It’s no secret that consumers crave comfort during times of stress. Yet when that stress is largely economic, they want more for their money than the same old Fannie Farmer choices. In-the-know restaurateurs are capitalizing on the dueling desires by providing familiar favorites with head-turning twists. Witness this season’s crop of strawberry desserts.
The new choices hitting menus this berry season include plenty of perennial hits, like shortcakes, tarts, pies and frozen treats. “People aren’t coming to restaurants to be culinarily challenged by the sea-urchin rock-star chef thing right now,” says Phil Roberts, founder of the Edina, Minn.-based multi-concept operator Parasole Restaurant Holdings. “Customers are craving approachable, familiar, comforting food in the form of desserts that have a retro feel.”
But for Parasole and many other operators, comfort is only the first layer of the new desserts. Overlaid is any number of trendlets, starting with the berries themselves. They’re being showcased in the new preparations as a fresh ingredient, often identified as coming from local sources.
“Those are the items that are selling right now,” says Maureen Ryan, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association.
“Our research has found that customers want to eat items that are in season,” she continues. “Marrying the customer’s desire to eat local foods with comforting desserts like gelato and sorbet, or offering combos and platters of bite-size options with the emphasis on a seasonal ingredient like strawberries, is huge right now.”
Roberts points to some of the items about to be added to the menus of Parasole’s various concepts. Figlio, described by the local Zagat guide as an “eclectic” and “iconic” bistro, will serve fresh strawberries with 25-year-old balsamic vinegar. Pittsburgh Blue, a steakhouse inspired by blue-collar steak fans, will offer a strawberry flight of mini desserts – strawberry ice cream, a strawberry tart and a bunch of wild strawberries. Manny’s Steakhouse, a more traditional steakhouse, will dish out a special chocolate brownie plate brimming with fresh strawberries. And The Good Earth, an all-natural-food place, is planning to feature lemon ice box cake garnished with fresh lemon curd and organic strawberries.
The company’s intent, he says, is “to go in with both barrels loaded – put some marketing muscle behind the new desserts and make sure the customer feels like it’s comforting, an affordable indulgence and familiar, but novel.”
It’s the same idea behind one of the offering this spring at the new Divine Desserts shop in Laguna Niguel, Calif.: A fresh-strawberry cupcake of strawberry cake with strawberry butter-cream frosting.
The Coco’s family restaurant chain is showcasing a whole menu of strawberry desserts that lean toward the comfort side of the spectrum, though with some twists. Included, for instance, is a Black Bottom Strawberry Banana Cream Pie, which includes a layer of chocolate ganache atop the chocolate-cookie crust. Also listed specifically as a dessert is a hand-scooped milkshake blended with fresh strawberries.
IHOP, a competitor, is also touting new strawberry selections this spring, including a Sweet Strawberry Pancakes dish that can serve as an after-meal treat. Two buttermilk pancakes are topped with glazed berries and cream-cheese icing.
Higher up the pricing spectrum, Bayona, the New Orleans outlet of celebrated chef Susan Spicer, features a strawberry turnover with lemon ice cream.
The Chaise Lounge in Chicago features a local-strawberry parfait, accompanied by vanilla gelato and pistachio brittle.
The preparations don’t have to be elaborate, says Kay Logsdon of foodchannel.com, a consumer website for food enthusiasts. “Ice cream is huge right now – building a different kind of strawberry sundae with a walnut topping would go over really well,” she says.
Concludes Logsdon: “Bottom line: customers are looking to get more bang for their buck, so make them feel like the desserts you’re offering them have been tailored to meet their desires.”