On the Front Burner

• Chicago chef launches underground dinner series
  Former "Top Chef" winner Stephanie Izard has a lot on her plate. She's the chef of The Drunken Goat and in February will open another Chicago restaurant. Her latest venture is a series of Internet-organized movable dinners called The Wandering Goat, in which she offers 100 people the chance to eat her cuisine family-style for a price. The popular underground dinners, which she started in late summer in Chicago, have sold out within minutes. Chicago Tribune (11/1)

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Restaurant News

• Restaurants turn to specials, discounts to lure customers
  Restaurants from Morton's The Steakhouse to Outback Steakhouse are offering specials to bring in more customers as sales and traffic continue to fall. Outback has turned to buy-one, get-one-free coupons, while Morton's and other high-end restaurants are revamping their menus to include smaller dishes that cost less. The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) (11/1)

• A fresh team at the top for Dunkin' Donuts
  Nigel Travis, the new president and CEO of Dunkin' Donuts, said he wants the company to focus "more on operations and the linkage with marketing." He said he plans to open more locations to drive sales, and he has hired new heads of communication and human resources. Advertising Age (11/2)

• New York: From small town to restaurant haven
  A former New York Times restaurant critic has chronicled the rise of NYC from a Dutch village to the diverse restaurant haven of today in a new book. In "Appetite City -- A Culinary History of New York," author William Grimes traces New York's first taste of Parisian fine dining to a small French cafe that opened in 1827. Grimes also credits the city's proximity to forests, wetlands, farmlands, bays, oceans and rivers for its ability to offer dishes with a variety of ingredients. The New York Times (free registration) (10/29)

Innovation & Ideas

• Do's and don'ts for restaurant servers
  This blog post offers 50 guidelines for restaurant servers who want to keep customers coming back. The list ranges from the basic, such as greeting everyone who walks into the restaurant, to the more unique, such as having the servers not announce their names. The New York Times/You're the Boss blog (10/29)

• Getting inventive with cheese
  Cheese may be a standby, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring. Substituting more unusual cheeses such as gruyere, cotija and havarti into traditional menu items can create completely different dishes. Incorporating cheese into a deep-fry batter also offers a chance to try something that's rare in the quickservice world but could yield intense results. QSR Magazine (11/2009)

Menu Trends

• Pizzerias put more craft brews on tap
  As craft American brews increase in popularity, restaurateurs are teaming them with pizza dishes to increase their bottom lines. Pizzerias such as Brixx, a North Carolina company, are finding that beer can contribute as much as 10% of sales. The pizzerias also hope that offering more local and craft brews will help them entice patrons who otherwise would frequent bars. FastCasual.com (10/28)

• Young Chinese are flocking to foreign cuisines
  More young Chinese diners are embracing foreign food, thanks to the rising incomes of city dwellers and more than 5,000 restaurants serving non-native foods. Popular cuisines include Western, Turkish, Italian, Australian and German. French-Japanese fusion food has particularly resonated with diners, says Xu Meng, general secretary of the Beijing Western Food Association. The Christian Science Monitor/Global News blog (10/28)

Featured Content

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by readers in the past week.

• How restaurants are using social networks (RIMag.com)

• McDonald's lures French by appealing to local tastes (The New York Times)

• Ruth's Chris restaurant debuts catering service (American City Business Journals)

• The perfect dinner date may feature burgers (The New York Times)

• Craft beers juice pizza chains' sales (FastCasual.com)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Public Policy News

• Louisiana restaurants fight proposed FDA oyster ban
  A proposed Food and Drug Administration rule that would ban selling raw oysters in the summer has drawn fire from the Louisiana Restaurant Association. The association says the regulation is "particularly offensive" to its members, many of which offer oysters in traditional state dishes. The FDA rule would require oysters harvested between April and October to be sterilized to help prevent the spread of a lethal bacterium. United Press International (10/30)

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Association News

• Registration now open for NRA Show 2010
  Register now for the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show at the $30 "early bird" special rate and save more than 60% until Dec. 1. Registration is only $85 for both NRA Show 2010 and the International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event -- separate registration/qualifications required to enter IWSB. NRA Show 2010 is scheduled for May 22 to 25, 2010, at Chicago's McCormick Place. Register today for NRA Show 2010 and IWSB 2010!

• Go green with NRA Conserve
  The National Restaurant Association's Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability initiative helps restaurants "go green" without breaking the bank. The initiative's Web site -- Conserve.Restaurant.org -- guides you to reducing your environmental impact without hurting your bottom line. Use the Virtual Green Restaurant tool to learn about the host of no-cost and low-cost options that can be implemented in any restaurant, large or small.

Editor's Note

• What is your strategy for success in the upcoming year?
  Look out for the National Restaurant Association SmartBrief Year-End Report on Dec. 8 and 15. The results of this poll will appear in Part 2 on Dec. 15.

	A focus on sustainability.
	Promoting the value of our products and menus.
	Exploring online options, such as social media for marketing, and online reservations.
	Keeping costs low.
	Introducing more healthy menu options.

SmartQuote

Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory." --George S. Patton Jr., World War II general