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World Tea Expo 2018 is Almost Here!Enter the code TEDUC6 for $150 off the Full Conference Pass.

Register today at worldteaexpo.com/register!

Advancing the Business of Tea

Pre-Conference June 10-11, 2018 • Conference & Expo June 12-14, 2018Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall • worldteaexpo.com

World Tea Expo is the largest tradeshow and conference in North America focused entirely onthe tea industry including specialty teas, tea ware and tea accessories. Join us to blend fresh ideas, discover the latest trends and new distribution channels throughout three days of focused buying, selling and education.

May 2018 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 3www.socalfnbpro.com

May 2018

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WELCOME BACK TO THE SOCAL FOOD & BEVERAGE PROFESSIONAL FOR MAY, 2018 where with the coming of spring comes more F&B conventions, expos, shows and events throughout Southern California. To check out what’s coming up in your region, go to our Calendar of Events page and check out the local food & beverage scene.

OUR MAY COVER FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS THE WORLD TEA EXPO coming up in June and covering everything tea, and what a world of teas they will be sampling! This is a not-to-miss conference with seminars and a trade show. If you are in the tea business, own a restaurant or coffee shop, or just love tea, you need to attend. FYI…Tea is now being used as a spice for cooking and in mixology.

This month The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional is delighted to welcome and introduce professional journalists joining us to bring our readers the latest news, systems and methods in helping to improve their businesses.

PAGE 10 We again welcome David Scott Peters, ‘The Restaurant Expert,’ whose column this month introduces “Running a Successful Restaurant Is a Numbers Game” and how to use this information to make your business successful or show you why it’s not! Thank you, David, for contributing your professional experience.

PAGE 11 We welcome Arielle Kimbarovsky, who is with crowdspring–one of the world’s leading marketplaces for crowdsourced logo design, web design, graphic design, product design and company naming services. This month Arielle brings us “6 Effective Tips for Food Packaging.” Welcome on board, Arielle. We look forward to your columns.

PAGE 13 We are indeed very proud to share information about our very own Beverage Editor and columnist Adam Rains winning the regional semifinals of the annual Star of the Bar mixology competition. We look forward to cheering Adam on as he moves on to compete for the national title in Chicago later this month at the National Restaurant Association Show. See you in Chicago?

CHEERS! MIKE FRYER SR. EDITOR/PUBLISHER

CONTENTS AND COMMENTSFROM THE PUBLISHER

MIKE FRYER

Cover

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11

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Page 4Hot off the Grill!

Page 5The Bottom LineWhen to Go into the Delivery Business

Page 6 What’s Brewing

Page 8Made from ScratchFromagerie Sophie: A Little French Bubble in San Luis Obispo

Page 10The Restaurant ExpertRunning a Successful Restaurant Is a Numbers Game

Page 116 Effective Tips for Food Packaging

Page122018 Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show Convenes in Las Vegas

Page13Adam Rains of Flock and Fowl Wins “Star of the Bar” Regional Competition

Page14Foodie Biz

Page 16COVER FEATUREWorld Tea Expo 2018 Serves up a Tea-learning Opportunity for F&B Professionals

Page18Chef TalkFoods That Help Improve Your HealthPart III

Page19A Great Excuse for a Quick Trip to Vegas...Bellagio Unveils Michael Mina 2.0

Page 20Twinkle ToastThe Best Wines for Your Waistline

Page 21Product Review

Page 24Human Resources InsightsThe Power of Positive Thinking

Page 27Wine Talk with Alice SwiftMixed Reality: The Next Generation of Wine Labels

Page 28Brett’s Vegas View

Page 29COOK•EAT: Asia Asian Food Business

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Events

Ad Index

ACF Chefs of SoCal

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4 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I May 2018 www.socalfnbpro.com

May 2018

The Socal Food & Beverage Professional7442 Grizzly Giant Street

Las Vegas, NV 89139www.socalfnbpro.com

The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional

@socalfnbpro

CONTRIBUTING STAFF

Advertising [email protected] [email protected]

Article Submissions/Suggestions [email protected] Relase Submissions [email protected]

Calendar Submissions [email protected] Information [email protected]

Juanita AielloCreative [email protected]

Bob BarnesEditorial [email protected]

Adam RainsBeverage [email protected]

Mike Fryer Sr. Editor/Publisher

Thank you for joining us in this issue of The Las Vegas Food & Beverage Professional.

For any questions or comments please email [email protected]

Juanita FryerAssistant To Sr. EditorACF Chefs Liasion/[email protected]

Ben Brown Restaurant [email protected]

HOT OFF THE GRILL! Elixir G, the ginger syrup best known as a top shelf cocktail mix, has expanded to two new flavors. Restaurant Editor Ben Brown divulges the brand’s newest additions that come closer to filling out the alphabet. Check out more in Ben’s column, Foodie Biz.

The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional recently covered the Specialty Coffee Association’s Coffee Fest in Seattle. Here, SoCal F&B’s Juanita Fryer and Sr. Editor/Publisher Mike Fryer take a break at exhibitor Kalsada’s presentation covering Philippine coffee now available in the US.

Philippe Sereys de Rothschild was recently hosted by Larry Ruvo at the Keep Memory Alive Event Center. The Mouton Cadet brand is being relaunched in several cities in the US, including Las Vegas.

This proved to be great news for Sr. Editor/Publisher Mike Fryer, who is a big fan of Mouton Cadet.

Legal Editorial AdvisorAndrew Matney

Journalist What’s BrewingDavid Mulvihill

Accounting ManagerMichelle San Juan

Journalist Brett’s Vegas View

Jackie Brett Journalist

Best of the BestShelley Stepanek

JournalistsBroads of Bourbon

Mary Powers & Delilah Tennyson

Journalist Good for SpooningLeAnne Notabartolo

Journalist COOK•EAT: Asia

K. Mike Masuyama Ph.D.

PhotographerAudrey Dempsey

Journalist Chef Talk

Allen Asch

JournalistPat Evans

Journalist The Restaurant Expert

David Scott Peters

Journalist Wine Talk

Alice Swift

JournalistThe Bottom Line

Ben Brown

Journalists Twinkle Toast

Erin Cooper & Christine Vanover

Journalist Lisa Matney

Journalist HR Insights

Linda Bernstein

Journalist Made from Scratch

John Rockwell


By Ben Brown

Benjamin Brown, MBA is Restaurant Editor of The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional. A seasoned

writer and consultant, Ben works with Fortune 500 companies and mom & pop shops alike in Marketing,

Analytics, Consumer Insights, PR and Business Development. Contact Ben at [email protected] or follow

him @Foodie_Biz.

The Bottom LineWhen to Go into the Delivery Business

The delivery business is booming. GrubHub, UberEats, DoorDash and countless others that venture beyond compound words have taken a dining segment ruled by pizza and expanded it to every cuisine under the sun. On the surface, delivery is an excellent opportunity that allows restaurants to sell to guests who may not have visited them in person. Add in the fact that drivers are on-demand contractors and require no additional head count and you’ve got a pretty good deal.Delivery still isn’t for everyone, however. A number of factors exist that restaurant owners should consider before going into the delivery business. Brand AlignmentWhile delivery has undoubtedly gotten trendier, it still carries a stigma that can drag down the overall image of a restaurant. While delivery aligns perfectly with most any casual restaurant, the area gets grayer as the average check rises. Steakhouse patrons may question the quality of the food at their table if they see that the restaurant also delivers. While this example is a bit extreme, it’s up to you to assess where your restaurant sits on the premium spectrum and whether delivery is a fit.On the other end, if you have a high-volume restaurant known for a line out the door, and that line is actually part of ‘the experience,’ delivery may hurt that element, not to mention burden your staff with additional orders and slow the line to a dangerous extent.Food QualityFood quality is always at risk in a delivery setting. The longer the delivery, the longer the food sits. Temperatures cool, sheen fades and your food can go from beautiful to unappetizing before the guest can even get a chance to look at it. In most cases, presentation can never match what you’d prepare onsite, especially when you’re at the mercy of speed bumps, sharp turns and other elements that will shake around whatever’s in the back seat. If you’re comfortable with leaving your food on the counter for a while before a server can pick it up, delivery could be a viable option. If you tolerate nothing less than dishes going out the moment they’re ready, you may not want your food sitting in the back of a car for however long it takes to get to your guests.

CommissionFood delivery services can be very expensive, with commissions as high as 30–40% in some cases. This, no doubt, eats significantly into your bottom line. It’s critical to assess whether food delivery will actually be profitable to the point where it’s worth your time. Determine the minimum amount needed to justify your costs, factoring in any holdups that take place for your dine-in patrons since your kitchen staff will be taking on more orders. If these thresholds are met, then any delivery orders that take place will deliver positive returns. CannibalizationIf you decide to go the delivery route, keep tabs on your revenues and average checks of dine-in vs. delivery business. If you see dine-in revenue slip dramatically, it could be that your dine-in guests simply switched over to delivery. Taking commission into account, this move is not beneficial for your business. To remedy this situation, experiment with different minimum check requirements for delivery as well as dine-in promotions and events in order to distinguish your restaurant experience while retaining delivery as an additional revenue stream rather than a substitute revenue stream. Time CommitmentMost delivery services have streamlined processes that allow owners and staff to manage deliveries swiftly and efficiently. Even so, take note of the time it actually takes you to manage your deliveries and whether that’s affecting you or your staff’s ability to manage in-store operations. Pressure on cooking staff is an ever-present factor, as is management needing to handle incoming delivery requests alongside pressing guest issues and handling the inevitable broken dish on the dining room floor. This assessment will likely be less analytical, but take time to consider whether your delivery business is truly manageable or more burdensome than it seems.If you decide to go into delivery, monitor these factors on a regular basis. By taking a holistic look at how delivery is affecting you financially and operationally, you will be able to make beneficial, proactive decisions as needed to manage this revenue stream.


