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Hamilton Beach Commercial Blog

Food

Mexican standouts: what makes top Mexican restaurants in the US succeed?

 

Not all that long ago, conventional wisdom said the best Mexican food could be found only near the border, in Texas, Arizona or California. Then chefs around the country began stretching the definition of fine Mexican dining. 

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Topics: Latin America, Feature, Food, Margarita, salsa, chilies, Mexican, mariscos

How to go green, save money and pull in customers

 

The move to a greener operating style is paying off for restaurants of all sizes. Fully 79 percent of consumers prefer dining at certified green restaurants, according to the Green Restaurant Association. "Consumers are a lot more educated now than they used to be," says Michael Oshman, founder of the association. And going green, he says, helps solve two perennial challenges for restaurants: "How can I save money, and how can I bring customers in?"

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Topics: Restaurant management, Durability, Operational efficiency, Green Restaurants, Food, Customer Service

How Spanish chefs are winning in Asia

Beautiful, delicate pintxos—a type of tapas from Spain's Basque region—with olives, cucumbers, anchovies (right).

In Asian nations, there's a big appetite for small plates. Tapas culture—the sharing of dishes among groups of friends—has close ties to the dining culture in China and other Asian nations, making it a natural fit, says Miguel Utque, vice president of the recently formed Spanish Chefs' Association in Asia.

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Topics: Feature, Food, China, Tapas, Restaurant trends in Asia, Restaurant trends in China, Spanish restaurant trends

Creating decadent vegetarian dishes with a culinary blender

 

Although  decadent and vegetarian are not often used to describe the same dish, these terms aren’t mutually exclusive, either. Just look at French chef Alain Passard's vegetable tasting menu at L'Arpège, which made the New York Times' food critic swoon over carrots and peas.
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Topics: Vegan, Vegetarian cuisine, Food, Menu, Chef

What to look for in a culinary blender

A blender may seem like a simple appliance — blades, motor, jar. But every time a chef turns a blender on, complex forces of physics combine to turn multiple ingredients of varying textures into a single perfect consistency. That is to say, culinary blenders are powerful machines. 

At first glance, a culinary blender looks similar to one used for drinks. But “they're not interchangeable tools,” says Karen Williams-Roman, product manager for Hamilton Beach Commercial's line of culinary blenders, "there really are differences." Three important features to look for in a culinary blender are variable speed, the ability to blend difficult ingredients, and container options.

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Topics: Featured, Feature, Food, Emulsions, Immersion Blender, Culinary blenders

Diners’ expectations vary widely from casual to luxury

Food, service, and atmosphere are the three main components in any dining experience, but which matters most and how is “good” defined? Coyle Hospitality studied data from nearly 2,500 diners worldwide and found that diners’ views varied according to how much they were spending.

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Topics: Waitstaff, Dining environment, Atmosphere, Restaurant management, Research, Featured, Food, Restaurants

How South American food won a city in the American South

When Jessica and Josh Bufford opened Estilo in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, the most common question they heard from guests was, “Is this just fancy Mexican food?”

The restaurant opened in August 2013, and in January 2014 it won the “Best New Restaurant” award from Richmond Magazine. Now the mesa Latina is packed for lunch and dinner nearly every day of the week. Clearly the Buffords are doing more than a few things right, including riding the waves of two key trends—Latin American food and gluten-free kitchens—and managing the restaurant with the perfect balance of art and science.

Estilo's signature dish, Duck Confit Pozole (right).

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Topics: Gluten-free, Latin America, Peru, Restaurant management, Brazil, Featured, Feature, Food, Restaurants

Four new restaurant trends sweeping through Spain

 A return to classics such as seafood paella is just one of four trends sweeping through Spanish restaurants

At the end of 2012, the New York Times noted the surge of Spanish modernism as a global cuisine. As critics celebrated the technical, flavorful feats of mad food scientist Ferran Adría and his disciples, there seemed to be only one problem with the hot new trend—everyone wanting to know “what's next?”

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Topics: Featured, Food, Tapas, Spain, Gastrobotanics, Basque cuisine, Spanish Modernism, Pinxtos, Spanish restaurant trends

Creative solutions for a loud dining room

Gone are the days of quiet dining rooms. Noise is in, and restaurants are pumping up their sound systems, embracing sound-reflecting hard surfaces and enlarging their bars. As food critic Adam Platt writes, "ask any weary gastronaut about the single most disruptive restaurant trend over the past decade or so... they’ll give you a succinct, one-sentence answer. It’s the noise, stupid.”

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Topics: Dining environment, Atmosphere, Noise, Restaurant management, Featured, Food, feat

Beyond nuggets: 10 ways to build a better children's menu

Healthier, more creative children's menus are no longer just a trend — they're becoming a must-have. The National Restaurant Association placed both "healthful kids' meals" and "children's nutrition" in its top 10 culinary trends for 2014. Parents want dining options that are flavorful, organic, original and kid-approved. Creating menu items that kids will like and parents will purchase is a tall order, so here are some ways to get started.

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Topics: Children's Menus, Kids' Menus, Healthy eating, Featured, Branding, Food

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