Basque Burnt Cheesecake
Close up of Basque Burnt Cheesecake on white plate
What were customers ordering most during the past year? And what new trends are heating up restaurant foodservice for the year ahead?
For some answers, el Restaurante turned to Grubhub, the online and mobile food-ordering and delivery service, and Baum + Whiteman, international food and restaurant consultants.
Grubhub’s “Year in Food” report highlighted food trends that shaped 2019 based on a review of tens of millions of orders placed by more than 21 million diners. The goal was “…to uncover the flavors and tastes rising up the ranks among today’s diners.”
According to Grubhub, one message chefs and restaurateurs should not ignore: plant-based foods are here to stay!
“Vegetarian- and vegan-friendly dishes took over 7 of our top 10 as opposed to only 3 of the top spots in 2018,” the report notes.
Among the Top 10 most-ordered dishes of particular interest to Mexican and Latin restaurants: spicy brussels sprouts, portobello empanada, and black bean & sweet potato taco. In the dessert category, caramel churro ranked in the Top 5; and in the late-night carbs category, buffalo chicken empanada and brisket quesadilla took the No. 1 and No. 2 spot, respectively. Street corn popped up on the report’s “Trends on the Rise” section.
Baum + Whiteman’s “Hottest Food & Beverage Trends in Restaurant & Hotel Dining for 2020” also gave a shout-out to Mexican/Latin items heating up with restaurant customers:
• Birria, a meaty stew usually made with goat, but also commonly made with beef, that’s slow-braised with cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, garlic cloves, herbs and several kinds of chiles.
“Shredded and stuffed into a griddled semi-crispy taco, birria comes with a braising liquid for dunking that sometimes is sold by the cup on its own,” says the report, which notes that birria currently is more prevalent in California and Texas than in New York.
• Papalo, a Mexican herb frequently used by people of Pueblo. “In flavor, it has a big nose, tasting like a combination of cilantro, arugula and nasturtium leaves,” the report says. Papalo is a great add-in to salads and salsa, and on the Mexican sandwiches called cemitas.
• Burnt cheesecake, a favorite that hails from Basque country, an area of northern Spain. This cheesecake also recently was featured in a January 2019 article at bloomberg.com, which explained that the dessert “… was birthed behind the swinging door at La Viña in Spain’s San Sebastián, a neighborhood pintxos (skewered snack) joint whose bartenders remember your name.”
According to the story, Chef Alex Raij introduced the cheesecake at Txikito, her New York City Basque restaurant, a decade ago. “More people are coming around to embrace bitter and burnt flavors,” she told Bloomberg.