Page 11 - VIRNA 2017 JAN-MAR

Food as Theater
Every month, Karisma Hotels & Resorts brings together top chefs and
sommeliers in back-to-back events as part of its Gourmet Inclusive
Experience. Owners and guests at Karisma resorts on Mexico’s
Riviera Maya are invited to participate in the Jackson Family Wine
Culinary Series and Canadian Beef Series, by Karisma. Each week-
long event kicks off with a beach barbecue meet-and-greet, followed
by demonstrations, cooking classes, chef’s tips, vertical tastings,
and expert wine pairings. The events culminate in the Guest Chef and
Wine Master Dinner, prepared live and served in Karisma’s palapa-style
Fuentes Culinary Theatre.
“People can ask questions of the chef and the wine personality. It’s
a truly interactive experience and wonderful culinary entertainment,”
Hanlo says. “We have chefs calling in saying, ‘Hey, I want to be a part of
this.’ We can handpick them.”
Dining is an integral part of the Karisma Gourmet Inclusive
Experience. Every resort has as many as 15 restaurants on-site,
each offering a unique experience. Le Chique — a AAA Five Diamond
Award–winning restaurant at Azul Sensatori Mexico, a Gourmet
Inclusive Hotel in the Riviera Maya — is billed as a multisensory dining
adventure, from its sleek, modernist decor to seasonal tasting menus
featuring foods that are deconstructed, then reconstructed to resemble
something else. Nothing is what it seems: Spheres are cocktails.
Entrees masquerade as dessert served on a pedestal or resting on
a sling. Textures and flavors are designed to puzzle and amaze.
JOYÀ at Vidanta Riviera Maya turns the concept of dinner theater
up a notch by immersing diners in the magical world of JOYÀ, the first
Cirque du Soleil show to include a dining experience as part of the
performance. The resort’s chefs created a three-course meal to mirror
the different acts of the show: Bread is shaped like bonsai trees, an
appetizer plate emits the fog of the forest, the menu can be dipped
in salsa and devoured. Staged in the specially constructed Cirque du
Soleil Theater on-site, JOYÀ is the product of one of many successful
partnerships Grupo Vidanta has embarked upon to add excitement
to its brand.
Getting the Details Right
“We started out in the restaurant business as more of an amenity for
our guests, then we really knuckled down and focused on the quality
of the experience and the quality of the food,” says Mark Waltrip, chief
operating officer of Westgate Resorts. Today, the developer operates
about 50 restaurants and bars within its properties in popular vacation
destinations throughout the U.S.
A small team of food and beverage executives and chefs meticu-
lously develops branded dining concepts — everything from gourmet
gastropubs to the award-winning Edge Steakhouse at Westgate Park
City Resort and Spa in Park City, Utah. In just four years since it opened,
the restaurant has earned accolades for its menu, including wagyu beef
from cattle raised to the strict standards of American Kobe, wild-caught
fresh fish and seafood flown in daily, complemented with locally sourced
and organically grown produce. The restaurant was recently named one
of the 10 Best Restaurants in Park City, Utah, by USA Today.
“It comes down to three things: You have to have great food,
you have to have great service, and you have to have a great sense
of place,” Waltrip says. With a particular demographic and market
in mind, the team shops the competition and fine-tunes the menu in
Westgate’s Orlando test kitchen. While food is the star, Waltrip believes
the details, such as the seating plan, matter.
“We really look at every seat in the restaurant and we visualize,
Would I be happy sitting at that table?” he explains. “My dream of a
perfect restaurant is like what we did with Edge Steakhouse in Park City.
You walk into that restaurant and there’s a perfect table for everybody.
That, to me, is the ultimate design of a restaurant, creating a comfort
zone where people are happy with the table you walk them up to.”
Instead of the standard booths lined up along a wall, leaving half the
dining party with a view of the wall and the other half trapped behind the
table, Edge mixes circular banquettes with freestanding tables to give
every diner a view of the elegant decor.
“It’s not about just plating up food and kicking it out the door,” Waltrip
says. “It’s really focusing on the details of the guest experience, from
the menu design to the presentation, the type of plateware we use, and
the seating arrangement. Whether we’re doing casual or fine dining, it’s
making sure we ask ourselves this fundamental question: Is this a place
I would want to eat?”
Farm to Fork
A commitment to sustainability is expected these days, says Brandon
Maeda, director of food and beverage for The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean
Resort Villas in Maui, Hawaii. “Nowadays, people are very savvy and
aware of what’s going on in the culinary world. They want to know where
you source your food from. Is this fish being caught responsibly? Where
did you get your cheese? If you’re not being sustainable, if you’re not
using local products, people are not as attracted to you.”
Indeed, 68 percent of American consumers say they are more likely
to visit a restaurant that offers food items from nearby producers, accord-
ing to the National Restaurant Association. Headlining its 2016 Top Food
Trends are locally sourced meats, seafood, and produce, as well as
hyper-local food such as herbs and vegetables grown on the premises.
The regional Italian dishes on the menu at The Westin Ka’anapali’s
Pulehu, An Italian Grill are made with vegetables purchased from island
farmers, fresh fish, and local products such as cheese from Maui’s
Surfing Goat Dairy. An on-site aquaponics garden — a chemical-free
environment in which underwater plants are nourished by the by-
JANUARY – MARCH 2017 RESORTDEVELOPER.COM VACATION INDUSTRY REVIEW
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ABOVE:Top chefs and sommeliers come together as part of Karisma Hotels & Resorts’ Gourmet Inclusive Experience to wine, dine, teach, and tantalize
owners and guests with weeklong interactive food and wine experiences. BELOW: From the types of plateware chosen to the depth and breadth of
its wine collection, Westgate Resorts tends to all the details when it comes to creating a successful on-site restaurant, such as Edge Steakhouse.
Procuring sustainable seafood and local fish and produce
are priorities for community-minded Lakeside Seafood & Grill at
The Huronic Residences at Living Water in Collingwood, Ontario.