import products that are flooding the market. If a customer wants to ensure that a color ordered this year will match a color they plan to order next
A-1’s ability to both sell and rent offers strategic advantages to its customer base year, they will order from A-1.” A-1 has also made a major commitment to a green and sustainable agenda. They have continued to enhance their production process and building site to exceed any and all environmental requirements and concerns. In 2012, the South Hackensack concern will be adding a solar system, which will provide electric power and feed the state’s power grid. “Our most popular fabric continues to be our basic Polyester,” Fox noted. “It is a staple in the industry and is used at all types of events. The more luxurious fabrics have gained in popularity.” A-1 offers more than 40 different options at the industry’s lowest prices including a new line of Damasks such as the Beethoven and Chopin. A-1’s reputation has been greatly enhanced by its ability to source the industry’s most unique items. “Cus-
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tomers want to be able to set their inventory apart from their competition,” Fox added. In taking this into account, A-1 has added fabrics such as the Kaleidoscope and Metallic Scroll. “They have gained so much in popularity that we have already added additional colors to those that we originally planned to offer and are in addition to our other unique items such as Burlap and Denim,” Fox continued. A-1 has developed a unique knowledge of its customer’s needs. “Caterers tend to mostly rent while party rental companies and hotels have space to store their inventory, “Caterers tend to have less space and have a larger focus on food preparation. Additionally, the laundering process, for those that own their linens, is a costly process that many caterers choose to avoid,” said Fox. “With the décor at events moving towards the inclusion of modern furniture, many caterers find it advan-
tageous to provide custom covers to the furniture to make the appearance unique. It is more cost efficient than purchasing new furniture for each event.” A-1’s rental program offers a seven day rental period and free return shipping which many caterers find customer and cost friendly. Another advantage of A-1 is the ability to make custom linens. With a state-of-the-art 50,000 square foot facility, A-1 is able to provide the service of manufacturing basically anything that can be made from fabric. “We have done Beach Ball style linens, custom Back Drops, and Furniture Covers to name a few,” Fox concluded.
// NEWS
DINERS
Queens Residents Toast Flushing’s Palace Diner The Palace Diner, a Flushing mainstay that served as a cozy gathering place for local residents and politicians alike, has shut its doors for good last month.
“I
’ve had a good run, it’s time,” said owner George Mantzikos. “I’ve been fortunate to have good customers and good employees. The diner, known for its Greek specialties, fresh fish and chops, will be replaced by an upscale Chinese restaurant,” he said. “The customers are so sad,” said waitress Janeth O’Connor, who has worked at the Palace for 15 years. “They have been coming in crying.” The eatery’s homey atmosphere lured in customers and created a loyal staff proud of their long tenure. “This is
The Palace opened in 1976. Its dramatic stone facade and neon sign helped establish the diner as a roadside landmark in the bustling area. not a diner, this is family,” said hostess Eva Ballas, who has worked at the Palace for 20 years. The Palace opened in 1976. Its dra-
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matic stone facade and neon sign helped establish the diner as a roadside landmark in the bustling area. “The food was good and there was a lot of choices,” said Don Galasso who grew up near the diner and frequented it as a student at John Bowne High School and Queens College. “We used to go there all the time. It’s sad, but there were a bunch of diners in the area and they are all closed.” Like many Queens diners, the Palace fell victim to changing demographics and a shaky economy. Flushing, once populated by Italian, German and Irish families is home to one of the city’s largest and still growing Asian populations. The influx of Asian businesses and families has helped revitalize the downtown Flushing area over the past two decades. But some longtime residents said the changes have left their older neighbors with few familiar places to
shop and eat. “The Palace Diner was the stronghold for people who remained,” said Myra Baird Herce, past president of the Flushing Chamber of Commerce. “It is a solid community resource – a comfort zone and that is what is missing around here.” Mantzikos and his partners had renovated the diner since taking it over 29 years ago. The spacious interior features a skylight; separate dining area and fish tanks. The booth area still has some oldfashioned touches, such as minijukeboxes. The Queensboro Hill Civic Association used the Palace as its regular meeting site. “We sincerely hope and trust that the new owners will welcome people of all backgrounds as graciously as the Palace Diner’s owners did for decades here,” said Don Capalbi, the group’s president. State Assemblywoman Grace Meng and City Councilman Peter Koo joined regulars to mourn the diner’s closing. “The Palace Diner has long been a place known throughout Queens where many friendships were born and cultivated,” Meng said. “I thank the Manzitkos family for being such an integral part of our community. I look forward to working together with the new restaurant in building a new partnership with the community.” Mantzikos said he and his wife expect to get back into the food service business. “This is the only thing I know about,” he said. “I spent 80, 90 hours a week in here; I couldn¹t completely stop.”
