Greetings from the Program Chair Hospitality & Foodservice Management
Greetings and Happy Holidays…
We have had a “changing of the guard” in officers with HCSA. Congratulations to Denys Kendall – President, Rika Kari – VP , Stephanie Helm – Historian, Camilla Glensk – Treasurer, Ashley Sears – Secretary, and Maite Palma – Marketing & Promotion. The announcement of the new HCSA officers took place at Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion restaurant over a wonderful meal consisting of four courses. This fine group of officers has already rolled up their sleeves and helped the Hotel Association of Greater Dallas with its 2nd Annual HOSPY awards Gala. As you can see from the picture below they looked the part, it was hard to distinguish the students from the attendees. Many other students also gave
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L-R: Taisha Coleman, Stephanie Helm, Denys Kendall,
Camilla Glensek, Wil Wilbur, Ashley Sears, and Rachel Lee
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up their Saturday night in order to help this scholarship fund raising event: Rachel Lee, Erin Stanley, Taisha Coleman, Wil Wilbur, Riley Lundberg, Zachary Fuchs, Pamela Kerns, Nicole Rice, Sherry Thain, and Berty Custudio.
The pool is gone! As I drove onto campus last week I was confronted with a mountain of sand. Each day the mountain of sand got smaller and smaller, to the poin
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Setting the stage for the new culinary arts facility...
from pool to kitchen!
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t where it is just a small mound. I can not imagine how many cubic feet it took to fill in pool of that size. I am looking forward to donning my hard hat and having a look around shortly, I will be certain to capture some photos.
I wish the Culinary Arts students along with HCSA good look at this weekends' Texas Chefs Association – Chili Confrontational.
On the menu: Spicy Red Beef Chili with Toasted Cumin Cream & Cornbread and Dark Chocolate Chili with Sweet Bean Sauce & Candied Jalapeno pieces.
Enjoy the rest of your month.
Cheers!
Karen
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Culinary Trends and Issuses
A Comment on the Future of Dining
By Chef Cheryl Lewis
When asked to predict the future of dining, I can’t help but think of Law and Order – “I object your honor! That’s speculation!” Alas, if earning profits within the law is the ethical duty of a business, then predicting the future must be embraced. But, then again…you never know. Cheryl Ursin’s article, Future Perfect?, in Restaurants USA, Online, addresses a 1999 prediction that made our industry wail: “…[M]any [hospitality] business owners thought that December 31, 1999 would be the biggest party night of all time, and hoarded [C]hampagne and caviar, which they still might be trying to unload…”(Ursin, Restaurant USA Online). The restaurant industry deals with its customers in a visceral way – the food becomes a part of the body. People eat food to bond, celebrate, seduce, and comfort. Restaurant owners must “…fulfill customers’ most basic needs and whimsical desires” (Ursin, Restaurant USA Online). If only there was an industry 8-Ball: “Hey what about that low-carb thing?” - “Long-term trend is doubtful; don’t invest too much in it”.
It can be argued that the buying trends of restaurant customers aren’t completely due to their original desires. Was pizza longed for before Italian immigration? The food of Southeast Asia wasn’t an issue before Saigon fell to the Chinese. There is little doubt that diversity will continue to influence every facet of the restaurant industry, not just as a trend, but as an evolution - in the same way that Alice Waters and her cohorts did with organic appellations.
 The American market now enjoys a virtual “United Nations” of cuisines, giving rise to an interesting question: would the market crave change and variety if it weren’t first offered to them by chefs? Before the world became smaller and ethnic diversity a given, restaurant trends were far more predictable. American restaurants were all about steak, and whiskey, and big baked potatoes - elegant French restaurants with desserts that flamed – sexy, rustic Italian joints that served food from Naples. Americans are diverse now, both in race and mentality. Fusion cuisine, first the product of brilliant innovators, is now understood and embraced by the masses– an evolution that springs from assimilation.
The pie-chart above shows that the US Hispanic demographic is doubling, while the white demographic is diminishing. An article in Nation’s Restaurant News by Gregg Cebrzynski addresses how the Hispanic demographic must be marketed to into the future by, “…developing family-oriented menus, understanding the subcultures in the Hispanic population, … [and] building restaurants in or close to Hispanic neighborhoods…”(Cabrzynski, 4). Statistics show that Hispanics (those who have mainstreamed into American society), spend 83% more on restaurants, take-out, and delivered food than non-Hispanics (Cabrzynski, 4). This is something that can’t be ignored, especially as the demographic grows.
