Behind the Line: John des Rosiers
Topic: State of the Industry/Trends
Dining Trends
Q: What do you think chef-driven dining will look like in five years?
Hopefully more chef owned restaurants. As long as we all can develop a good sense of business and find new ways to make money and fill seats, there is a bright future for the overall quality of restaurants.
Q: What works in chef-driven ultra-casual spots and what doesn't?
Late night eating, small plates, solid flavor, and a fun atmosphere always works for a chef concept. Building the restaurant to suit only a chef and ignoring basic principals of design, comfort, wine and menu will always fail.
Q: Sustainable seafood is of the utmost importance, especially today. Are you involved in any sustainable seas programs?
Not programs specifically, but everything we buy is either farmed sustainably, or wild fished with great care, usually by hand and from large populations.
Q: Kids are our future. We need them healthy. Are you involved in teaching kids better eating habits? How?
Yes, we are working with local schools trying to delevop programs to integrate their cafe foods with their classrooms, and at the same time, change their cafe foods to be better balanced, more local, and more nutrtious.
Q: Gizzards, sweetbreads and stomach, oh my! Does this sound tasty or what? Are you cooking with offal? Do you think the trend will last?
Offal in general will last. Especially because it helps with the sustainable aspect. There are some exceptions, but Americans are finally geting used to the idea and it is coming along.
Q: Testicles: are they the next food trend?
no. people will never like eating balls. they might be cool for a while, but people will eventually shy away. Come on, I eat everything but some animals nuts are a little desperate for a cheap food source.
Q: Top five food trends you wish would die.
1. Molecular gastronomy. (and I dont care if those chefs dont like that moniker, it describes what they do and there has not been a better description put forth by any one of them) 2. Communal tables. (Cant we come up wuth a better way to save money and charge a fair price and still give people space?) 3. Crazy Wine BTG. (Come on, stop buiyng a bottle for $7 and selling the glass for $11) 4. Kitchen Towels as a Napkin. (Why cant we get a soft, nice linen napkin anymore? And the kitchen ones cost more damn money!) 5. Restaurants focused on Pork. (I love pork, and we use our fair share for sure, but we keep building place devoted to the damn thing, there is so much more our there!)
Q: In recent years, high-caliber chefs have made a move to casual dining. What's the key to success?
If you are smart and cook well, you can do those things at any level. What you charge does not determine your level of skill. inovasi is certainley an example of that.
Q: There's no denying casual spots are in-demand nowadays. If you've cooked in this arena, what are your over-arching restaurant philosophies?
Give people something interesting, fun, new, and affordable. Hire nice courteous people and stay focused. Thats all needed.