Isaac and Amanda Toups on Cajun Food, Southern Traditions + Why ‘Whole Hog’ Is a Buzzword

October 20, 2016 by Olivia Terenzio Leave a Comment

Just over a week ago, Isaac and Amanda Toups opened the doors to Toups South, a restaurant in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) in New Orleans. As a museum restaurant, Toups South is tasked with showcasing the flavors and culinary traditions of the South — a tall order, considering the region’s signature dishes range from barbecue to crawfish étouffée and represent countless distinctive communities from Texas to the Carolinas.

Toups South is the couple’s second concept. Toups Meatery, which they opened in 2012, boasts “straight Cajun” offerings like lamb neck, confit chicken thigh, and authentic cracklins. The Meatery helped Isaac win the attention of Top Chef, where he competed in Season 13 (and won “Fan Favorite”).

Now, just days into their new opening, we talked to Isaac and Amanda about real Cajun food — what makes it special, why stories matter, and why people are listening.Continue Reading

We Have a Winner! Reem Assil to Open Reem’s Arab Street Corner Bakery

September 12, 2016 by Olivia Terenzio Leave a Comment

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Last spring we at OpenTable launched a contest to help one restaurateur fund his or her dream project. In conjunction with the release of our How to Open a Restaurant guide, we called on the restaurant community to tell us about the restaurant concepts they wanted to open and enter a competition to win our grand prize, worth more than $38,000 total. In August, after narrowing down the entries with the help of a trusted panel of New York restaurateurs, three finalists launched Kickstarter campaigns to raise money for their restaurant projects.

Today, we are thrilled to announce that Reem Assil is the winner of our Restaurant OPEN 2016 contest! Reem raised more than $50,000 through her 40-day Kickstarter campaign — far surpassing our $35,000 goal — and is well on her way to opening the doors to Reem’s, her Arab street corner bakery in Oakland, California.

“One of the greatest things about this competition was really to help me celebrate the evolution of Reem’s over the past year,” says Reem. “I’m really fortunate that I have a backing behind me and people who really believe in Reem’s and want to see it as an anchor establishment, the way I envision it.”

The dream of Reem’s was born in a street corner bakery in Beirut, Lebanon six years ago, when the scent of za’atar, yeasted bread and sweet orange blossom syrup inspired Reem to bring the Arab bakery experience to the Bay. She worked as a community and labor organizer for a decade before dedicating herself to a culinary career and is now part of the food business incubator program, La Cocina. Offering traditional Arab street foods combining traditional flavors and local, organic ingredients, Reem aims to nurture a strong, vibrant, welcoming community in her Oakland neighborhood.

“The larger work I’ve had to do — and am still really excited about doing — is being the visionary and talking about the larger project of Reem’s,” she adds. “It’s not just a food establishment, but an anchor establishment that provides really good jobs for the folks living in the community and a space for people to gather and learn about Arab culture and history and politics in a way that nobody’s ever done before.”

To recap, here’s what’s included in Reem’s prize package:

A 12-month subscription to OpenTable’s flagship Guest Center product, plus access to the world’s largest diner network and a credit on cover fees
A full set of professional All-Clad pans
A set of 25 Hedley & Bennett aprons
25 annual memberships to the online content from Journee, a community for restaurant professionals
$15,000 cash to put toward your project

Read on for our full Q&A with Reem below!Continue Reading

Dining Room, Oyster Bar + Institution: Inside Shaw’s Crab House

August 25, 2016 by Olivia Terenzio Leave a Comment

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“Either you’re an oyster bar guest or a dining room guest,” says John Gurgone, General Manager at Shaw’s Crab House.

Shaw’s is the 31-year-old Chicago institution known for its simply steamed seafood, and as John points out, the restaurant offers two distinctive but equally iconic experiences. On one hand, there’s the dining room: 330 seats, white tablecloths, 17 servers at a given time, reservations strongly recommended. This is where tourists come in after architectural tours and where locals gather for business lunches or to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries.

The oyster bar is a separate room entirely, with around 95 seats available exclusively for walk-ins — a mix of bar seats, high-tops, and casual wood tables. Oysters, predictably, are the main event: the centerpiece of the room is an oyster shucking station, where at any given time 12 varieties are served (six East Coast, six West Coast).

Otherwise, the menus are largely the same, but it’s the vibrant atmosphere that sets it apart: a live band plays jazz and blues music every Sunday through Thursday. Here’s how the two spaces work together. Continue Reading

Help 3 Finalists Open a Restaurant! Our Restaurant OPEN 2016 Kickstarter Contest Is On

August 1, 2016 by Olivia Terenzio Leave a Comment

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Earlier this year we released our How to Open a Restaurant guide and launched a contest to help one aspiring restaurateur fund his or her dream project. After narrowing down the entries with the help of a trusted panel of New York restaurateurs, last month we announced our three finalists: Christopher Fehlinger, Reem Assil, and Robin Song. Today, they each launched Kickstarter campaigns to raise money for their restaurant projects!

Over the next 40 days, we’ll be cheering on Christopher, Reem, and Robin as they make progress towards their funding goal of $35,000. On September 9, the contest ends, and the finalist who has raised the most money will be declared the winner.

To recap, here’s what’s included in our grand prize, worth more than $38,000 total:

A 12-month subscription to OpenTable’s flagship Guest Center product, plus access to the world’s largest diner network and a credit on cover fees
A full set of professional All-Clad pans
A set of 25 Hedley & Bennett aprons
25 annual memberships to the online content from Journee, a community for restaurant professionals
$15,000 cash to put toward your project

Ready to follow along and lend your support? Get to know the finalists and check out their campaigns below.

Christopher Fehlinger, Clyde

Restaurant: Clyde, a new take on a wine bar, restaurant, and event space — paired with a modern design store — focused on accessibility.

Location: Denver, Colorado

In Christopher’s Words:

Clyde is the culmination of three decades of restaurant experience re-examined with a new passion. We are excited to create a neighborhood hub that offers an all-day refuge for food and wine lovers alike. At Clyde, we also look forward to creating solid jobs in a booming industry in a growing city. More importantly, we hope to nurture the next generation of restaurant professionals and to create career opportunities. Clyde is also our youngest French Bulldog, who some say controls our thoughts.

There are several components (revenue centers) to Clyde that will work in synergy. At the heart of the project, though, is a wine bar built around an affordable and accessible collection. Our goal is to offer 500 labels — most under $80 — along with a few higher-end selections for special occasions. As part of our commitment to create unique and memorable experiences for our guests, we will open just about any bottle for you to try a glass or two. It’s just more fun this way.

A rustic menu of impeccably sourced and simply prepared dishes will partner with the wines, yet stand on its own. Loosely based on the shared plate format, Clyde will offer about 20-25 selections for $25 or less, including traditional starters and entrees along with small plates. And awesome bread, because somewhere along the way restaurants forgot that was a thing people loved. Larger format meals such as standing racks, roasted suckling pig and large, line-caught fish will be available for groups to pre-order and taste with our chef.

Follow Christopher’s Kickstarter campaign here to learn more about Clyde’s modern design store, happy hour, coffee and pastry program, pre-opening pop-ups, and much more.Continue Reading