Besides being great brunchers, the babes have a gift of being great networkers. We want to spread the good word of BRUNCHINEE to all foodies in NYC and throughout the world. We recently joined Culintro, a professional organization based in NY that provides great resources and panel series to those in the food/culinary industry. Culintro’s mission is to establish a source that will provide insights on major trends, access to business professionals, and serve as a gateway to influence industry development.
Culintro holds several panel series and networking events throughout the year and on Wednesday evening, the babes attended their panel series titled Restaurant Design: Stretching Boundaries at The Gabarron Foundation and you better believe we will be attending future events.
Before the actual panel, Culintro hosted a cocktail reception sponsored by Veev an Acai flavored liqueur that drinks like a vodka and is made from 100% all natural ingredients that are picked in the Brazilian Rainforest. Veev is the first and only distilled spirit made from the acai berry. Veev also contains vitamin C rich cherries and prickly pears that are said to help combat hangovers. This sounds like a great liqueur to use for brunch drinks doesn't it? (Yes, somehow everything written on here always goes back to brunch. Get used to it. hehe) In addition, Veev donates $1 per every bottle purchased towards the conservation of the Brazilian tropical rainforest. Anything to protect nature.
The babes headed over to the drinks table where the bartender was mixing 3 different drinks from the Veev cocktail menu. On the menu were the Spa Cooler (Veev acai spirit, lime juice, simple syrup, mint and cucumber), the Acai Mojito (Veev acai spirit, lime juice, and sample syrup w/ mint leaves) and the Veev It up (Veev acai spirit, club soda, lime wedge).
We grabbed our spa cooler and mojito and went over to a nearby table and chatted with 2 nice ladies that shared their love for brunch with us. One of the ladies is a writer for a food and wine magazine and the other works for Certified Angus Beef. We bonded over our love of steak and eggs for brunch and shared some of our favorite brunch spots. Always nice to chat it up with fellow foodies!
After the cocktail hour we proceeded downstairs where the panel series took place. The panel series was sponsored by Hospitality Magazine and Sam Tell, a New York based foodservice equipment and supply distributor. Stacy Shoemaker Rauen from Hospitality Magazine spoke about the different restaurant design trends that she has seen in New York, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Toronto, California and Chicago. This topic of conversation is important in regards to brunch because the design of the restaurant will make an impact on your experience. The design is just as important as the food that you serve. You want people to feel a certain comfort when they visit your restaurant. The design helps set the tone.
Some of the trends that were discussed were the idea of less is more, the homey feel, the different use of art and graphics, and bringing the outdoor in. Here are some examples of restaurants in NY that use these trends: Ma Peche (less is more), Wildwood BBQ (homey feel), Hudson Hall (use of art and graphics) and Zengo (bringing the outdoor in).
The panel series continued on with panelists, Elle Kunnos de Voss from The Metrics, a design consultant agency and Chef John Fraser the creator of the pop-up restaurant currently in SOHO, What Happens When. What Happens When is a temporary 9 month restaurant installation located in Cleveland Space (btw Lafayette and Spring St.) This restaurant transforms every 30 days giving its patrons a different culinary, visual and sound experience. Now in its 4th month, What Happens When is part of a new trend of pop-ups that will be seen in the restaurant scene more often. Currently, What Happens When is serving a New Orleans inspired meal and will switch over to an Asian inspired cuisine on June 7th. We cannot wait to try this pop-up restaurant before it closes in October!
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| Elle Kunnos de Voss, Chef John Fraser, Rep from Sam Tell |
When people walk into a restaurant, the design dictates what the person could expect from the restaurant. People gravitate towards that homey feel, that certain vibe that makes them excited and keep them coming back. We believe that the reason why people keep coming back to a certain restaurant is not only because of the cuisine (of course this is important) but the design/feel/ambiance of the restaurant also contributes to the overall experience.
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