Chef Paula Leguizamon of Urbe in Houston says orange Fanta is a common ingredient in the street food of Mexico City, adding zip and a little effervescence, so she finishes the restaurant’s campechana, a sort of seafood cocktail, with the soda.
Speaking of Latin-inspired seafood For one of the courses at Entre Sueños, a tasting-menu restaurant in Chicago, executive chef Stephen Sandoval dresses oysters in a sauce that’s a cross between a mignonette and an aguachile, and finishes it with Jamon Ibérico fat melted tableside.
In Palm Springs, Calif., executive chef Ysaac Ramirez of 4 Saints prepares a sunset-colored roasted beet dish for guests dining at the rooftop restaurant.
Coconut shrimp gets a new interpretation at Lucie Drink + Dine in Boston, where the shellfish is chopped up, blended with coconut cream and aromatics and made into bite-sized croquettes.
Finally, for dessert, Jeb Aldrich, the chef of Bar Vauté in Charleston, S.C., treats guests with a 60-layer crêpe cake.