 That was a heck of a seminar—Hey, Bar Chef, please pour me another! The first decade of the 21st Century has seen dining at Conference Centers become as gourmet as the finest hotels and restaurants. Benchmark Hospitality International, a venue management company specializing in Conference Centers has released its annual five top dining trends. Both an observation of what is being served and a forecast of what will be served at Conference Centers, this year’s "Five Top" includes a supplementary Five Top Cocktail Trends (yes, Bar Chef is the new name for the artists formerly known as Bartender). The overall trend is that in the Food & Beverage Department at Conference Centers, quality, freshness and a return to basics are top of the menus. For more details, read on:
In what has become an annual tradition, Benchmark Hospitality International, a leading management company of Conference Centers, resorts, hotels and restaurants has released its Five Top Dining Trends for 2009. The trends were observed by its properties were announced by Robert Zappatelli, Vice President of Food & Beverage, Benchmark, who put the together the list with is team of 20 culinary professionals. 
"Fresh and locally produced ingredients, intense rich flavors, and, thankfully, the demise of super-sizing is where America’s chefs are trending this year," summed up Zappatelli. "But we still love our comfort food. And the real surprise this year is offal – making a huge comeback after being out of favor for way too long."
Five Top Dining Trends for 2009
- It doesn’t Get Any Fresher Than Farm-to-Table: Even if a Conference Center doesn’t maintain a kitchen
 garden or is located on (or near) a farm, chances are there is a farmer’s market close by and more and more food & beverage operations are contracting with local food producers. Organically grown produce pulled fresh from the earth that morning, farm-fresh eggs collected before breakfast, and locally produced, hormone-free meats are what consumers and meeting attendees will be eating (and wanting to eat) in 2009. It’s about freshness and health and the taste of the region, with locally accented and controlled high quality food items, harvested at prime maturity when food is most flavorful, robust, colorful and elegantly textured.
- Sliders, the 21st Century Comfort Food: Many came to know "sliders" through trips to places like White Castle—In 1994 White Castle was granted a U.S. trademark on the term "slyders" which was a common nickname for its hamburgers. While other restaurants have dropped the "y" for the "i" to avoid litigation, the concept of soft and doughy petit
 rolls filled with a variety of flavorful ingredients that melted in the mouth is a Conference Center eatery trend. According to Zappatelli , slider "tastings" have become popular at the Latin-infused Oriente, at Costa d’Este Beach Resort in Vero Beach. Some of the most tantalizing morsels include a mini tuna burger, Kobe beef burger and lamb masala, presented on breads from brioche to semolina or the great breads of Cuba. The smash hit: Palomilla Slider -- a classic featuring thin pounded steak grilled and served with seared onion and crispy potato on petit fresh rolls. This small portioned comfort food concept has become popular at other Benchmark properties as well.
- Offal-the Food of the Gods: How’s the spleen tonight? Considered by some to be decadent—Offal—is hot.
 The more elegant British have coined them "variety meats," and are sometimes known as sweat breads are being seen specialty entrees as well as important seasonings. However, these may not be your Grandfather’s Offal. Zappatelli points out that popular dishes include the classic calves liver and onions, but with a touch of Marsala and pancetta; veal sweetbreads presented as an entrée with fresh tomato, thyme and porcini mushrooms; tender tripe with baby white potatoes and chippolini onions; consommé with liver dumplings, and ox tails classically prepared with root vegetables and red wine. Why a return to Offals? Bold flavors are sizzling hot right now, as is the willingness to experiment. Offals are both entrées and seasoning. Offal is a flavor-packed ingredient for sauces, stuffing, forcemeats, and savory marmalade. So livers from poultry can accentuate a reduction for squab or duck, and Foie Gras will elegantly and flavorfully round out a fish sauce, fowl or meat dish. European chefs have known this since Auguste Escoffier, "The Chef of Kings and The King of Chefs," and American Chefs are just discovering that offal, when applied to a dish correctly, creates the "Food of the Gods."