No matter the ethnicity of the food, two important trends will dominate the industry – increased globalization, with chains and franchisees opening up all around the world, and conversely, high-quality artisan ingredients. In Manhattan, Balducci’s is selling local apples that have never been refrigerated (Ursin). A chef in Paris, Polâine, is sending daily shipments of his bread to individuals in the US, as are artisan cheese makers. In the 70’s, Alice Waters dealt directly with small farms to buy all of the food for her restaurant – the trend is solid, and eliminating the distribution middleman is a must in favor of one-on-one relationships with the artisan food makers. The restaurants that feed this segment are privately owned, mostly by chefs. These are the independent film makers of our industry, there to feed the learned hedonists.
The trend for luxury foods could be a symptom of something far greater, and I see it in the 20-something consumers. It’s a sense of entitlement that is justified, not by actually having money, but wanting to appear affluent anyway. This demographic wants to be noticed, and they want to be treated well. 30 years ago, ball parks sold hot dogs, pretzels, and beer. Now, the variety and quality of the choices are amazing! Seared tuna spring rolls, smoked salmon and goat cheese pizzas – at a ballgame! "Customers have an attitude of empowerment …[t]heir aspirations are turning into expectations. Heaven help the restaurant that doesn't treat them the way they expect" (Caplan quoted in Ursin). When the Gen-Y segment of this market turns 35, I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of finger-snapping going on in dining rooms. But this savvy segment, fed by individual artists, is the minority, as the mega-chains and franchises virtually take over the world.
Today, the mega-chains are controlling the future of the restaurant industry. From an article by Ron Gorodesky and Ed McCarron, Independent Restaurant Survival in a Mega-Chain World:“Multiple concepts, aggressive management hiring programs, extensive advertising campaign, mergers and resources to obtain the best [real] estate all appear to give mega-chains the distinct advantage, now and well into the future” (Gorodesky/McCarron, Restaurant Report). Statistics show that only 12% of high-volume, full-service restaurants are independently owned (Gorodesky/McCarron, Restaurant Report).
Pre-70’s, it was the independent restaurant owners that controlled the future of the industry. Somehow, I can’t imagine Caesar Cardini creating his Caesar salad in the dining room of a Carrabba’s – or Pêche Melba, springing forth from the hands of a lustful chef in the kitchen of a Macaroni Grill. Menus are decided in boardrooms, just as TV shows are. Again, one must pose the question – do the corporations serve the desires of the market, or do they dictate those desires? Cajun, Cuban, “Floribean”, soul food, Neapolitan ghetto, Mexican, all-American, Californian – would the market be enticed if the varieties weren’t introduced to them through mass marketing?
I do love Houston’s, though. I love ordering the same seared/raw tuna that is my comfort food in Texas, in any San Francisco and Washington DC. That’s the great consumer advantage of the chain. A disadvantage is that the actual owner is never in the store, but training and incentives are great mitigators. Mega-chains are the octopus-like, omnipotent kings of the restaurant industry, not just predicting, but controlling the future trends. There’s a chicken-or-the-egg issue, though – don’t the chains take their cue from the independent innovators? I can’t help but think of the old adage – a donkey is a horse designed by a committee. Yikes, imagine our industry if there were no independents.
When asked about the future of the restaurant industry, Ruth Reichl is emphatic in her discontent. She laments that “they’ve” created a two-tiered society composed of the people who must buy discounted food, grown by “Wal-Mart” growers - and those who can afford the luxury of organic produce and foods with appellations. While the capital gains tax cut is being extended in Congress (padding the pockets of the top 1% of our society), the middle class is being decimated by housing and fuel costs. I don’t blame the average world-wide citizen for having priorities – their children are massive consumers who must be cared for, and whose futures must be facilitated.
With a tight control of the market, corporate farmers dictate price, hormone and insecticide use, and the abuse of our land. Of course, they also dictate the non-use of our land, when they choose to grow in other countries to enhance their profits. The classical model of corporate responsibility holds that making a profit within the law as the highest ethical goal. The demise of our middle class was literally engineered by our economic system – why shouldn’t the mega-chains control the future of our industry, given the permission they have.