Firkfest 2018 once again took on the nontraditional cask theme that was so successful last year. Firkfest–Anaheim’s Tiki Beer Festival included a multitude of tropical-inspired cask conditioned ales accompanied by a few traditional British-style real-ales. The formulation details that follow will likely illustrate that most beers creatively exceeded the limits of style and variety of ingredients ending up in the finished product.Perhaps the most colorful of the tropical-themed firkins came from Anaheim’s Bottle Logic. Its Blue Hawaiian Tart Wheat possessed a vibrant aquamarine color, tart and tropical with notes of pineapple and coconut. In addition to his cask IPA with pineapple, The Good Beer Company’s owner/brewer Brandon Fender was also serving a beer cocktail. Laboratory met tiki as he crafted a labor intensive cocktail in an Ehrlinmeyer flask using the aforementioned IPA, pina, honey and grenadine. It was fittingly adorned with lime wedge, straw and umbrella. Costa Mesa’s Gunwhale Ales dispensed its Hurricane War Bonnet, an 8.5% ABV raspberry and hibiscus-laced Saison-style ale formulated with

orange, lime, pomegranate, passion fruit and rum-soaked oak chips. San Clemente’s Left Coast Brewing similarly included rum-soaked oak chips in its construction of Blonde Marvel, a 4.5% ABV ale with lime and grapefruit zest added to the mix. Also on the rum-soaked oak chips team was nearby Unsung Brewing’s Amber, also finished with caramelized pineapple. The rum was Caña Brava, in a beer that was collaboratively brewed with The Blind Pig in OC’s Rancho Santa Margarita. Unsung’s second offering was a plum sour with organic papaya.Noble Ale Works billed its Skittlebrau as 100% more tropical. This tiki-tart beer was casked with floating Skittles in the mix. The tiki offering from Placentia’s Stereo Brewing was at first scary in name and description, but a combination that actually worked well in the glass. Stereo Scottish Ale was the base for this beer, which was blended with coconut cream, blood oranges and pineapple.Anaheim’s Bruery Terreux, honored host and Firkfest founder Greg Nagel with its Frucht: Nagel, a Berliner-weisse-style tart-wheat aged in an oak foeder with guava and mango, intense in flavor, but quaffable at 4.4% ABV.

By David Mulvihill

David Mulvihill strives to experience and write about the

ever-evolving face of SoCal craft beer. He also covers Orange County for Celebrator Beer News as well as

Southern California for Southwest Brewing News. Contact him at

[email protected].

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Los Angeles Ale Works and Bruery Terreux/Offshoot Beer were also fitting the bill at Firkfest 2018.

Definitely Not your Grandfather’s Firkin


And, along the non-fruity spectrum of beers, San Clemente’s Lost Winds Brewing checked in with San O Stout with toasted coconut in its formulation. Firkfest out-of-towners included Hawthorne’s Los Angeles Ale Works and Burbank’s Verdugo West. Los Angeles Ale Works brought a couple of intriguing and hearty (alcohol-wise) formulations. Star Kitten Fruit Salad combined calamansi, guava, cherries and kumquats. Calamansi looks much like a lime, but is apparently a member of the genus citrus and kumquat, an inter-genetic hybrid between

the two fruits. It finished at 8.7% ABV. L.A.’s Blockchain Mango Milkshake IPA, with pineapple puree and coconut, topped the ABV ranks at almost 10%.Verdugo West’s tropical version of its Trustworthy IPA combined coconut, orange, vanilla and hibiscus.Three other out-of-county breweries brought actual versions of traditional real ale.One can always count on the brewing team of Andy Black and Sam Croft to provide true representations of cask conditioned real ale. Representing their Yorkshire Square Brewery

in Torrance was Dumpster Fire, a 3.6% ABV pub bitter and Git Rekt M8, a dark mild at a respectable 4.0% ABV.While pushing traditional ABVs a bit, Murrieta’s Inland Wharf Brewing Co’s Admiral Nimitz ESB-1 (6.3% ABV) and Stormy Sky (5.7% ABV porter) were agreeable representations.MacLeod Brewing (Van Nuys) brought five beers. Two on the lower end of the ABV scale were The Little Spree, a 4.7% version of a Yorkshire-style pale and Good Ol Geoff, 3.9% British-style mild ale.

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The Good Beer Company’s Brandon Fender crafting a tropical beer cocktail at Firkfest 2018.

Gunwhale, Towne Park and Lost Winds were representing at this year’s Firkfest 2018.

(l-r) Smog City’s Jonathan Porter, Yorkshire Square’s Andy Black and Craftsman Brewing’s Mark Jilg.

New Breweries on the HorizonBrewery XA new brewery is about to break ground in Anaheim. With Conditional Use Permit now in hand, Brewery X will soon make its home in the huge 76,000-square-foot building at 3191 E La Palma Ave, near the intersection at Kraemer, just north of the 91 Freeway. The property was previously occupied by Parker-Hannifin (and Boeing before that). Former Pizza Port San Clemente head brewer Trevor Walls has been enlisted to oversee a new 4-vessel 15-barrel brewing system, custom designed to fit the unique interactive Brewery X taproom experience the team has planned. Look for lagering tanks to also be in the mix. In addition to a substantial tasting room, the sizeable space will provide plenty of room to grow and allow for a multifaceted experience that will likely include outdoor patio (with lake and mountain views) and a sprawling event space for live music. Gamecraft BrewingAlso making progress is Gamecraft Brewing. Gamecraft’s building permit has been approved by the City of Laguna Hills and founder Scott Cebula is now aiming for an August, 2018 opening. Andrew Moy, formerly of Huntington Beach RIIP Beer Co, has been recruited as head brewer for Gamecraft. The plan is for brewing of lagers and ales on a 15-barrel steam-powered brewhouse. Gamecraft will also have a kitchen to accommodate its tasting room, patio and event space. 23301 Avenida De La Carlota, Laguna Hills.


This is what is written on a sign hung on the back of the prep area door at Fromagerie Sophie in charming downtown San Luis Obispo:“Cheese, Cheese, Meat, Cheese…Every customer is to receive:

1. A taste of a cheese2. A taste of another cheese3. A taste of a meat4. A taste of another cheese”

Whether you’re a professed turophile, or if you’re just curious about fine cheese, visiting a fine cheese shop should be an easy, rewarding experience. Think about it: In a great cheese shop you’re in the midst of some of the most interesting living culinary treasures ever cultivated by human hands, of which many items therein have rich histories going back not decades, but millennia. Cheese shop owners who get it right should provide a friendly, comfortable, easygoing and interactive tasting experience from the moment you are greeted at the door to the time you walk out with 1/4-lb chunks (or more) of treasures individually tailored to your palate or to what you imagine your friends, family or dinner guests will like.Visiting Fromagerie Sophie in this cozy college town hits all the notes of a great cheese shop: It may have display cases filled with around 100 styles of hard-to-find cheese and salumi, but the friendly and attentive staff makes the experience anything but intimidating. Like all great cheese shops, you will be invited into a conversation which will revolve around your favorite cheeses

and flavors and of course, no conversation about cheese is complete without paste samples. In your conversation with a cheesemonger, you calibrate to one another’s flavor language so the perfect recommendations can be made.In early April, I had a chance to speak with Paul Doering, who opened the shop in 2013 with his wife Sophie. “As you can see, we’re a European-inspired cheese shop,” says Paul. “This was Sophie’s big dream, and so it kind of happened.” My own daughter, who has visited Paris, later described the shop housed in an historic building, adorned with antique furniture for product displays, and a tree-shaded back patio reminiscent of a French cafe as “a little French bubble” in the midst of the city.According to Doering, “Sophie’s passion is finding cheeses you won’t find just anywhere.” As I scanned the cases, I found this to be an accurate assessment of the shop’s offerings. The dry goods—jams, jellies, dried fruit, chocolates, rare vinegars, cookbooks and escargot—are housed in antique furniture collected by the owners. The display cases are neatly organized with soft cheeses as you walk in—Bries and washed-rind, with blues to the bottom—and the cases down the length of the narrow shop have the semi-firm Comtes, Alpine, Manchego and mixed-milk cheeses, and finally the cheddars. Just to be clear, we’re not talking about the grocery-store versions of this “common” style—we’re talking aged, funky, bandage-wrapped cheddars, both foreign and domestic.“We like cheeses that are so extraordinary—if

they’ve been making it for hundreds of years, it’d probably be pretty good, popular generation after generation,” says Doering. His personal favorites are the Alpines, which are the aged and firm counterparts to my own favorites, the washed-rind soft cheeses. I commented on the ever-popular Austrian Alpine “Alpine Blossom,” a gruyere-based style aged with mountain flower buds which impart a floral-spice to the typically leek-flavored paste upon aging. Doering affirmed my love for this cheese and commented on its natural beauty: “It even looks good after the blossoms fade. It starts to look like one of those lithograph ads from the 20s or 30s, it loses some color, but it’s still pretty wonderful.”Doering seems in awe at the ability of a quality cheese to surprise customers and change their notions about a style. If you stand around in a cheese shop long enough, you know that new customers gravitate toward cheddar because it’s so well-known. But the orange bricks at the local supermarket are not the best representations of the style. Pointing toward the cheddars in the case, Doering says, “These cheddars are fun because original cheddar can have a horseradishy-finish, and since horseradish is popular, a lot of people want to try this.” Alluding to the heat and strong flavor, Doering adds: “I warn them: ‘Do you really like horseradish?’” Slowly customers learn that this cheddar is different. “I love how these cheddars have these nice big ‘flaws’ right on the outside—we call them bonus blues,” says

John Rockwell is a native Southern Californian and career English teacher working in the Riverside area.

In his spare time, he rides his bicycle to breweries, restaurants, and cheese shops, and is always looking for

culinary delights within riding distance of the vast network of SoCal bicycle trails.

He is an ardent fan of the waiver theater culture in Los Angeles. He is new to cheesemaking, but has

been a homebrewer for over twenty years.

By John Rockwellph

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Made from SCRATCHFromagerie Sophie: A Little French Bubble in San Luis Obispo

Fromagerie Sophie is located in the historic downtown of San Luis Obispo. This shop has a wide variety of international cheese and catering services.