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// NEWS
SHOWS
Canada’s Leading International Food Trade Show Recaptures “The Flavor Of Montreal” In 2012 SIAL Canada 2012 - May 9-11, 2012 - Montreal, Canada
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anada’s leading international food and beverage exhibition, SIAL Canada will return to Montreal for its ninth edition scheduled to take place May 9-11, 2012 in the Palais de Congres de Montreal Exhibition Center. The annual show alternates between Montreal and Toronto. The 2011 edition in Toronto set records for exhibitor participation and Pan-Canadian attendance. SIAL Canada 2011 brought together 697 exhibitors (44% international) and 12,415 visitors from 62 countries on 200,000 square feet of exhibit space at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Show organizers already report that there is currently more exhibit space reserved to date for the 2012 show than for the last edition in Montreal. SIAL Canada’s Managing Director, Xavier Poncin affirms, “After exceptional results in Toronto, the space already booked clearly establishes us as the place to be in North America. Montreal, gastronomical capital of Canada is attracting 30% new exhibitors.” Offering an impressive panorama of food and beverages on exhibit from 40 countries and nine Canadian provinces, SIAL Canada 2012 will bring to light dozens of innovative products via four different signature competitions. The Trends & Innovations competition will evaluate the most inventive new food & beverage products by a rigorous selection process and independent
jury. Last year a record 52 contestants produced a telling line-up of finalists that included individual frozen potato gratins, birch syrup, onion confit with espelette pepper, duck fois gras appetizers and quinoa salad kits. The Grand Prize was awarded to Your Bar Factory’s 100% natural fruit bar from Lasalle, Quebec, Canada. The 8th edition of the Olive d’Or competition will once again bring together the best virgin olive oils from around the world. The contest posted record participation in 2011 with 124 oils from 14 countries; winners hailed from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Chili and Crete. Coffee Cup by SIAL will gather regular and certified coffees after a successful debut in 2011 where varieties from Colombia, Brazil and Ethiopia came out on top. The La Cuisine by SIAL demonstration stage will introduce a new contest for corporate chefs from the food processing, food retail and food service industries. Strict time limits, mandatory ingredients and the theme of “Our Health in Your Hands” will set the stage for the food industry’s first corporate chef competition. SIAL Canada 2012 organizers are also preparing other added-value features to enhance the show experience. “Hot Products” Expert Pathways will guide visitors to up-and-coming product categories such as Gluten-free, Fair-trade and Halal with new routes for Conve-
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Montreal, known for some of the best gourmet shopping and restaurants in North America, is the largest city in the province of Quebec and the second-largest in Canada. nience Stores and Regional Specialties. A three-day conference program will parallel the pathways’ themes. Montreal, known for some of the best gourmet shopping and restaurants in North America, is the largest city in the province of Quebec and the secondlargest in Canada. The food industry is a major contributor to Quebec’s economy, employing nearly 12% of the province’s workforce. Food exports are booming, surpassing Canadian and worldwide growth rates for the past 10 years. The industry owes its vitality primarily to the abundance and quality of raw materials that Québec has to offer including pork, soybeans, berries, vegetables, maple syrup, refined sugar and vast fresh water reserves. SIAL Canada 2012 will host an official USA Pavilion endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture featuring over 25 U.S. companies on 3,000 square feet of exhibit space. To date, three U.S. trade organizations have plans to par-
ticipate with booths in the pavilion including Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA), the Vermont Specialty Foods Association and Food Export-Northeast who is offering customized marketing assistance to U.S. exhibitors through their Food Show PLUS™ program. In addition, the International Dairy – Deli – Bakery Association (IDDBA) and the Association of Food Industries (AFI) will exhibit in the show. SIAL only admits food industry professionals and is exclusively devoted to food and beverage products, serving the needs of all market segments including large-scale distribution, import-export, wholesale distribution, specialty retail, foodservice as well as food manufacturing. SIAL Canada is co-located with the SET Canada exhibition of equipment,
continued on page 75
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// NEWS
EVENTS
IRFS Show Set To Host Annual Japan Pavilion At Javits For the sixth consecutive year, the Japan Pavilion at the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York will acquaint the industry with the unique flavors and exciting new culinary innovations of Japanese ingredients during the expo, March 4 - 6, 2012 at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.
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ocated on the show floor, the Pavilion will provide an exclusive opportunity to encounter enticing food and products from all over Japan in one place. The Pavilion will include over 40
food trends. • A Japanese Bar will host a variety of Sake and other Japanese spirits including unique Japanese cocktails made with Sake, Shochu, Umeshu (plum wine), as well as beer and
March 2011 earthquake disaster. The Show, which is the only allencompassing event in New York exclusively serving the restaurant and foodservice industry, is also home to more than 500 leading vendors and manufacturers showcasing their products. The 2012 International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York will be held Sunday, March 4 – Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at the Javits Conven-
The Pavilion will include over 40 exhibitors, hundreds of diverse products from vendors from all over Japan, from international corporations to local familyowned companies, a cooking contest, chef demonstrations, seminars and book signings.
exhibitors, hundreds of diverse products from vendors from all over Japan, from international corporations to local family-owned companies, a cooking contest, chef demonstrations, seminars and book signings. Sections of the Pavilion will host dedicated aspects of Japanese cuisine. Included are: • “Soul Food of Japan: Healthy, Comfortable, Easy & Quick” – This platform will introduce the latest Japanese ingredients, kitchenware and equipment, and explain how to best incorporate them into the American foodservice industry and current US
wines. • The Japanese Culinary Theater will feature seminars and demonstrations including “The A to Z of Opening a Ramen Restaurant,” the Third Annual Ferdinand Metz Culinary Competition, a how-to on running a Japanese Food Business in the US, a seminar on how-to select, fillet and store fresh fish with an emphasis on knife techniques, among many others. As a preview to the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show, the Flavors of Japan kickoff show will take place March 1 – 3, 2012 in Grand Central Station. Open to the public,
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the show will feature new food products by leading companies as well as cultural performances. Additionally, in conjunction with Japanese Restaurant Week March 7 – 11, 2012, Dine Out For Japan will donate a portion of their profits to the relief efforts for the
tion Center in New York City. The Show is produced and managed by Reed Exhibitions, and sponsored by the New York State Restaurant Association.
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// NEWS
CHARITY
Celebrity Cooking For A Cause; Over 50 Stars Share Their Favorite Childhood Recipes We all have a favorite childhood food that immediately conjures up carefree afternoons, endless days, and feelings of melt-in-your-mouth pleasure and comfort. Is yours buttered cinnamon toast? Your mama’s potato salad?
