Posts from the ‘International Intrigue’ Category

Aug 15

Spanish Sandwich Invasion

As much as I enjoy keeping up with American brands permeating the universe (good luck to Spam positioning itself as luxurious in China) I get most excited about foreign chains staking claims on US soil and attempting to pushing their fast food on us.

The latest venture is Spain’s 100 Montaditos, selling inexpensive 5” sandwiches. Can ingredients like thinly sliced chorizo or blue cheese between crispy rolls compete with five-dollar foot-longs? So metric.

Up until now I was only familiar with chains Pans & Company and Bocatta, which I have patronized in Spain despite the availability of montaditos at most run-of-the-mill tapas bars (above is a typical version, jamon and green pepper, from a random courtyard bar in Bilbao–I stopped by Pans & Company afterward because I needed to use the bathroom and ended up buying another sandwich). So far, the company has one branch in Miami, plans for Union Square and then total US domination. Seriously, 4,000 American restaurants over the next five years is certainly ambitious.

I am particularly interested in how they’ve localized the menu for the US. 100 Montaditos does serve alcohol in Miami, but the cheapest glass of wine is $3.50, inexpensive but not Spain inexpensive, i.e. 1.50 euro ($2.14) a glass. I’m glad to see they’ve also kept the tinto verano (red wine and Sierra Mist). Olives, chips and French fries with dipping sauces are served in both countries as sides while the nachos were dropped for the US.

We also are missing some of the more esoteric of the 100 sandwiches like the sweet and sour pork with Chinese salad, the Mexican one with veal and salsa, those with gulas, a.k.a. baby eels. In exchange, we’ve gained, pulled pork, hummus and sweeter sandwiches employing peanut butter, jam and cream cheese as well as one that contains squares of Hershey’s Cookies and Cream bar. I guess Americans like bbq, candy and mashed chickpeas?

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Aug 11

Chain Links: America Does Not Yet Run on Dunkin’

Similar to how some Americans cite the arrival of a Thai restaurant to indicate gentrification (I don’t fully agree with this) you know you’re on your way up when your country gets a KFC. Nairobi’s middle class is growing and Galito’s had better watch its back.

All we hear about is drug violence, but that doesn't mean there is no place for Red Lobster, Olive Garden and The Capital Grille in Mexico. Darden's SVP of business development said, "With its growing middle class and strong affinity for American brands, Mexico is an attractive growth market for Darden."

I’m mildly embarrassed that I didn’t know Nestle Toll House Café even existed until I saw one in the flesh at Woodbridge Mall (apparently, I'm stuck in the Famous Amos, Mrs. Fields era). The Middle East is savvier than I and Kuwait will be welcoming one. Dubai already had a branch.

If you live in the Northeast, you might be under the impression that Dunkin’ Donuts dominates everywhere. Not so in Europe where the only presence is in Russia, Germany and Spain (where it’s just Dunkin’ Coffee since rosquilla is used to describe a fried, frosted ring of dough). This will change if Dunkin’ Donuts has its way.

Dunkin’ Donuts also has problems in its own country, and it wants to win over those west of the Mississippi. We had them when I was a youngster, but they’ve since disappeared from the Northwest. (I might be one of the only defenders of The Killing, but when they made a reference to Dunkin’ Donuts I cringed.) Everyone is so indie on the West Coast (not true) that the company will likely have to market to lower income folks who are too poor and/or uneducated to give a shit about coffee varietals and artisanal breakfast pastries (those who abhor chains might enjoy the maple bars, a regional specialty I never knew was regional, at Coco in Portland—it was only one block from my hotel so I could not resist).

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Aug 10

And What About P’Zones?

Everyone’s getting back to basics. McDonald’s has expunged McFalafel from its Israel locations and Olive Garden is shying away from “culinary forward” dishes like pear and Gorgonzola salads and concoctions like the made-up-sounding pastachetti that was giving me pause earlier this year. There is no such Italian thing. Same goes for soffatellli.

I assumed rollatini and rollata were also Olive Garden inventions, but it turns out there’s nothing non-traditional…about the words, at least. Lasagna Rollata al Forno is purely R&D-derived.

I’m only surprised that chains don’t invent authentic-seeming-to-English-speakers dishes more often. The only other example I can think of off-hand is Taco Bell’s enchirito. There must be more. Anyone?

Items like chimichangas that have been widely adopted as real don't count.

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Aug 10

¡Dairy Queen® para toda ocasión!

Last week a gentleman dressed like Cookie Monster, or rather El Monstruo ComeGalletas, proposed to his girlfriend in a Dairy Queen somewhere in Mexico.

As usual, the most important part of the story has been omitted. Was the ring hidden in something edible or not? They do sell Chips Ahoy ice cream sandwiches, after all.

Photo: Dairy Queen (en español) on Facebook

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Aug 4

Chain Links: Blizzards and Ice Storms

Russia is ideal for American fast food. People earn less than in the US, but customers are willing to pay more. A Papa John’s pizza that would cost $14 the US, sells for $21.62 in Moscow. Buffalo chicken, complete with Tabasco, blue cheese and celery has been a best-selling topping.

You can get beer delivered with your Russian Papa John’s, but Starbucks is not making any concessions for regional vices. Smoking is not allowed in their Russian coffee shops, a rarity for the country.

