Third Grade Social Studies 
Appetite for the Future
What will dining be like in decades to come? We asked the state’s top chefs and foodies.
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Labor shortages will create the need for a paradigm shift. Those who understand that will make the necessary adjustments, and those who do not will ultimately fail. — William McKenna: Texas Culinary Academy, Austin.
I believe there will be much more training involved for the staff. They will educate their employees on absolutely everything related to their restaurant and dining experience. —Diana Barrios Treviño: Los Barrios, San Antonio.
Local grown; more organic — Marion Gillcrist: La Traviata, Austin.
Major decline. Fine dining will disappear in Dallas because it’s all about the scene here and not the food. — Avner Samuel: Aurora, Dallas.
That the intimidation of fine dining is gone. Most of us have relaxed our dress codes and the food network along with other outlets has educated our customers so that they feel just as at home with us in a white table cloth setting as they do in a more casual setting. — Randy Evans: Brennan’s of Houston, Houston.
Maintaining the identity, quality and value of the ingredients. Fresh, beautiful, lean healthful foods, that create personal experiences and human relationships. — Alma Alcocer-Thomas: Jeffrey’s, Austin.
I think the most significant thing in fine dining will be bringing real food back and leaving the crazy stuff behind. Some of it works but most of it is trying too hard to be weird and so called innovative. Truth of the matter is, it is only food not rocket science and it is kind of hard to reinvent the wheel every ten, twelve years. People like what they can pronounce. — Paul Petersen: Café Cenizo, Gage Hotel, Marathon.
Table side service, making a come back in the dining room, guest spending more time dining and not so rushed. — Mark Cox: Mark’s American Cuisine, Houston.
Service and ambience will become more approachable and inclusive as restaurants vie for dinning dollars. High overheads (labor and fine dinning table top costs) of operating fine dinning restaurants will push a lot of operators into casual fine dinning. With the average American continuing to increase the amount of times they dine out on a weekly basis, they will begin to trade down from frequency of fine dinning over the course of the month. — Lou Lambert: Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Austin.
Superb food, excellent wine, and impeccable service in a relaxed atmosphere is the future of fine dining in Texas. — Charles Butt, H-E-B, and John Campbell, Central Market
The relaxing of the experience. — Nick Badovinus: formerly of Hibiscus, now developing F\NB, Dallas.
Forward thinking on the part of chefs and owners concerning our impact (Foot print) on the planet, Also insuring continuing support of locally grown and sustainable products. — Andrew Weissman: Le Rêve, San Antonio.
Fine Dining is definitely going to become less serious and what we think of fine dining now is going to change and become more casual and more fun because people will no longer want or have time for three and four hour culinary experiences. — Kent Rathbun: Abacus, Dallas.
Restaurants will be more casual. Smaller (100-seat), chef-driven restaurants will be popular. More restaurants are developing in rejuvenated urban areas, such as Houston’s Midtown area. — Chris Pappas: Pappas Restaurants, Houston.
The continue democratization of the exclusive service for the homogeneous country club crowd to reflect a more richly diverse and cosmopolitan wealth base — Michael J. Cordúa: Americas, Houston.
I think that there will be more competition for the fine dining dollar in the future. — Bruce McMillian: Tony’s, Houston.
A return to simplicity is what I see coming. I think if you want to be running ahead of the pack you three words, simple, wholesome, flavorful. — Jason Weaver: French Room, Adolphus Hotel, Dallas.
I think everything’s going to shrink, whether it’s dining room or portion size. There’s a time and place for big restaurants, and I even have a couple, but I think we’re looking at a return to smaller, more intimate restaurants where you don’t have to yell to be heard and you don’t have to run ten miles the next day to work off your appetizer. — Tim Love: Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth.
No answer. — John Sheely: Mockingbird Bistro, Houston.
Moving toward sustainable practices. Eating locally and seasonally. — Rebecca Rather: Rebecca’s Table, Fredericksburg.
Trend: Bar Dining in Fine Restaurants. Once just a holding area, the bar has become the heart beat of a restaurant. A decade ago, you thought you were a pariah if you were escorted to eat in the bar (except of course for the avant-garde & the ultra cool). Now people fight for tables in the bar. The trend is nothing more than a mirror of the times — people are drawn to where the laughter is.
A big trend in fine dining is the trend away from traditional fine dining. Fine dining is too quickly handcuffed to the confines of formality. [Someone recently told me — to be label a special occasion restaurant is the kiss of death. Where do you generally see men all formally dressed in coat & tie? — at a funeral.] Great food (simple & not over manipulated), great wine & fun — that’s now the chant of today’s diner. Fine dining restaurants of the future will prefer to be called “Fine Informal” or “Fine Casual”. —
Robert Del Grande: Café Annie, Houston.