Information technology has become an absolute necessity. According to the CSC web site, “The consensus among restaurant operators is that the role of the IT organization in accomplishing business goals is largely as a business-performance reporting tool, rather than a tool to increase value and enable greater collaboration across the supply chain (CSC Online). Major challenges include dealing with the economy, increasing revenues at same locations, being able to satisfy customer needs in a competitive market, and using technology effectively to deal with laborissues.
The challenges differ according to the market: upscale restaurants fear fuel issues, and anything else that might make people decide not to spend money on luxuries. Fast food and family restaurants are challenged by having to install or upgrade existing technology, in order to improve productivity. Technology improves service, from the distribution chain to taking the customer’s order. The restaurant industry has been slow to steer these changes driven by information technology.
The restaurant industry hasn’t been known for making large investments in IT – retail spends twice what we do. Without getting into the particular toys becoming available to us (to better facilitate wine and food service, inventory control, data bases, ordering/distribution, training, reporting, and communication), there is no doubt that the Internet and e-business will dramatically transform the way restaurants do business — changing their business model (CSC Online). Collaboration with distributors is a win/win in ordering and bill paying – we learned about it in Marketing: business to business technology – requires forming relationships and teamwork. “Measuring the return on IT investments is a good way to build an ongoing business case for more IT investment” (CSC Online). If these investments prove to translate into profits, management will be encouraged to increase the technology budget.
Profit also motivates consumer health concerns, just as it is responsible for the making of bad-for-you Chinese take-out. People are not lured into obesity by restaurant menus. The low-carb trend made me laugh, but those are the same people who are always ready to line up behind that proverbial lead dog. The dairy council is driven by profit when they claim that milk slims the waist – and McDonald’s is driven by profit when they supply salads and pedometers to housewives.
Healthy menu selections are about marketing and profit. I used to know a man who would order a yogurt and granola thing at McDonald’s for breakfast, then eat an entire pizza for lunch. It’s a choice not driven by the industry. When someone craves Vietnamese, Japanese, and Mediterranean food rather than high fat alternatives, it’s the lifestyle they choose. When it comes to fat and calories, the consumer does control the market and their body fat percentage. Revenues supported the low-carb trend, but I’m glad I didn’t bet the rent money on it.
I love the restaurant industry. I think that there is no restaurant beneath serious consideration. There is temptation for every demographic - dripping Texas barbeque and Pacific Coast fish tacos – the brilliant fusions of Jean-Georges. While I hate the strip mall chains like Chilis, I also respect the public that supports them.
I wish that each restaurant was the independently-owned dream of artisans, but again, I wish that the market would support them. And while I’m voicing a wish-list here, I wish our world wasn’t made up of the “have” leaders controlling the “have not” followers. I wish that the majority of our country could afford health insurance and fuel and warm school clothes and artisan cuisine. The future of my beloved restaurant industry is in the hands of the market that supports it, and ultimately, in the hands of our suffering economy.
One may wonder if our industry is reaching its limit of creativity, which makes me think of Chanel dresses. Enchanting creations meant to lure – made of luxury materials, by artisans. Artists look into the future by referring to the past – frothy black cocktail dresses, recreated over and over again. There is no end to the eye-popping “wowness”. Ferran Adrià despises anything that is not new, in his molecular creations, and there will always be a market for the chefs like him, as long as they can make money. There will also be millions of people who admire them from afar – just like the women who pour over the pages of Vogue. There are no possible ends to artistic creativity, and just like the $4000 Chanel dresses that are recreated for Target, some culinary artistry will trickle down to the masses. That is the plight of the second tier – until we change the course of artistry.
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Delicious Art of Dessert Deconstruction
By Michelle Brown
Before a long fall into winter’s season of traditional pumpkin pie and fruit cake, sugar cookies dripping with sprinkles, Desserts came as a welcome change to the conventional pastry repertoire.
More than that, like a breath of fresh air it threw off the conventions of “traditional desserts” and performed CPR; breaking down the chocolate chip cookie, improving upon the zing of a brownie, taking things apart and putting them back together again guided by lightness, humor with all the intensity and passion of a professional pastry chef on the center of the cutting edge.