By now we’ve all heard about the fake Apple stores in China, but it doesn’t stop there. Dairy Fairy, which serves an Ice Storm instead of a Blizzard, bears a striking resemblance to Dairy Queen. According to the Wall Street Journal, at least. I don't think it's quite as uncanny as the Ikea copycat.

The real DQ will open in Guatemala in October.

Photo credit: Melissa Powers/Wall Street Journal

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Jul 19

Regional Food Representing

You would think that photos of the same dish, even from the same restaurant, would all blur together. Yet, I usually recognize mine when I see them (I easily spotted my bacon maple bar while scrolling through rss feeds). When poking around MyCityCuisine, a new wiki collecting dishes from all over the world, I immediately stumbled upon a familiar kaya toast pic. Of course, I went straight to Singapore first.

I’ve been on a big Filipino food kick lately so I went to the Manila page and learned about champorado, which I thought was only a Mexican thing.

It’s a useful site and should get better the more that people contribute. If anything, the US section could use some beefing up. There are only ten cities listed so far and Madison, Wisconsin is kicking the rest of the country’s ass with all sorts of regional oddities. Booyah? I would add something for Portland, Oregon, but all I can think of is jo jo potatoes.

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Jul 13

Chain Links: Burger Barrage

I feel like I should be excited by Steak 'n Shake coming to NYC but I'm not, and it's not an international chain anyway.

Giaffras sounds more like my kind of chain: cute animal mascot, long history, strong branding and fast foodizing a cuisine we don't have much of in the US. The Brazilian steak and burger restaurant just opened in Miami. Please bring your estrogonofes and parmeggianas to NYC.

Pret a Manger is crossing the Chunnel and its name could cause problems in France. How gauche is a restaurant called Ready to Eat Food? Wait till Pink Taco shows up in Paris.

In a northwest to slightly less northwest move, Vancourver B.C.'s Vera's Burger Shack will be opening in Portland's Pearl District. As a crusty old-timer, I couldn't patronize in this so-called Pearl District that didn't exisit in my day. (Reading Eater PDX in preparation for my rare trip back home is blowing my mind with neighborhoods I've never heard of: N. Mississippi, Foster-Powell, Central Eastside Industrial, Alphabet District…what?)

Hardees in Kazakhstan will bring “real, American-style charbroiled burgers to the market.”

I'm not sure what Carl's Jr. will import to Indonesia.

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Jul 11

Cheek By Jowl

It’s not that surprising that the warren of tiny makeshift living spaces captured by The New York Times is populated by Chinese.

Just a few months ago the newspaper published a similar feature about the “mouse people” of Beijing. At least they have ceilings.

If you need any further proof of China’s boom and NYC’s extremes, look at the prices: $80 in China’s capital versus $100-$200 at 81 Bowery. I guess that makes Manhattan’s cubicle homes a better deal?

It’s certainly not an unheard of dwelling style in China and Hong Kong, and probably lots of other places around the world. Photographer Michael Wolf’s photo series, 100×100, captures residents of the 100-square-foot rooms of Hong Kong’s oldest public housing complex (since torn down).

I’m impressed that cooking is still given consideration. Even in such abbreviated space, most seem to have a rice cooker, mini-fridge and teapot, many also with hot plates or microwaves. I probably shouldn’t complain about my typically scrunched Brooklyn-sized kitchen again.

Photo credits: Annie Ling/NYT, Sim Chi Yin/NYT, Michael Wolf

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Jul 11

I’m Loving It

There are a lot of dark horses in Technomic’s 50 fastest growing chains (with sales of $25 million to $50 million). I’d never even heard of breastaurant Brick House Tavern + Tap, in the number one spot. And they happen to have one in South Plainfield, right in the section of New Jersey where I run monthly errands. Beer bongs after Target and Costco? I’m serious about this.

Most surprising, though, was Loving Hut, a vegan, mildly culty restaurant I blogged about not so long ago, appearing at number 13. I guess a lot of people dig Supreme Master Ching Hai and/or veggie burgers.

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Jun 30

Egg Foo Young Makes the World Go Round

“Dai Sonxian soon discovered that Libyan women were far larger than the women she dressed in China. So she decided the family would instead profit by feeding them.”

Now that’s entrepreneurial. I’ve always been fascinated by the ubiquity of Chinese restaurants around the world, particularly in cities with few fellow countrymen.

I’ve never been in a non-Asian foreign place long enough to justify eating at a Chinese restaurant (though I did eat sushi in Mexico City, not really on purpose) but I’ve definitely seen a few examples in Latin America and Spain. I spotted Meimei recently in Pamplona and Nuevo Siglo was on the same block as my apartment in San Sebastian. The menus at both seemed very Cantonese and not wildly different from what you’d find at an Americanized Chinese restaurant

Nearly every time we’d walk past at night, one of the worker’s daughters would be out fooling around on the delivery motorcycle totally asking for trouble. Sure enough, one time she fell off and the bike toppled over on her and she started yelling “¡Ayúdeme.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen a small Chinese kid speaking Spanish before. And yes, James helped her up.

Bombs be damned, al-Maida, the Chinese restaurant in Tripoli featured in the above-mentioned Washington Post article, has a fourquare mayor.

And in Kabul you can play with guns and kittens at Chinese resturant, The Golden Key.

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