17. Are independently owned restaurants an endangered species? What will we miss most when all restaurants are operated by corporations?
Yes, rents are getting outrageous. Investors expect 1.5 year paybacks, and these owners aren’t hands on enough. We will miss having the little guy remember who you are, your favorite wine..oh and waiting an hour to get a table because they don’t take reservations. Lastly, most consumers don’t really care either way…they just want to eat and will settle on average and below to save a few bucks and time. People sometimes comment to me that ‘you are expensive’, then I ask where they eat and what they spend and when I break it down for them on paper…its often only $10-$15 difference for 2 people between us and a say large seafood chain…see my answer below…unless the consumer cares or frankly can tell the difference we will all be fighting for the same core customer. — Lance Fegen: Glass Wall, Houston.
Ho! The independent restaurant will always be around. Passionate independent owners will prevail! —Chris Ward, Mercury Grill, Dallas.
We will miss the hospitality the uniqueness and the comfort. Corporations will not be able to match the passion and love poured into independent operations. — David Bull: Bolla, Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa, Dallas.
Independents will always sprout, the spirit of creativity and enterprise won’t fade. That’s human nature. Only that the successful independents grow and become larger corporations — Damien Watel: Bistro Vatel, San Antonio.
A specific clientele will always exist to dine at independent restaurants, due to their affiliation with the local community and products. The power of corporations lies in their ability to brand, market and research the demand for more definitively specific types of cuisine and price points. Both types of places have value, but a locally owned business will always have more meaning. A new outfit from Nordstrom’s is a great present, but something that you made yourself is extraordinary. — Tyson Cole: Uchi, Austin.
Yes—trusting the chef and knowing that the owner is in the same dining room you are in and will be there to take care of any problem you might have.
—Charles Clark: Ibiza & Catalan Food & Wine, Houston.
Not as long as I am alive. What will we miss most when all the restaurants are operated by corporations? The personalities owner operated restaurants always produce such a wide variety of interesting folks, if it does become endangered then hopefully dinner clubs will come back into style. — Bryan Caswell: Reef, Houston.
Read 16 for Jeff Blank’s Answer.
The independent restaurant is not endangered. We are on the brink of having an explosion of talented young food and beverage professionals who are looking to redefine he way Texans think about a quality dining experience. And that experience is going to take place in independent restaurants. — Jeb Stuart: Shade, Houston.
Sadly, I believe independents will continue to decline. Chains have tremendous buying power and political clout these days. Politically speaking, they have suggested requiring higher minimum wages and employee benefits for foodservice employees, which could effectively put most independents out of business. Though I don’t see this passing any time soon, there is little resistance by the independent crowd as we are all busy and poorly organized as a group. Even our political representatives like the TRA find much more advantages to supporting the needs of Outback Steakhouse over the mom and pop soda shop. There’s more money at stake. It wouldn’t surprise me to see independents squeezed down to less than 5% in the next 5-10 years. It will be a sad day when every menu in the country includes fried cheese, nachos, queso dip, wings, and potato skins, We’ll miss the unique nature of what independent chefs can create instead of what corporate chefs can bank on. — Jon Bonnell: Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, Fort Worth.
Yes, endangered yet doing well in captivity.
We will miss soul. The feeling of knowing that your going to be taken care of from the second you walk in the door. True, honest and genuine service. — Jason Dady: The Lodge, San Antonio
No they are not — Bruce Auden: Biga on the Banks, San Antonio
(First part of question): yes. (Second part): personality. — Anthony Bombaci: Nana, Hilton Anatole hotel, Dallas.
See above. No way, in fact, every small independent upscale restaurant plays an indispensable role in developing new cooking styles while protecting the traditional comforts found in the classics. — Stewart Scruggs: Wink, Austin.
As long as there are conscious people about how the world will work when we're gone, independent restaurants will remain. But it won't be as glamorous it will be a sacrifice of life for the love of food -- David Garrido: formerly of Jeffrey’s, now developing Garrido’s, Austin.
Unfortunately, yes. We will miss the ability to discover new things and fine, young talent. — John Tesar: Mansion Restaurant, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek hotel, Dallas.
This will never happen. — Dean Fearing: Fearing’s, Ritz-Carlton hotel, Dallas.
(First question): No.
(Second question): Firstly — real food. Made with quality products & integrity in cooking preparations. Mass produced food is void of quality & good energy & as a result — true flavor. Lost will be a true dining experience and a sense of eating for fulfillment and not just to fill a stomach. — Lisa and Emmett Fox: Fino, Austin.
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