Menu Talk

Eric Gabrynowicz, vice president of culinary for Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar, fell in love with knives and fire when he worked in a restaurant kitchen as a teenager. From there, he graduated from the CIA, worked for Danny Meyer at Union Square Cafe and Blue Smoke, and eventually helmed his own kitchen at North Restaurant in Westchester County, N.Y. But Gabrynowicz has always been obses...

Spike Mendelsohn is a celebrity chef, entrepreneur, TV personality and food policy activist, all of which come together in his newest ventures—PLNT Burger and Eat the Change. PLNT Burger, which serves up chef-curated, plant-based versions of burgers, soft-serve, chicken fingers and other fast-food favorites, currently has 10 locations and is on a growth trajectory. Meanwhile, Eat the Change, a hea...

Matthew Padilla, culinary director for True Food Kitchen, joined the full-service restaurant group last year and quickly started innovating the menu. This spring, he introduced over 30 new dishes, incorporating hyper-seasonal ingredients and inventive global flavors, with an updated summer menu close behind. To appeal to a broader audience, he transformed comfort-food favorites like burgers, pizza...

Fabio Viviani is a native of Florence, Italy, where he started working in restaurant kitchens at the age of 11. He learned the ropes of the hospitality industry by cooking in and managing Italian trattorias and restaurants, eventually moving to the U.S. when he was 27, where he opened and operated several restaurants in L.A. Over the next 15 or so years, Chef Viviani built a hospitality empire, de...

“Chefwise: Life Lessons from Leading Chefs Around the World” is not a cookbook. In place of recipes, its pages are filled with insider insights from 117 chefs around the world, collected by author Shari Bayer. Bayer interviewed both well-known chefs like Tom Colicchio, Sean Brock, Alice Waters and Massimo Bottura, as well as rising stars, owners of Michelin-starred restaurants and operators of cas...

Robert St. John is a restaurateur, chef, writer, philanthropist, international travel guide and TV personality—in short, a modern-day renaissance man. He opened his first restaurant, Purple Parrot Cafe, more than 30 years ago in Hattiesburg, Miss., turning the small Southern city into a dining destination. While that one closed during Covid, seven other restaurants remain in town and two more in t...

Yogurtland has developed more than 200 frozen yogurt flavors that rotate throughout the chain’s 220 locations at different times of the year. The company employs a team of flavorologists, who combine scientific knowledge, market research and their refined palates to create unique flavor profiles like Thai Tea, Blueberry Pancake, Decadent Dark Chocolate Orange and Irish Mint. Limited-time flavors l...

Ford’s Garage is a 1920s gas station-themed burger and craft beer restaurant with a unique vibe. Chef Jessica Tomlinson landed at the 24-location, full-service concept after working in fine dining, baking and pastry, a farm-to-table restaurant and at Bloomin’ Brands. In a nostalgic setting filled with vintage vehicles, gas pumps and even a Model T car suspended above the bar, she offers a wide ran...

James Beard Award-winning chef Jonathon Sawyer heads up the kitchen at Kindling Downtown Cookout & Cocktails, a new 500-seat restaurant where almost every menu item touches the wood-fueled fire at some point in its culinary journey. That’s not an easy task, being that Kindling is housed in a soaring two-story space inside Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower, one of the tallest office buildings in th...

As VP of culinary innovation at Untamed Brands, the parent company of fast-casual Taim Mediterranean Kitchen and Hot Chicken Takeover, Avi Szapiro brings years of fine-dining experience to the job. He grew up in Bogota, Colombia, and thought he’d become a lawyer. But he caught the cooking bug as a teenager and never looked back. Szapiro graduated from the CIA; worked in top restaurants and hotels...

Aaron Noveshen, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Starbird, trained as a French chef and started a company called The Culinary Edge that develops menus for restaurants. After years of helping other operators get successful concepts up and running, he felt it was time to start his own. In 2016, Starbird was hatched.   The fast-casual chicken chain now numbers 12 brick-and-mortar units and a co...

Anna Castellani launched her first food hall in the basement of a building in downtown Brooklyn, N.Y., when the neighborhood was essentially a food desert. Today, the underground space is the thriving DeKalb Market, home to more than 25 local vendors offering a range of cuisines that celebrate Brooklyn’s diverse culture. “I like to transform unloved spaces into vibrant eating and drinking venues,”...

 “Cinco de Mayo is like Super Bowl and New Year’s packed into one,” said Jared Galbut, founder and CEO of Bodega Taqueria y Tequila. As celebrants flock to Mexican restaurants and bars on Friday, he expects record crowds, with a number of revelers partying until 5 a.m.—closing time for some of the seven locations. Jared Galbut The newest Bodega is actually opening on May 5 in Chicago’s West Loop n...