Andrew Carmellini 60 • January 2012 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
After-school English muffin pizzas? Now, Nick Katsoris, author of the acclaimed and award-winning children’s book series featuring Loukoumi the fluffy lamb, has gathered the favorite childhood recipes of more than 50 celebrities in his delightfully illustrated new cookbook for children and their families, Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook. A minimum of $2 from the sale of each book will be donated to Chefs for Humanity and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook, Loukoumi and her friends Dean the dog, Marika the monkey and Fistiki the cat are playing happily when they become hungry. At Loukoumi’s home they discover Fistiki’s Aunt Cat Cora, a character based on celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author Cat Cora, the first and only female Iron Chef, and President and Founder of Chefs for Humanity, which works to reduce hunger around the world. Aunt Cat offers to help them make her childhood favorite dish Grandma’s Special Cream Cheese Cake. The story continues as Aunt Cat guides the friends in gathering and measuring ingredients and preparing them for the oven, all the while sharing child-friendly safety tips. Beginning with Cat Cora’s rec-
Nick Katsoris, author of the acclaimed and award-winning children’s book series featuring Loukoumi the fluffy lamb
ipe for Alma’s Italian Cream Cake, Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook. is divided into Weekend Breakfasts, Lunchtime Favorites, After-School Snacks, Family Meals, and Delicious Desserts. With tasty treats for the whole family, the book includes Rachael Ray’s French Toast Cups with Fresh Fruit, Oprah Winfrey’s Corn Fritters, Ellen DeGeneres’ Vegan Sliders, Beyoncé’s Easy Guacamole with Corn Chip Scoops, Betty White’s Chicken Wings, Miranda Cosgrove’s Spaghetti Tacos, Nicole Kidman’s Rice Pudding, Matt Lauer’s Beanie Weenie Stew, Mario Lopez’s Chicken Enchiladas, Marlo Thomas’ Corn Pudding, and Eli Manning’s Lace Cookies plus recipes from Jennifer Aniston, Katie Couric, Bridgit Mendler, Jay Leno, Constantine Maroulis, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Amy Poehler, Neil Patrick Harris, Paula Dean, George Stephanopoulos, Faith Hill, Sherri Shepherd, Al Roker, and many others. Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook also invites children ages 4 to 12 to submit their favorite childhood recipe to Loukoumi’s
continued on page 74
// NEWS
NEW PRODUCTS
Kingfish Adds Much Anticipated Peppermint CREAM Party To ‘12 Lineup ™
I
t is said that the aroma of peppermint has been found to enhance memory. The taste of Kingfish Spirits new Peppermint CREAM™ flavor is a sure fire way to make a memorable impression to the senses with its alcohol infused, smooth and minty whipped cream confectionary blast. Inspired by the spirit of the New Year and the increasing demand for new CREAM flavors, Peppermint CREAM has been introduced to 12 US states and will expand in the New Year to retail outlets, restaurants, bars and clubs in 40 states and beyond-including Canada & South America. Like all of the popularly palatable CREAM flavors (raspberry, orange, cherry, caramel, chocolate, strawberry, and of course-vanilla), Peppermint CREAM has been uniquely formulated to perfection–combining natural and artificial Peppermint flavors with the same proprietary blend of whipped cream ingredients tinged with a perfectly smooth alcohol-infusion (15% ALC-VOL/ 30 Proof ). The non-caffeinated Peppermint CREAM confection offers a stimulatingly sensory Peppermint accent that can be enjoyed on top of mixed drinks, shots, martinis, daiquiris, desserts and coffees, or straight up! Like all CREAM flavors, Peppermint CREAM offers the simple pleasures of traditional whipped cream with grown-up bene-
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COMMUNITY
Families In Need To Enjoy Delicious Thanksgiving Dinner Donated By Top Chefs And Generous Volunteers The spirit of Thanksgiving was on full view at Children’s Aid’s Dunlevy Milbank Center on the day before Thanksgiving as chefs from some of New York’s finest hotels and restaurants teamed up to provide a luscious Thanksgiving dinner for hundreds of New York’s disadvantaged children and their families.
T
hanks to the generosity of the Food and Beverage Association of America, this is the 21th year that this special dinner was served at the Dunlevy Milbank Center. Wayne Whinna, Director of Food and Beverage at The Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, headed up the culinary efforts for the 10th year. Wayne Whinna and his staff cooked 275 turkeys at
FBAA’s visionary Gladys Mouton Di Stefano with Richard Buery Jr. CEO of The Childrens Aid Society
Charmer Industries’ David Silverman (3rd from left) led a large family contingent to the event
Glady Mouton Di Stefano with the Park Lane Food and Beverage Staff
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Tim Burns of Lauber Imports with his daughter
Sheraton New York’s Sean Cassidy (L) awarded a 20lb turkey to a guest
20 lbs. each, plus all the trimmings. For the 21st consecutive year, Gladys Mouton Di Stefano, President of the Food & Beverage Association and President of At Your Service Party Consulting, LLC, is organizing, the dinner and coordinating all dona-
tions. Members, family members and friends of The Food and Beverage Association donated all the food, decorations and table settings for the dinner, prepared and served the food. Among the children and families
(From L to R) Judith from Ariston, Richard Buery Jr., Gladys, and Maribel and Madison Gattulo
Gotham Hospitality’s Steve Gattullo with his children Maribal and Madison
celebrating at the dinner were the homeless families who live at Children’s Aid’s Pelham Fritz Apartments (a homeless shelter for families) across the street from the Dunlevy Milbank Center; formerly homeless families who return for this special
celebration; and hundreds of other families from the Harlem community served by the Dunlevy Milbank Center all year. A DJ entertained diners during the meal and a raffle distributed more cooked turkeys to the families in attendance.
Metro New York’s Ecolab team rolled up their sleeves in support of a great cause
For 21 consecutive years the industry has come together to make Thanksgiving a special day for New York’s disadvantaged children and their families
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// NEWS
EVENTS
Top New York City Chefs Head to Mohegan Sun for Annual Sun Winefest Sun WineFest 2012’s lineup of celebrity chefs and winemakers will feature top personalities in both industries at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun this month.
