SPICE OF LIFE: Your patrons want choices when it comes to fruit on the menu. A majority of Americans don’t know the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines from Adam, but that doesn’t mean restaurants should ignore the basic...

THE BUZZ: The 9th Annual Concepts of Tomorrow Conference was a beehive of activity. Contributing to the festivities were Rising Star Michael Solomonov (top ), Nestle Chef Greg Ische (middle) and Melman Award winner Todd English (bottom). The...

Timberlake comes into Rain, doesn’t even look at the menu, and shouts for random food that we don’t make. She (Furtado) made a reservation for 10 guests. She showed up an hour late with five extra people in tow. For parties that size, we do a prix...

FAB FIRST COURSE: lobster-stuffed deviled eggs, created by chef Jennifer Jasinski of Rioja. Appetizers and creativity go hand-in-hand. Familiar ingredients—eggs, for instance—take on a new image in the hands of the country’s chefs. In Cleveland...

QUALITY FIRST: The Kitchen is Boulder’s exceptional neighborhood place. The Kitchen pays way more than lip service to the green philosophy. The acclaimed Boulder, CO, restaurant evolved almost naturally from a blueprint of finding the best...

Observers of the national restaurant scene were intrigued when Steve Hanson, founder of the New York City-based restaurant company, B.R. Guest, entered the Chicago market a few years back. After all, Hanson was entering the turf of Lettuce...

TAKE A FLYER: Can a hotel restaurant become hip? The Renaissance Long Beach thinks they’ve found the formula with Tracht’s. Remember when steakhouse operators thought that brightening their interiors and adding a handful of non-meat options to...

MOTHER TONGUE: Need to communicate with your staff? All of them know the common French terms. Publishers Weekly, in an early review of my new book, The Elements of Cooking, criticized it for being Francocentric (it should have been called The...

For the podcast with Steve Petusevsky and Gail Bellamy, and recipe ideas, visit www.restaurant-hospitality.com then click on the podcast icon. Chef Steven Petusevsky, a Culinary Institute of America alum and the author of The WholeFoods Market...

Good locations for restaurants are gett ing harder to find. Not only are operators competing against other restaurants, often they’re angling for the same spots as retail behemoths like Walgreen’s or Staples. “You’ve got to be very nimble, quick...