Menu innovation is key to differentiating a concept in the crowded and competitive chain restaurant environment. During Winsight’s annual Restaurant Leadership Conference, which took place this week in Phoenix, Ariz., we caught up with three top execs to find out what innovation looks like at their operations. Donna Josephson, CMO of Shipley Do-Nuts; Andre Vener, co-founder of Dog Haus; and Frank...

Katy Velazquez, executive chef at Qdoba Mexican Eats, claims that she got her Ph. D in regional Mexican cooking while working with chef Rick Bayless in his celebrated restaurants, on TV shows and throughout his travels in Mexico. Those experiences influence her menu R&D for 735-unit Qdoba, but she balances that authenticity with a good dose of fast-casual fun. Although Velazquez has innovated...

After graduating from culinary school, Aaron Taylor criss-crossed the country, earning his cred at a number of top resorts and restaurants. But his ultimate ambition was to become a corporate chef for a restaurant group—a goal he reached with The ONE Group, operators of STK and other global concepts.  Now, Taylor is corporate chef-partner for Atlas Restaurant Group in Baltimore, overseeing 27 rest...

The devastation of 9/11 prompted Andrew Pudalov to leave his finance career behind in New York City, move to Boulder, Colorado and launch a healthy bowl concept. That was almost 20 years ago and Rush Bowls has since grown from a single location at the University of Colorado to a 40-unit chain in 21 states. Although the healthy bowl category is now a crowded one, Pudalov sees Rush Bowls as a differ...

“If you’re a broccoli or watermelon, stay away from Planta,” warns Steven Salm, founder and CEO of the veggie-centric restaurant concept. “We can do serious damage.” Indeed, what Salm calls a “plant-powered” menu offers indulgent, chef-driven items like Bang Bang Broccoli, ahi watermelon sushi and noodles with truffle mushroom cream, all served in a polished-casual setting with a full bar pouring...

Adenah Bayoh, an IHOP franchisee and passionate entrepreneur, co-founded fast casual Cornbread Farm to Soul to put a spotlight on soul food favorites. Along with the restaurant’s signature cornbread, its menu features chef-partner Elzadie Smith’s scratch-made fried chicken, catfish, yams, baked mac and cheese, collard greens and peach cobbler. Three locations are currently open in the New York-New...

As executive chef of Parcelle Wine Bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Ron Yan has created a menu that balances playfulness with skilled technique. During the pandemic, Yan partnered with seasoned restaurateur and wine retailer Grant Reynolds to launch a popup. The success of that venture evolved into the current brick-and-mortar restaurant, opened in 2022. Listen as Yan describes his culinar...

When Jimmy Wang started at Panda Express in 2014, the now executive director of culinary innovation already had many years of experience in top hotel kitchens and operating his own restaurant. At Panda Express, Wang and his team look to create dishes that tell a story. They apply the chain’s menu mantra—“Chinese Flavors with American Tastes”—to every item they develop, and recent successes include...

​Located on the ground floor of New York City’s landmark Empire State Building, STATE Grill & Bar must appeal to two demographics: tourists visiting the iconic skyscraper and office workers and locals looking for a chef-inspired lunch or dinner. Executive Chef Morgan Jarrett bridges the two by balancing seasonal dishes geared to adventurous tastes with more familiar steaks, pastas and desserts...

Award-winning chef Gavin Kaysen has been instrumental in turning Minneapolis into a dining destination, moving back to his hometown after advancing his career in Daniel Boulud’s New York City restaurants. Eight years ago, he opened Spoon and Stable and has since added three new restaurants to the collection—Demi, Mara and Socca—along with several locations of Bellecour, a French-inspired bakery an...

Mackenzie Gibson traded in her blazer for a chef’s coat when she was promoted to VP of Culinary and Menu Innovation at Sonic Drive-in. Previously in marketing, she now integrates that expertise into developing the menu, prioritizing Sonic as a consumer-driven brand. She and her team keep the R&D pipeline constantly flowing with new items, balancing indulgence with comfort and innovation. Liste...

After Popeyes off-the-charts success with its fried chicken sandwich, Amy Alarcon and her culinary team spent four years perfecting the cooking technique and flavor profile of the just-launched Blackened Chicken Sandwich. In between, she developed a new and improved chicken nugget and a number of seasonal LTOs. Throughout the R&D process, Alarcon taps into New Orleans as her inspiration point....