Meat-Free Burgers and a New Kind of Chocolate: Hotels Enhance Their Summer F&B

This month, Courtyard by Marriott is rolling out its new summer menu at The Bistro Bar, showcasing a selection of fresh summer classics with a twist. Each season, the brand refreshes The Bistro Bar’s menu, and this summer’s will be available through the end of September. New menu items include: a summer squash flatbread—thin-crust pizza grilled and topped with zucchini, yellow squash, roasted red-pepper tomato sauce, basil pesto, and goat cheese; watermelon and tomato salad on a bed of arugula and sprinkled with goat cheese, pickled red onions, and a light lemon vinaigrette; greek yogurt topped with fresh strawberries, tangy lemon custard, and crunchy shortbread cookies; a mango margarita combining Patron silver tequila with mango syrup and fresh lime juice; and Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has created a new spin on its global line-up of cocktails known as Classics Perfected 2.0: ‘The Decades’. Created as a spin-off to the first Classics Perfected menu released in 2015, the revitalized menu pays homage to some of the most fascinating cocktails in history and was designed by a team of mixologists known as the Fairmont Tastemakers. In April 2019, the Tastemakers gathered at New York City’s The Dead Rabbit to ideate, collaborate, and create the new cocktail collection, which will be rolled out to all Fairmont Hotels & Resorts globally throughout the summer. The new collection celebrates ten of the most iconic cocktails crafted throughout the decades of the 19th and 20th centuries, including modern takes on the French 75, the Mai Tai, and the Old Fashioned made with premium spirits and house-made syrups, juices, and bitters.

As consumers increasingly opt for plant-based foods, Interstate Hotels & Resorts, a third-party hotel and resort management company, is partnering with Beyond Meat. From July 15 through October 31, 2019, Interstate’s restaurant and banquet menus will feature recipes using the plant-based Beyond Burger, which is designed to have a meaty taste and texture with the added health and sustainability benefits of plant-based meat. No two Beyond menu items will be alike across Interstate’s portfolio—from enchiladas to meatballs and truffle mac and cheese burgers. The company said it wanted to reach all guests with menu options that appeal to vegetarians and vegans as well as meat-eaters by offering more impressive plant-forward entrees that still deliver all the flavor, aroma, and beefiness of traditional burgers.

This summer, Omni Hotels & Resorts is adding passion fruit-infused cocktails and fare with the latest rendition of the Omni Originals culinary series, which launched in 2017. The Summer of Passion Fruit will include menu items like a salmon poke bowl with passion fruit aioli, avocado, cilantro, sweet chili, wonton crisps, and sesame seeds; a watermelon and kiwi salad with baby bok choy, almond, fennel, and a passion fruit vinaigrette; jackfruit tacos al pastor with passion fruit salsa, salsa verde, radish, onion, cilantro, and lime; smoked ribs with passion fruit barbecue, pickled onions, and peppers; and a passion fruit yogurt pop made of passion fruit curd, Greek yogurt, and white and dark chocolate.

The Peninsula Chicago, a five-star Michigan Avenue hotel, is among the first in Chicago to unveil desserts made with the fourth type of chocolate after dark, milk, and white. Home to The Chocolate Bar, The Peninsula Chicago will introduce Ruby, which was discovered by Barry Callebaut, a chocolate and cocoa manufacturer, and first launched in Asia in 2017. This new chocolate is made with ruby cocoa bean, which grows in Ecuador, Brazil, and the Ivory Coast, according to Barry Callebaut. Ruby has a berry fruitiness and smoothness and contains no added flavors or colors, despite its pinkish hue. In June, The Peninsula Chicago’s Executive Pastry Chef Dimitri Fayard began incorporating Ruby throughout the pastry and dessert program at The Peninsula Chicago with creations like a strawberry mascarpone tart with whipped Ruby ganache, raspberry rose Pavlova with Ruby cream, and a Ruby chocolate bark.

The Graham Hotel Georgetown has created a summer cocktail special at The Graham Rooftop to accompany the Georgetown BID’s Sunset Cinema at the nearby Georgetown Waterfront Park. Each Tuesday from July 9 to August 6, the rooftop venue will offer a themed specialty cocktail to pair with the movie screening. For “Under the Tuscan Sun,” the cocktail “Where you are is who you are” will include strawberry pucker, dry vermouth, Aperol, and tequila blanco, while “Little Miss Sunshine” will pair with the “I’m so glad you’re here” cocktail—firewater, lime, grapefruit, maraschino liquor, and mescal.