Menu Talk

"Menu Talk" is a podcast hosted by Pat Cobe, Senior Menu Editor at Restaurant Business, and Bret Thorn, Senior Food & Beverage Editor at Nation’s Restaurant News. The podcast delves into the world of restaurant menus, offering insights into menu development, limited-time offers (LTOs), culinary trends, and more. It features weekly interviews with chefs, operators, and food professionals, providing a comprehensive look at what’s happening in restaurant kitchens. The discussions aim to inspire and inform listeners about the latest innovations and stories in the culinary world.

  1. HACE 1 DÍA

    The Chef Who Once Banned Black Pepper & Lemons: Spike Gjerde

    Spike Gjerde has long been one of the most committed regionalists in American cooking — so committed that for a while his Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore didn’t serve lemon, black pepper, or vanilla because they don’t grow in the Chesapeake Bay region. Instead he used local vinegar, fish pepper, and other ingredients from Maryland and Virginia. He has modified his stance on that and expanded his business into what he calls the Ecco Project, a group of restaurants that reflect food trends but with a regional accent. Woodberry has been transformed from a large restaurant with a small private dining room to an event space with a small restaurant. La Jetée — French for “jetty” because of its location — reflects the cuisine of the French region of Provence, but with Gjerde’s own approach to local sourcing.  Next up: Bar Dalí, a tapas concept with Baltimore flair.  He’s also teaming up with Johns Hopkins Medicine and University, substantially expanding his buying power and ability to support even more local producers than he had been. This could possibly move the needle on regional food systems — not just one chef buying from local farms, but a major university and hospital doing it too. He recently discussed his approach to running restaurants and his plans for the future.   Menu Talk is a podcast collaboration between Restaurant Business and Nation's Restaurant News, hosted by Pat Cobe (Senior Menu Editor, Restaurant Business) and Bret Thorn (Senior Food & Beverage Editor, Nation's Restaurant News). Subscribe for more chef interviews and restaurant industry insights: Restaurant BusinessNation's Restaurant News

    27 min
  2. 28 ABR

    Chef Jeremiah Langhorne: How The Dabney Became D.C.'s Michelin-Starred Mid-Atlantic Restaurant

    The Michelin-starred Washington, D.C. restaurant is steeped in a rich culinary heritage shaped by the bounty of the region and the chef’s vision.  When Chef Jeremiah Langhorne opened The Dabney in 2015, his goal was to make it a showcase for the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic region. Washington, D.C. was going through a restaurant renaissance 10 years ago, he said, and the timing was right to introduce something other than a steakhouse or French or Italian restaurant.  He builds dishes around local seafood, like Cape May scallops and Chesapeake Bay oysters and crab, as well as produce, grains and meats sourced from tri-state farmers with long-standing relationships to the restaurant. The menu allows people to come in and experience the food in whatever way they like, whether it's sitting at the bar having a beer and a small plate, sharing family-style entrees, ordering a la carte off the whole menu or splurging on a prix fixe multi-course dinner.  The Dabney is a Michelin-starred restaurant without pretensions. Chef Langhorne encourages conviviality—from the wood-fired hearth in the center of the action to the flexible menu and warm service style.  Although he never attended culinary school, Langhorne was mentored by some of the most esteemed chefs and restaurateurs in the world. Listen as he shares his inspiring journey from pizza deliveryman to staging in top kitchens around the country, how he attributes much of his success to supportive industry mentors, and how he continues to evolve The Dabney while staying true to his original vision. To learn more about Del Montes new fruit sauces and try a sample, visit https://www.delmontefoodservice.com/products/fruit-sauces?utm_campaign=Fruit_Sauces&utm_source=MenuTalk&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=040726_Graphic&utm_id=pm#requestForm

    34 min
  3. 21 ABR

    Suresh Sundas and Dante Datta innovate with Indian food & drink in D.C.’s H Street neighborhood

    Daru is a Hindi term for moonshine, and it’s also the name of a cocktail bar with a robust food menu that chef Suresh Sundas and beverage director Dante Datta opened in August of 2021 in the H Street neighborhood in Washington, D.C. It soon gained local and national acclaim thanks to its creative drinks, such as a Dirty Martini made with achar, a tangy type of Indian pickle, and food like paneer pesto tikka with honey and rhubarb and a blue cheese kebab with cashew and sour cherry.   They followed that success with the opening of Tapori, also on H Street, serving street food from across the Indian subcontinent.   Sundas is actually not from India, but Nepal, a country sandwiched between India and China, and he brings that heritage to bear with the use of timmur, a relative of Sichuan peppercorns that has a similar numbing effect and is popular in Nepalese cooking.   Since the restaurants are in D.C., and soft-shell crab season is upon us, Sundas is making use of the local delicacy on his current menus, and, in a recent conversation, he shared his approach to developing menu items, and he’s joined by Datta, who discusses his beverage program.   To learn more about Del Montes new fruit sauces and try a sample, visit https://www.delmontefoodservice.com/products/fruit-sauces?utm_campaign=Fruit_Sauces&utm_source=MenuTalk&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=040726_Graphic&utm_id=pm#requestForm

    34 min
  4. 17 MAR

    Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley is exactly the kind of restaurant he likes to dine in

    Attorney Kevin Kelley set out to create a restaurant that would be the kind of place he could feel at home in. The result is Kitchen + Kocktails, an affordable, chef-driven restaurant with elevated Southern food, great cocktails and a warm, welcoming vibe that has grown to seven locations across the U.S. Kelley’s lifelong passion for hospitality, food and drink is powering the restaurants’ expansion from their home base in Dallas to Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Charlotte, and Boston. Although those cities are quite different, Kitchen + Kocktails seems to hit a sweet spot with diners wherever it lands. And more locations are in the works. The expansive menu offers fresh takes on Southern favorites, including Shrimp and Grits, Fried Chicken and Waffles, Southern Fried Catfish, Caribbean Jerk Lamb Chops, Candied Yams, Mac and Cheese and Seafood Gumbo—as well as a weekend special of Kelley’s mother-in-law’s Braised Oxtails. On the beverage side, signature cocktails include True Flame, a fiery mix of premium spirits, warm citrus and spice crafted tableside with a live fire presentation, a Blackberry Margarita and the frozen Peach D’usse Frose made with cognac.  Listen as Kelley talks about the importance of real estate partnerships in his restaurants’ success, how Kitchen + Kocktails taps into his passions and those of his guests, and where he’s headed next with the concept.

    23 min

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"Menu Talk" is a podcast hosted by Pat Cobe, Senior Menu Editor at Restaurant Business, and Bret Thorn, Senior Food & Beverage Editor at Nation’s Restaurant News. The podcast delves into the world of restaurant menus, offering insights into menu development, limited-time offers (LTOs), culinary trends, and more. It features weekly interviews with chefs, operators, and food professionals, providing a comprehensive look at what’s happening in restaurant kitchens. The discussions aim to inspire and inform listeners about the latest innovations and stories in the culinary world.

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