Latest news with #ItalianCuisine
Arab News
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Recipes for success: Chef Ritu Dalmia offers advice and a tasty dal recipe
DUBAI: Few chefs have had a journey as dynamic and influential as Ritu Dalmia. From her early days in the family stone business, she has become one of India's most celebrated chefs and restaurateurs. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ Frequent work trips to Italy sparked her love for Italian cuisine, eventually leading her to open Mezza Luna in Delhi and Vama in London. Today, she is the force behind several acclaimed restaurants in India, Italy and the UAE, including her latest venture, Atrangi, in Dubai. Beyond her achievements in the kitchen, Dalmia is widely recognized as a leading entrepreneur and social activist. She has authored three cookbooks, hosted TV shows and continues to mentor aspiring chefs. Here, Dalmia discusses common kitchen errors, her favorite comfort food, and the small but meaningful rituals that elevate everyday cooking. When you started out, what was the most common mistake you made? Adding too many elements into a dish. It's imperative not to stray from the main flavor, or the hero, of the dish by adding too many unnecessary elements. I still make mistakes, but that's the thrill of being a chef. You are not a robot programmed to churn out a fixed model. What's your top tip for amateur chefs? Play amazing music when you cook. A cook in a good mood always cooks a good dish. I would also say that whenever a dish calls for garlic, roast the garlic first. What one ingredient can instantly improve any dish? Hing, which is also known as asafoetida. Use it in tiny quantities to add depth, fragrance, and a subtle umami richness to dishes. When you go out to eat, do you find yourself critiquing the food? It's shameful, but yes. I really don't know how to let go and enjoy a meal. In fact, most of my friends refuse to eat out with me. What's the most common issue that you find in other restaurants? That they spend a lot of money on décor and hardware, but not much on talent, both in the kitchen and service. What's your favorite cuisine to order? I love Asian food and junk food when I eat out. Dim sum bars are a favorite. What's your go-to dish if you have to cook something quickly at home? A khichdi — a one-pot meal with rice, lentils and vegetables; easy ingredients packed with flavor. This humble dish can be elevated to another level with toppings and garnishes. What customer behavior most annoys you? When they click their fingers to call the server to their table. Or when they ask for one dish to be divided in three or four portions. We even had one guest who requested that their soft drink be divided in three! What's your favorite dish to cook ? My aunt Chanda was an amazing cook — a trait which, unfortunately, my mother didn't share. Every time we visited Chanda in Calcutta, she would make a yoghurt khadi which was so fragrant and packed with herbs. Years later, when I was writing a cookbook, I begged her to tell me why her khadi was so different. She told me her secret was to add roasted crushed fennel and fresh coriander after the kadi was made and cover it for five-to-seven minutes. It's a dish I make at least two or three times a week. I do it with a bowl of rice and some potatoes with cumin and the world suddenly seems to be a better place. What's the most difficult dish for you to get right? Way too many to recount. As a boss, what are you like? Are you a disciplinarian? Or are you more laidback. You want my dirty secrets out? (Laughs.) I'm very disciplined and hardworking, and yes, I do lose my temper, and my vocal cords would make any speaker company proud. I've mellowed out a lot with age, but there is still scope for a lot of improvement. I'm learning that it's unfair to have unrealistic expectations, and that that harms both my team and me. Chef Ritu's moong dal khichadi with vegetables Ingredients: 2 tbsp ghee ½ cup moong dal ½ cup Gobindobhog rice (or basmati rice) ½ tsp cumin seeds 1 bay leaf 1 pinch hing (asafoetida) 2-inch piece ginger, grated (~1 tbsp) 1 green chili, chopped (optional) ½ red onion, finely chopped 1 tomato, chopped Salt, to taste ½ tsp turmeric powder ½ tsp red chili powder ½–1 tsp garam masala 1 cup mixed vegetables (carrot, peas, cauliflower) 3–3½ cups water (adjust based on desired consistency) Instructions: 1. Prep the dal and rice Rinse moong dal and rice together in water 2–3 times until the water runs mostly clear. Soak for 10–15 minutes while you prep the other ingredients. Drain before cooking. 2. Cook the tempering Heat ghee in a pressure cooker or deep pot over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, let them sizzle for a few seconds. Add bay leaf and a pinch of hing. Stir in grated ginger and green chili (if using), sauté for 30 seconds. Add onion and cook until translucent (2–3 minutes). 