Pastry Chef famed of song and story Elizabeth Falkner together with Anime character / alter ego Caremi (illustrated by her brother Ryan) take you step by step into the creative process of her shop Citizen Cake. Or is it a laboratory... She must be a mad scientist…. Baking is science… but what about the demolition part… For being a serious pastry arts cook book, Desserts is delicious fun.
You’ll find that though some of the professional pastry chef this system is the norm, but for the home chef, it’s quite radical. Rather than putting that lemon curd into a pastry shell, it is side by side with meringue, mint oil and the crust as a side. This system is familiar to the professional, sure, but the flavor/texture combinations? Not your usual suspects. With Elizabeth there are no cobwebs by way of flavor profiles, there are jumps from texture to texture, flavor to flavor. Peanut butter and jelly has taken on new meaning with Concord Grape Tapioca and Peanut Butter Ice Cream.
For fans of Elizabeth’s Citizen Cake, you will be comforted to know that some of her discontinued items are here for you to replicate. Speaking of Citizen Cake, being located in Northern California, Elizabeth has access to beautiful, farm fresh produce and encourages us all to go out and find the finest seasonal produce to work with. Adjust your thinking to utilize your local best of the season produce while it’s in season and say good bye when that season comes to an end.
For the end of summer in Dallas, for instance, where the average temperature is 95, we created the Sour Cream Sorbet found on page 116. This refreshing sorbet is just one component of “Waking up in a City that Never Sleeps”, a funky collaboration of cheesecake custard, sour cream sorbet, graham cracker powder and blueberry paper. Yes, blueberry paper-think sophisticated fruit leather, closer to suede!
This tends to be a book that folks read in an upright position, getting ready to race through their kitchen getting mise-en-placed to produce one of the delectable elements featured in the photographs taken by Frankie Frankeny. The glossy pictures reach out and tempt you to throw a dessert party, complete with dessert cocktails.
Desserts makes the heart dance and taste buds sing. With sections from cookies to beverages and a back section with the principal sweets to make the desserts piece by piece; Elizabeth gives you to do lists to make the home baking enthusiasts’ presentation look like that of an effortless professional.
It’s a beautiful adventure thanks to Frankie Frankenys’ photos, Ann Krueger Spivacks prose and Ryan Falkner’s kicky illustrations!
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Blood, Sweat & Tears
by Sheila Kao
 What was I thinking? I asked myself two days into the intense cooking workshop began. Yes, I was in this Chinese Cuisine Workshop at the Taiwans southern seaport of Kao-hsiung (pronounced as cow-shone). It was a strange city to me (I grew up in the northern capital city of Taipei), it was super hot and humid with 13 hours of time difference (my body wants its sleep during the day and my perspiration system got a surprise tone-up) and working at kitchen without A/C all day long was just a torture physically. It took more than a session of intense pressure point body and foot massage that I persist in my pursuit of higher skill in Chinese cooking.
The facility and teaching staff at National Kao-hsiung Hospitality College is just first rate and their Chinese skill kitchen is absolutely WOK-HEAVEN. We blanched; deep fried, boiled, steamed, braised, stir fried and made dishes with names like Eight Treasures Buddha Jump over Wall, Imperial Court Aged Ginger Red Faced Duck and Sweet & Sour Black Sea Cucumber with Spicy Won Ton using big woks with fire shooting out of the gas stoves. There was even a fusion class for dishes like Fried tuna fish with sea weed wasabi roll garnished with wild yam salad and balsamic foam and Stuffed smoked
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Fish Roe Wrap
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salmon in tofu fritter dipped with tartar sauce. I forget how fresh and abundant the seafood people there get to enjoy daily as Taiwan is surrounded by Pacific Ocean.
I shed some tears just thinking about how much I have to pay for the same fish at Central Market after I got home. I cut my finge r while carving a young chicken with a cleaver and I poured buckets of sweat day in and day out. But during the 11 day workshop I learned not only fancy banquet dishes but also peeped into the secrets of local street vendor food. This trip gave me a wonderful opportunity to get reacquainted with my heritage and to renew my passion for the long tradition of wonderful Chinese food.
