In France, French toast obviously isn’t called “French toast.” Instead it’s called pain perdu, or “lost bread,” because it’s made from leftover bread that would otherwise be of limited use.
Alon Shaya, who is heading up the kitchen at Miss River at the Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans, makes a Creole version of it, and tops it with bananas and local pecans.
The pain perdu might not particularly reflect Shaya’s Israeli background, but the kreplach at Mesiba in Brooklyn, N.Y. certainly reflect the background of Eli Buli, who previously worked for chef Yonatan Roshfeld at Herbert Samuel restaurant in Tel Aviv, and makes a vegetarian version of the normally meaty dumplings prized by Jews of Eastern European descent.
At Angler in Los Angeles, Virginia native Paul Chung combines his upbringing with his Korean heritage, drawing inspiration from hot fried chicken but applying it to fish collars.
At Asador Bastian, a new Basque restaurant in Chicago, delicacies of the Mediterranean, namely the lardo of Iberian hogs and summer truffles, are combined with basmati rice for a luxurious dish.
Also in Chicago, at The Bamboo Room at cocktail bar Three Dots and a Dash, cachaça and whiskey combine with pandan leaves and other tropical ingredients (and green grapes) in a drink called Polynesian Spell #2.