Doering. Like all great cheesemongers, Doering knows about his producers. Fiscalini Cheese, located in Modesto, California, produces a bandage-wrapped cheddar that has earned some widespread acclaim in recent years. “What I like about what he’s doing is that he’s using organic milk and not pasteurizing it, which means his herdsmanship is top quality, and he’s going to be able to make a really good product from there,” says Doering.I spied a round of soft washed-rind cheese from one of my favorite producers: Andante in Petaluma, California. We get limited runs of her cheese in Southern California, and I had no idea she produced a washed-rind cheese called “Rolling Oats” (I walked out of the shop that day with a round of it!). “The washed rind is always so fun,” says Doering. “It’s a little bit stinky and then you expect that to play with the flavor a little bit and it never does as much as you think it would.”Doering is also proud of the salumi offerings at his shop. If you want charcuterie with rare/hard-to-find dry-cured meats and pates, and don’t have the time to travel to Portland Oregon, Canada or Indiana, Fromagerie Sophie is where you should go. “We love meats,” says Doering. “There’s a producer in Indianapolis, Indiana—Smoking Goose—they are fabulous. Ingenious recipes and clever and smart, and good quality goes into what they make.” They make a pork cheek and rabbit pate, and an elk and pork salami with blueberries called “Stagberry.” “We just love whatever they do,” says Doering. “Whatever they make, it’s usually worth a try.”The shop also carries Olympia Provisions meats from Portland, Oregon and Rougie’ from Canada, which specializes in pates. As I researched for this article, I learned there’s a renaissance happening in cured meats. North

America is rediscovering European styles and adding its own twists to the palate.According to Doering, the big sellers are the bries: “Your famous French and fabulous pieces that look like something special. You just tell somebody how good it’s going to be, have them taste it, they roll their eyes into the back of their head and it’s ‘ok, we’ll take one of those,’ and then move on down. You have to ask a few questions.”Doering reiterated the shop’s philosophy which is rooted in tasting and personal attention to the customer: “You tempt people with whatever they like and then you have to ask a few questions. Sometimes they’ll walk in from Scout Coffee (across the street) with a cup of coffee in their hands so we don’t give them the Epoisses—maybe one of the Goudas instead. We play that game to try and find out what people like so we can kind of guide them through a tour of ‘do you like stinky, do you like goat, sheep, cow, what is it that you really dig?’”For the adventurous, there are several quarterly clubs you can join. The shop’s anchor is theCheese Club. According to Doering, “It’s this fantastic once-a-month club where we treat you (the client) to something you didn’t know you were going to get. That’s the whole thing. You don’t know where we’re going to take you, but we’re going to take you there. We will not gross you out, we will not poison you.” He laughs. Personally? I can’t imagine receiving anything in the shop that wouldn’t make me feel like it’s Christmas morning.The goal of the club is building cheese knowledge and appreciation for the customer base. “You have to open some people’s minds up to other types of food. Sometimes people will buy one of the three-month memberships to

give to somebody at Christmas. They’ll get three cheeses that will treat them to nine or so cheeses over a three-month period that they never even knew existed. We make the packages, we throw a party out here on the shop floor, pour wine from one of the local wineries, give them a 20% discount that night so they can do a little shopping too, but mostly it’s just a party where everybody comes in to have fun and their cheese club bags are ready to go.”A little bit of appreciation goes a long way. “A lot of times we let the cheese do the talking for us. We’re a very samples-based business. We want to see the smile on your face when you chomp down on something that is good.” As the first cheese shop in town in recent years, the owners are dedicated to educating customers and building permanent relationships. From what I observed on the day I visited, repeat customers are on a first-name basis. They are a small business that participates with other businesses in the community: Fromagerie Sophie provides cheeses for local events, pairings at local wineries, cheese cakes for weddings (as in stacks of Brie that form a wedding cake—it’s a thing), catering, not to mention charcuterie and ‘gourmet goodies’ clubs with a similar bent as the cheese of the month club.For me, Fromagerie Sophie will be a regular stop whenever I visit San Luis Obispo. It’s worth a visit. If you’re traveling, bring an ice chest for the cheese you acquire. If you live in the area, welcome to the only place you need to go for the finest cheese experience.

Fromagerie Sophie1129 Garden StreetSan Luis Obispo, CAMon-Sat: 10-6; Sunday: 12-5(805)503-0805

If you meet Paul Doering or any of the staff at Fromagerie Sophie, you will be guided through a tasting that includes “paste samples.” Their job as cheesemongers is to make sure you’re paired with a cheese that delights your senses and pairs well with your culinary needs.

If you’d like to stay and enjoy your tastings on the grounds, there is a tree-covered French-style seating area to the rear of the shop. SLO may not have much of a bustle on weekdays, but this would be a nice place to get away for an hour or so.

Fromagerie Sophie uses Back Porch Bakery—a local sourdough baker—to supply its baguettes. This matches the community-based ethos of the store’s owners.

Paul Doering, owner, puts together a tasting platter for a customer. The soft-cheese display case is the first thing I saw—and smelled—when entering the shop.

The namesake of the shop, Sophie Doering, stands at the Dutch-door of the shop’s entrance. The friendly atmosphere is inviting, and whether you’re in the area or from out of town, this cheese shop is worth regular visits.

A good cheese shop develops personal relationships with customers. During the few hours I spent at the shop, I witnessed many happy customers coming and going in this cozy shop.


Running a Successful Restaurant Is a Numbers Game

By David Scott Peters

David Scott Peters is a restaurant consultant, event speaker and founder of

TheRestaurantExpert.com, a company committed to the success of independent

restaurants offering exclusive online restaurant management software designed

specifically to meet the complete operational needs of independent operators. Learn more

about how David can help you at www.TheRestaurantExpert.com.

I bet you’ve heard that a typical restaurant makes a nickel to 8 cents on every dollar they bring in. I bet you’ve heard about the study Ohio State University did more than a decade ago where they learned that 60 percent of all restaurants fail within their first 3–5 years of business. I bet you’ve heard that a typical full-service restaurant is supposed to run a 65 percent prime cost. I bet you’ve heard the National Restaurant Association many years ago said that the average full-service restaurant typically runs a 34 percent food cost and a 32 percent labor cost. My goodness! That’s a lot of numbers! And how do they apply to your restaurant?The truth is… THEY DON’T!Don’t get me wrong. You need numbers to go by for your restaurant. The challenge I have with benchmarked data is it is all about averages. The average restaurant makes, the average restaurant runs a, the average, etc. Is your restaurant average? How many independent restaurants with different owners do you know that are on the same corner, serve the same food, provide the same style and level of service, serve the same quality products and serve them at the same price point? The answer is NONE! If you’re not the average restaurant, what are benchmarks good for? Absolutely nothing!Let’s break the numbers down to find your personal benchmark, which is your target prime cost. When I grew up in the business, we referred to prime cost as controllable expenses. There are expenses that are in the direct control of management, such as how they hire, train, schedule and fire staff and how they purchase and utilize product. For all intents and purposes, these controllable expenses are your management team’s report card. It measures how well they are running the business and the numbers they control. The numbers typically have nothing to do with what you pay for rent,

how much you spend on marketing, what your tax bill is, etc. But the numbers can be used to control product and people.How do you arrive at your prime cost? The short answer: It’s your total cost of goods sold (to be calculated properly requires weekly or monthly inventories to calculate use because purchases divided by sales are NOT accurate), plus your total labor cost, including taxes, benefits and insurance, then divided by your gross sales (sales before discounts, not including sales tax).When I first started coaching independent restaurants in 2003, the target prime cost was 65 percent for a full-service restaurant and 60 percent for a quick-service restaurant. But then in 2007 the economy took a major hit. You remember. Before that, after the worst day in modern American history, 9/11, food costs went through a major adjustment and pricing continued to rise. Today there are additional costs and added expenses in our operations that drive our potential for profit down, such as rising minimum wages, and you can quickly see that those targets don’t work anymore.If you have a restaurant that does $850,000 a year or more in gross sales, your new prime cost target is 55 percent or lower! That means for a restaurant that does $1 million a year in sales operating at a 65 percent prime cost, thinking they are doing well, there are 10 points on the table, or $100,000, in bottom-line profitability. This money is available if they are willing to do the work to get it. And the crazy part is the higher your sales, the lower that number can go. I am currently working with more than 300 restaurants and many of them now operate at 50 percent, 42 percent and even as low as 34 percent! They are achieving these low prime costs without changing product quality or levels of service.

How you get to your prime cost target depends on your financial situation, your core values, what you’re willing to change, and, ultimately, your budget. It all starts with an annual budget which allows you to easily see what needs to be done to achieve these kinds of numbers and then proactively apply systems that change your operation to achieve those numbers. Your budget will ultimately determine where your costs should be.For example, a family casual full-service restaurant might run a 35 percent cost of goods sold and a 20 percent labor cost. A quick casual burger restaurant might run a 25 percent cost of goods sold and a 30 percent labor cost. A high-end steakhouse might run as high as a 40 percent cost of goods sold and a 15 percent labor cost (a concept called “cash contribution”), and all of these scenarios equal 55 percent. You see? Your targets have nothing to do with industry averages.Last but not least, with proper budgeting and systems implemented in your business that control your costs, your goal can be a 15-20 percent profit margin!While running a restaurant can be a numbers game, you don’t want to be playing the game with the wrong numbers. To understand where YOUR numbers should be requires a budget. Achieving those numbers requires implementing systems to achieve and control those numbers. Because here’s the deal: you get to decide which game you play and whether or not you win or lose. Now is the time to decide to change the game and be a winner!Know your numbers and your profits will go up!

TheRESTAURANT EXPERT


6 Effective Tips for Food Packaging

By Arielle Kimbarovsky

Arielle Kimbarovsky is with crowdspring–one of the world’s leading marketplaces

for crowdsourced logo design, web design, graphic design, product design and

company naming services.

In the 1990s, grocery stores carried around 7,000 different products. Today, they carry up to 50,000. It’s tough for brands to stand out. Smart brands know that strong food packaging design and package graphics are more important than ever to help fight for consumers’ attention.With the increasing popularity of online grocery shopping, many brands are forced to rethink how they package designs for maximum impact on a small screen.Michael Ruhlman, author of Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, says that a combination of online services and increased options has changed how consumers buy food.We tend to walk by so many different things without thinking of them, just grabbing what we typically grab. But now I see the bewildering variety of foods that are available to us not just occasionally but seven days a week, pretty much whenever we want them.Help your products stand out among the 50,000 others lining the shelves with these 6 effective tips for great food packaging.

