Bites & Sips: Carrot Glow Ups and Butter Gets Even Better

Innovation is the lifeblood of menu development, with countless new items invigorating restaurant brands and energizing the industry as a whole. While many of these may not evolve into long-term trends with major-league status, they still represent valuable niche opportunities to perk up offerings and generate buzz. Each month, we’re serving up a platter of ideas that aim to create a connection with customers and deliver a promotional pop.

Sometimes the most valuable ingredients are hiding in plain sight. That’s true for the carrot, the humble, ubiquitous root vegetable that’s easily taken for granted. Lately, however, it’s been getting second and third looks based on its menu stretch, ready availability and customer acceptance.

Recently opened in New York City, Stars is a wine bar with an eclectic menu that rated a strong review from The New York Times on the basis of food standouts like Carrots & Herbs, in which raw carrots sub for wonton skins and are stuffed with raisins and pepitas. The Sumac Roasted Carrot Sandwich at Michelin-recognized Troubadour in Healdsburg, Calif., is a fun, funky, unexpected use of the veg as a sandwich filler. It’s surrounded by pumpkin seed pesto, ricotta, pickled red onion, Parmesan, arugula and gomashio, a condiment made with toasted sesame seeds. And Tender Greens kicked off 2026 with Carrot Hummus Toast, an LTO that capitalized on the growing popularity of Mediterranean dishes and included whipped feta, a sprinkle of za’atar and a drizzle of golden balsamic.

But wait, there’s more: Carrots are also having a moment on drink menus, too. Death & Co, an influential bar operation based in New York City, has long used carrots in specials like Fault Line, an unconventional take on a Negroni that combined aquavit with artichoke-flavored Cynar and a small measure of carrot eau de vie. More recently, the Carrot Gimlet was a juicy, gin-focused quaff with an herbal, spicy carrot flavor; Tunnel Vision celebrated spring with a piña colada riff that featured carrot and coconut; and Root & Rye lived up to its name with a mix of carrot and rye that’s been described as savory and complex.

At Golden Rule in San Francisco, house cocktails include the photogenic Draymond, an unexpected mélange of Punch Fantasia (an Italian liqueur), carrot punch, Cognac, nutmeg and mastika, an aromatic Greek liqueur. Carrots are among many vegetables turning up at the bar at Lost Fox in St. Paul, Minn., where Baited Fate mixes pastis, carrot juice, ginger liqueur, dry vermouth, lemon and blue spirulina oil, for what the menu correctly bills as a “a little something you weren’t expecting.”

No longer relegated to the side of the plate and with a strong assist from chef creativity, the carrot is more than ready for its menu close-up.

Butter Amp Ups

One of the hallmarks of the comfort foods/nostalgia macro-trend is the return to prominence of retail bakeries buoyed by a combination of factors, such as the increasing popularity of Korean concepts like Paris Baguette and the addition of an Outstanding Bakery Award category in 2023 to the James Beard Foundation.

Moving on a parallel growth path and reflecting these developments is the steadily rising sales of butter, which has staged a major comeback owing to the ban on trans fats and the larger rehab of animal fats. For chefs and bakers, of course, butter never lost its luster, and on many menus, it remains an irreplaceable utility player that elevates every dish it accompanies.

Sometimes the elevation is literal, as at New York City’s Quality Bistro, where Butter Service Garni consists of a tableside cart in which a tower of butter is broken into generous slabs. Compound butters are made to order and served with accompaniments like artisanal bread and jambon cuit. Priced at $48, the item is a shareable intro course.

Also towering is the pretty bread-and-butter tableau that greets diners upon entry to Cassis, a new bistro in Milwaukee. A rustic basket stuffed with baguettes next to a butter tower on a rustic table, it sets the stage for the dining experience to follow.

Butter has long been the starting point for compounding with the addition of ingredients both savory and sweet.

From the savory perspective, Sqirl, an iconoclastic café based in Los Angeles, recently launched dinner with a bread service that boasts fermented Jimmy Nardello butter, named for the newly rediscovered Italian sweet pepper. Chicken Liver is layered with celery butter, Agnolotti sits in a ricotta whey butter sauce, the Cabbage entrée is spiked with fermented yuzu butter sauce, and the Kombujime Black Cod comes with dill-laden whey butter.

The Cheesecake Factory’s indulgent Baked Brie with Truffle-Honey Butter is a new addition to the bites section of the menu, while Firebirds Wood Fired Grill offers several long-running, patron-pleasing entrées like Filet & Shrimp with key lime butter sauce and Roasted Garlic Sirloin with roasted garlic-thyme butter sauce.

Sweet butters score, too, as at Texas Roadhouse, where bread is served with cinnamon-honey butter, or Sarabeth’s, where orange butter accompanies muffins and breads. At The Grey, award-winning independent in Savannah, Ga., the menu reflects its Southern origin with sorghum butter.

Butter consumption in the U.S. is at an all-time high of seven pounds per capita, and its versatility and promotability offer opportunity to operators and augur well for continuing growth.

Innovation Ramps Up

With the advent and extraordinary growth of digital technology and AI, some restaurateurs are embracing the countertrend of hands-on analog innovation. In fact, last year Fast Company magazine named the Oyster Master Guild (OMG) as one of its top 10 foodservice innovations of 2025.

The group is dedicated to education and promotion of the bivalve, which historically has had relatively low penetration on American menus. It confers certification to professionals who have completed required course work in areas like tasting, handling, shucking and presentation as well as service standards. Southerleigh Fine Food and Brewery in San Antonio sits among the restaurants that have engaged newly minted OMG pros, with its chef receiving a certification.

While it remains a niche item for most operators, especially those located inland, consumption of the briny bivalve is growing. In 2022, oysters made the National Fisheries Institute’s top 10 seafoods for the first time. Improved aquaculture and availability, the growth of raw bars and seafood bars, and the propensity of most diners to consume the item away from home will drive traffic. And the arrival of the OMG certification will likely promote trial for neophytes and return orders from old salts.