3. Add tomato and spices Add chopped tomato, cook until soft (3–4 minutes). Mix in turmeric, red chili powder, and salt. Stir well. 4. Add vegetables, dal and rice Add chopped vegetables, soaked dal and rice. Stir everything together to coat well in the spices. 5. Cook Add 3–3½ cups of water depending on how soft or porridge-like you want your khichadi. For pressure cooker: Cook on medium heat for 2 whistles. Let pressure release naturally. For pot: Cover and cook on low, stirring occasionally, for 25–30 minutes until soft and creamy. Add more water if needed. 6. Finish Once cooked, stir in garam masala and let it rest for 5 minutes. Adjust salt or spices to taste. Add a dollop of ghee on top if desired. Serve hot with: A side of yogurt or pickle A drizzle of ghee Papad or a simple salad for crunch
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
10 Reasons This Popular Italian Restaurant Is No Longer America's Favorite Casual Dining Chain
What happened to Olive Garden? At some point down the line, it clearly lost its way. The restaurant chain has been around for decades, and made its name offering affordable and accessible versions of Italian classics to the masses (even if every now and again it shot itself in the foot with its, shall we say, brave attempts to create new dishes). This formula worked exceptionally well for Olive Garden, and until recently, its owner Darden was rubbing its hands together at the fact that the restaurant was America's top casual dining chain. However, in 2025, things took a turn for the worse for the brand. Olive Garden was knocked off the top spot by Texas Roadhouse, which pulled ahead in popularity with a massive increase in sales, to become the biggest casual dining option in the United States. Olive Garden, meanwhile, was seen to have stagnated in its sales in the last few years, giving the steak chain the opportunity to start dominating. So what happened? Where did Olive Garden start to go wrong, and why has it been struggling to keep its customers in the last few years? In this article, we've got everything you need to know about Olive Garden's fall from grace. Read more: The Ultimate Ranking Of Texas Roadhouse Steaks It's fair to say that Olive Garden has been resting on its laurels for a while. The restaurant operates with an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality, which you can see in its unwavering menu. Unfortunately, this lack of innovation (and perhaps investment) has meant that competitors like Texas Roadhouse have been able to surge ahead by combining a rock-solid growth strategy with an understanding of what customers want. One big reason cited for Texas Roadhouse's overtaking of Olive Garden is the public's increased taste for steak in a post-pandemic world. While Texas Roadhouse is obviously helped here by being a steak chain, it's arguable that Olive Garden could have cottoned onto this too, and pushed or expanded its steak choices. Instead, it allowed Texas Roadhouse to swoop in. What's more, Texas Roadhouse invested significantly in its staffing and operations processes and supercharged its new store growth, which paid off massively. Oh, and it's also managed to keep its prices low despite inflation, whereas Olive Garden ... hasn't. While Olive Garden does use certain ingredients to keep its prices lower, it appears that isn't enough anymore. One of the big things that Olive Garden has always hung its hat on is its affordability. For years, folks could rely on the promise of an Italian (or, at least, Italian-like) meal without breaking the bank. However, in recent years, Olive Garden's somewhat lost the handle on its pricing, creating a gap for chains like Texas Roadhouse to step into. In an earnings call in 2024, Darden CEO Rick Cardenas admitted that the brand was seeing fewer lower-income customers through its doors. In particular, folks who were earning below $75,000 were less likely to be dining at Olive Garden than in previous years. Now, you can blame that on a lot of things (like inflation, cost of living, and the general desire for folks to save their pennies), but when you see that other restaurant chains are rising up and dominating, you kinda have to look at what you're doing wrong. The answer, it seems, is that Olive Garden's prices are outpacing people's ability to pay for them, leading to a drop in customers that are arguably its core audience. One of the things about the Olive Garden menu is that it's relatively static, and while it's definitely evolved over the years, it's also largely been defined by its pastas and breadsticks. However, every now and again it takes away customer favorites — and it's clear that this hasn't been received especially well by some folks. Two items that it pulled off the menu, its Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo and its Stuffed