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n Friday, January 27th; Saturday, January 28th; and Sunday, January 29th, celebrity chefs in attendance will include Bobby Flay of Bar Americain and Bobby’s Burger Palace, Todd English of Todd English’s Tuscany and Jasper White of Jasper White’s Summer Shack and Summer Shack Express, all located at Mohegan Sun, along with chefs Govind Armstrong, Donatella Arpaia, Kim Canteenwalla, Mary Ann Esposito, Elizabeth Falkner, Ben Ford, Marc Forgione, Larry Forgione, Bryan Forgione, Betty Fraser, Michael Ginor, Ihsan Gurdal, Andy Husbands, Robert Irvine, Susur
The Celebrity Chef Dine Around features an unrivaled epicurean feast prepared by worldrenowned chefs and accompanied by superb libations including fine wines and smooth spirits. Lee, Emily Luchetti, Daisy Martinez, Douglas Rodriguez, Jason Santos, Jacques Torres and Marcela Valladolid. Some of the nation’s leading winemakers Neil Bernardi, Jim Bernau, Aurélie Botton, Nicoletta Canella,
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Bob Iantosca, Kate MacMurray, Derek Rohlffs and Greg Winter are set to bring their expertise to the annual event. The lineup will also include spirit and beer producers Bernie Lubbers, Fergal Murray and Hugh Sisson. Mohegan Sun Executive Pastry Chef and Guinness World Record Holder for “World’s Largest Wedding Cake” Lynn Mansel and his exceptional culinary team will also take part in the weekend events. Chefs Bobby Flay, Todd English, Marc Forgione, Donatella Arpaia and Robert Irvine will participate in live demonstrations throughout the day during the Grand Tasting on Saturday and Sunday from 12:00pm to 5:00pm as well as in the Celebrity Chef Dine Around presented by Moët & Chandon on Saturday at 8:00pm where they will be joined by the full lineup of celebrity chefs. The Celebrity Chef Dine Around features an unrivaled epicurean feast
prepared by world-renowned chefs and accompanied by superb libations including fine wines and smooth spirits. Guests will have the opportunity to meet the chefs, winemakers and spirit producers. Elaborate dessert displays presented by Chocolatier Jacques Torres, Emily Luchetti, recognized around the world for her award-winning sweet creations and the author of five cookbooks and Mohegan Sun’s Executive Pastry Chef Lynn Mansel will be complemented with the exceptional collection of Hennessy Cognacs. Sun WineFest 2012 is a production of Cirilli Associates LLC, a Connecticut-based marketing firm that specializes in event concepts, event production, and customized marketing and sponsorship programs. Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, is one of the largest, most distinctive and spectacular entertainment, gaming, shopping and meeting destinations in the United States. Situated on 185 acres along the Thames River in scenic southeastern Connecticut, Mohegan Sun is within easy access of New York, Boston, Hartford and Providence and located 15 minutes from the museums, antique shops and waterfront of Mystic Country.
// NEWS
TRENDS AND MENUS
New Yorkers Are First To Eat Sushi-Grade Yellowtail Raised Entirely On Land For the first time in history, consumers in New York City have been able to purchase mercurysafe sushi-grade Yellowtail raised locally, in 9,000-gallon tanks on land.
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istorically, NYC diners have almost always eaten the fish supplied from Australia, Japan or Korea, where it is often flash frozen, shipped to New York, and defrosted at the restaurant or supermarket. Now a company called Local Ocean supplies Yellow-
tail to New Yorkers within hours of being pulled from the water in nearby Greenport, NY. The New York Times deemed Local Ocean’s Yellowtail “excellent raw” and “deliciously silky,” making it the most in demand Yellowtail in New York. “Mario Batali’s restaurants Eataly
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and ESCA both love the product – you can’t get any better than that,” said Efraim Bason, CEO of Local Ocean. “My biggest problem now is that I can’t supply all of the demand. My customers want this fish.” Technically, Yellowtail, also known as Hamachi, is a prized sashimi-
grade fish of the tuna and jack family. The large Yellowtail industry has had three core problems historically. First is the environmental sustainability - the overseas production of Yellowtail is based principally on the
continued on page 77
Leave Bill, from page 36 “Many employers in Connecticut already provide plenty of time off to their employees,” Lane said. The problem, she said, is that the businesses need to make sure the paid sick leave accrues at the same rate that’s in the new law. The legislation requires that a service industry worker at a business with 50 or more employees can accrue one hour of leave for every 40 hours worked. Lane said there’s also confusion about whether employees are considered service workers or not. The law lists 68 categories, based on the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of standard occupations that would be affected. The jobs range from food service employees to bellhops.
Given the major change in the law marks the first time the Connecticut labor department will have jurisdiction over a fringe benefits issue, in addition to wages and hours. State officials are willing to work with employers as they get used to the new rules. “We’re going to keep doing our education. We know that this is really difficult and confusing,” Lane said. “If someone has a violation, let’s fix it.” Proponents of law have estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 workers may benefit from the law. Lane said the bulk of Connecticut employers will not be affected, however, because they have such small staffs. Of the 95,000 employers in the state, she said 89 percent are smaller firms with fewer than 50 workers.
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The new law, however, will affect workers who already have paid sick leave. According to the legislation, if any workers who request the leave are retaliated against for it, they can now file a complaint with the Department
of Labor. “The law won’t affect any collective bargaining agreements reached prior to Jan. 1, 2012, until those agreements are renegotiated and expire,” Lane said.
