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Hello Nurse! Is Our Table Ready?

YumSugar — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:44:51 -0700

In marketing terms, a trend can't be declared until there is at least three of the same thing. Well, third times a charm and I am officially declaring waitresses dressed as "hot nurses" a trend. Back in December I told you about the Heart Attack Grill in Arizona - and now I can tell you about two new places in Asia.

First there's the hospital-themed restaurant-bar in Tapei, D.S. Music Restaurant, where customers can sit around a hospital bed and order "medicine" from a menu and have it drip into their glasses from a vat suspended from the ceiling.

Second is a bar in Shenzhen (south China) where the bartenders are dressed as nurses and serve wine and drinks from syringes and test tubes.

Those two places, combined with the Heart Attack Grill, definitely equal a trend. What's next? Barmacy? Oh wait, there used to be one of those in New York, not to mention Damien Hirst's defunct fancy Pharmacy in London. Maybe the medical trend is just coming back?

Source: Spluch
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Trend Alert: Restaurants With Beer Lists

YumSugar — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:30:45 -0700

"Would you like to see the beer list?" may sound like a silly question, until you realize how serious some restaurants are taking their beer selections these days. I recently had dinner at a restaurant in San Francisco called The Monk's Kettle, which actually suggests beer pairings alongside its entrees. Good thing, too, since the intimidating beer menu features more than 100 brews.

The whole experience really made me appreciate the rich variety of beer and how the different flavors complement certain foods - something I usually only think about with wine. Extensive beer lists, and the pairing of those beers with food, are definitely growing trends in restaurants, so to hear more about it, read more.

One of the quickfire challenges on this season of Top Chef had the cheftestants creating dishes to pair with beer, and the trend isn't limited to TV shows.

One beer aficionado in New York City has created an entire website, called Beer Menus, devoted to spotlighting beer lists at restaurants and bars. Places like Monk's Kettle in SF and Beerbistro in Toronto focus on acquiring a wide variety of brews and cooking dishes to match. Some restaurants are even hiring beer sommeliers to handle the task.

What do you think about this trend? Do you appreciate a good beer list? Do you ever think about pairing beer with food? Have you been to any of the restaurants following this trend?

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While Casual Chains Drop Prices, Fast Food Trades Up

YumSugar — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:00:37 -0700

Regardless of its location, price point, or popularity, no restaurant has remained untouched by the deteriorating economy. While many high-end restaurants have made adjustments, some of the most drastic changes taking place are happening between fast and casual food chains.

Casual restaurant chains such as Applebee's, Chili's, and TGI Friday's have desperately tried to keep sales steady with bargain deals. Applebee's started the trend by appealing to cash-strapped diners with a limited-time offer for a large appetizer with two entrees for just $20. Chili's joined in soon after with a "ten under $7" value menu. Earlier this week, TGI Friday's slashed the prices of all sandwiches and salads to a mere $5.Ironically enough, fast food chains have focused on premium items. Late last year, Burger King aimed to go higher-end with a new line of ribs, and this August, McDonald's is coming out with a one-third-pound Angus beef burger that's priced at $3.99. The number one fast food chain has also been selling specialty coffee drinks at its McCafé stores.

As both segments expand their food offerings, the casual chain and fast food sectors have become somewhat redundant. Have you frequented more fast food or casual chains lately? Which do you think has a better business model?

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What's It Worth To You?

YumSugar — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 11:13:26 -0800

Every so often a new trend will pop up in the restaurant game. In both Salt Lake City and in Denver the new trend is "pay-as-you-can." Yep that's right. You walk in, you order, you eat and when the bill arrives, you pay what you can, or what you think it's worth. Think of it as the "Robin Hood" method of dining. If you're rich, maybe you want to pay more so the less fortunate can eat the same thing as you. To learn more about this new trend, read more

The One World Cafe, in Salt Lake City, lacks a set menu and set prices. They do, however offer daily selections using seasonal and mostly organic ingredients. There are no prices, but there is a donation box where customers can pay what they felt their meal was worth.

The cafés' business models have won fans among the city's well-to-do residents, many of whom regularly dine there. At One World, patrons have given Cerreta [the owner] a car, bought new dishes, arranged to professionally clean her carpets, supplied new tile for the restaurant bathrooms, and donated property for an organic garden and funded a new irrigation system for it.

Inspired by the One World Cafe, Brad and Libby Birky opened up a similar operation in Denver called SAME (So All May Eat) Café. Now both One World and SAME have created non-profit groups to help others replicate similar cafes.

However, this new non-pricing method isn't working for everyone. In New York's Babu (an Indian restaurant) the pay-as-you-feel-fair method is resulting in too many free meals.

One Friday night, a rowdy group of 10 young Indians walked in and took over the restaurant's large central table. Their response to no prices was to leave no money; not even a tip for the wait staff. Babu now states their prices.

What do you think about this pricing scheme? Is it too good to be true or do you think it could work?

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Multi-Purpose Restaurants: Love It or Hate It?

YumSugar — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:00:18 -0700

Recently, I laughed out loud while reading an article about a flu-shot clinic held at a wine bar. The wine-and-flu-shot setup got me thinking about restaurants that serve other functions along with their food. In San Francisco, you can grab a beer while you run your laundry load at Brain Wash Cafe & Laundromat, or fix your motorbike over breakfast at MotoJava. If I ever move to New York, I'll try the Ribs, Oil & Filter Special at Mogridder's in Bronx, NY. What do you think of multifunctional restaurants? Is it brilliant to be able to hit two birds with one stone? Or should restaurants be focused solely on their core competency: food?

