Sustainability, Local Partnerships Lead Seasonal Trends
As the weather cools down in the Northern Hemisphere, the action in hotel kitchens is heating up and hoteliers are trying out new menu items in food and beverage to entice guests.
Chefs are flexing their culinary muscle with growing concepts such as harvest-time, farm-to-table dining, seasonal themed drinks and more communal dining.
“The fall season is a prime opportunity for restaurants to offer seasonal items and feature fantastic produce from around the country that lends to more autumnal flavors. Autumn is also a time when darker spirits, like whiskey, tend to shine on menus,” said Tristan Pearman, vice president at Aimbridge Hospitality’s Taste & Theory Group.
There also is a greater movement for hotel food-and-beverage spaces to look and feel like independent restaurants, with guests looking forward to a dining experience that incorporates unique menu options they can’t get anywhere else, Pearman said.
“There has been a shift to more respectful dining, as people care where their food comes from and what the impact is on the environment,” he said. “Many guests are more conscientious about their choices and want farm to table, dock to table and products from local markets, and people are looking for their dining experiences to pay homage to the local culture.”
Diners also are looking forward to communal dining in the fall, with shared plates and shared drinks, with a ladle or tap, Pearman said.
Robert Rauch, chairman and chief strategist of Brick Hospitality, said that fall food-and-beverage concepts are consisting of small plates, mocktails, and curated wine and beer lists from local wineries/breweries. He also sees communal dining as popular now, because many travelers, particularly business travelers, are traveling and working in groups and teams.
A push for more sustainable dining and plant-based options that appeal to omnivores continues into autumn, said Robert Moore, resort director at Hawks Cay Resort in Duck Key, Florida. Guests want locally sourced, seasonal foods unique to a region. For example, the resort serves Key West Pink Shrimp, and the property deals directly with local fisherman with no middleman in the process of buying the local delicacy. The same local partnerships exist for beverages. Hawks Cay Resort partners with Islamorada Brewery and Distillery, as well as Florida Keys Brewery.
The Ashore Resort & Beach Club in Ocean City, Maryland, is also embracing the use of local ingredients to create seasonally inspired menus, said Executive Chef Ronald Marvel Jr. For instance, the property is collaborating with nearby farmers and artisans for autumn produce such as pumpkins, apples, and root vegetables.
“This commitment to local sourcing not only supports the community, but also allows chefs to showcase the authentic flavors of the region,” Marvel said.
The Ashore Resort & Beach Club is also a member of Maryland’s True Blue program, an initiative that only a handful of restaurants in the state belong to, which certifies that the kitchen sources its crab locally. The resort’s Tide Room restaurant offers fresh Maryland jumbo lump crab cakes and Chesapeake Bay rock fish and the dinner menu provides pork belly bites and deviled eggs topped with the same Maryland crab.
“Guests like the option of combining casual fare and shareable plates with high-end menu items,” Marvel said.
On the drink side, spritzes, espresso martinis and cocktails made with spices are three bar trends that Ashore has observed grow in demand. Guests also have a higher interest in unique wines and wine-pairing recommendations.
Nashville is seeing an influx of seasonal “pop-up” bars opening ahead of the Halloween and Christmas holidays. For example, Noelle hotel’s Hidden Bar recently opened its storage room doors to a haunting in Room 237, inspired by the horror film, “The Shining,” said Brad Stewart, food and beverage general manager at Noelle.
“In addition to seasonal pop-ups, we’re also seeing savory and ‘darkcore’ cocktails pop up on menus,” Stewart said. “Hidden Bar incorporated both into the Room 237 menu, featuring drinks like the ‘All Work & No Play’ [with] Reposado tequila, bourbon, dry curacao, chai and mole bitters and ‘Hedge Maze’ [with] Jura 10-year Scotch, Benedictine, maple syrup and egg white.”
Guests are increasingly looking for drinks to be showcased in new ways, said Nick Meltzer, director of operations at the Bidwell Marriott Portland in Oregon. For instance, the Bidwell’s signature restaurant, High Horse, is featuring a black sesame-infused bourbon sour with notes of peanut that can be paired with the restaurant’s Thai-inspired chicken wings.
The seasonal flavor of pumpkin spice is going strong, said Adam Crocini, senior vice president and global head, food and beverage brands for Hilton. For instance, Hampton by Hilton will offer its pumpkin spice waffle from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30 as part of its seasonal flavor rotation.
With consumer demand for non-alcoholic cocktails on the rise, Hilton has just debuted a beverage program for Tempo by Hilton. At the newly opened Tempo by Hilton Times Square, as well as all future Tempo properties, the bar features a menu of hand-crafted, “spirited” and “free-spirited” cocktails. Each beverage is a contemporary take on a classic recipe, made either with alcohol — spirited — or without alcohol — free-spirited.
There has been tremendous growth in flavored spirits, with cocktail lovers now experimenting with peanut butter-flavored whiskey and orange gin, Crocini said. For example, when The Canary Room opens at Casa Marina Key West, Curio Collection by Hilton, on Oct. 5, the hotel bar will feature a banana rum Old Fashioned, made with Clement VSOP Rhum, banana-infused rum, and tiki bitters.
Source : Co Star