Chicken Marsala, were removed during the pandemic, a fact that customers didn't love. At the end of 2024, it announced that it was bringing the two options back, as well as improving on its Never Ending Pasta Bowl by adding a garlic herb sauce option. Why is this significant? Well, the reintroduction of the dishes and the expansion of the pasta bowl came during a period when Olive Garden was shedding customers. It was clear that people were heading elsewhere for their meals, especially for steak-based options, which Olive Garden was missing one more of by removing the steak pasta from its menu. As such, these dishes coming back seems to be a pretty desperate grab for attention after making some big mistakes that may have cost it some business. On top of that, folks are maybe just tiring of some of the unhealthy dishes at Olive Garden. It's pretty brutal out there in the restaurant world, folks. 2024 was a difficult time for restaurants across the board, and 2025 hasn't proved to be the salvation that a lot of people hoped it would be. You can see how urgent the need was to retain customers in some areas through the various discounts that chain restaurants rolled out throughout 2024, with various meal deals flooding the market. There was one business that held out on this trend, though: Olive Garden. Oh, and it cost them, too. In an earnings call in March 2024, Darden CEO Rick Cardenas faced repeated questions about the logic of offering discounts from investors, which he repeatedly refuted. "We're not going to change our strategy. We're not going to become a discount kind of heavily promotional brand," Cardenas stated in the Darden Restaurants earnings call. "We worked really hard through COVID and before to get to what we think is a better, stable, stronger business for us for the long-term, and we would be willing to deal with short-term pressures to not change our strategy to get to the long-term." While we understand that logic, it's also clear that other brands have achieved success from discounting and keeping things affordable. Texas Roadhouse, for instance, offers discounts and specials that can allow people to save money — and it keeps its prices on the right side of inflation. Olive Garden does have fan-favorite deals, but that might not be enough. The bigger the restaurant chain, the more likely it is that something's going to go wrong — and when things take a turn for the worst, the P.R. crisis that unfolds can often hit these joints pretty hard. Olive Garden suffered a big blow back in 2023 when a Michigan customer accused the restaurant of serving him a bowl of minestrone soup with a rat's foot floating in it. Thomas Howie stated that he had placed the foot in his mouth before feeling a stabbing pain and realizing that it was from a claw. Howie sought medical attention and damages from the restaurant, which flatly denied the allegations. Although many restaurants have endured similar fates and come out the other side, this event came in that crucial period when chains were doing whatever they could to lure back customers after COVID restrictions. Having one of their own accusing them of such a breach in standards is hardly what they want, and probably didn't help much in getting people back through the door. Plus, regardless of whether Howie was telling the truth or not, this moment put Olive Garden's name in the papers for all the wrong reasons. Chain restaurants often start strong, and then over time, they start to suffer from diminishing returns for their customers. Part of this is that folks simply get tired of their offerings, but a bigger factor is that customers often notice when the restaurants start cutting corners in response to difficult economic circumstances. Accusations of deteriorating food quality have been aimed at Olive Garden for a while now, with people pointing out that it's lost its ability to produce food that feels homemade or authentic — which is, after all, a key part of its appeal. "At one point Olive Garden was an actual Italian restaurant," said one defeated customer on Reddit. "The glut of family restaurants gave way to corporations buying out smaller operators, homogenizing the product, and taking their profits from the margins." Ouch. Oh, and the way Olive Garden serves its pasta is a big no-no, too. Other people have noticed the drop in quality on a taste level, comparing Olive Garden's food to supermarket fare. Another Reddit commenter mentioned a poor-quality frozen lasagna they'd eaten, remarking, "The taste of plastic was overwhelming and horrible even though I followed the directions completely. A while later I was at Olive Garden and ordered the lasagna. It tasted exactly the same as the one from the grocery store." You can tell the health of a restaurant by the happiness of its servers. If a chain restaurant is renowned for its cheery staff, you can bet