Protein

What better springboard for seafood innovation than Lent? Seafood consumption up, and there’s a general uptick in excitement around seafood. The pathway to success follows two strategies that walk hand-in-hand today: flavor and sustainability.

At Modern Market - a fast casual based in Denver that serves farm-fresh, artisan food, including wholesome grain bowls, modern salads and toasted sandwiches - director of culinary operations Nate Weir talks about how he worked to source exactly the right salmon, then showcased it in a Curried Salmon Bowl LTO, before developing a Salmon Caesar Salad that quickly became the No. 2 seller in the overall menu mix.

Serving more seafood will help customers improve their overall quality of life. Here are 8 seafood nutrition facts curated by the Seafood Nutrition Partnership servers can use to seal the seafood sale.

Meat remains center stage, but flavor innovation can really drive menu differentiation. We cover the what, where and why for innovating with meat.

Unique breadings, global sauces, inventive formats and sustainable sourcing paint a picture of the elevated fried seafood landscape of the future.

This Grass-Fed Aussie Beef Sous Vide in Grass-Fed Butter is a prime example of a modern entrée that pays serious attention to both flavor detail and integrity of product.

Barbecue today invites experimentation—melding Korean with Texan, Carolina with California. It also encourages a push outside of traditional barbecue formats, moving into bar bites and shareables, and adapting flavor systems that don’t typically see a play in barbecue.

Chicken moves into stardom when chefs show it some love, developing recipes that are delicious and trend-forward. Here are three dishes that stand out—each bringing a different approach to a very familiar protein.

Innovating with wings showcases the constant need to update, tweak and improve—even on proven classics

Signature Flavor: “This dish is a sensory roller coaster. You get smooth, creamy, briny, crispy, smoky, salty, sour—all in one bite.”

Altabira City Tavern offers a Ribeye with poblano potato purée, melted leeks, wilted arugula, sautéed oyster mushrooms, roasted cipollini demi-glace

Coolinary Café offers Rabbit Sausage & Noodles with Spanish onion, olives, shiitake, oyster and trumpet mushrooms, jalapeño, broccolini and kale

Nico Osteria offers a Lobster Spaghetti Pasta infused with lobster roe, blanched lobster meat, lobster miso sauce, guanciale and spring onion

Quiznos offers a Lobster & Seafood Scampi Bake: Garlic-baked lobster and seafood, mozzarella, mushrooms and onions, tomatoes, aïoli, served on artisan bread

Okeechobee Steakhouse offers a Cowboy Ribeye: slow roasted and served with housemade au jus

Bessou offers Chicken Karaage: Japanese-style fried chicken with Moroccan spices, potato salad, shiso tzatziki

Publican Anker offers Fried Shrimp with pepper jelly, pickled shallot, chive cream cheese, chow-chow, fresh mint, cilantro

True Aussie Beef & Lamb offers Madras Curry Lamb Sliders with yogurt-mint-lime sauce, cucumbers and arugula

Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile offers Braised Short Rib with candied pork belly and Mission fig reduction