Flavor-Inspiration Week
Last week, I was in San Diego, CA for a conference on “flavor”. Actually, the conference was in the City of Coronado, an island where the legendary Hotel del Coronado is located and the comedy classic “Some Like It Hot,” starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon was filmed. No, we did not stay at the ‘Del’ as the locals refer to it as, but at a hotel almost as nice with a beach close-by. The Flavor Experience Conference is one of my favorite events, and of course, it is all about flavor – food has to taste good. Topics ranged from flavor-forward trends, tastings that place a greater emphasis on food and beverage creativity; to differentiation from competition in our segment – all based on incorporating flavor as the strategic solution in the menu business. It was an intense two days with lots of food tastings and information gathering sessions. Attendees hardly had time to go out and enjoy the water and the sandy beach nearby.
One of the highlights of the conference was the appearance of celebrity TV chef Guy Fieri from the Food Network. The California Culinary “Bad Boy” with the spiky blond hair was a riot. He was funny with a quick wit. He did a short presentation on food and beverage with a tasting the followed. Well, the food he prepared had great flavor and the beverage was even better. He then opened up with Q&As. I asked him about his favorite chefs and what’s his take on the healthy eating. Apparently, none of his favorite chefs are on TV, rather he favors “Mom and Pop” style small businesses; and his advice on healthy food is to stay away from too many processed foods, eat in moderation, and to eat more fruits and vegetables.
He finished off his presentations by a surprise introduction of the owners of three local restaurants (El Indio- Mexican food, Hodad’s – Burgers and Pizzeria Luigi – Pizza ), all of which were featured during “Diners, Drive ins and Dives” episodes. It was like a show and tell moment. We were told that all these restaurants experienced a threefold increase in business after Chef Guy’s visit. They all shared a successful flavor recipe, that is, go back-to-the basics, keep things simple and do them well. We were told before the show visited any restaurant, they had a staff of 6 people check out the location for sanitation and quality. It was no surprise, that not just the food had to be good. It was nice to see a familiar sort of reunion between Chef Fieri and these featured folk and how all of them were so appreciative of the visit by the celebrity chef. The best part of the presentation, was that we were treated to samples of food from each of these three restaurants – how yummy!
Following the presentation, Martha, our special events manager busily talked to the restaurant owners, exchanging contact information and whatnot. UMass students might be lucky; we might be able to bring these owners as guest chefs to campus and who knows, wouldn’t it be nice to bring Guy Fieri as well. It would be great to have the “Diners, Drive ins and Dives” crew stop by UMass someday. In the meantime, look for some new flavor inspiration as a result of the conference, coming to a DC near you soon.
This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.
Ken Toong
Director
Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu
You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong