Restaurant History & Culinary Icons

Here are study notes covering the restaurant origins and establishments, formatted in markdown bullet points:

• Cuisine involves finding roots, understanding the past, and moving forward with a greater understanding of ancestral culture in the collective psyche.
• Examining your comfort food is a good way to start understanding cuisine.

Module 2 Objectives

• Describe the ancestral roots of food selection and sharing practices.
• Describe the origins of early foodservice establishments.
• Explain the importance of the French system of cuisine and restaurant service standards.
• List and describe the various kinds and characteristics of restaurants.
• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of chef-owned restaurants.
• Identify several well-known celebrity chefs.

Historic Culinary Icons

• Modern European cuisine in North America can be traced back to figures like Pierre Francois La Varenne, Marie Antoine Carême, George Auguste Escoffier, Julia Child, Fernand Point, and Paul Bocuse.

Ancient Times

• Hippocrates: "Let food be medicine and medicine be food."
• Traditional Chinese Medicine connects elements Water, Wood, Fire, Metal, and Earth with generating/overcoming interactions.

Pierre Francois La Varenne (1618-1678 Summary)

• Was a great chef and culinary writer of the 17th century.
• Developed a style of cookery that broke with the Italian model of Catherine de Medici.
• Eliminated sweet aromas and gold leaf in cooking.
• Introduced the “roux” as a more refined thickener.
• Popularized the acid/salt flavor profile.
• Brought a sense of harmony to the gastronomical experience.
• Introduced “soup" in the modern sense.

The Sun King (1638–1715)

• Was known for his large appetite and "despicable" table manners.
• Held cooking and pastry arts in great esteem.
• Encouraged the birth of Grand Cuisine Patron of the Arts in France.

Change In France

• The French Revolution (1789–1815) led to the first restoratives (restaurants).
• A surplus of trained chefs resulted.
• The first restaurant as recognized today was established in 1765 by Boulanger.
• People had more money, as 50% of income wasn't taxed due to the revolution.
• The medieval guild system shifted, changing food control by guilds.
• Eating habits and new words to describe them developed.

Marie Antoine Carême (1783-1833)

• Considered the most famous chef of the 19th century French chefs.
• Born into a poor family.
• Studied architecture and pastry arts.
• Worked for Europe's powerful families.
• Brought cuisine from the Middle Ages into the Modern Era.
• Was considered a "Chef!".

Terminology

• Boulanger's first restaurant opened in Paris in 1765, serving restorative soup called a “restorer”, or restaurant.
• Restaurateur means owner of a restaurant.
• Menu comes from the French word for small.
• Gastronomy appeared in 1801 as a poem title referring to Greek "Gastronomica" by a Greek poet in 4th century BC.

George Auguste Escoffier (1846 – 1935)

• Was the father of modern cuisine.
• Considered the "king of all chefs" and "chef of kings".
• Simplified the elaborate cuisine created by Carême in the 18th century.
• Simplified classical cuisine and menus.
• Reorganized the kitchen by creating the brigade system.
• Popularized cooking as an art form and reputable profession.

Classical Brigade roles include:

• Chef: The person in charge of the kitchen, also referred to as the executive chef in large establishements.
• Chef de cuisine: Reports to the executive chef in operations with several kitchens and units.
• Sous chef: Second in command, controls production and staff supervision.
• Saucier: Responsible for sauces, stews, stocks, hot hors d'oeuvres, and sautéed items.
• Poissonier: Prepares fish dishes.
• Rôtisseur: Roasts and braises meats with gravies and makes broiled meats.
• Grillardin: Broils items, deep fries meats and fish in larger kitchens.
• Garde manger: Makes cold foods including salads, dressings, pâté, cold hors d'oeuvres, and buffet items.
• Pâtissier: Makes pastries and desserts.
• Tournant: Relief or swing cook.
• Expediter or aboyeur: Takes orders from waiters and passes them on to cooks.

Modern Kitchen Organization

• The way a kitchen is organized depends on several factors: the menu, type of establishment, the size of the operation and the physical facilities and equipment.

• Large establishments need a staff like the classical brigade.

• Modern operations are smaller, reducing the size of the classical brigade by combining positions as workload allows.

• A medium sized operation can have a chef, cook, broiler cook, pantry cook and maybe a few cooks.

• A working chef is in charge of operations when there isn't a need for an executive chef.

• Fernand Point (1897-1955): "The duty of a good cuisinier is to transmit to the next generation everything he has learned and experienced."

The 1960s

• Involved innovation food science and technology.

• Was the rise of 'fast food' and the experiment of 'nouvelle cuisine'.

• Julia Child (1912 – 2004): Was a famous American cook, author, and television personality who introduced haute French cuisine and cooking techniques to mainstream America through cookbooks and television programs.

Kinds and Characteristics of Restaurants

• Restaurant segments include Chain or independent (indy) and franchise.
• Restaurant segments also include Quick-service (QSR) and sandwich.
• Other segments: Fast/quick casual, Family, Casual, Fine dining, and Other.

Chain Restaurants

• Chain restaurants have some advantages and disadvantages over independent restaurants.
• Advantages of chains include recognition, advertising clout, systems development, and discounted purchasing.

Independent Restaurants

• Independent restaurants are relatively easy to open.
• Restaurateurs have the creative freedom to "do their own thing" and create a personal touch.
• Plenty of room in certain locations means greater potential to stand apart from the others.
• Independent restaurants can be bought out by larger companies.
• They can also acquire financing for expansion.

