{"id":25600,"date":"2018-09-21T08:09:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T12:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/the-modern-entree\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T11:34:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:34:58","slug":"the-modern-entree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/the-modern-entree\/","title":{"rendered":"The Modern Entree"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Taking a cue from other menu parts, chefs amp up the flavour and value proposition for entr\u00e9es<\/h2>\n<p>With so much attention paid to flavourful shareables, bowls and bar bites, consumers\u2019 expectations have shifted. Chefs are taking a second look at how they develop the modern\u00a0entr\u00e9e. In our most recent research tour we saw hundreds of examples. Based on observations from our research tours, we\u2019ve pinpointed a number of entr\u00e9e updates.<\/p>\n<h3>1) Seafood stars<\/h3>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/keep-seafood-top-mind-after-lent\">fish and shellfish<\/a> shining bright as healthful protein choices, chefs are giving seafood a modern, flavour-forward treatment.<\/p>\n<p>First, we noticed salmon dishes boasting complex flavour layering, with aromatics, interesting veg-centric sides, at least one sauce, and varied cooking techniques, creating dramatic plate presentations.<\/p>\n<p>Menu Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Duo of BC Halibut &amp; Salmon with sweet pea and smoked bacon risotto, Chilliwack corn nage\u2014Flying Pig, Vancouver<\/li>\n<li>Saumon Poch\u00e9: Lightly poached Atlantic salmon served cold on a salad of red quinoa, with fennel, candied ginger and asparagus sauce\u2014Le Select Bistro, Toronto<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Secondly, we saw an increase in skin-on fish entr\u00e9es, with most of cooking on the skin side, on a flat grill, char-grill or saut\u00e9 pan, allowing it to cook until crispy.<\/p>\n<p>Menu Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Arctic Char with cauliflower pur\u00e9e, shaved celery\u2014Fairfax, NYC<\/li>\n<li>Crispy Arctic Char with Japanese soba noodles, toasted sesame seeds, grilled peppers, and pickled carrots\u2014Chew, Winnipeg<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2) Beefing it up<\/h3>\n<p>There were a lot of entr\u00e9es built around <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/new-directions-for-the-canadian-steakhouse\">value cuts and smaller portion sizes, <\/a>with more intriguing garnishes, sauces and accompaniments.<\/p>\n<p>The short rib is a favourite, slow cooked until tender. (We also encountered the chuck flat, from the shoulder, that\u2019s reasonably priced and yields the same texture.) This classic comfort food was served in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n<p>Menu Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Guava BBQ Beef Short Rib with guava BBQ sauce, chimichurri, topped with crispy onions\u2014La Cubana, Toronto<\/li>\n<li>Beef Short Ribs Bowl with sweet potato noodle\u2014Gyodonya, Vancouver<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Value cuts that yield great flavour also are finding favour, with modern dishes starring skirt steak, flank steak and the bavette, cut from the sirloin.<\/p>\n<p>Menu Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bavette with chimichurri and grilled lettuce\u2014Tanto, Toronto<\/li>\n<li>Steak &amp; Fries: Beef flank steak with ma\u00eetre d\u2019h\u00f4tel butter and vegetables of the day\u2014Taverne Gaspar, Montreal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3) Pork power<\/h3>\n<p>We saw braised pork shoulder getting play on menus, like the Pork Butt with a Dark and Stormy Glaze, red peas, and fried pecans at Roister, Chicago, but it\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/recipe\/portuguese-pork-vina-dosh\">pork chop<\/a> seeing a menu makeover in many restaurants. The presentation of a thick-cut chop standing up in its whole state has morphed into new plating.<\/p>\n<p>Menu Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pork Butt with a Dark and Stormy Glaze, red peas, and fried pecans\u2014Roister, Chicago<\/li>\n<li>Double Thick Pork Chop with garlic bread, kosher dill pickles and crisp french fries\u2014Barberians, Toronto<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4) Playing chicken<\/h3>\n<p>Chicken is another entr\u00e9e where flavour innovation and plate presentation are really astounding. Two techniques stood out.<\/p>\n<p>First, chefs are serving chicken as whole as possible, spatchcocking (removing the backbone), or splitting the chicken and semi boning it, roasting or grilling it or even deep-frying. Second, there\u2019s stuffed chicken. At Eden in Chicago, boneless skin-on breast was rolled around a stuffing of leg meat, then roasted. At a Roqa in New York, the leg was stuffed with ground chicken, then roasted.