Chef’s Corner
This month, we welcome a special guest to the Chef’s Corner — Chef Michael Ponzio. Executive Chef at Union League Club of Chicago, Chef Ponzio learned to cook from his Italian grandmother. He went on to receive a formal education in culinary arts from Kendall College in Chicago. He and Eleonora recently caught up to discuss how operators can put their best foot forward with an enticing appetizer menu.
What inspires your approach to appetizers?
Chef Michael Ponzio:
For me, food is about getting to know the people I’m cooking it for. I love being able to connect with people like that. Seasons have a huge impact on what I do. The seasonality of food and the ingredients can help enhance experiences. That really drives the creativity of what I’m doing, but the reason I do it is being able to be a part of people’s experiences. Some of our best memories are formed around food. It gets me thinking, and gets my creative juices flowing.
Chef Eleonora Lahud:
It’s the first taste you have at the table. Having the perfect appetizer begins your journey of the whole meal, and opens the door of the beautiful meal that your customer is expecting.
Chef Michael Ponzio:
You’re right, the appetizer determines the pace of the rest of the meal. I always say the first and the last course are most important. The first course sets the standard of what’s to come, and the last course can save the day.
And honestly, from a business perspective, if I could sell a $12 appetizer to a table, that's an extra $12 that the business is going to get, it's extra tip revenue for the server. It's extra for everybody. Everybody wins and the customer gets an extra experience.
What is trending right now in appetizers?
Chef Michael Ponzio:
Barbecue is becoming stronger and stronger. People want to see items that have a little kiss of smoke to it. Rethinking classics is certainly trending. I recently made a deviled egg appetizer bruleed with sugar and it was cool, fun, and different. People loved it because it was an old classic they might have had growing up, but we took a twist on it with texture and the flavors inside.
Chef Eleonora Lahud:
We also see trends with tapas. People want to go out and not put all of their eggs in one basket – they want to try several dishes. And I love what you did with deviled eggs. To see a little twist on a classic, it's always welcomed.
Chef Michael Ponzio:
It's a lot of fun. I love taking classics and just re-imagining them a little bit or giving little unexpected surprises in texture. Just so there's little surprises to enhance the experience and make people have a little more fun with their food. You know, we are always told don't play with your food, but I think play with it like crazy.
What role do sugars and sweeteners play in creating delicious appetizers?
Chef Eleonora Lahud:
Sugar is a staple, and often we can use those staples in our kitchens and make it the star ingredient.
In our test kitchens, when we do savory, we’re always so impressed with how much flavor you can bring out with light or dark brown sugar. Bacon for example, is amazing to pair with ingredients like sugar.
Chef Michael Ponzio:
Now more than ever, people are looking at the ingredients we’re using down to the type of sugar, flour, or salt. You can also add different types of sweetness, adding layers to vegetables that are already sweet. It's great to add that little enhanced sweetness element. The other day, I made a brown sugar candied butternut squash with whipped ricotta. And it was delicious. It just added a whole other element to an already sweet vegetable - a whole other layer of a different type of sweetness. And it gave incredible balance to the dish.
And you brought up bacon. That's a great thing to bring up because when we cure our bacon, we use brown sugar for the cure. And most bacon is made with a sugar. Traditionally it's brown sugar. When we do our cured salmon, we're curing it with cane sugar and salt. And I think now more than ever, people are looking at the ingredients we're using from the type of flour we use to the type of sugar we use to what grain of salt we're using. People are looking at all different kinds of things because we have so much more information now.
Are there any cuisines that are trending specifically in appetizers?
Chef Eleonora Lahud:
Well, I do see a lot of globally inspired dishes. People want to have Asian or Mexican, Latin, Peruvian food. It's a big influence right now. They have great restaurants, great chefs. So I want to say that globally-inspired dishes are up and coming. I see that a lot. How about you Chef?
Chef Michael Ponzio:
Honestly, I'm seeing appetizers from everyone because I think everyone realizes that you can at least get some sort of a sale or an enhanced sale. So Italian restaurants are expanding their appetizer section. They're doing a lot more small plates in appetizer offerings. You see it in barbecue places too, where all of a sudden, now they have brisket bites where it's the ends of the brisket they're not using. They bread them, fry them, and serve them with a brown sugar sauce. Places all over are trying to be smarter about how they cook and trying to get every opportunity for revenue that they possibly can. So appetizers have blown up more now than I think I've ever seen them.
Chef Eleonora Lahud:
And you know, I also see that people are now excited about not only Italian food, but the region. As you know, you go from one place to another, and it's a completely different cuisine. So people get excited about getting Italian food from different regions of Italy and get a completely different dish from one region to another. Or trying Mexican food as well from one region to another. Even within the United States there is an array of dishes depending on the region that you're visiting.
Chef Michael Ponzio:
You’re absolutely right. In Italy, going from one house to another, the Bolognese sauce was completely different. And if you literally go one town over, you're seeing something completely different. And Mexico, I think has become the biggest example of this because people are now getting educated on Mexican food, which is truly amazing to experience the different regions. People are bringing out more flavors and highlighting the region versus just classifying it as Mexican.