Source: Flickr User Stepan Mazurov

Momofuku's David Chang Talks Sabbaticals and San Francisco

YumSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:00:48 -0800

We've always been huge fans of New York chef and restaurateur David Chang: He was Sugar's pick for Best Restaurant Chef of 2008. By fusing innovative flavor combinations and haute kitchen techniques with casual dining, the Momofuku overlord revolutionized the restaurant scene in America.

What's most refreshing about Chang, however, are his irreverent demeanor and unapologetic opinions. Even though I'd interviewed him before, when I heard Chang and his co-author, New York Times writer Peter Meehan, were in town promoting their new bible, the Momofuku Cookbook, I couldn't resist chatting with them. His two cents on culinary trends, TV, and Top Chef Masters, after the jump.

World's Largest Burger Among New Record-Setting Foods

YumSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:00:43 -0700

It's a tale that'll go down in burger history. At an event this week in London, Guinness World Records revealed a host of new record breakers, among them a 185-pound, $499 whopper of a hamburger, which is officially the world's largest. The record belongs to Mallie's Sports Grill and Bar in Southgate, MI. Owner Steve Mallie, who said the bun must be baked for eight hours and the burger for 15 hours, remarked, "Being in the book is the greatest accomplishment we've ever done. I've worked my entire life to build this restaurant and being able to have the notoriety of Guinness makes it just that bit more rewarding."It seems, in today's world, that everything bigger is better. This week alone, Westhoughton, UK, garnered attention for serving the world's most massive English breakfast (10 sausages,10 rashers of bacon, 10 slices of toast, 10 eggs, fives slices of black pudding, and tomatoes, mushrooms, and black beans); Sacramento, CA, made headlines for a 42-foot-long, 1,200-pound tamale; and Valencians in Spain managed to assemble the world's longest restaurant table. At this rate, the next record will need to be for the world's most capable scale. Are these feats, like the Mallie's burger, legendary stuff, or simply gross?

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Trend Alert: Dining and Drinking in Outrageous Places

partysugar — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:00:39 -0700

It's happened to me more than once: After work I'll be waiting at the bus stop and think, man I could use a beer. It looks like I'm not the only one who had this idea: An entire town in the UK has turned a bus stop - complete with "open" sign and landlord - into a makeshift pub. As the price of food and eating out has become increasingly expensive, more and more people are looking for alternative ways to get together and enjoy a beer or meal. From bus stops to the middle of the sea to pubs on wheels, creative thinkers are pushing the envelope on when and where one can eat.

Why not host a dinner in a subway? After all, if there's fabulous food, good company, and plenty of drink, it doesn't matter where you are - a fun time will be had. My eyes are peeled for this type of unconventional roaming restaurant, and I'm dying to host my own dinner party in an unheard of location. How about you, got any suggestions? Have you been to a makeshift eatery of this sort?

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Restaurants, Suffering From Poor Turnout, Look to Retail

YumSugar — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:50:38 -0700

These days, chain restaurants are looking for any way to eke out a profit, from offering cheaper steaks to haggling with customers. But given the economic downturn, many are no longer expecting to fill tabletops at dinner - instead, they're counting on customers at the grocery store. Restaurants from Jamba Juice to California Pizza Kitchen and even Tony Roma's plan to introduce new licensed food products in the next year. Yesterday, Starbucks unveiled its new Super-Premium Ice Cream. The new line of ice cream, created in partnership with Unilever, is inspired by coffeehouse drinks with flavors like caramel macchiato and java chip.

Healthy drink chain Jamba Juice has been sorting through production and logistics on a ready-to-drink smoothie made by Nestle that will be carried in convenience stores in addition to supermarkets. Certain chains that already have licensed, branded items in grocery stores are looking to aggressively expand them. California Pizza Kitchen recently introduced flatbread sandwiches made in partnership with Kraft, and the company plans to expand its product line. Rib specialist Tony Roma's is also broadening its line of heat-and-serve meals beyond baby back ribs to include pulled pork, pot roast, and other items.

Since consumers are dining out less and eating in more, it makes perfect sense for restaurants to move in this direction, but if the past is any indicator, I've found licensed food products are usually nothing but a letdown. Do you feel the same way? Could you see this being the moneymaker for restaurant chains this year?

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Hoping to Heat Up Sales, Chains Turn to Jalapeno Burgers

YumSugar — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:00:01 -0800

Last month, we got acquainted with Burger King's Angry Whopper, a spicy take on the chain's bestselling burger. But as it turns out, the highly anticipated, spicy-hot sandwich available for a limited time only isn't quite as unique as it might seem. Restaurant chains across the country have enhanced their menus with jalapeno-laden specials, hoping consumers' fiery appetites will lead to sizzling sales at the cash register.

In addition to the Angry Whopper, which is available in stores through the end of March, casual chain Red Robin recently unveiled its new Burnin' Love Burger, which includes, among other things, pepper-jack cheese, salsa, and fried jalapenos. Because good things can't last forever, the spicy creation is only around through April 5. Fast-food spicy burgers are nothing new, last year Wendy's aimed for something similar with its Spicy Baconator, a twist on its highly successful Baconator sandwich that included pepper-jack cheese, chipotle ranch sauce, and - what else? - jalapenos. The Spicy Baconator was available across all Wendy's locations in the US, but only for about a month.

Have you noticed any other restaurant chains with peppery new sandwich offerings? Do you think the fact that they're all seemingly limited-edition items makes them more coveted?