Chef-inspired Crunchwraps, Cava’s all in on ranch, and a visit to Bluestone Lane

On this week’s podcast, Pat Cobe, senior menu editor of Restaurant Business, and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, share highlights from their recent eating and drinking excursions.

Both editors attended a media preview of Taco Bell’s chef-created Crunchwrap Supremes. The chain tapped three emerging chefs to come up with variations of this wildly popular menu item, and the results included Indian and Thai versions as well as a Southwest-style hot chicken.

It was all part of Taco Bell’s TBX culinary collaboration program, and the attendees got to taste the three Crunchwraps from the TBX truck parked on the street in NYC’s Soho neighborhood. The truck also popped up in two other locales last week so consumers could sample the creations and offer feedback. We think the Southwest chicken has a chance of making it onto the Taco Bell menu but the other two may be a little too far out.

Bret also attended a Cava event at a country & western bar in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Williamsburg to celebrate the launch of the fast casual chain’s Garlic Ranch Pita Chips. The tie-in between ranch as a flavor and “ranch” as an icon of the American West was a little shaky, but Bret enjoyed the new chips and a Ranch Water cocktail, among others.

Ranch is so ubiquitous a flavor and ingredient, and we agreed that it’s not going away anytime soon. Americans love to dip anything and everything into ranch dressing.

Australian coffeehouse Bluestone Lane was also a recent stop on Bret’s itinerary. It’s known for its personalized service, and he reported that he did get extra-special attention along with his flat white. And Pat took a trip to Cape Cod and treated herself to a lobster roll done in the Connecticut style — hot and toasty with lots of melted butter. She also enjoyed a New England specialty: fried clam bellies.

Speaking of clams, we share a conversation with Sammy Monsour, chef at Joyce Soul & Sea in L.A. and an ambassador for the Food for Climate League, where he is promoting sustainable bivalves like clams, as well as sea vegetables. October is National Seafood Month, and Monsour describes how he sources and prepares fresh seaweed, sea lettuces, and mussels at his restaurant. He also talks about his advocacy work with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and other nonprofits to help chefs and consumers make smarter choices when it comes to farm-raised and wild-caught seafood.

Monsour and his wife, Kassady, also co-authored the recently released cookbook “Salt & Shore,” a collection of personal recipes and stories of coastal fishermen around the U.S. Give a listen.

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Menu Talk is a collaboration between Restaurant Business Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. You can subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts.