Ask A Chef: Wahlburgers Dishes on Menu Trends, Retail Partnerships
MEET PAUL WAHLBERG
PW: I find it everywhere. You never know what you are going to run into or what kind of conversations you are going to have. When you talk about food from your past, something always pops up, and then trying to turn that into something contemporary really helps out. You may run into a vegetable and think, “This would be good with X,” or you may run into a method of preparation and think, “Oh my God, this would be amazing with Y.” You never know where it is going to come from. I think about food all the time.
PG: What’s the hottest trend you see in the food world right now, whether in restaurants or retail?
PW: There was a re-emergence of comfort foods as people hunkered down, and plant-based items are huge. Comfort food is a core thing for people that puts people at ease, in a state of mind. From-scratch cooking is huge now, too.
PG: Food trends can be all over the place, so do you have to avoid getting too crazy or you risk alienating customers?
PW: At the end of the day, we are a burger joint, so we have to stay true to the core of what we do. That, to me, is the most important thing.
PG: Do you ever feel constrained?
PW: Absolutely. We are more constrained by the equipment piece of it. We don’t have a lot of equipment that you would see if [we were] more of a full-service restaurant. We don’t have any ovens on the line, so I can’t make anything that requires an oven. You want to get a little more creative or experimental, but it is hard.