1. ClarityUnless a packaging design catches their eye, most people choose between products that fit their requirements.But most food packaging designs make this choice difficult.Take juice packaging as an example. There are healthy juices, kid’s juices, and sugary juices–often on the same shelves. The packaging typically varies to help consumers identify a sugary drink for kids from a healthy green blend.But what happens when another product’s packaging looks similar to a kid’s juice?Consumers become frustrated.According to a study on consumer judgment and decision making, shoppers can make decisions in about a third of a second. After that brief moment, they’ve already made up their minds–and aren’t happy to find out that they were wrong.Take Fabuloso as an example. At first glance, it looks like a fun, sugary juice made for kids. The packaging is colorful with fruit clearly displayed on the label.But Fabuloso isn’t a juice at all. It’s a cleaning product!

In small letters cluttered on the label, the package describes the content of the product. But the packaging had already taken effect. In those first few moments, the consumer didn’t understand that Fabuloso is meant for cleaning.Compare that to the packaging for Froo.it juice smoothies. These bottles are also colorful and feature fruit, but Froo.it clarifies the product by including the product description near the name. The label is also simpler, giving consumers a clear picture of the product and the brand behind it.For more examples of clear packaging designs, check out Why Branding Your Small Business is Important and What You Can Learn From Brandless (https://www.crowdspring.com/blog/branding-lessons-from-brandless) and be sure to understand current trends by reading Biggest Product Packaging Design Trends in 2018 (https://www.crowdspring.com/blog/packaging-design-trends-2018).

2. IntegrityFor consumers to buy your product again, they have to trust your brand.A large part of that trust is keeping the integrity of your product intact.While most brands will edit images of their product for the packaging, some brands will dramatically change how that product looks.This is a problem for many reasons, but most importantly, it creates a false expectation about the product that the product can never meet.This doesn’t mean you should avoid editing product images–it just means to be careful to not falsely advertise your product on its packaging.

3. AuthenticityKeep your packaging design consistent with your brand.If your brand is more natural and down to earth, bright primary colors will look out of place and feel fake.On the other hand, keep an eye out for what competitors are doing. If you aren’t the only brand in your vertical that is natural and earthy, a splash of color might help your product stand out from your competitors’ products.Being different within the context of your brand is one of the best ways for consumers to feel like they are buying specifically from you.

4. Shelf ImpactBut designers and brands aren’t the only ones thinking about food packaging design.Grocery stores and other food retailers constantly think about packaging design, and even pay attention to the way that products are displayed on shelves. This is called “shelf impact.”When grocers consider product placement, they take a look at the way that different packaging designs look together and the patterns that they create. When placing certain products next to each other, the look of the packaging can change.In such cases, sometimes less means more.For more on this, read 8 Powerful Psychology Principles Behind Great Product Design (www.crowdspring.com/blog/product-design-psychology).

5. VersatilityIt’s also important for food packaging designs to be versatile. There’s a reason why the number of products in grocery stores has grown so quickly, and it’s because brands keep expanding their product lines.With food products, this is as simple as adding a new flavor.But with so many expansions, a different label design for each one is not only more challenging but also more confusing. Instead, the best food packaging designs are adaptable to a variety of products.Successful food packaging designs are made with a formula in mind. The best designs serve as a template that can keep consistency within a line of products, whether through layout or color.

6. UsabilityLastly, food product packaging needs to be usable. While it’s easy to only consider the label, the container itself is just as important.When you make your product more usable, you make it even more appealing to consumers.With all of these values in mind, designing great food packaging becomes a lot easier.Focusing on these tips as a guide can help your food packaging stand out.


By Bob Barnes

2018 NIGHTCLUB & BAR Convention and Trade Show Convenes in Las Vegas

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The Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show continues to reign as the largest annual bar and nightlife convention and its 33rd annual 2018 show brought together over 30,000 owners, operators, industry professionals and suppliers to the Las Vegas Convention Center March 26–28. One of the highlights of the Show is always the trade show, and as usual there was barely walking room to move down the aisles amid a myriad of remarkable products to check out. Following are some that caught my interest.Local representation was found at the booth of Las Vegas-based Nevada H&C Distilling Company, which in its short history has already racked up several awards at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits competition. At the booth co-owner Aaron Chepenik was pouring the H&C Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered Straight Bourbon Whiskey, which secured a very impressive Double Gold at the 2017 World Spirits competition. This outstanding, smooth spirit is now being served at resorts on the Strip such as Aria, Bellagio and NY-NY and is available at Total Wine. www.nevadadistilling.comProbably the last thing I would have thought to use as a mixer is pickle juice. But I happened to be sampling a whiskey as I walked past the booth of Van Holten’s Pickleback Mixer, made from real pickle brine, and was invited to try a sip after swallowing my whiskey, which I did and have to report it actually works. Other

recommended uses are to put a splash in your beer or to boost your bloody Mary. Of course, you have to like the taste of pickles and the juice it comes in. I’ve discovered that, like Brylcreem, a little dab’ll do ya (okay, I’m really dating myself with that reference), and as the product’s marketing proclaims: it’s “Dill-icious.” www.picklebackmixer.com We always associate tequila with Mexico, but how about whiskey? The Sierra Norte Single Barrel Whiskey hails from Oaxaca, Mexico, which is thought to be the origin/birthplace of corn dating back to over 7,000 years ago. The whiskey is made from 85% native corn and 15% barley mash and double distilled in Pot stills. Of note is the company is dedicated to preserving heirloom corns and is attempting to bring red and green corns back from extinction. The single-barrel whiskey is made from yellow, white and black corns sourced from single-village, small-family farms and aged in French oak casks. sierranortewhiskey.comCoffee lovers will appreciate the Café Agave Spiked Cold Brew Coffee, which is conveniently packaged in 187 ml cans, weighs in at 12.5% ABV and comes in flavors including Caffe Mocha, Vanilla Cinnamon, Salted Caramel and Espresso Shot, all of which are delicious. cafeagave.com The Temecula, CA-based Garage Brewing Co can always be counted on to bring beers with uncommon beer ingredients and they didn’t disappoint us this year. On the table

for our enjoyment were Chocolate Orange Milk Stout, Tropical IPA (with grapefruit, pineapple and passionfruit) and Apple Pie Pale Ale (with apple juice and spices). www.garagebrewco.com An age-old problem for restaurateurs and wine connoisseurs is wine quickly losing its freshness after being opened. To the rescue is the VinEdge wine preserver, which uses an automatic vacuum seal that reduces oxidation and preserves the taste of wine up to 14 days. The directions are simple: attach the provided pour spout to a disposable VinSert tube, slide firmly into the bottle and serve. As the wine is poured, the tube inflates in the bottle, creating a vacuum and reducing the amount of air that touches the wine. Once the entire bottle has been enjoyed, the spout is removed, leaving the detachable tube in the bottle for easy cleanup. By preventing wine being disposed of after spoilage, the device will easily pay for itself. www.vinedge.com.Time now to mark your calendar for the 34th annual convention, which will return to Las Vegas March 25–27, 2019 and offer thousands of products spanning all facets of the industry: bar equipment, spirits, craft beer, alcohol-free beverages and mixers, furnishings, technology, food, venue equipment, glassware, décor, menu designs, social media, apparel, lighting and more; and a series of educational workshops, keynote sessions, certifications, off-site trainings and networking events. For updates throughout the year, visit www.ncbshow.com.


Today, the National Restaurant Association announced the first finalist in the annual Star of the Bar mixology competition. Following a live cocktail competition held at Mandalay Bay’s Libertine Social, Adam Rains of Flock and Fowl was crowned the winner of the Las Vegas regional semi-finals. His winning cocktail–Notorious P.I.G.–was judged by Nectaly Mendoza, owner of Herbs & Rye, and local writers Elaine and Scott Harris. Produced by the National Restaurant Association in partnership with the United States Bartenders’ Guild, Star of the Bar tasks mixologists in four regional competitions—located in Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Orlando, and Chicago—with creating an innovative cocktail for industry judges. Finalists from each market will be flown to Chicago to face off in a live event on May 20 at the 2018 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show for a chance to win the coveted Star of the Bar title and $5,000 grand prize. Judges for this year’s competition include celebrity mixologists Tony Abou-Ganim, Charles Joly and Dale Degroff.Rains bested nine other competitors with his Notorious P.I.G. recipe, made with Whistlepig’s 10-Year Rye Whiskey, maple syrup, lychee honey, aquafaba, and lemon. The cocktail is garnished with smoked maldon salt and served alongside applewood-smoked chips for an aromatic flourish. “For the competition, I wanted to create a nontraditional Whiskey Sour, in the vein of the classic Penicillin cocktail,” says Rains. “Notorious P.I.G. name is a homage to WhistlePig Whiskey used in the cocktail. The sweetness of the maple syrup and lychee honey play well with the acidity of the lemon. For the garnish, the salt and applewood provide a great savory, aromatic finish.”

Adam Rains of Flock and Fowl Wins “Star of the Bar” Regional CompetitionRains goes on to compete at the Star of the Bar Finals, held during the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show

The National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show runs May 19-22 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. For more information about this year’s Show, visit https://show.restaurant.org/Home.To register to attend visit https://show.restaurant.org/Attend/Registration.

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By Ben Brown

Benjamin Brown, MBA is Restaurant Editor of The SoCal Food & Beverage

Professional. A seasoned writer and consultant, Ben works with Fortune 500

companies and mom & pop shops alike in Marketing, Analytics, Consumer Insights,

PR and Business Development.

Contact Ben at [email protected] or follow him @Foodie_Biz.

| Foodie Biz |

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Elixir G expands to new flavor offeringsElixir G, the ginger syrup best known as a top shelf cocktail mix, has expanded to two new flavors. Elixir C, cranberry, and Elixir V, vanilla, join the lineup and keep with the brand’s motif of natural, quality ingredients. Real sugar and carefully sourced fresh ginger play a critical role in all three flavors. And while ginger takes a back seat in Elixirs C and V, it delivers an ever-so-subtle zip to add pizzazz to any cocktail.Designed with the holidays in mind but more than equipped to offer year-round libation, Elixirs C and V go well with vodka, champagne and plain ol’ club soda. Restaurants looking to add pizzazz to their drink programs can utilize these mixers for a number of martinis, wine cocktails and other mixed drinks. For more information, visit ElixirG.com.

L.A.’s Banc of California Stadium unveils food lineupBanc of California Stadium officially opened in Exposition Park on April 29, and will play home to Los Angeles Football Club [that’s a soccer team, for those wondering]. And with the stadium’s opening, of course, comes an array of local dining options brought in-house. Chicas Tacos, Bludso’s BBQ and Beer Belly are just a few L.A. favorites serving some of their signatures inside. Seoul Sausage, The Crest [French bread-style pizza], The Roost [nacho-like pita and shawarma plates], The Press [sandwiches and grilled cheese] and LA Rotisserie join the list. Three Weavers craft beer and CVT soft serve round out the featured culinary names at Banc of California Stadium, but don’t forget about your traditional stadium food—Rest assured, hot dogs will be served. For more information, visit LAFC.com/Stadium.

Mickey’s Deli celebrates 65th anniversaryMickey’s Deli, the South Bay’s First Pizza spot, celebrated 65 years in Hermosa Beach on April 7. The iconic restaurant celebrated with the community by giving away some of its iconic items that have kept it in business for so long—the first 65 people in line were treated to a free Mickey’s Combo, Sauce Sandwich or slice of pizza. Each customer after that was able to get any of those three items for only 65 cents each. Mickey’s Deli opened in 1953, when Michael Angelo “Mickey” Mance saved up $2,000 and took out a loan from his father to open up a deli at the age of 22. The Deli quickly became a favorite among local surfers that loved Mickey’s infamous sauce sandwich for its flavor and affordability. After Mickey passed away in 2011, his son, Paul, still carries on the family tradition and continues to be a favorite among the locals. Mickey’s Deli is known for their authentic Italian food including a variety of sandwiches, pizza, pastas, salads, and calzones. For more information, visit MickeysDeli.com.

Chin Chin Founder’s “My Little Dumpling” to open in West HollywoodMy Little Dumpling, set to be an ‘upscale casual’ spot in West Hollywood near The Beverly Center, is the newest brainchild of Robert and Anthony Mandler, the father-son partnership that founded the upscale Chinese restaurant chain Chin Chin back in 1983. In the same way that Chin Chin took off as a see-and-be-seen spot for classic New York City-style Chinese food, My Little Dumpling aims to replicate the model with a bit of modernization.My Little Dumpling is set to be a full-service restaurant, offering dumplings, of course, as well as a few other classic Far East specialties, plus beer and wine. The restaurant is under construction, with hopes of opening in the late summer or early fall.

New food hall to open in Downtown L.A.DTLA’s historic Dearden’s furniture store is set to become the Norton building food hall and rooftop restaurant. ESI Ventures and Urban Offerings, two local development firms, have purchased the iconic property and plan to transform the Norton building into what looks to be a new foodie attraction. Restaurants have not yet been named for the upcoming food hall. ESI Ventures and Urban Offerings presented plans for the Norton Building to the L.A. Neighborhood Council in 2017, and while the development is set to move forward, no news of the project’s timeline released. Norton’s five-story building is on Los Angeles Street between Seventh and Eighth.

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•Wholesale distributor of exceptional quality dried spices and specialty foods to the finest hotels and restaurants

•Owned and operated by a former chef with over 20 years of experience

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Conference and Expo Covers the Business of Tea, Helps Elevate Tea on the Menu

Bring Tea to the Table

World Tea Expo 2018 Serves up a Tea-learning

Opportunity for F&B Professionals

At World Tea Expo 2018, food and beverage professionals can explore the bustling expo floor to discover the latest tea trends and products, while the event’s educational sessions offer specifics on how to profit from tea and how to integrate it onto the menu. Some of the specific seminars that will be of interest to F&B professionals, as well as those in hospitality or retail, include:• Table for Tea! Giving Tea the Perfect Place in the Restaurant• Hospitality and Tea—How your tea offering distinguishes

and elevates your establishment–Panel• Why Are Great Restaurants Serving Awful Tea? How to

Fix Tea in the Hospitality Industry• Learn to Pair Teas and Build Menus from Scratch

• The Leaf and the Grain: Tea and Scotch Pairing

• Keys to Success in Tea Retail—From Startup to Starbucks

• Scaling Up: The 10 Biggest Challenges Growing Your Tea Retail Business from One Store to Multiple Stores

• Lessons from the Third Wave: The Specialty Coffee Market as a Blueprint for Success in Specialty Tea

• Retail Innovation: The Case for Authenticity, Why Retailers Should “Be More Tea”

• Selling Tea in the U.S. Specialty Food Market

• The How and the Why of Tea in the Holistic and Wellness Business Arena

To learn more and to register for World Tea Expo, visit WorldTeaExpo.com. Register now with the code ADVFCP1 for $100 off the Full Conference Pass!


Special Events Main Stage with Featured PresentersEach day at World Tea Expo, a different speaker will share insights on the main stage. These talks will be followed by a meet-and-greet with each presenter. Tyler Gage, author of Fully Alive: Using the Lessons of the Amazon to Live Your Mission in Business and Life and co-founder of RUNA, will present “Tea Entrepreneurship: Growth and Navigating Your Business to Success.” Peter Keen, author of Tea Tips and the forthcoming Tea Worlds and Heroines of Tea, will cover “Tea Heroines: Women Who Left a Thumbprint on History Through Tea.” Katharine Burnett Ph.D., founding director of the Global Tea Initiative for the Study of Tea Culture and Science, will discuss “Expanding the Understanding of Tea through a Global Perspective.” Each presentation will take place from 1:30-2:30 p.m., June 12-14.The Kombucha PavilionThis new area of the expo floor will be dedicated to the latest kombucha products, which has seen tremendous growth over the last several years. Kombucha is a fermented tea drink with functional benefits, and exhibitors will showcase the best new offerings.The Expo FloorThe exhibit hall will feature hundreds of new teas, tea wares, brewing accessories and related products and services. In addition, the expo will spotlight a New Business Launch Pad, an area of the show floor dedicated to up-and-coming tea ventures.Insightful Educational SessionsSome of the 50+ sessions include: Who’s Buying? A National Brand’s View of the U.S. Premium Tea Consumer; Tea Entrepreneurship: Growth and Navigating Your Business to Success; How to Launch a Custom Tea

Blending and Private Labeling Program; Data Driven Decisions to Optimize Your Tea Business; Tapping into the Health Benefits Inherent in Tea with Allowable Label Claims; A Tea Producer’s Perspective on Sustainability of the Tea Industry; and Hospitality and Tea: How Your Tea Offering Distinguishes and Elevates Your Establishment.Pre-Conference ProgramsJust before World Tea Expo kicks off, a two-day pre-conference program runs June 10-11. The pre-conference agenda includes World Tea Academy Live and Tea Business Boot Camp. World Tea Academy Live is a joint relationship between World Tea Academy, Hula Consulting and Firedancer Coffee Consultants. This program is designed for intermediate tea and coffee professionals looking to take their tea training to the next level. The Tea Business Boot Camp is an intensive, hands-on program that covers critical topics facing the tea entrepreneur.World Tea AwardsThis special event (open to all World Tea Expo attendees) honors some of the best and brightest from the tea industry. The program recognizes new products from among the many exhibitors, as well as tea luminaries who are shaping the industry. Some of the categories from past years have included Best Tea Industry Innovation, Best Specialty Tea Brand and Best Tea Health Advocate, among others. The John Harney Lifetime Achievement Award will also be presented to a person who has shown significant support of the tea industry’s growth, innovation and education.

Global Tea Championship Winners Tasting CircleThis is an opportunity for World Tea Expo attendees to taste Global Tea Championship medal-winning teas. The Global Tea

Championship is an independent competition that evaluates and distinguishes the highest quality and best tasting specialty teas.Origins Tasting TourThis interactive and educational “tour” covers some of the most important tea growing regions in the world, including: China, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Taiwan, Kenya and Colombia. Tea author and expert Jane Pettigrew will emcee the program, and each region will be presented by a different tea industry leader.

Tea Processing: a Hands-on Experiential LabIn this two-day session, attendees’ basic understanding of how tea is made will be taken to an entirely new level through hands-on experience. Delegates will participate in the process of transforming several pounds of raw tea leaf material into white, green, yellow, oolong and black teas.

First-ever Spanish Session at World Tea ExpoPresented by Omarly Alcina Fernandez, founder and manager of Kepen Corporation, “Table for Tea! Giving Tea the Perfect Place in the Restaurant” will be World Tea Expo’s first-ever session presented in Spanish (and available in English on the screen).

Additional highlights of World Tea Expo 2018 include:


Chef TalkFoods That Help Improve Your HealthPart III

By Chef Allen Asch

Feel free to contact Chef Allen with ideas for comments or future articles at

[email protected]

Chef Allen Asch M. Ed., CCE is a culinary arts instructor that has earned degrees from

Culinary Institute of America, Johnson and Wales University and Northern Arizona University. He

is currently teaching at UNLV. He earned his Certified Culinary Educator Endorsement from the

American Culinary Federation in 2003.

This article will discuss tamarind, one of the most versatile health foods available. Tamarind is a fruit that grows in a pod. It is very dark in color and sour in taste. This ingredient is used in both sweet and savory dishes, mostly depending on which cuisine the dish is from. Here in the United States it is not a common ingredient, except in ethnic cooking because it is not an indigenous food, since it does not grow here. Tamarind originated in Africa and needs a more tropical environment for growing. There is only one species of tamarind and it is used quite a bit in Asian cuisines. Tamarind is also popular in Mexican cuisine. India is the world largest producer/grower in the world and tamarind is used extensively in their foods. India produces 275,500 tons of tamarind a year.Although it is considered a fruit it could also be classified as a legume, as it is a seed that grows in a pod. Although food is one of the main uses, it also is used widespread in other industries. The wood from the tree is used for making chopping blocks, carved items and furniture as well many other uses. Tamarind is also used as a metal polish in homes and temples throughout Asia. It works well on brass, copper and bronze. Asian folklore says tamarind works as a laxative so it is used for constipation and it is also used for fevers, sore throat, rheumatism, inflammation and sunstroke. On a brighter note it is used for

decoration, often grown as a bonsai tree.The fleshy acidic pulp is surrounded by a hard brown shell. Asian tamarind trees produce pods that hold between six and twelve seeds, while the African and West Indian contain one to six seeds. It takes three to four years for a tree to bear fruit, and a full grown tree can produce 375 pounds of fruit per year. Pods can be purchased whole in many Asian markets, but then you need to process them, or you can buy the tamarind paste already processed. To process a pod you need to separate the flesh from the pod and remove the pit. The pulp is then boiled down to a paste the consistency like molasses. Personally I prefer to buy it.The health benefits of this fruit are numerous. Tamarind helps people with weight loss and can improve digestion. It also can help against certain cancers. It is loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It is high in vitamin C, magnesium, iron and potassium and carotene.Tamarind adds a sweet and tart flavor profile to foods. It has hints of citrus flavoring to it. The amount to use is dependent on which form you buy so be very aware of what form you are using. They can be purchased as whole pods, but then you need to process them as mentioned earlier. These can be found in Asian and Hispanic markets. Another form is as a pressed block.