Franchised Restaurants

• Present fewer risks with restaurant formats tested in the marketplace.
• Less likely to go belly-up.
• Franchisors will need to know if a restaurant shares the company's values, mission, and ways of doing business.
• Franchisers look for success, motivation, money, ability to spend time on the franchise, and training.

Franchising Involves

• Building design.
• Marketing and menu plans.
• Using marketing proven concepts.
• Training.
• Receiving marketing and management support.
• Franchising fees, advertising/royalty fees, and setting requirements of personal net worth.

Franchisors

• Franchisors help with site selection and review.
• Franchisors assist with building preparation and design.
• Franchisors help with opening by training managers and staff.
• Franchisors implement pre-opening marketing strategies and conduct unit visits to provide operating advice.

Sandwich Shops

• Are simple to open and operate.
• Require little or no cooking.
• Offer hot and cold sandwiches, soups, and beverages.
• Need limited kitchen equipment.
• Jimmy John's, The Sandwich Shop in San Francisco, Subway are all sandwich shop examples.

Quick-Service Restaurants - (1870s Plate House)

• First known quick-service restaurant.
• Served quick lunches in about 10 minutes.
• The food is pre or partially cooked.
• The goal is to serve a maximum number of customers in a minimum amount of time.
• Food is usually paid for before service, and menus are limited.

Pop-Up Restaurants

• Appear only for a few days and charge up front.
• Challenges include ordering the right amount of food.
• The concept originated in London before spreading.
• Customers keep track through social media.

Food Trucks

• Are a step up from sidewalk food carts.
• Have led to an elevation of form, quality, variety, and numbers in the restaurant business.

Quick Casual Restaurants defining traits:

• Use high-quality ingredients.
• Make fresh-to-order menu items.
• Offer healthy options.
• Use limited or self-service formats.
• Create upscale décor.
• Offer carry-out meals.
• Includes bakery-cafés.

Family Restaurants characteristics:

• Grew out of coffee shop-style restaurants.
• Frequently located in easy reach of suburbs.
• A simple menu with service designed to appeal to families.
• Offer some wine and beer, but most do not offer alcoholic beverages.

Casual Restaurants characteristics:

• Fits societal trend of a relaxed lifestyle.
• Serve signature food items.
• Serve creative/enhanced bar menus or wine service.
• Have comfortable, homey décor.
• Applebee's, Outback, Chili's are a few examples.

Fine-Dining Restaurants characteristics:

• Are expensive and leisurely.
• Average checks are $60 or more.
• Have very low table turnover.
• Table turnover can be less than one evening.
• Primarily serves customers on special occasions and businesses.
• Restaurants are usually small with less then 100 seats, proprietor or partner usually owns them and rent can be high.

Hotel Restaurants

• Luxury hotels have well-trained, experienced chefs.
• Hotel restaurants have elegant décor
• Hotels often have a thee meal style restaurant open 24/7.
• Many outsource operations to hotel restaurants.

Steakhouses

• Have limited menus that cater to a market of steak eaters.
• Vary with regards to walk-up or high end service.
• Have high food costs, that can be as high as 50%.
• Have low labor costs, that can be as low as 12%.
• Majority of customers are men.

"Lore of Steak" - Steak Types include:.

• Delmonico, Sirloin, New York Strip, Tenderloin, Porterhouse, and T-bone.

Seafood Restaurants

• Were a staple food in Colonial American taverns.
• Restaurants may be operated independently.
• Red Lobster chains are the largest, with about $2.8 billion in annual sales.

Ethnic Restaurants characteristics:

• Menus are often built around a few inexpensive ingredients
• Are relatively affordable with low labor costs.
• Often colorful and exciting.

Italian restaurants characteristics:

• the Largest number of restaurants across North America that have been culturally influenced.
• Offer an array of opportunities
• Owe their origins largely to poor immigrants from southern Italy
• Offer an array of opportunities
• Chain operators are spreading the pasta concept (e.g., Olive Garden).

Asian restaurants characteristics:

• Comprise a small percentage of U.S. restaurants.
• Historically owned by hardworking, ethnic Chinese families
• Often revolve cooking around the wok.
• Divided into the Szechuan, Hunan, and Cantonese culinary districts with a northern style based in Beijing.

Theme Restaurants

• Emphasize fun and a unique environment.
• They can emphasize sports, travel, or eras in time.
• Comparatively have a very short lifecycle.
• They tend to do well outside of tourist attractions
• Profits tend to come from merchandise.

Theme Restaurant Categories (Martin M. Pegler)

• Categories include: travel, sports, Hollywood and movies, recordings, radio, time, and ecology.

Coffee Shops Characteristics

• Coffee shops started in Italy.
• Coffee shops added wide variety of beverages.
• Requirements include good location, appropriate permits, the right equipment, tables/chairs, and the right decor.

Centralized Home Delivery Restaurants

• Reduce the costs of order taking, food preparation and accounting.
• Home delivery centers can also verify customer credit card information.
• Can operate anywhere there is good Internet access.

Terminology

• Key terms from the text includes Bakery Café, Casual/Chain/Chef Owned/Ethnic/Family restaurant, Centralization Fine-dining/Independent/Quick casual restaurant, Quick-service restaurant, Steakhouse and/or Theme restaurant.

Explore the ancestral roots of food selection and sharing, tracing the origins of foodservice. Discover pioneers like La Varenne, Carême, Escoffier, Julia Child, Point uncovering the historical journey of restaurants and cuisine.