Fine dining

July 23 – Double calamities haven’t stopped diners from rating downtown Santa Fe’s “New World” Mexican restaurant, Sazón, as one of the country’s best dining experiences.

Tripadvisor announced on Wednesday that Sazón is ranked 4th among gourmet restaurants in the United States. Sazón was No.12 on the same list last year after being closed for seven months due to a fire, and the No.4 ranking came in a year of pandemic closures and limited service.

“It was, for sure, an interesting trip,” said co-owner Lawrence Becerra.

Geronimo was the only other restaurant in Santa Fe to make the fine dining list, at # 11, down from # 6 in 2020. Geronimo was also on the list from 2016 to 2019. Owner Chris Harvey is not disappointed.

“We certainly weren’t expecting it this year with all the disruption and tent service,” Harvey said. “If we can be in the Top 100, we’re happy. It’s a tribute to the staff.”

Reviews from readers on Tripadvisor over the past year have determined the awards for the 2021 Travelers’ Choice Restaurant.

Sazón has collected over 1,100 reviews on Tripadvisor, 86% of which got five bubbles, the highest rating, Tripadvisor Casey Brogan said.

“Diners love the molé and shrimp enchiladas,” Brogan wrote in an email. “A recent dinner even went so far as to say that the experience ‘literally made me cry’.”

Even before the Tripadvisor awards, securing a table at Sazón was a challenge since dining inside resumed.

“We have reservations for next year,” Becerra said. “You sure can’t show up. If you want to go, you’ve got to think about two or three weeks in advance.”

The Rozzers Restaurant in County Kerry was named Ireland’s Best Fine Dining Restaurant in Tripadvisor’s 2021 Travelers’ Choice Awards, taking first place from Chapter One Restaurant in Dublin.

The Rozzers Restaurant, part of the Killeen House Hotel, is owned and managed by husband and wife Michael and Geraldine Rosney, and its kitchen is run by chef Paul O’Gorman, who previously worked at Co. Hotels. Kerry’s Europe and Kenmare Park. as well as the Michelin-starred Café Royal in London.

Declaration of the owners

As reported by rte.ie, the owners of Rozzers said in a Facebook post: “We woke up this morning to find that the Rozzers restaurant at the Killeen House Hotel is the # 1 gourmet restaurant in Ireland according to TripAdvisor.

“Since our opening in 1992, we have always focused on creating memorable dining experiences using the highest quality local produce. Against the most difficult year we have ever had in the Irish hospitality industry, Feedback from everyone who took the time to rate us on TripAdvisor is a great endorsement of the hard work and commitment of our team who share our passion for serving amazing and memorable dining experiences at Rozzers.

“We couldn’t have done this without our chef, Paul O’Gorman. For 25 years, he has been a staple of the Killeen House Hotel and Rozzers Restaurant. Like fine wine, it gets better with age! “

Complete Top 10

The full list of the 10 Best Fine Dining Restaurants in Ireland from Tripadvisor 2021 Travelers’ Choice Awards is as follows:

1. Rozzers Restaurant, Aghadoe
2. Mulcahy Bar and Restaurant, Kenmare
3. Paradiso, Liège
4. The House of Cards, Dingle
5. Restaurant Dax, Dublin
6. SOLE Seafood and Grill, Dublin
7. Mulberry Garden, Dublin
8. Chapter One, Dublin
9. An Port Mor, Westport
10. Countryside, Kilkenny

© 2021 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click on subscribe to subscribe to the Hospitality Ireland printed edition.

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There is a fine dining restaurant in Toronto that has had to adapt to take out and patio service after more than 40 years of hushed and semi-hidden serving to movie stars, politicians, business moguls and d other famous clients.

Scaramouche was founded in 1980 by Morden Yolles, whose family owned the building where it is now located in a residential area near Avenue Road and St. Clair.

This isn’t the first restaurant in the space, however: there has been a restaurant in the Scaramouche space since the 1950s, serving guests who stayed in the building during its aparthotel life from the 1950s to the 1970s approximately.