that it's running like a tight ship, with the people working there feeling valued and looked after. If, on the other hand, the servers find working there to be a challenge, then it's a clear sign that something's going wrong — and those bad vibes are guaranteed to rub off on the customers. Servers have taken to online message boards to discuss how difficult it is to work at Olive Garden, pointing towards poor floor flow, low pay, and bad staff retention. They've also highlighted the fact that Olive Garden doesn't add auto-gratuity for parties of more than eight people, which can lead to a serious limiting of the workers' incomes. This, naturally, leads to disgruntled servers who feel like the company is cutting corners with them — and who wants to walk into a restaurant where the staff feel like they don't want to be there? No wonder people are drifting towards Texas Roadhouse, which ranked as having some of the best customer service around in a 2024 report from Datassential and QSR. It's not unreasonable to expect large chain restaurants to have fairly watertight sanitation processes. However, sometimes things can go the other way, with restaurants that you expect to be regularly spick and span turning out to be grimy, filthy, and neglected. Unfortunately, Olive Garden has been accused of such things, and both social media videos and sanitation reports have exposed fairly unpleasant issues behind its cheery facade, which have perhaps sent customers scurrying away. One infamous viral TikTok video from 2021 created a headache for Olive Garden, when a former employee took it to task for its sanitation. In the video, a former employee pointed out that her restaurant had a terrible slug problem in the soda fountain, with the creepy crawlies coming out of the nozzles themselves. Pretty gross, huh? More recently, too, Olive Garden has been put to task online through a 2024 inspection report from an Asheville store. This inspection report noted multiple sanitation violations, including employees not washing their hands properly or using hairnets. Three of these violations were deemed critical, perhaps pointing to a lower standard in the store itself — and it's not unreasonable to think that customers may have noticed. Are folks simply wanting to eat in cleaner restaurants these days? Probably. Ah, the iconic Olive Garden breadsticks. These sizable chunks of bread are arguably the most appealing thing about eating at the restaurant, and the fact that they're unlimited is obviously a big sell. However, Olive Garden's most famous side dish has, in recent years, proved pretty controversial. In 2024, a TikTok video (well, a video of a picture) went viral of an Olive Garden breadstick with letters printed on it. The letters, which appeared in what seemed to be black ink, were revealed by a commenter to be from the bag that the breadsticks come in. Now, we don't know about you, but we're not wild about the idea of printer ink rubbing off on our pieces of bread. Unfortunately, this moment caused a storm for Olive Garden, at a crucial time when they should have been focusing on regaining customer trust and business. What was even worse was how the company reacted. Olive Garden commented on the video asking for the customer to email its customer service department, and it was later revealed that it sent the affected person a $100 gift card. What it didn't do, however, was offer an explanation to the millions of people who had viewed the video. It appeared that the restaurant hid the truth, and this didn't go unnoticed by customers, who likely wanted to eat somewhere else after this. Legal action can significantly challenge a brand's image, and in the last few years, Olive Garden has had to deal with a fair bit. At the end of 2020, it suffered a dent in its reputation when former employees alleged that they faced race- and gender-based discrimination while on shift. Per People magazine, Adam Jones, an employee at the Times Square Olive Garden who had worked at the branch in 2008, stated that he and other employees faced hostile working conditions. Jones, who describes himself as African-American, stated that both he and other Black employees received worse treatment than non-Black ones, and when he raised these issues with a manager, they were ignored. Darden, the company that owns Olive Garden, denied the allegations and stated that they were baseless. The firm also hit back by pointing out how much money it had invested in the care of its workers, particularly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the lawsuit caused a lot of media noise, with people questioning whether Darden was really looking out for its employees. Hungry for more? Sign up for the free Daily Meal newsletter for delicious recipes, cooking tips, kitchen hacks, and more, delivered straight to your inbox. Read the original article on The Daily Meal.