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Student Spotlight
Interview with Channon Loden, a culinary arts student of Collin
1. I heard that you have been living in many places before settled in Plano. Tell us about your journey.
I was raised in Arkansas where I met my husband who worked for Circuit City. After that, we started our journey to Oklahoma City in 1995, where he ran a store. We were in Oklahoma City for a year. In 1996 he then took a job with Lechmere and we moved to Woburn, MA. While we lived in Woburn, we had our first child Bailey. After Woburn, in August of 1997, we moved to Baton Rouge La., where my husband’s new job at CompUSA took us. After 9 months CompUSA moved us to Clear Lake, TX just outside of Houston. Then, after 8 months of living there, CompUSA moved us to Mandeville, LA. Then in 1999, he was promoted to a Regional Manager and we moved across the country to Chino Hills, CA, outside of Los Angeles. After 10 months in the LA area and 2 earth quakes, they moved us again this time to Plano, TX to make him a Regional Manager of Texas, but we were here for only 2 months and they moved us to Yew York City for 5 months. Then we moved back to Plano to have our next child in 2001. We stayed for 3 years. Then my husband took a job as VP of Golfsmith in Austin. In 2004 CompUSA called him back as their Vice President and this was our way back to Plano. So we moved again to another house in west Plano, waiting on our house to come available, since we have rented it out when we moved to Austin. We have stayed in this house for 4 years now. Our longest stay in one place since se got married. We hope to NEVER move again.
2. How did you find out about the culinary program at Collin?
I have always wanted to go to culinary school, and when my son was to start school I needed something to keep me busy. I saw a sign about the College and thought about seeing if there was a culinary program. I did some research online, and then made a trip to the college to see for myself.
3. Among all the classes you have taken is there any class standing out as your favorite so far?
I would have to say the international cuisine was my favorite class. I enjoyed Chef James and all the different foods from all the other countries. He seemed to know so much about those areas.
4. Tell us about your favorite restaurant and favorite meal.
Nick and Sam’s in Turtle Creek – I love to have their Chile Lean Sea Bass.
5. Do you think cooking for family and eating dinner together is a rare thing nowadays?
Not in my house. We all sit down together. I try to have a cooked meal every night. But there are a lot of homes, where they never sit together and eat. This is the time for us to discuss what has happened in the day with each other and come together as one.
6. What do you want to do with your degree in culinary arts?
My husband and I want to someday have a small New England type diner in theFrisco area. I like to have dinners at my house and I enjoy cooking for large groups, like my yearly Crawfish Boils of 150-200 people, which by the way will be our 10th annual Crawfish Boil next year.
7. What are your signature dishes that you are famous for?
Italian Meatball and Gravy (Spaghetti Sauce as most would say) and my Cheesecakes.
8. Name four dream guests for your dinner table.
The Lee Brothers, Paula Dean (for some good Southern humor), Avril Lavigne and Barbara Waters.
9. If you are not taking cooking classes what other things are you prefer doing?
I enjoy gardening very much, and getting my hands dirty. I also enjoy traveling to Europe or to far off places.
10.Tell us one thing that we do not know about you.
I have a degree --a BS in Construction Management and AS in Architecture, and I used to work for Construction Company for the government, where I managed a $1B operation.
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Calendar of Events
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November 7
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HCSA meeting
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November 8
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Gingerbread House Workshop ( 10 am to noon at AHS culinary kitchen)
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November 9
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Texas Chef Association Chili Confrontation, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Old Town Shopping Center at Lovers Lane and Greenville. Come and you be the judge
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November 14
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Gingerbread House Competition application due
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December 3
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Gingerbread House Competition entries delivered to PRC library
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December 4
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Gingerbread House Competition judging (7 p.m. )and Plated Dessert Pastry Showcase ( 7- 8 p.m. at PRC library)
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This newsletter will let you know about upcoming activities and programs in the Hospitality & Food Service Management department and the Hospitality and Culinary Student Association (HCSA). For a format other than text for this newsletter please copy the link bellow:
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Program Chair Hospitality & Foodservice Management
9700 Wade Blvd.
Frisco, TX 75035
972.377.1672
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If you are interested in submitting an article, a thought, any events you want to promote within the hospitality and food industry, or if you simply like seeing your name in print, don’t be shy, we would love to hear from you! For more information on any activity in this mail, please contact Karen at kbolanos@ccccd.edu For more information about CCCCD and its Hospitality & Food Service Management programs, please contact Karen Musa at kmusa@ccccd.edu or 972-377-1672 or visit the web site.
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Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desse...