This is the most common form. This is just pulp with the shell and seeds removed. You should check the pulp before using it since some seeds and broken shell might get through processing. There are two concentrates available, the first being a regular paste and the second being black concentrate. The regular paste is usable out of the jar, as is. One tablespoon of this product is equivalent to one and a half tablespoons of pulp. Thailand is a big exporter of this product. You need to be careful of ones that are “Product of U.S.A.” since they usually contain high fructose corn syrup. The other concentrate comes from India and is super concentrated. You should dilute this product with water to get the flavor of regular tamarind paste. The ratio of dilution should be about two parts water to one part concentrate, depending on the flavor profile you desire.

Tamarind can have some negative side effects as well. One is it may interact with some medicines creating bleeding. It also can have interactions with certain antibiotics. There are people with allergies that may have a reaction to tamarind and it can raise blood sugar levels. People with diabetes should take special care if this if it is a frequently used ingredient. Due to the high acidity, tooth enamel might erode as well as inducing acid reflux. Huge amounts of tamarind also can make the body develop gallstones.


Michael Mina Bellagio opened nearly 20 years ago, when the resort debuted in October of 1998, and over the years has established itself as one of Las Vegas’ finest and most sought after restaurants. Now, after a brief closing the resort calls the upgrades “refreshed and redefined” and the seafood restaurant returned to service on April 13.A few days prior to the reopening a media tasting was held to unveil the new digs and menu, during which the Michelin-starred Chef Mina said, “After 20 years, this is Michael Mina 2.0. We’ve doubled the size of the menu with 90% of it changed, created a more loungy front room and created a private room looking out onto the atrium.” Proof of the restaurant’s excellence was exhibited through the exquisite tasting we were treated to. We began with a signature menu item, Michael Mina’s Caviar Parfait: smoked salmon on a potato cake with crème fraiche and egg mimosa. Next up was Ginger-Lime Marinated Red Snapper with pea tendrils, black sesame, jalapeno and holy basil, followed by Morel Mushroom Custard with English peas, guanciale and Parmigiano-Regiano. By my reckoning the star of the evening was Tuna topped with Hudson Valley Foie Gras with sauce a l’orange, but the Broiled Whole Kona Kampachi served with baby bok choy, trumpet mushrooms and fermented black

bean came in a close second. This excellent repast was topped off with Lemon Meringue Tart with blueberry lemonade sorbet and fresh blueberries. One of the reasons for the restaurant’s success and the stunning aforementioned tasting is the fact that the highest quality and freshest caviar, fish and shellfish are flown in from all over the world. New additions to the menu

include a Market List, which changes daily, with three choices of preparation: fish steak, spice-crusted whole fish fry and ginger & scallion broiled whole fish. If you have the opportunity, the view as you dine in the private room overlooking the beautiful scenery of the Bellagio’s Conservatory will be hard to beat, as will the cuisine you will be enjoying.

A Great Excuse for a Quick Trip to Vegas...Bellagio Unveils Michael Mina 2.0By Bob Barnes

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Steak & Table Knife Re-Serration / Sharpening

Jay’s Sharpening Service

W Tropicana Ave

W Harmon Ave

Arville St

4310 W Tompkins Ave Las Vegas, NV 89103702-645-0049

www.jayssharpening.com • [email protected]


By Erin Cooper & Christine VanoverErin Cooper and Christine Vanover have been residents of

Las Vegas since 2007. Vanover is also a UNLV Alumnus. Both women are Territory Managers for the Resort Wine

Team at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, members of Women Gone Wine and the founders of Twinkle Toast.

[email protected] • www.twinkletoast.comFacebook: @TwinkleToast

Twitter: TwinkleToastLVInstagram: TwinkleToastLV

Twinkle ToastThe Best Wines for Your Waistline

Champagne and sparkling wines are a typical go-to for the summer pool season. What many people do not realize is that the majority of them contain an added amount of sugar called “dosage.” Dosage is part of the Champagne or sparkling winemaking process, and the amount of dosage in each bottle can range from zero to fifty grams of sugar per liter. WineFolly.com states that a standard 5 ounce pour of Champagne can range from 124 calories, in a Brut Nature or Brut Zero, to 175 calories, in the sweetest Doux. We did a little digging, and discovered a couple tasty sparkling options that omit the dosage process which you guess it, equates to less sugar and fewer calories. Beau Joie Brut and Brut Rose are zero-dosage Champagnes, with no additional sugar added, and both feature a stylish copper casing that help the bottle stay cold for 45 minutes to an hour without the use of an ice bucket. Keep in mind that this length of time is reduced a bit if the external temperature is 80 degrees or above. A newer sparkling wine option is Syltbar Prosecco, and only contains 49 calories per glass. You can find this Italian sparkling wine in several retail outlets.If you prefer still to sparkling, Brancott Flight Song Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio were crafted to be 20% lighter in calories versus the classic Brancott Estate wines. These Marlborough wines are only 88 calories, and are designed for guilt-free consumption, or close to it. The Santa Barbara winery, Palmina,

specializes in producing traditional Italian varietals here in the United States. Owner and winemaker, Steve Clifton, produces a delightful Malvasia Bianca at only 12% ABV, and it would be an amazing addition to any sunny afternoon or summer evening. German Rieslings are another great still wine option, and are generally lower in alcohol, at eight to nine percent, which you now know means lower in calories too. Although sweeter wines contain more residual sugar and higher alcohol, the standard pour

is usually only 2 ounces. A 2 ounce glass of B&G Sauternes Passeport contains only 90 calories. This smaller serving size could be a great alternative to an actual dessert while still satisfying your sweet tooth.

*Please note that we are in no way suggesting that you replace all food calories with wine calories. Should you have any questions regarding health and nutrition, please contact a trusted healthcare professional.

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Pool season is quickly approaching, and if you are like us, you are starting to look more closely at the calories and carbohydrates in what you are consuming. An average glass of wine can contain anywhere from 110 to 300 calories with red wines generally having more than whites. This is determined by a few factors: serving size, alcohol content and inherent sweetness or sugar. Usually, the higher the alcohol content, the higher the calories. Per gram of wine, alcohol contains seven calories and sugar contains four. All of these numbers can get a bit confusing, but don’t fret! We have found a handy dandy formula to help decipher how many calories are in each bottle, or glass, and how to choose the best wine with your waistline in mind.


Einstök Water is the most predominant ingredient in beer, yet we hardly ever consider the type of H2O found in our brews. Iceland is known for its glacial water, considered the purest water in the world, with highly desirable pH and alkaline qualities that make it ideal for brewing beer. Now available in California and Nevada are the beers from Einstök, a fairly new brewery founded in 2011, which hails from Northern Iceland about 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, which uses pure glacial water tapped straight from a local mountain. Einstök’s brews have recently won some impressive accolades including earning Double Gold status in the 8th Annual New York International Beer Competition for its White Ale in the Belgian-style Witbier category. The brewery also entered five other beers, all of which also received awards. I sampled the Arctic Berry Ale—5% ABV summer ale with wheat malt, pilsner malt, oats, Bavarian hops and hand-picked Icelandic bilberries that is flavorful without being overly sweet; White Ale—5.2% ABV made with wheat malt, pilsner malt, oats, Bavarian noble hops, coriander and orange peel for a subtle spiciness; Arctic Pale Ale—5.6% ABV brewed with pale ale malt, crystal malt and chocolate malt and three kinds of hops: American Cascade and Northern Brewer and Bavarian Hallertau to give it a hoppy start and malty finish; and Toasted Porter—6% ABV, brewed with chocolate malt and authentic Icelandic roasted coffee, smooth and roasty with a subtle coffee undertone.

www.einstokbeer.com

Boulevard BrewingAlso a new entrant to our markets is the Kansas City-based Boulevard Brewing Company, the largest specialty brewer in the Midwest now in 40 states and Washington D.C. I sampled the Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale—8.5% ABV saison/farmhouse ale with grapefruit hoppy notes and dry, peppery, lingering finish; Tropical Pale Ale—5.9% ABV with grapefruit and passionfruit juices blended with hops bringing citrus, papaya, pine and spice notes; The Calling IPA—8.5% ABV double IPA with minimal malt to let the eight hop varieties shine; Unfiltered Wheat Beer—4.4% ABV easy drinking, lightly hopped American wheat with natural citrus flavor and sweet bready flavor; and Bourbon Barrel Quad—11.2% ABV abbey-style quadruple aged up to three years in oak bourbon barrels, with cherries adding a tart cherry with caramel notes.

boulevard.com

Beer CaramelizerJust when you thought there weren’t any more innovations or gadgets to help you optimize enjoyment of your beer, along comes a new product to play with your suds. The 1571 Fahrenheit Beer Caramelizer is inspired by the centuries-old tradition of heating cocktails with a hot poker. The idea is to plunge the stainless steel tool into a hot fire until the tip glows red and then dip into your beer for 2-3 seconds, long enough for the heat to react with the sugars in the beer to create a richer, smoother taste. It comes with an extension rod to maintain a comfortable distance from the heat of the fire. Although it’s suggest you use a campfire, for my ex-beer-iment I used a gas burner on my stove and after taking several sips of untreated beer and heat-dipped beer, I can attest that using this device definitely results in an altered taste, which to my palate was smoother and creamier. Its use is not limited to beer and the makers suggest trying it with any adult beverage.

www.1571f.com

Product Review New Breweries Entering Our Markets and a Unique Beer GadgetBy Bob Barnes

Premium Sustainable Solutions By LeAnne Notabartolo

When it comes to sustainability, sometimes looking back is the best option. That’s exactly what Premium Sustainable Solutions does in their North Las Vegas, Nevada facility. They provide logo glass bottles with ceramic swing tops filled with still or sparkling water. They pick up the empties, sterilize them, and deliver filled ones, just like brewers and soda makers did in the past. Reducing landfill waste and providing a superior product makes them an up-and-coming company in the sustainability field. In addition to restaurants looking to reduce their carbon footprint on bottled water, the bottles can be ordered for special events, such as weddings and galas, to be given as favors. And an added bonus to all businesses seeking more social media presence, the bottles look fantastic in social media pictures of food showing off the restaurant’s logo.

pss-water.com

DON'T BULLSH*T

YOURSELF!