Pastry & Baking Arts Classes Call For Upcoming Class Schedule Call Vic Rose: 732-864-2220
888-531-Chef
www.iceculinary.com
LOEWS, from page 22 star Hotels and Resorts, which became Interstate Hotels & Resorts in 2002. Mr. Whetsell served as Chairman and CEO of Meristar Hospitality Corporation until the company was sold in 2006. He served as Chairman and CEO of Interstate Hotels & Resorts until 2003, remaining Chairman until 2009. “With Paul’s tenure and experience in the industry, and now in his role as our new President and CEO, we will continue to operate the unique properties in our portfolio, while also looking for additions to the company through acquisition,
development and management,” said Tisch. “I am extremely excited to be joining Jon and the Loews Hotels’ team. Loews has a long tradition of owning and operating high quality hotels and delivering great guest experiences,” said Whetsell. “Working in partnership with Jon, our objective is to further develop and grow the brand while delivering superior financial operating results.” Headquartered in New York City, Loews Hotels owns and/or operates 18 hotels and resorts in the U.S. and Canada, including its newest, the 414-room Loews Atlanta Hotel that opened April 1, 2010. Located
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in major city centers and resort destinations from coast to coast, the Loews portfolio features one-of-akind properties that go beyond Four Diamond standards to delight guests with a supremely comfortable, uniquely local and vibrant travel experience. Loews boasts some of the industry’s most innovative and successful travel programs, including Loews Loves Kids for families and Loews Loves Pets for discerning animals on the road.
Trio of Bars, from page 25 also offer more subdued live entertainment, plus lots of flat-screen televisions that will create a sports-bar vibe. 21 Bar is the newest concept by the owners and operators of Dusk nightclub at Caesars. Eric Millstein, president of Dusk Management Group, says the 21 Bar is a departure from the typical casino lounge because it will mix gambling, good beer and liquor, awesome music and even sports. 21 Bar is named for its 21 varieties of vodkas, tequilas, beers and specialty drinks that fuse modern styles with classic cocktails.
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Casual Tavern, from page 38
City Harvest, from page 47
a restaurant that will serve the surrounding neighborhood and people who use Central Park every day, not just tourists. Among other envisioned features, Parks says it wants the new Tavern on the Green to have a “vibrant bar scene” and a take-away window that will sell pre-packaged to-go food and drinks. Though the old Tavern was a popular destination for large events such as weddings, Parks says it wants the new version of the restaurant to host only a limited number of special events “on an intimate scale.” Potential operators have until March 30 to submit proposals to the Parks Department. Tavern on the Green closed in January 2010 after its previous operators filed for bankruptcy. Restaurateur Dean Poll, who runs the Central Park Boathouse, submitted a bid to take over Tavern, but the deal fell through when Poll couldn’t reach an agreement with the restaurant workers’ union. Parks has since remodeled the Tavern building. In October 2010, it reopened as a T-shirt peddling gift shop with gourmet food trucks stationed outside. The trucks left in the fall of 2011. News of the laid-back ambience at the new Tavern got a cool reception from Upper East Siders earlier this year when the Parks Department pitched the idea at Community Board 8. But the Upper West Side’s Community Board 7 more than embraced the casual dining plan. The board passed a resolution calling on Parks to specify that the new Tavern serve patrons “in exercise clothes.”
our needs,” Levy said of the location. The nonprofit collects food from restaurants, supermarkets, food manufacturers, company cafeterias, hospitals, greenmarkets and farms. The donated items are then distributed to community food programs around the city. City Harvest delivers 30 million pounds of food a year and has a strategic plan to increase its output to the
Booth #1212
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point where it can supply 60 million pounds of food a year. During the holidays, or “harvest” season, City Harvest delivers more food than at any other time during the year, and 40 percent of the funds it collects are used during this time. “It’s our busiest season,” Levy said. “From late November to Jan. 15, City Harvest’s goal is to deliver nine million pounds of food, and the organization is on
track to surpass that goal,” Levy said. The new facility’s resources have arrived at a time when people are more food insecure than ever. Levy said that in the four years since the recession began, the need for food has increased by 25 percent. Among children, demand has increased by 35 percent and risen by 25 percent among seniors. “So it’s a little alarming for us,” Levy said.
Booth #1535
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Booth #2025
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Mortons, from page 14 the acquisition through a combination of cash and debt and has already arranged financing. The deal marks the industry veteran Fertitta’s second acquisition. In November, he picked up McCormick & Schmick’s following a long-standing pursuit of the seafood chain. Morton’s board of directors unanimously approved the agreement and recommended that stockholders tender their shares. In an upcoming tender offer, Manhattan based Castle Harlan, a private equity firm that owns about 27.7 percent of Morton’s outstanding shares, has agreed to tender its shares and vote in favor of the deal. Fertitta expects to close the transaction in early February 2012. “Morton’s has built an iconic worldwide restaurant brand and we welcome the Morton’s Restaurant Group into our Landry’s family,” Fertitta said. Fertitta plans to revamp Morton’s and introduce new items on the traditional steakhouse operator’s menu. Morton’s, which generated about $300 million in sales last year, has struggled recently and in March announced it was considering “strategic alternatives,” essentially putting itself up for sale. Jefferies & Company and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. are advising
Morton’s on the deal. Landry’s owns more than 30 restaurant brands, including Rainforest Cafe and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Morton’s has 77 steakhouses in 64 cities worldwide; it also operates Trevi, an Italian restaurant at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
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Loukoumi, from page 60 Secret Ingredient Recipe Contest from November 1, 2011, through March 1, 2012, to win a chance to cook that recipe with celebrity chef Cat Cora. The children will be asked to complete the statement: “(Recipe Name) is my favorite childhood recipe because... (in 10 words or less). The Loukoumi series of books have been wonderful for kids and parents alike. They each have an inspiring message and like the others, Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook is a great story with the bonus of being full of delicious recipes. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is honored to benefit from this project. Marlo Thomas, National Outreach Director, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, “Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook is a fantastic
way to get your children excited about helping out & experimenting with you in the kitchen, to make delicious and healthful meals from the heart that the whole family can enjoy together.” Celebrity Chef Cat Cora, President & Founder Chefs for Humanity. Nick Katsoris is the author of the iParenting Media Award-winning books Loukoumi, Loukoumi’s Good Deeds, Growing up with Loukoumi, and Loukoumi’s Gift. A practicing attorney and General Counsel of the Red Apple Group, Katsoris sponsors the annual Growing Up with Loukoumi Dream Day contest granting kids the opportunity to spend the day in their dream careers. He also rallies thousands of kids each October to do a good
deed on National Make a Difference Day by sponsoring Make a Difference with Loukoumi Day. Two years have passed. Last month, in order to save little Aliva’s vision, she underwent radioactive plaque implant surgery at St. Jude to combat the cancer in this now three year old girl’s eye. Just a couple of days later, Alivia’s grandmother highlighted on facebook a photo of Aliva with Loukoumi the lamb from the 2009 event. She then
Manhattan’s Chefs
ZERO
Trans-Fat Solution Is
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reached out to author Nick Katsoris to tell him that Alivia, who made such an impact on him in 2009, underwent successful surgery. She also told him how much the Loukoumi books meant to her granddaughter. She indicated that since there was a risk of Alivia losing her vision, her family wanted her to read and see as many books as possible while she still could. In fact, Alivia’s mother said that not a night goes by where Alivia does not request to have the Loukoumi books read three times. It is stories like this that have made Katsoris unite over 50 celebrities with his new book, Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook. Katsoris is grateful to these celebrities who have joined together for this “We Are The World” of children’s books, and together they hope to make more children smile like Alivia, the beautiful little girl with the daisy headband.
