Some things are just necessary for survival, and some of those things come dipped in chocolate. There’s something to be said for the local delicacies in foreign destinations, and as Scott mentioned earlier, the Gadling team would travel around the world for their some of their favorite food. Me? I’ll take chocolate.
While few things will ever top chocolate squares from Belgium, or tiramisu from Italy’s hidden cafes and best restaurants, we can’t always get to our favorite places for our favorite foods. But, if you look close enough in your own backyard, you might be able to taste some of your favorite comfort foods without needing your passport. Enter: The Ritz-Carlton’s decadent chocolate bar.
I’ve made myself comfortable on many a Friday night at Boston’s Ritz-Carlton dining room with a glass of red wine and a plate of goodies from the hotel’s chocolate bar, so when I heard the Ritz was redefining their dessert menu I immediately went into panic mode. I caught up with George McNeill, Ritz-Carlton’s corporate chef, to get a sense of what the new menu will feature. Seems the chefs have taken a new approach to dessert and put a bit of flair on some of their local favorites. From English bread butter pudding to an All-American strawberry shortcake, Ritz-Carlton is giving our classic desserts a bit of a culinary makeover.Why the change? What was the motivation for reinventing the menu?
This is part of our overall strategic direction of making the Ritz-Carlton a more approachable dining experience – our goal is to have a market driven restaurant in every one of our hotels. “Classic Desserts Redefined ” is another example addressing the needs of our evolving customer. The motivation was that as we navigated our way through the economic downturn in 2009, we saw a clear gravitation from our guests to a popularity of more comfort items on our menus. “Classics”, by definition, are items that have stood the test of time and appeal to guest as much today as they have for generations we challenged our pasty chefs to submit their best “classic” dessert recipes, of which were eventually whittled down to what we have today.
The Ritz-Carlton is known for indulgence and luxury – how do these new creations fit within the theme?
In this instance, luxury and indulgence relate to the quality of the ingredients and the flavor profile of the desserts, they are rich and flavorful which translates into a satisfying experience. I believe that we will see an increase in dessert sales and that our guests indulge themselves in desserts that that they may have passed up on due to the recognition factor, if only from childhood memories.
What is your favorite new ‘classic’ on the dessert list? What is the one item you’ll never remove?
My favorite is Bread and Butter Pudding. it is something I have not seen on a menu for a very long time, it congers up childhood memories of sitting at the dinning room table with all of my brothers and sisters for Sunday dinner, which was the only day we had dessert with dinner. What item will never leave the menu? That is difficult to say only time will tell and our guests will be the judges.
My personal suggestion? Enjoy some quality time with the chocolate fountain, then order up some bread pudding, a hot cup of espresso (or the martini version, if you choose) and enjoy yourself a fine dessert on a Friday night.