YOUR

OFFERS

EXCUSES!


By Linda Westcott-Bernstein

HumanResourcesInsights

Linda Westcott-Bernstein has provided sound human resources advice and

guidance to Fortune 500 companies and others for over 25 years. Linda has recently

re-published her self-help book entitled It All Comes Down to WE! This book offers

guidelines for building a solid and enduring personal work ethic. You can find her book

on Amazon or Google Books. Phone: 702-326-4040

Email: [email protected]

I consider myself an optimist because I believe that you can influence the course of your future and your life with a positive outlook. I can promise you, there are days when this spirit does not come easy or my strength stays as strong. But when those days come to pass, I recognize that this is a time when I must dig down deepest in my soul to find the promise of a new day and renew my faith as well as my thinking.

On days when it is gloomy, dreary and windy outside, it can seem as though life is reflecting the same pattern as the weather. At times that I am not feeling as chipper as I usually do, it can seem as though tomorrow may be as melancholy as my mood and will never arrive. And when I experience a challenge, set back, or defeat, it can feel as though the world has ended and that all could be lost. But that’s where my power of positive thinking comes in. I start my resurgence by searching back in my memories and the recesses of my mind, and I find that a tiny light of promise still flickers. Like the blessing of a solitary candle in an endless sea of darkness–it can renew, rekindle and refresh me.

So how do I do it? Well, here are some of the thoughts that keep that candle lit–at least they work for me…• I choose to look on the bright side of things

and because I do, good things will happen.• I have strong and enduring faith in my God

and know that I am his disciple.• I believe that good intentions beget good

outcomes, which result in happiness of the heart and soul.

• I have faith in the value and purpose of heartfelt prayer and giving thanks for life, blessings and family.

• I believe that my field of work is my calling, that I am here to help people and influence change.

How can we keep a positive outlook on life, work and family, when it can feel like all is crumbling around us? We can start by choosing to look at the good and not focus on the bad. We can refrain from judging others and instead show compassion and have understanding. We can be realists and understanding that we can’t change everyone and everything, but strive to make

little contributions all along the way. We can remember that life can be as challenging as it is rewarding, and choose to focus on the successes we’ve achieved instead of what we have not.Now, I know that I make this “positivity” appear easier said than done. But the reward with positive thinking is in the way it makes you feel! Doesn’t it feel much better to your heart when you help someone in need instead of ignoring them? Don’t you feel a great deal better when giving a helping hand in your community, neighborhood or workplace by sharing in shaping someone’s future, welfare or growth? The answer should be a resounding YES! Remember, the real power of positive thinking is realized when we dig deepest into our hearts, find the strength of our faith and take the mental steps toward realization that we are all put here to help others. All of this occurs while always retaining the important foundation of family including blessing of thankfulness, humbleness and faith!

HR Question of the month: Please send your HR questions and concerns, or share your thoughts on your human resources challenges via email to the following address. Send input to [email protected]. Your comments, questions or concerns will help determine the direction for my next month’s column and earn you a copy of my book. Include your mailing address when sending your responses.

The Power of Positive Thinking

COLOR UP YOUR LIFE!RIEDEL.COM

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Mixed Reality: The next generation of wine labels

Wine Talk w i t h A l i c e S w i f t

Alice Swift has been writing Wine Talk since 2011, and has a passion for education and hospitality/

F&B. In 2016, she obtained her Ph.D. in Hospitality Administration from UNLV and moved from the “ninth island” to the island of Oʻahu. She now

works for Kamehameha Schools as an instructional designer/project manager, and teaches part-time for

UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality. See more at www.aliceswift.com.

By Alice Swift

As you may or may not know, I have an odd fascination with the marriage of F&B and technology. Even my education has been crossed hospitality with instructional design and (educational) technology. With the amazing advancements that we have made in the technology world, it was only a matter of time before the beverage world started exploring the crazy possibilities! You’ve probably heard of terms such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), etc. Surprisingly, these innovations have been around for multiple decades, but just never really “took off.” Do you recall inventions that began over 50 years ago, such as “Smell-o-vision,” “Sensorama,” or 3D stereoscopic films? At the time, those inventions were difficult to sustain due to the high costs associated, but they did form the foundation for film enhancements we watch today (widescreen movies, IMAX, 3D, etc.). In the gaming world, AR & VR have made a fair entry into the market, but it has only been in recent years that it has been applied to more specialized industries, like education, and more recently, food and beverage. This month, I will be sharing one particular area, generally categorized as mixed reality, and one of the applications that has recently surged in popularity in the consumer beverage world recently.What is Mixed Reality?If you think of the extremes of the environments that we reside in, we live in the “real” environment. On the other end of the spectrum is the “virtual” environment. The real environment is the one that you live in. Virtual reality immerses users into a fully artificial, simulated digital (i.e., virtual) environment. Mixed Reality, often used interchangeably with, but is also a subset of the Mixed Reality umbrella term (encompassing real, virtual, and mixed reality), is where the real and virtual environments are blended together to varying degrees. Within Mixed Reality, you have Augmented Reality, where virtual elements are overlaid them into the real world environment, to Augmented Virtuality, where reality elements are overlaid into the virtual environment. In the beverage world, I have seen some technology like QR codes being used on wine bottles, in tasting rooms and wine shops, to the vineyards. However, recently, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) began experimenting with Mixed Reality. Read on to learn all about it!

Living Wine Labels App (formerly the 19 Crimes app)Website: https://www.livingwinelabels.com/ What started as a one-time, disruptive innovation to use for one wine brand, has now spawned an entire program to take expand and advantage of the possibilities! Initially, Treasury Wine Estates sought out Tactic and J. Walter Thompson to create the 19 Crimes augmented reality app for the wine brand as a marketing tactic to draw millennials.

19 Crimes Website: http://19crimes.com/ The 19 Crimes wine label concept team drew from a historical reference to the 1700s. Beginning in 1783, those in Britain who were convicted of one of 19 crimes would be punished and sentenced to live in Australia, rather than face death. Their stories now live on through the augmented reality app. Consumers who purchase the bottles are able to use the app to scan the labels, and learn about this period in history through the criminals themselves, who tell their story. They appear to be real (or simulated through augmented reality) and speaking directly to the viewer, which makes it that much more intriguing. Due to its unexpected popularity boom, the 19 Crimes app was revamped to the Living Wine Labels app, which has since increased its wine label offerings.

The Walking Dead Website: https://www.thewalkingdeadwine.com Its most recent successes have been with the new release of The Walking Dead wine brand (brought to you by The Last Wine Company, a partnership between Skybound Entertainment and Treasury Wine Estates). This latest brand takes advantage of the cult following of the popular TV series. The Living Wine Labels app allows consumers to experience joining forces with Rick Grimes of The Walking Dead, or simulate the experience of escaping a zombie. If you purchase both bottles, you can even use them together to unlock a special experience: the final battle for survival!Other brands available on the app: Treasury Wine Estates has capitalized on this disruptive marketing program by adding to the number of wines that are now available on the Living Wine Labels app: • Beringer Bros.• Gentleman’s Collection• Chateau St. Jean (exclusive to US

and Canada)Treasury Wine Estates has maintained its double-digit growth over the past few years, likely in part due to the company’s willingness to adapt and innovate. The embracing of technology has really worked for the company, as they are willing to apply innovations to stay on the forefront of advancements. Technology really has come a long way, and it’s great to see so many companies embracing its application in their respective fields. I am excited to see the possibilities continue to evolve and grow within the beverage world. Who knows, we may one day have not only augment reality, but VIRTUAL reality experiences applied to the beverage industry (if not already)! Until next month, Cheers~!Alice


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ENTERTAINMENT FLASHES

“Gwen Stefani–Just a Girl” will be the superstar’s residency show inside Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood with 25 dates from June 27 through March 2019. Marilyn Monroe played by actress-singer Ruby Lewis will come alive when “Marilyn! The New Musical” opens at Paris in May with 20 original musical numbers telling the sexy icon’s life story.

Jeff Kutash’s original musical production “A Mob Story” will open at the Plaza in July with the last Godfather, former Colombo family capo, Michael Franzese hosting. Goo Goo Dolls will stop at The Joint at Hard Rock Saturday, Nov. 10 with their “Goo Goo Dolls-Dizzy Up The Girl 20th Anniversary Tour” celebrating the music album. Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham will return this summer with four performances of his “Passively Aggressive” tour at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. LINQ headliner Frank Marino with his “Divas Las Vegas” cast of female impersonators will become an interactive show allowing the audience via Facebook Live to vote who in the cast will perform each night. Cirque du Soleil’s “Mystère” at Treasure Island has a new open rehearsal schedule every Saturday 3–3:30 p.m. with spectators receiving a special show voucher. Barenaked Ladies will make a “Last Summer on Earth 2018 Tour” stop at Red Rock Resort with Better Than Ezra and KT Tunstall at the Sandbar Poolside Stage Saturday, June 16.Kesha and Macklemore’s tour will stop at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Saturday, June 9.Fremont Street Experience’s summer series begins Friday, May 25 with Candlebox and Cracker. Future free concerts are: June 30 SiriusXM Presents Summerland Tour 2018 starring Everclear, Marcy Playground and Local H; July 4 Billy Ray Cyrus; July 14 The Cult; Aug. 11 Molly Hatchet; Aug. 25 Halestorm; and Sept. 29 RATT and Sebastian Bach.Brooklyn Bowl and entertainment company Neo Soul Vegas are starting an ongoing concert series with R&B legends Dru Hill Friday, June 22 and soulful crooner Lloyd Saturday, Aug. 18.