Old Homestead, from page 5 Old Homestead marks the fourth New York landmark restaurant at Caesars Palace including Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, Rao’s Italian restaurant celebrating 115 years in Harlem, and Serendipity 3 the popular eatery known for its quality savory dishes and over-the-top desserts. Located in the heart of the former Meatpacking District, in what has now become one of Manhattan¹s trendiest neighborhoods for entertainment, culture, hospitality and nightlife, Old Homestead has operated from the same place since opening its doors in 1868 making it one of the longest continually serving restaurants in America. In the mid-1940s, Harry Sherry was hired as a dishwasher. As Sherry continued to work his way up, in 1951, he raised enough capital to assist the owner through a difficult financial period, thus becoming the sole owner of the restaurant. The proprietorship of the storied establishment has remained in the Sherry family ever since, as brothers Greg and Marc Sherry, grandsons to the late Harry Sherry, today oversee all aspects of the operations. With nearly a century of experience in the restaurant industry between them, brothers Greg and Marc Sherry have guided the dramatic modernday growth and expansion of Old Homestead into one of the most iconic and venerable culinary establishments in America. Bridging traditional fare with fresh, imaginative creations, Old Homestead has become a contemporary dining destination. It has served presidents from Andrew Johnson to Harry Truman and a wide-range of celebrities from Michael Douglas to Madonna. In 2008 the restaurant underwent a dramatic, multi-million dollar remodel, increasing the seating capacity, yet still retaining the beloved ambiance and tradition of the leather banquets and mahogany panel with a modern twist.
The restaurant has celebrated many milestones throughout the years becoming the first to serve Kobe Beef in the United States in 1995 and surpassing 10 million customers served in 2010. Even today, the New York natives Mark and Greg Sherry hand-select the cuts of beef from the neighboring meat packing facilities. Old Homestead is legendary for its prime aged USDA Texas-size cuts of beef whether its signature sirloin, porterhouse or filet mignon. Also offered is a wide variety of fresh seafood daily ranging from giant lobsters and seafood towers filled with gargantuan shrimp, to colossal crab and some of the largest East and West Coast oysters. Catterton, from page 18 sandwiches as well as Signature items such as the Chickichanga®, Siesta Key Cocktail® and Power Wrap®. First Watch is the largest and fastest growing, privately owned, daytime-only (7:00am - 2) restaurant concept in the United States operating 92 restaurants in 13 states with plans to open 15 restaurants in 2012. With more than $2.5 billion currently under management and a twenty-two year track record of success in building high growth companies, Greenwich based Catterton Partners is a leading consumerfocused private equity firm. Since its founding in 1989, Catterton has leveraged its category insight, strategic and operating skills, and network of industry contacts to establish one of the strongest private equity investment track records in the middle market consumer industry. Catterton Partners invests in all major consumer segments, including Food and Beverage, Retail and Restaurants, Consumer Products and Services, Consumer Health, and Media and Marketing Services. A number of Catterton’s current investments include: Restoration Hardware, Cheddar’s and Noodles
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restaurants, StriVectin, O.N.E. (One Natural Experience) beverages and Nature’s Variety Pet Food. Selected investments include Frederic Fekkai, Sweet Leaf Tea, Heartland RV, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Kettle Foods, Odwalla, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and Wellness Pet Food. Foodie Camp, from page 20 with a great appreciation for local agriculture and those who work the land. He translated these childhood values into a career as a James Beard Awardwinning chef, author and restaurateur, becoming a catalyst for change in the sustainable food movement. Chef Michael Psilakis has been lauded for both his traditional and reinterpreted Greek menus and is responsible for putting Modern Greek cuisine on the culinary map. Psilakis has accrued many of the food world’s highest honors including Food & Wine’s Best New Chef, Chef of the Year from Bon Appetit and Esquire and a James Beard Award nomination for Best New Restaurant for Anthos, his modern Greek restaurant in New York City. Anthos also received a Michelin star - one of only two Greek restaurants in the world to hold that honor and was named one of the best new restaurants by the New York Times. He now owns Kefi, FISHTAG, both located on the Upper West Side and MP Taverna in Roslyn, NY. A third generation French pastry chef and cookbook author, François Payard is known for his mastery of the pastry arts. François is the chef and owner of François Payard Bakery and FC Chocolate Bar, both located in New York City, as well as Payard Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. Branches of Payard have also opened in Japan and Korea. Since joining A Voce Madison in the fall of 2008, Executive Chef Missy Robbins has received critical acclaim for creating classic Italian specialties with a contemporary twist, highlighting flavorful ingredients and referencing traditions from diverse regions throughout Italy. She brings her fresh approach, refined presentation and
authentic flavors to the kitchens of both A Voce Madison and A Voce Columbus, which opened in fall 2009. Christina Tosi is the chef and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar in New York City, called “the most exciting bakeries in the country” by Bon Appétit magazine. A graduate of The International Culinary Center’s Pastry Arts Program, Christina Tosi worked at Bouley and wd-50 before opening Momofuku Milk Bar in November 2008. Proceeds of the event will support The Future Chefs Scholarship Fund, created to enable aspiring chefs to attend a culinary institute. Sial, from page 56 technology and services for the food retail, food service and food processing industries. SIAL Canada 2011 is supported by the governments of Canada, Ontario and Quebec through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, OMAFRA (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) and MAPAQ (Ministère de l’Agriculture des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec). The show is also endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Kingfish, from page 61 fits in a versatile, food service operator friendly format. The Cleveland based firm’s lates offering features a 375 ML aerosol-dispensed that can efficiently make approximately 26 1oz shots of Cream. The product features a completely shelf-stable; should be stored and served at room temperature for best results. With its enduring shelf life; each can (opened or unopened) lasts approximately 9-to-12 months. With Kingfish’s release, a pointof-sale CREAM Recipe Book has also been introduced featuring a delectable cornucopia of CREAM mixology possibilities. A slew of new recipes has been added featuring Peppermint CREAM including Kingfish’s take on the Martini craze.