The building has an official historical designation and the original mansion where it is located was completed in 1891.

The original owner sold it in 1897, it fell into disuse in the 1920s and the mansion was demolished in the 1930s although some features like a retaining wall have survived.

This brings us to the period of the 1950s when one of Toronto’s first Modernist buildings was built on the property, becoming an apartment hotel that would have been visited by people like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Since the 1970s, the building has housed high-end rental apartments.

After the opening of Scaramouche, chefs like Jamie Kennedy and Michael Stadtlander ran the kitchen until it came under the control of his partner Keith Froggett around 1985, who is still there. The other partner Carl Korte joined the team in 1990, and is still there to this day.

At the end of the 80s, Scaramouche opened its own sibling concept in part of its space, a pasta bar and grill. This was one of the first adaptations the restaurant will make to survive in its long history.

Scaramouche’s main dining room served more of classic French-origin cuisine, and Korte told blogTO that the pasta bar was created to “meet the demand” for something “more marketable, more casual”.

Korte says they “try to stay relevant” to Scaramouche but “never dramatically change” what they do, and owe their long-standing success in part to that balance.

He says this is achieved by the way they “never focused on operating at a high level,” but always continuously introduced new employees and listened to their ideas in order for the restaurant to evolve.

When the pandemic struck, the restaurant is expected to move faster than ever. They always had a balcony that could become a patio, but they never used it out of respect for the tenants of the building.

They came to an arrangement to create the patio for the past two summers, then came the challenge of keeping up with the demand.

Korte says the interior holds 160, and although the patio only holds 38, about the same number of people are still trying to reserve a spot at Scaramouche.

Along with that, Scaramouche had to deal with a much smaller staff, forcing the restaurant to cut its hours from six days a week to five.

Korte says a lot of “people have decided not to come back” and “a lot of people are moving away from hospitality,” which is a “universal problem” for restaurants right now.

“There’s not much you can do, we try to take care of our staff, to keep them motivated,” Korte says, even though he says no one is “knocking on the door” to apply for a restaurant job.

Another challenge the restaurant has faced is how to pack their high-end dishes with fine ingredients such as lobster, caviar and foie gras to take away, with Korte saying they had to go from “porcelain. in the box “and” that’s not what a chef wants. “

Scaramouche simply tried to keep the dishes presentable, landing on some type of biodegradable container that holds their food well.

“Customers agree that it’s not like inside, but not bad,” says Korte.

In addition to their reputation and the trust of their customers which kept them coming back for take out and onto the patio, Korte says one of the most important factors for the restaurant’s survival was that they were “allowed to keep a small team, psychologically it’s really important. “

“Although it was a downside everyone worked hard and we are in good shape,” Korte said.

So The sands of jet lag and Sunday brings us the last all-in elimination Sunday before the week of the finals. We said goodbye to Depinder and welcomed Linda to the gantry after securing the coveted first place in the final.

The other six walk through the garden as the music supervisor composes the eerie synth chords. “Seven was never my lucky number,” Sabina said with a strained smile. “Number one has.”

Tonight, they’ll pick a single “hero” ingredient, which they’ll use in a fast food challenge in round one, and the bottom three then have to create a gourmet dish that they’ll meet around in round two. .

Competitors head to the pantry to find their heroes. Elise chooses the sardines because it is a Sicilian version of fast food. Pete seems to take me back to when I was a stoner because “all I can think of is hot chips.”

Tommy is convinced that he is “not” a type of fine cuisine, so he goes for leather on Vietnamese street food. Justin makes Indian-inspired chicken tacos, putting the tip of a ghost pepper in his chicken marinade because he clearly wants to murder Andy.

The judges have a one-on-one fast food strategy that goes in one ear and goes out the other, largely because Andy apparently came in dressed as “Shades” from That Thing You Do!