Celebrity impressionist, Sean E. Cooper, a featured act for 14 years in “Fantasy” at the Luxor, received the Career Achievement Award at the second Las Vegas F.A.M.E (Film, Art, Music and Entertainment) Awards.

DINING ITEMSBomb Tacos opened its second valley location downtown with an authentic taqueria look.On May 2, Flower Child opens its first Nevada location at Rampart Commons focusing on nourishing food using organic, sustainable ingredients.In May, the Palms will introduce new premier steakhouse Scotch 80 Prime, which will have a statement window overlooking Flamingo Road and outdoor patio.Completely renovated and expanded Michael Mina Bellagio reopened with a re-imagined concept emulating fresh seafood feasts at seaside villages.Sadelle’s, New York City’s popular vintage-style restaurant and bakery, will open at Bellagio in December after Café Bellagio closes in August. Once (pronounced on-seh) is a new Peruvian restaurant in The Palazzo at Grand Canal Shoppes by Chef Ricardo Zarate. Ferraro’s Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar debuted Club Diamante, a free membership-based frequent-patrons’ program offering 10 percent off each check.Healthy casual eatery Portion Control opened its second location at 2560 St. Rose Parkway with a guilt-free gourmet menu.Twin Creeks Steakhouse at the Silverton broadened its menu to offer plant-based appetizers, entrées and side dish options.Park on Fremont started a weekly Tuesday “Name Game” promotion where three to five names are posted on social media channels. Selected names are offered free well drinks and draft beers from 7 to 9 p.m.

ABOUT TOWN CLIPSRichard Branson and partners are purchasing the Hard Rock hotel and casino, which after 2019 and renovations will be transformed into Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The guitar sign may not survive.

The VOID and ILMxLAB have created the fully-immersive VR fantasy adventure Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire attraction in the Grand Canal Shoppes at St. Mark’s Square at The Venetian|The Palazzo. The Strip’s first permanent multidimensional esports venue, Esports Arena Las Vegas, opened at the Luxor. The multilevel 30,000-square-foot arena is set up to host every form of competitive gaming from daily play to high-stakes esports tournaments.

The Las Vegas Monorail Company with zero-emissions trains has launched virtual transit ticketing with the new Google Pay app for Android phones. Grammy-nominated DJ and producer Steve Aoki’s wax figure has been unveiled at Madame Tussauds.The new seasonal display at the waterfall atrium inside The Venetian|The Palazzo features one of the world’s oldest Venetian gondolas. The Plaza hotel is opening a new fitness center, Real Results, which is the company’s second downtown location offering athletic sports style training, traditional workout equipment and other amenities.The Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo turned 23 and has more than 50 species of animals including 60 exotic birds and 300 large fish. The Mob Museum’s new Underground Prohibition History Exhibit is open with an educational speakeasy and cocktails. Las Vegas landmark, Ellis Island Casino, Hotel & Brewery behind Bally’s celebrated its 50th anniversary.Drybar with its newest outlet at the Fashion Show mall has opened three blowout hair bar Las Vegas locations in two years. Within the new meetings and conference space, which is part of the Monte Carlo’s transformation into Park MGM this spring, is the Madison Meeting Center offering 10 flexible rooms. Harrah’s is celebrating its 80th anniversary with a $140 million makeover of some guest rooms.

Brett’s By Jackie BrettJackie is a freelance public relations

specialist and writer specializing in the Las Vegas entertainment and travel scene. Her writings

have appeared in magazines and newspapers nationwide and on

numerous websites.

Email: [email protected]


COOK•EAT: Asia Asian Food Business

By K. Mike Masuyama Ph.D.

Asian foods came with migrant workers, immigrants, students or business people over the Pacific Ocean to the west coast. First Chinese came for the trans-continental railway construction and gold rush, followed by Philippine-Japanese for mining-agriculture developments, and then Thai-Laos-Vietnamese after the Indochina conflicts. Once confined among ethnic communities, they gradually spread to ethnically close people. Later some appear more often to our eyes and tongues, for exotic, appealing and tasty natures to our eating or cooking. Let’s see its progress in business. Retail: Ethnic people started living together for convenience and security. Chinatown, Japan-town or Little Tokyo, Korea-town, Little Saigon, Bangladesh-town as almost all immigrants grouped together. Their imported foods or daily necessities were sold in the beginning and later locally available ones were added. There were also mom-pop grocery stores in big cities or college towns as Asian students or business people came. Recently some of them have grown into large stores or even chain supermarkets for growing populations of ethnic descendants and new arrivals. There almost all items could sustain them to live like they did in their native countries. Furthermore, the mainstream supermarkets or gourmet stores have started carrying some in the Asian food alley. Frozen dumplings, wonton soup, yakisoba (a Japanese version of chow mein), or shrimp tempura sit next to chimichangas or burritos at Costco stores in CA. Occasionally a guy is spotted shopping for sushi materials today. Importer/Distributor: Many foods are exported from Asia through a handful of importers. The Asian food items are from respective countries or manufactured by contract manufactures often in China or Taiwan or Indochina countries, just like apparels or other made-in-Asia merchandises. Our FDA and USDA keep watching their food safety and compliance to our regulations. After imported, distributors sell the merchandise to retailers or restaurants. An import label in English tells you the origin of product, ingredients or nutrition info. Of alcohol beverages like sake, the federal and state governments impose different regulations, and importers, distributors, retailers or restaurants must carefully follow them with appropriate licenses and tax-fees.Restaurants: Asian tastes have now settled down as a part of our eating thru localization or Americanization by adjusting taste or presentation to ours. Sushi, soup noodles, or other Asian foods, you can eat at airports, resorts, cruise ships, food courts, in casinos or shopping malls. Some of them may have gone beyond the original food culture boundary, though. Those who prefer the traditional taste have a choice at authentic eating places, often at higher prices. The polarization of Asian restaurants appears to go into these two directions. Another interesting matter is a blending of Asian foods at an eating place like buffet, Kaiten (carrousel) sushi, or so-called Asian restaurants. There we would be able to eat Americanized

Mike Masuyama is a bi-cultural science-technology-business consultant. He earned a Ph.D. in Food Science

at Cornell University, is involved in teaching, research and business in major-beer, micro-beer, soft drinks,

sake, sea salt, rice, white soy sauce and other areas both in Japan and the US., and has published several books

and dozens of articles.“West Eats East” was his last series in this journal.

TRADITIONALYET NEW

www.whitesoysaucefood.com

Perfect Soy Sauce Flavor without

the Color!A golden color white soy sauce

No burnt dark soy sauce flavor

No darkening color in cooking

Remarkable for sea foods, veggies, pasta, fusion

and natural foods

Asian foods all together at one place. Fried sushi and Kimchee fried rice were my recent experiences. Not so bad! More Asian restaurant chains would come and flourish in a rice bowl, soup noodle, fast Asian-Chinese food or bento business. Food Manufactures: Today soy sauce, tofu, instant and fresh noodles, dumplings and other Asian foods are manufactured here by major Asian food companies or local ones. Among them, the made-in-USA soy sauce is the most noticeable with red or green caps. Sake, brewed-in-CA, is not bad with respect to taste and price, particularly if warmed. Locally grown Asian vegetables are good to eat fresh or cooked. For cutting shipping and import costs, more local manufacturing would come for ready-to-eat consumer products as well as ready-to-use restaurant products. Some may be able to export to Asia. There must be a good business chance for Asian foods if one is innovative.


EVENTS AD INDEXThere are several major food & beverage events coming up in the next few months. Here is a sampling of some of the events we highly recommend, so if planning to attend you can start booking now.May 5 Wine Spectator’s Grand Tour will come to The Mirage’s Grand Events Center to pour wines rated 90 points or higher by Wine Spectator with more than 200 wines available for sampling as guests mingle with top winemakers and estate owners from around the globe. grandtour.winespectator.com

May 10-13 Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Apperit, a celebration of wine, food and spirits with 30 events hosted by an array of celebrity chefs, with the highlight being The Grand Tasting at Caesars Palace on May 11. vegasuncorked.com

May 19-22 National Restaurant Association Show at McCormick Place in Chicago is the main yearly event bringing together hundreds of exhibitors featuring everything food and beverage and the systems that support the industry. show.restaurant.org

June 8-10 Coffee Fest Denver 2018 will be coming to the Colorado Convention Center exhibiting everything to do with coffee and coffee business. Good event to attend if your business serves coffee and you want to learn more about the business. www.coffeefest.com

June 12-14 the World Tea Expo at Las Vegas Convention Center will bring everything from the world of tea, with previews of new products and newly launched innovations. www.worldteaexpo.com

American Culinary Federation

Chefs of SoCal

The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional is proud to be associated with these fine organizations:

ACF-American Culinary Federation

Chef de Cuisine Association of California Chapter

Culinarians of San Diego Chapter

Chefs de Cuisine Association of San Diego Chapter

Al Dentes’ Provisions page 15 [email protected] 702-642-1100

Bivi Sicilian Vodka page 25 631-464-4050 www.bivivodka.com

Big Dog’s Brewing Company page 19 www.bigdogsbrews.com 702-368-3715

Don’t Bullsh*t Yourself! page 23 Book by Jon Taffer

Ferrari-Carano page 32 Vinyards & Winery ferrari-carano.com

Keep Memory Alive page 31 Event Center 702-263-9797 kmaeventcenterlasvegas.com

Jay’s Sharpening Service page 19 www.jayssharpening.com 702-645-0049

Riedel page 26 riedel.com

Rodney Strong page 22 Estate Vinyards www.rodneystrong.com

White Soy Sauce page 29 www.whitesoysaucefood.com

World Tea Expo page 2 www.worldteaexpo.com

CHARDONNAY SUMMER

“L i f t Y o u r G L a s s t o

s u n s h i n e & G o o d t i m e s ”

Please enjoy our wines responsibly. ferrari-carano.com

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