// NEWS
CONCESSIONS
Centerplate Celebrates Bowl Season With Service To 11 Match-Ups Stamford based Centerplate, the largest hospitality partner to North America’s premier sports stadiums, convention centers and entertainment revenues, reached an important milestone for the 2011-2012 College Bowl Season.
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his year Centerplate played hospitality host to more College Bowl Games than any other event hospitality company. In all, Centerplate hosted 11 of the 35 NCAA Bowl Games this season, nearly a
third of all games. The Centerplate line-up included: R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, Beef OO’; Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl, San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, Military
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Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman, Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl Discover Orange Bowl, and the Allstate BCS
National Championship Game. In its 80-year history as an Event Hospitality partner, Centerplate is anticipating serving a record number of fans this year. “We’ve become number one in College Bowl Games
Yellowtail, from page 65
Centerplate CMO Bob Pascal
for one reason: true Event Hospitality partnership,” says Centerplate CMO Bob Pascal. “Event Hospitality goes beyond just food and beverage, beyond just retail merchandise to encompass everything that goes into delighting fans and driving business for every one of our clients. It’s what we call the Centerplate Way.” As Centerplate hosts Bowl Games across the country, it maintains a unique focus on featuring local flavors and iconic dishes near and dear to the hosting communities, making each and every bowl game a truly distinctive and special experience for fans. From alligator sausage at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Fish Tacos at the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, to Pressed Cuban Sandwiches at the Discover Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, Centerplate is proud to partner with local restaurants and purveyors to put their regional products on a national stage. Throughout the year, Centerplate partners with 10 NFL clubs and 24 collegiate programs. Additionally, Centerplate will be selling collegiate merchandise at the Poinsettia Bowl, Military Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Music Bowl, Fight Hunger Bowl and the Orange Bowl. Items will include limited addition apparel, hats and game day memorabilia.
capture of juveniles from the wild, an unsustainable practice. Second is consumer safety - many sources cite high mercury levels as reason enough to eliminate or severely restrict the amount of top-of-the-food-chain fish like Yellowtail in the diet -especially for pregnant women. And the third core problem has been taste, and especially texture in regards to sashimi - frozen Yellowtail is never as desirable as fresh from the water. “Yellowtail is very hard to cultivate. We grow other fish, but Yellowtail has always been the prize,” said Bason. “We created the same conditions the fish have in the ocean - but we did it on land. We used tanks, filters, pumps, aquatic plants, and a water monitoring system to create an indoor marine ecosystem. Think of it as a sealed box that takes up several acres. It’s a 100% closed loop that has virtually no environmental impact. Traditionally, land-based fish farms are roundly criticized as bad for the environment, because they discharge a certain percentage of their water into nearby waterways and oceans. The closed-loop system carries none of those risks, as it produces no wastewater. “I have investors calling us about building new facilities in the desert near people who need a better food supply. But for now, we’re just trying to get our Greenport facility producing at its maximum. This is the most sustainable Yellowtail in the world and everyone wants it.” Local Ocean grows five other species: Gilthead sea bream, European sea bass, white sea bass, black sea bass, and striped bass. Its facility in Greenport, NY is one of the largest marine aquaculture facilities in the United States.
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// MIXOLOGY
WITH WARREN BOBROW
New Vodka Trends in Metro New York
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luewater Vodka is a new brand of distilled spirits to the Northeast. Founded by Seattle based John Lundin and his wife Jessica- they call it an “ecologically responsible vodka.” Sporting the impressive USDA Certified Organic designation on the label, you cannot miss this vodka on the shelf- it looks even more distinctive next to the usual suspects. With its bold graphics of a classic sailboat’s white sail on crystal clear glass, the bottle design alone is immediately intriguing. Available in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with more states on the way- Bluewater is expanding, albeit slowly. Bluewater is not mass- produced and it takes time to craft distill a carefully nurtured slurp. Craft distillation is a passionate industry- it takes great amounts of hard work to turn these
Warren Bobrow Warren Bobrow is the cocktail writer for Williams-Sonoma, Foodista, Voda Magazine and the 501c3 not for profit Wild River Review/Wild Table, where he also serves as an editor. www.cocktailwhisperer.com
dreams into reality. Bluewater Vodka is the amalgamation of this passion. They use time-honored methods to craft Bluewater along with pristine Colorado spring water, organic wheat and their unique form of passion for small batch spirits using their copper pot still. Royal Rose Syrups may not be on your radar- but they should be. This is an organically produced, hand made product from Brooklyn, NY. I became interested in them because of their intense flavors. You may be interested in their corporate ethos: • We use only 100% organic, fair trade cane sugar made from evaporated cane juice. I’m especially fond of their Tamarind syrup and the Three Chili Syrup- The recipes are included in this article. A couple years ago I made my way up to Tuthilltown in Gardner, NY. Having
tasted a perfectly gorgeous Manhattan Cocktail at Blue Hill/Stone Barns- I was hooked. Then after learning more about this small craft distillery and the fact that it is an easy drive from my home in NJ, I knew that their funky little bottles were more than the sum of their parts. This is an ardent spirit and their entire range of distilled liquors is distinctive and flavorfully unique. Their White Whiskey is pure and clear from the corn. It is at first soft on the mouth- like the kiss of a young lamb. Then other amazing
things start to happen. The heat from the alcohol arrives in short bursts of steam and fire- a runaway train? Sure. Cream, butter, fire and more vanilla notes reveal themselves. I love mixing with the Tuthilltown White Whiskey. It’s a moonshiner’s nightmare because this product is just so good. (And legal!) I’ve created a couple of cocktails with Royal Rose Syrups, Tuthilltown White Whiskey and Bluewater Vodka. Enjoy!