Although he thrills on hot fries, Pete makes the fast food patatas bravas, probably because he was the kind of kid who had carrot sticks at his childhood birthday parties. Jock asks him to close his eyes and think about what the hero of the patatas bravas is: the tomato sauce and chorizo, not the potatoes. “I’ll leave you with that,” Jock said as he walked away, Pete’s potato dreams suddenly feeling a lot less brave.

The judges are concerned about Tommy’s corned beef and Elise’s sardines, because as Andy notes, “they can look a bit like a dog’s breakfast.” As if by magic, Elise’s sardines start sticking to their skewers and the hibachi.

Kishwar’s khao soi chicken is “so luxurious” (© Andy) that Jock gives 11 out of 10.

Sabina’s Sour Kingfisher Curry is also stunning. Justin’s Indian Chicken Tacos reduce Jock’s vocabulary to the word “yes”.

Andy asks Pete why he chose to make patatas bravas for a fast food challenge, and Pete says he couldn’t make hot fries, to which Jock replies “Mate!” You could have made me some hot chips ”and Pete’s face looks like mine when the hot chips are all gone.

The judges praise Elise’s potato salad, which is another way of telling her her sardines weren’t caramelized enough. Tommy presents his bowl lá lốt with typical joy and enthusiasm, but the judges find the ground beef to be overworked.

The votes are in: Kishwar, Justin and Sabina are in the final for the week! That means Tommy, Elise, and Pete have 75 minutes to bring their hero ingredients to Food Town. Remembering perhaps last season’s colonial disaster “there is no fine dining in Vietnamese cuisine”, Jock struggles to note that they expect gourmet dishes you could eat “n ‘anywhere in the world’.

Tommy is going to showcase his beef (which is fine with you, sir) by having a beautifully cooked steak on the plate, then garnishing it with a bún bò Huế consomme.

“I’ve never been on a second round of cooking before,” said Elise, in the vocal tone of a student who just reminded the teacher that they said there was going to be a test.

Pete prepares his version of a dish from Christian Puglisi, which he feels delighted with until Jock tells him that he ate this dish and that he will find out if Pete didn’t make it. Pete once again looks like he’s reached the bottom of the hot potato chip box as he suddenly realizes he’s got a hibachi covered in potato peels.

Elise cooks her pasta with five to go, and so traumatized by her lack of caramelization of sardines in the first round that she decides to burn the unfortunate fish with a blowtorch this time.

Tommy loves his sick drink: “Damn, son! But her beef is pretty scarce, which led Linda to stock up on Munch’s The Scream on the porch. Time is up!

Pete’s fancy mashed potato looks a bit like muesli with yogurt, which obviously means ‘fancy dinner’.

Elise toppings her pappardelles with sardines and the music threatens to turn into Four Seasons, 1 Spring by Max Richter, which at least means it sounds good.

The judges love it, but Jock would have liked to see finer pasta. Would that be enough to send Elise home?

Tommy presents the fanciest bún bò huế the judges have ever seen, but Andy worries about the scarcity of the beef.

“She’s blue,” Jock says as he cuts the beef, and when it comes time to break the bad news, despite the fact that his BBH broth was one of the best things the judges ever ate, the undercooked steak sends Tommy home. .

I do not wanna talk about it!!!! ; _;

What made me cry: “Don’t neglect what you’ve been doing here and what it means to people,” Mel cries, bidding Tommy goodbye, which then makes Elise scream “Oh, Mel!” and then everyone cries.

Specialty restaurants, Barbeque Nation, Indigo among the companies “adapting to the realities of the market”.

The subjects
restaurants | Food delivery

The Covid-19 forces restaurateurs to reinvent their economic models. Gourmet restaurant chains, whose operations consist of providing an on-the-spot dining experience to customers, are now following their fast-food counterparts to move to a delivery model. To put it in perspective, restaurant sales in a restaurant made up 93 to 95% of their total sales before Covid-19.

