Flair Factor

In today’s culinary landscape, menu items need to grab attention and deliver big on the flavor and artistic experience. One way chefs are answering the call is by incorporating high-impact accents to food and beverage offerings. After all, a well-calibrated accent fulfills multiple roles; it’s a hip, decorative garnish, a flavorsome and functional textural element and an overall enhancement to primary flavors. It also heightens a menu item’s perceived value, further enticing guests.

But for as fancy as some finishers and garnishes may appear, they rarely require a menu overhaul or extensive effort. Here we outline six standouts within traditional and emerging accents, highlighting their elevated aesthetics and strong culinary narrative. All offer an ease of operational execution, seamless implementation and an alluring proposition for consumers.

1 Traditional Accents

Traditional fancy accents have an established anticipation and staying power for a reason. They stand on their own merit and can effectively serve as a grounding component to bridge any unfamiliarity when introducing more modern dishes. We are seeing old-school accents become loaded with new-school swagger when their finishing touch is integrated creatively—and deliciously—within a dish.

Tuile

Tuiles are a stylish fine-dining mainstay and ripe for inventive updates. Its epicurean status can easily find purchase in all levels of foodservice operations, thanks to a wide variety of sizes and shapes, as well as comforting appeal. Tuile’s much-adored thin-crispy texture can be transmuted into numerous sweet, savory and cheesy adaptations. On a textural note, crunching into or breaking apart a tuile transforms eating into an adventure.

Menu Sighting

• Pesto Sundae: basil-lemon granita, pine nut–honey ice cream, cheesy pine nut tuile
  —Valentine, Phoenix

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• Creamy Avo-Edamame Dip with Spicy Tuiles: creamy avocado-edamame-white miso dip + rolled black sesame–togarashi tuiles

Quenelle

The streamlined, three-sided oval shape of a classic quenelle delivers a refined touch as an artisanal counterpoint to the typical dollop or scoop. Accents with a deliberate look offer a pleasing visual contrast when paired with rustic elements, such as a quenelle of vanilla ice cream atop hot apple cobbler. This relatively minor upgrade pays dividends, positioning a dish as a premium item.

Menu Sighting

• Salmon Tartare: citrus-marinated salmon, avocado mousse, mascarpone quenelle, golden tostadas
  —Telefèric Barcelona, multiple locations

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• Harvest Wild Rice Soup: Carolina gold and wild rice + butternut squash + roasted chicken soup + green herb-goat cheese quenelle

Brittle

The prized, thinly shattering snap of traditional brittle or the thicker, layered crunch of a honeycomb brittle provides a stark tactile contrast to softer elements in a dish. This triggers a pleasurable sensory response of what’s to come, before the first bite is enjoyed. Brittle’s effect works equally well in casual and refined presentations, making it quite the versatile accent. Furthermore, contemporary inclusions of nuts, seeds, coffee, chiles and spice can make the traditional familiarity of brittle feel new again.

Menu Sighting

• Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding: miso caramel, sesame chip gelato, cocoa nib brittle
  —Little Dom’s, Los Angeles

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• Cabo Crunch Pork: thick-sliced slow-roasted pork loin + black beans + huitlacoche fondue + salsa macha peanut brittle crumbles

2 Emerging Accents

As chefs build their plating arsenal, specialized ingredients and modern culinary technique are driving a new age of fancy accents that exude craftsmanship. New discovery clears the path for ingredients that strike a gotta-try-it sentiment among consumers—and it’s especially true for younger consumers who seek out approachable sophistication. This new class of flourishes not only provides novelty, it also signals that thoughtful care and attention were put into guests’ modern dining experience.

Credit: Hungry Llama | Met Her at a Bar

Fancy accents play well across the beverage category; Hungry Llama’s Iced Whipped Honey Latte is finished with bee pollen, while the Cotton Candy Mimosa Flight at Met Her at a Bar features glittery cotton candy in fruity flavors.

Bee Pollen

A seamless finishing ingredient touch of bee pollen granules weaves both a unique textural contrast and healthful floral accent. Bee pollen is an emerging nutritional powerhouse that adds subtle sweetness and chew to an array of menu concepts, enhancing everything from desserts and cocktails to pancakes, oatmeal and breakfast parfaits. Likewise, it artfully balances savory, earthy and herbal dishes like roasted vegetable sides, grain dishes, salads, soups and more.

Menu Sighting

• Iced Whipped Honey Latte: double shot espresso, milk, ice, signature whipped honey, sprinkle of bee pollen
  —Hungry Llama, New York

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• Pollinator French Toast: brioche French toast + hot honey–glazed berries + pink peppercorn crème anglaise + bee pollen granules

Foam

Foams have become a culinary canvas for ingredient play and preparation styles, making the category an ongoing springboard for innovation. A stabilized foam accent is an easy way to add intriguing mouthfeel, visual height and a nuanced dimension.

Emerging areas of menu implementation include alcohol infusions with the likes of beer foam on a michelada or ginger foam on a mule. Bold foam variations may encompass an intense chocolate foam or dark berry foam paired with creative desserts. Emerging savory foams run the gamut, from aromatic and herbal to vegetal to spiced. A colorful foam introduces unexpected texture to a cocktail, creamy horseradish foam pairs sublimely with roast prime rib, vibrant citrus brightens grilled seafood and aged Parmesan foam brings umami to apple galette.

Menu Sighting

• Maple Cheesecake: huckleberry, kokuto, graham crumble, Nikka whisky foam
  —Zuma, Vail, Colo.

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• Sunrise Surprise Bowl: griddled hash browns + soft scrambled eggs + fine shredded cheddar + smoked bacon foam

Fairy Floss

Sparking conversation by adding a sense of whimsy and theater feels spot-on in today’s dining world. That’s exactly the type of role “fairy floss” so wonderfully plays. Here, restaurants look to the realm of cotton candy in making a bold statement. It’s a distinctive and joyful finisher that can carry new flavor infusions and colors. Emerging global variations are taking hold, too. One such variation is Persian pashmak. For those not familiar, pashmak is a form of Iranian hand-pulled cotton candy (sugar-vinegar syrup and toasted flour) known for its surprisingly dense, wispy, thread-like consistency that lusciously melts in the mouth.

Menu Sighting

• Cotton Candy Mimosa Flight: Three flavored mimosas with three cotton candy glitter bombs in blueberry, strawberry and piña colada flavors
  —Met Her at a Bar, Los Angeles

Try This

• Persian Parfait: vanilla Greek yogurt + sliced fresh strawberries + cardamom rosewater pashmak + chopped pistachios