Frosty Winter Sled Cocktail 4 oz. Bluewater Vodka 1/2 oz. Royal Rose “Rose” syrup 1 Medicine Dropper of Bitter End Thai Bitters Spray of Dolin Dry Vermouth
Moonshiner’s Nightmare Cocktail 2 oz. Tuthilltown White Whiskey 3 oz. freshly made sweet black tea 3 oz. Apple Cider (I prefer unfiltered) 1 oz. Royal Rose Three Chilies Syrup (A nice burn in this syrup)
Home Cured Cherry Old Fashioned with White Whiskey
Preparation: 1. Spritz the inside of a pre-chilled Martini glass with Vermouth. 2. Grab a cocktail shaker fill ½ with ice. 3. Add Bluewater Vodka, Royal Rose syrup, the Bitter End Bitters. 4. Stir gently and strain into your Martini glass. 5. Garnish with a sprig of Lemon Thyme.
Preparation: 1. Brew tea, let cool. 2. Add Apple Cider to the tea. 3. Mix in Tuthilltown White Whiskey. Then add the syrup. Shake and strain into a tall cocktail glass filled with rock ice. 4. Garnish with a slice of a grilled apple.
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Preparation: 1. Chill a couple of shots of Tuthilltown White Whiskey in a cocktail shaker 2. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the liquor from some home cured cherries. 3. Add ½ shot of the Royal Rose Tamarind Syrup. 4. Add one oz. good Sweet Vermouth such as Punt e Mes. 5. Garnish with a muddled home cured cherry and a spray of seltzer water.
// NEWS
EVENTS
20TH Anniversary NYC Winter Restaurant Week Takes Centerstage NYC & Company, New York City’s marketing, tourism and partnership organization, is hosting this month, the City’s 20th Anniversary NYC Restaurant Week Winter.
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he dining event will honor the anniversary with 20 days of dining deals from January 16 to February 10, 2012, Mondays through Fridays. Pricing has not changed since 2006, and will remain $24.07 for three-course prixfixe lunches and $35.00 for three-course prix-fixe dinners (excluding beverages, gratuities and taxes), and Founding Sponsor American Express will present card member offers throughout the promotion. “We have this community of restaurants in New York, from all different ethnicities and different boroughs. Even though, we compete, we all come together during Restaurant Week to celebrate something that is good for our industry and good for the ‘City, “ commented the program’s chairman Tracy Nieporent of Myriad Restaurant Group. NYC Restaurant Week is the first and largest dining program of its kind supporting the City’s thriving restaurant industry, which employs 225,000 people and grosses annual sales exceeding $12 billion. New York City offers more dining options than most states, boasting 24,600 restaurants and food service establishments. “It’s no question that the City’s restaurants distinguish New York as the capital of fine dining, an integral component of
NYC Restaurant Week is the first and largest dining program of its kind supporting the City’s thriving restaurant industry, which employs 225,000 people and grosses annual sales exceeding $12 billion. the vibrancy of the five boroughs,” said NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta. “We’re proud to present the 20th installment of NYC Restaurant Week to give New Yorkers and visitors the opportunity to experience some of the best food in the world at an affordable price.” “We are excited to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of NYC Restaurant Week with this great offer for card members,” said Carol Engleman, Vice President of Field Client Management at American Express. “This program has grown into a can’t-miss opportunity for New Yorkers and visitors alike to discover new eateries and dine at old favorites and a great way to drive business to restaurants in New York City. American Express is proud to be a Founding Sponsor.” The first NYC Restaurant Week dates back to 1992 and was developed just in time for the Democratic National
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Convention held that summer. Threecourse lunches were priced at $19.92 at 95 restaurants. New Yorkers and visitors sampled the City’s finest restaurants on a budget while the increase in customers helped restaurateurs through what typically would have been a slow week in the season. According to OpenTable through NYC Restaurant Week online reservations, more than 200,000 diners were seated during the 2011 summer promotion and extension. The original culinary promotion was such a success that NYC Restaurant Week became an annual event and eventually a biannual event to boost business in the slow weeks of summer and winter. Since then, the event has grown to include more than 300 participating restaurants. NYC Restaurant Week paved the way for similar dining promotions to be established in cities
around the world such as London and Lisbon and across the country including Los Angeles, Seattle, Kansas City, Chicago and Boston. Among the new participants this year are Asellina, Bann, Boulud Sud, Fish Tag, HanGawi, Kibo, La Promenade de Anglais, Marble Lane and Restaurant Nippon. In honor of NYC Restaurant Week’s 20th Anniversary, American Express® Cardmembers will receive a $20 statement credit when they register and use any eligible American Express Card to dine out three or more times at participating restaurants during NYC Restaurant Week, January 16 to February 10. Additionally, American Express Card members who sync their eligible card with their foursquare account will be able to discover and unlock exclusive $5-off specials at qualifying NYC Restaurant Week participants.
Booth #1638