Delivery and take-out were only 5-7 percent. Take-out and delivery are gradually increasing as on-site dining remains limited due to restrictions in cities to contain Covid-19. Specialty restaurants, which have brands …

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Participants are bound to secrecy. However, that hasn’t done much to curb the growing popularity of Kitchen Takeover.

Secret Pop-Up Restaurants – a brainchild of foodie enthusiast Stacey Jones – now sell out within days; sometimes within hours.

“It’s so exciting to see everything all of a sudden blow up,” Jones says.

“I ran my first secret supper for 24 of my most supportive friends. At the fourth pop-up restaurant, I only recognized a few names on the 450 list, and that’s when I realized I had cracked.

READ MORE:
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* Cat Café: the new Italian restaurant offers a tradition with a modern twist

“When tickets for our last edition went on sale, over a thousand were purchased on day one.”

Two and a half years ago, the former London marketing manager came up with an original concept to bring the big city experience to the Bay of Plenty; ephemeral restaurants with strong themes, communal tables and chic tasting menus imagined by one of the best chefs in the country.

“I remember someone telling me a few years ago that they were driving to Auckland when they wanted a good meal. I thought: ‘we can do better than that’.

“I really like pushing the limits when it comes to gastronomy. We stock up on unusual ingredients and have a lot of fun with them. It’s quite theatrical. I think it’s an “edible storytelling”.

Jones’ passion for pushing the limits of fine dining saw guests at the Hunter Gatherer Kitchen Takeover enjoy deer milk caramel cream and weed lollipops from the Community Garden.

At the Taiao Edition, Masterchefs Kārena and Kasey Bird took inspiration from their childhood when they served smoked eel, kūmara brulee, and pūhā verde.

The next pop-up restaurant has a Middle Eastern theme.

“I cut my teeth at a leading UK advertising agency where I learned to take a unique idea and bring it to fruition,” says Jones.

“Each point of contact should have meaning and feel aligned with this idea. We want you to feel like you’ve been transported to the Middle East.

“Everything is taken care of, from the ingredients to the decor – even the hand soap and the towels in the bathroom. It should be authentic, creative and fun.

The business model takes all the traditional elements of a restaurant night out and turns it into a mystery destination event. People pre-purchase a ticket for a six-course gourmet feast and welcome cocktail, and receive a text an hour before revealing the location.

“Diners love the idea of ​​belonging to a secret club and no one wants to spoil the surprise for others,” says Jones.

“Each edition only lasts a short time and when it ends, that’s it. I never repeat the restaurant again. I think people like to give FOMO to their friends and family [fear of missing out]. “

It’s the only one of its kind in New Zealand, and it’s kind of become a phenomenon.

Diners are known to travel from as far as Dunedin, Hawke’s Bay and Whangārei to be part of the experience, even if they don’t know what or where they are going to eat.

“Kitchen Takeover started out as a little gem of a crazy idea and has grown into a sought-after experience that I now want to take to other cities,” says Jones.

“If you dream about it, with a lot of hard work and persistence, you can make it happen.”

Jones likes knowing that diners connect around their shared experience.

She has seen romances begin, old school friends and neighbors meet after years of separation, and new friendships form. Jones admits to being reduced to tears of joy on an occasion when all fifty diners stood up for a spontaneous mass selfie.

“I think the people who love Kitchen Takeover are the ones who are most willing to let go and trust,” she says.

“These people who want to be taken to a unique place and don’t want to try to control it.

“But, of course, they can’t tell anyone. It is strictly a secret.

A “fast and fine dining” take-away service opens in Harborne.

QBox will open in the unit that once housed the Pink Cafe on Harborne High Street on Thursday, June 24.

It is headed by former Simpsons leader Daniel Sweet.

Mr Sweet, from Wolverhampton, told us he was inspired to start QBox while on leave during the lockdown.

The chef-owner said: “The longer the lockdown went on, we started to see places offering fine food delivery boxes. But that meant customers actually still had to cook all the food themselves.

