Event Tue May 19 2009

More Observations from the Floor

By Alan Lake

I've been going to the National Restaurant Association show on and off for over 25 years. The first thing I noticed at this year's event is that it seemed emptier by comparison to years gone by, and I imagine that the economy must have something to do with the lack of attendees. The aisles are usually packed and chaotic, as opposed to just occasionally crowded.

This year, I also changed up my game plan from the past. Instead of walking the show from start to finish, one day for each room for the over 1 million square feet of exhibition space, I tagged along with chef/buddy Michel Nischan who's in town staying with me for the show. He's heavily connected in the industry, which meant we were unable to walk for five minutes without running into old buddies of his, like the Vice President of Food and Beverage for Hilton International whose prior claim to fame was starting this little restaurant called the Cheesecake Factory. Or an old sous chef from three decades ago. Or the editor of Food Arts (Michel won a Golden Spoon award from them, not to mention an Emmy for his television show and a couple James Beard Awards for his cookbooks). Then there was the gang of elder statesmen French chefs with our own Jean Joho in the middle of it all.

So, with my comfortable routine upended and me just along for the ride, here's what we enjoyed most today:

The stabilized fruit foams that the prior mentioned French Chefs were sampling at Cuisine Solutions Exhibit. Guava-Chipotle anyone? Maybe you'd prefer Passion Fruit-Ginger, Rose-Raspberry or Cucumber-Basil? Very nice. Cuisine Solutions are also very much into sous vide, and sampled us a 72-hour sous vide short rib, and a lamb and eggplant sous vide dish as well. One of their partners, Dr. Bruno Goussault (who Joho was hanging with) is considered the founding father of sous vide and showed those upstarts Joel Rubuchon, Tom Keller and Heston Blumenthal just how to do it.

As sous vide is low temperature cooking in conjunction with no air (think meal saver sealed bag-o-food in steadily circulating temperature controlled water for long periods of time), we were then whisked away to a vendor that supplies the revolutionary low-temperature kitchen suites. The initial investment is approximately 20% more, but the energy savings can be as high as 50% and the labor savings could also be equally as high (if the unions will let you, but that's another story).

One show tradition I didn't break was lunch at Sid Wainer and Sons, a high-end specialty items purveyor that's product list includes pristine produce, artisan cheeses and oils and all sorts of things I love to sample for my lunch. The standouts being fresh mangosteens which I've never once seen in Chicago, 4 year-old white balsamic that was so delicious we drank a shot of it, some black fermented garlic which rendered it sweet instead of pungent, a cave-aged cheddar with sea salt grains, a white goat butter, truffle honey, and a yuzu marmalade.

The Technology Innovations Pavilion is always of interest to me. Since I often decide what equipment to purchase for my clients, I try to keep up with the latest advancements. Many of the winners are cutting edge concepts and some are just good ideas refined. Best of this year for me were the trash composter that dehydrates organic matter to compost in 12-20 hours, reducing 90% of the volume to a mulch-like substance. Also, a water filtration system that recycles and filters 80% of water wasted back to the tap. Once again, this shows how opting to embrace a "greener" mentality can pay substantial dividends after the initial investment.