Word: chefs
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Mohan Ismail, a Singaporean chef most recently at New York's Spice Market, sends out braised beef short ribs in a green curry with tiny, delicate Thai eggplant, slivers of bamboo shoots and baby bok choy. Ismail has toned down the fish sauce, and instead of the rougher texture of ground fresh coconut, his curry gets a silky smoothness from coconut milk and chicken stock and an almost grass green color from cilantro puree. Overton raves but doesn't have a place...
That effort has evolved into the Cheesecake Factory's epic epicurean tasting trips. Twice a year, Overton and his team of R&D chefs visit the best restaurants in New York City, London, Singapore and other cities. A recent New York itinerary included Mario Batali's Del Posto, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's Morimoto and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market. A weeklong trip might include three lunches and dinners every day, during which they often taste every item on the menu--plus snacks...
...says. Not everyone can afford the $30 miso-glazed black cod made famous by Nobu, but the Cheesecake Factory's best-selling miso salmon is only $18 and three times the size. "Why should that memorable food experience be limited?" asks Bob Okura, the Cheesecake Factory's corporate executive chef. Critics call the portions a gimmick; health policy experts call them a dangerous contribution to obesity; the Cheesecake Factory sees value, encouraging customers to make a second meal of leftovers. Overton loves the attention that celebrity chefs have brought to dining out, but there is no room...
...fast," Okura says, giving him a calming pat on the shoulders. He and Matz then shift gears. Instead of having him blanch the pasta, they want Marchan to finish cooking it in the sauté pan and then assemble the layers. His lasagna looks messier than the chef's version. Okura checks the clock. "Eight minutes," he says. "Eight minutes is a long time on a busy night." Even worse, "it's a little mushy," Overton says. No one is sure why--the last-minute pasta change?--but that may have ended its chances...
...demand. Grass-fed beef can cost from 20% to 100% more than feedlot beef, reflecting in part a longer growth cycle. And quality can be a problem. Bonnell's, a Fort Worth restaurant, sells 65 Taggart steaks a week. "Our customers rave about its tenderness and nutty flavor," says chef Jon Bonnell. But some grass-fed meat is too tough. And it's not easy to revive the art of producing tasty pasture-raised beef. It requires not only rotational grazing but also the genes that allow animals to fatten naturally on grass. Bill Kurtis, a former CBS newsman, launched...