<\/p>\n<p>Menu Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stuffed Chicken Supreme with spinach and goat cheese stuffing, herb potatoes, chef\u2019s vegetables, confit garlic demi\u2014The Maple Leaf, Banff<\/li>\n<li>Mediterranean Chicken: Skinless breast of chicken stuffed with spinach, feta and fresh dill in a creamy white wine sauce, served with a choice of potato and fresh vegetables\u2014The CattleBaron, Alberta<\/li>\n<li>Stuffed Chicken Breast Supreme, grilled then oven-baked and stuffed with spinach, goat cheese, roasted peppers and pine nuts\u2014Eden Trattoria, Toronto<\/li>\n<li>Chicken leg with za\u2019atar stuffing\u2014Fairfax, NYC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>5) Duck, Duck, Delicious<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/ideas\/duck-gets-a-leg-up\/\">Duck<\/a> leg innovations continue. Instead of confiting, you can just roast them in the oven and get a crispy crunch on the outside with a moist and tender inside.<\/p>\n<p>Menu Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Smoked duck leg with carrot, soy marinated honey mushrooms, field peas, asparagus and smoked pecan grenobloise\u2014Laloux, Montreal<\/li>\n<li>Pappardelle and Duck Rag\u00f9\u2014Ask for Luigi, Vancouver<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taking a cue from other menu parts, chefs amp up the flavour and value proposition for entr\u00e9es With so much attention paid to flavourful shareables, bowls and bar bites, consumers\u2019 expectations have shifted. Chefs are taking a second look at how they develop the modern\u00a0entr\u00e9e. In our most recent research tour we saw hundreds of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,68,123,112,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-culinary-ideas","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Modern Entree | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/the-modern-entree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Modern Entree\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Taking a cue from other menu parts, chefs amp up the flavour and value proposition for entr\u00e9es With so much attention paid to flavourful shareables, bowls and bar bites, consumers\u2019 expectations have shifted. Chefs are taking a second look at how they develop the modern\u00a0entr\u00e9e. In our most recent research tour we saw hundreds of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/the-modern-entree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-21T12:09:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T15:34:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Entree-Intro-Salmon-Idea-Center-695x375_0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"695\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cody.rivers@gfs.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Modern Entree | Gordon Food Service","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/the-modern-entree\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Modern Entree","og_description":"Taking a cue from other menu parts, chefs amp up the flavour and value proposition for entr\u00e9es With so much attention paid to flavourful shareables, bowls and bar bites, consumers\u2019 expectations have shifted. Chefs are taking a second look at how they develop the modern\u00a0entr\u00e9e. In our most recent research tour we saw hundreds of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/the-modern-entree\/","og_site_name":"Gordon Food Service","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","article_published_time":"2018-09-21T12:09:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T15:34:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":695,"height":375,"url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Entree-Intro-Salmon-Idea-Center-695x375_0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cody Rivers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cody.rivers@gfs.com","twitter_site":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cody Rivers","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/des-plats-principaux-modernes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/des-plats-principaux-modernes\/"},"author":{"name":"Cody Rivers","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374"},"headline":"The Modern Entree","datePublished":"2018-09-21T12:09:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T15:34:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/des-plats-principaux-modernes\/"},"wordCount":700,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/des-plats-principaux-modernes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Entree-Intro-Salmon-Idea-Center-695x375_0.jpg","articleSection":["Catering &amp; 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