Read more: What Happened When We Ordered A Takeout From The Winner Of Masterchef: The Professionals

“I thought there should be something that people who love a little food can just grab and go – where all the hard work is done for you.

Mr. Sweet left his role at The Simpsons in October 2020 and began researching sites for his new idea of ​​gourmet take-out.

He said: “A lot of people have suggested that I open in Stirchley, but I knew the best location would be in Edgbaston and Harborne – that’s where my clientele is most likely to be.

“When I stumbled upon this place it was a typo but I knew the High Street location was perfect.”

The take-out menu will change frequently, offering options for lunch, dinner and Sunday roast, with boxes starting at £ 9.95.

The opening menu includes crispy glazed chicken with spring onions, chili and sesame, as well as homemade ricotta-stuffed zucchini, asparagus salad and zucchini puree. A typical Sunday menu will include roast chicken served with mashed potatoes, candied carrots, buttered hispi cabbage and chicken sauce.

The herbs are grown by Mr. Sweet and QBox will be the first UK take-out company to sell Difference coffee; a premium supplier used by some of the best restaurants in the country.

It will only offer take-away meals.

Mr Sweet added, “I didn’t like the idea of ​​delivering freshly cooked food as you can’t really guarantee the quality in transit, but here to go I can. The quality deserves the collection. J ‘Hope to deliver an on-site dining experience later. “

Mr Sweet said guests would not have to book in advance to collect their lunch and dinner boxes as they will be freshly prepared while you wait inside the unit.

There are different cooking stations – as you’ll find in Simpsons and Carters – albeit on a much smaller scale, to ensure that the components are prepared accurately and quickly.

He added, “I’ll have a cold salad section, a barbecued meat section. So basically everything’s ready to go.

“The salads, bottles of gels, olive oil will all be portioned and made fresh for each box. My herbs will be picked fresh each morning for daily meals – but everything will be ready.

“It all depends on the organization. – as you would expect in any quality fine dining restaurant. When we are in the restaurant we have two minutes for starters. So in two minutes that starter has to be on. the pass .

“My time under Luke Tipping at Simpsons also taught me to respect the ingredients. Can’t wait to bring the same quality to Harborne High Street. “

It will offer lunch and dinner boxes, including vegetarian options.

The vegetarian box consists of round zucchini, whipped ricotta, asparagus salad served with jersey royals confit at the price of
£ 13, lunch boxes include a seasonal sale box. This includes “the tomato salad over pickled sourdough textures of beetroot, whipped ricotta, toasted pistachio” (£ 12).

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The crispy chicken “smothered in Qbox frosting, chili, scallion. Served with smoked fried potatoes and wild garlic mayonnaise is priced at £ 14.

QBox will open from Thursday to Sunday.

What was your first job in the industry?
Chef intern at Oberoi Group of Hotels, India.

If you weren’t in the kitchens, what would you be doing?
I was actually a science student studying to be a doctor.

Which industry figure do you admire the most, and why?
Chef Satish Arora for his exceptional in-depth knowledge and execution of Indian cuisine. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to work alongside him.

Hatred of animals in the kitchen?
If the personal hygiene of a chef is not maintained.

What’s the strangest thing a customer has told you?
That they had never eaten Indian before, but I had changed their perception after dining with us. Surreal, but nice to hear!

Summarize your cooking style in one sentence …
Authentic Indian cuisine, combining fresh British ingredients with Indian culture.

What’s the worst review you’ve ever had?
A customer once complained that his diced baby lamb was too tender.

What advice would you give to someone new to the industry?
Don’t count the hours but make the hours count

What kitchen equipment could you not be without?
A chef’s knife.

What would you choose to eat for your last meal?
My mom’s bitter gourd and my wife’s okra. Unbeatable!

A la carte or tasting menu?
A la carte.

Favorite fast food restaurant?
Nando’s – I love their chicken wings.

Who would be the guests of your dreams?
I think I’m living the dream right now by serving all my guests.

Twitter or Instagram?
Instagram.

Drink of your choice?
Single malt whiskey.