- Good Riddance to Super-sized American Portions: You will no longer be super-sized at Conference
 Centers. Fresh vegetables, many more in-season fruits, indigenous dishes, and a much-reduced center meat selection are in demand. Flavor is not to be scrimped on, but diners and meeting attendees are looking for a healthy and balanced variety packed with natural flavor, rich in-season colors, and meat portions that are by no means nouvelle cuisine. They want portions that will not require a visit to the tailor. "Chefs will tempt with intense flavor, garden freshness, rich texture, local favorites and tremendous variety – all of which will likely render 24 oz Porterhouses obsolete!" said Zappatelli . "Hearts and arteries across the country will give thanks."
- Footprints on Mother Earth: The Green Meetings movement will increasingly dovetail with the farm-to-table movement. Food grown and consumed locally doesn’t require massive fleets of refrigerated trucks for transport, doesn’t need to sit in large temperature-controlled warehouses, doesn’t require shots of coloring to make it look fresher … because it is fresh! Farm-to-table organically grown cuisine consumed locally reduces green house gas emissions and minimizes shipping requirements, helping to stabilize the earth’s environment by starting in
 our own "back yard."
Five Top Cocktail Trends for 2009:
- Bar Chefs: Anyone who can mix together ingredients, pour these into a glass and say, 'there's your drink' might call themselves bartender. But bars, lounges and restaurants at hotels and Conference Centers are appointing a 'bar chef.' Bar Chefs utilize all that is them bringing these components into a perfectly balanced concoction. The work jointly with the culinary team using ingredients such as fresh mint sprigs; lemongrass, for a 'sour’ substitution in recipes; raw sugar cane for simple syrup; fresh herbs like basil and cilantro; and fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, and seasonal / regional selections -- macerating these in preparation for the perfect drink.
- Nature in a Glass: Freshness is not just for the main course. Fresh fruit and vegetables that can be 'muddled' for the perfect drink, organic teas, rose water, natural and sparkling waters from pure sources around the globe, and even bamboo skewers, which recycle themselves. Instead of topping off a cocktail with tonic or soda water from the bar gun the Bar Chef will add a splash of natural sparkling water from a bottle for the right amount of effervescence, without the added sodium.
- Old-School Drinks with a New Twist: Old-School drinks are making a come back, and bar staffs are hitting
 their little black books for the recipes! Product knowledge is a key tool for today's and tomorrow's bartender. Knowing what is in a 'Sidecar,' for example, is just as important as knowing what other ingredients may be substituted to bring this classic drink to a new level for customers in 2009 and beyond.
- Globally Infused Spirits: Remember the days when bars displayed large obtrusive glass containers that had unsightly fruit or other secret ingredients "infusing" into the spirits? Today there are select distilleries at home and abroad that have mastered the techniques of infusing or 'complementing' their branded spirits, and these infusions are being warmly embraced globally. Why … because properly infused flavor is pure, rich, fresh, and the ideal complement to many of today’s
 cocktails!
- Secrets of the Forgotten Liqueurs & Cordials: What are those 'other liqueurs hiding behind the front wall of spirits at the bar? These forgotten liqueurs or cordials are some of the best ingredients to enhance a specialty cocktail: Drambuie, Benedictine, Galliano, Pernod, Sambuca, Licor 43, Chartreuse, Grand Marnier and Amaretto—just to name a few. The latest was only made available in the U.S. in 2007, Absinthe, a highly intoxicating potable made famous by Arthur Rimbaud and Oscar Wilde. However, "Bar Chefs" are making the Absinthe available in a variety of cocktails. The 2009 bar staff must know not only the names of these items, but more importantly the flavor and aroma of each as these can be superb complements to spirits. Just like a fine chef places ingredients together on a plate to create the perfect balance of taste, Bar Chefs must know how to balance flavors in a glass.
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