Forbes
a day ago
- General
- Forbes
There's Just One Italy-Approved Tortellini Machine And It's In LA
The pasta dish that is known as 'tortellini' originated in Bologna, Italy and is traditionally made ... More by hand. 'You know how Italian people can be,' says Giorgia Sinatra, the creative director of Pasta Sisters, an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, CA. 'They're very strict with that recipe.' The recipe in question is for tortellini and Sinatra isn't joking—in 1965, concerned citizens of Italy drafted a document to describe the proper method for preparing this pasta, which was eventually registered with the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna, the hometown of tortellini. 60 years later, Pasta Sisters is the first American restaurant to acquire a pasta-making machine that meets rigorous Italian culinary standards. Tortellini hail from Bologna, the historic capital of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, which is the birthplace of many famous Italian specialties, from mortadella and Parmigiano-Reggiano, to prosciutto and balsamic vinegar. In fact, the first three of these ingredients are present in tortellini, as dictated by the official recipe. Bologna is the historic capital of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy and the birthplace of many ... More delicious Italian specialities. According to the Dotta Confraternita del Tortellino—which translates to 'Learned Brotherhood of the Tortellino'—the first step to making 1,000 tortellini is to mix 10 eggs with 1 kilogram of flour for a soft, yellowish pasta dough. The filling consists of 3 more eggs, 3 kinds of pork (loin, prosciutto and mortadella), Parmigiano-Reggiano and nutmeg. But the authenticity of tortellini does not only depend on ingredients—it's also a matter of technique. One of the defining factors for this pasta is its perfect and petite round form, which is said to look like a belly button when done correctly. (This iconic pasta shape has also inspired a designer handbag.) While the recipe was codified by a 'brotherhood' of Italian men, it's important to note that it's attributed to Signora Maria Lanzoni Grimaldi and, throughout history, it was in the hands of women like her that many tortellini have been crafted. In fact, there is a word in Italian for these pasta ladies: sfogline. This tradition continues at Pasta Sisters, where Chef Paola De Re (Sinatra's mother) serves as executive chef. 'We eat pasta every day,' says Sinatra, who grew up in Padova, Italy and moved to L.A. in 2010. 'I grew up with my grandmother, Maria Giovanna, making gnocchi and she passed down the tradition to my mother.' While Sinatra helped them prepare pasta from scratch as a child, it wasn't until relocating to the U.S. and opening a restaurant that she and her family attempted tortellini, which is not typically eaten in northern Italy. The traditional recipe for tortellini calls for specific local ingredients, like mortadella and ... More Parmigiano-Reggiano, and offers suggestions for forming its signature shape. 'We were making them by hand, one-by-one, which requires a lot of time, so we were only able to do it for the holidays,' explains Sinatra. 'People loved it, but we couldn't keep it on the menu.' Sinatra and her family spent months experimenting and researching options and even made a trip to Bologna before they learned of a pasta-making machine certified by the city's Chamber of Commerce. 'It replicates the way the tortellino is made by hand, even this very specific pinch that you do with a finger,' says Sinatra. The family requested a machine, which was built expressly for the restaurant and imported in 2023. 'It was almost a one-year process to complete this journey,' recalls Sinatra, who notes that the machine wouldn't fit through the staircase, so they had to remove the glass of the restaurant's upstairs windows to fit it in the building. 'The technician stayed here two weeks to teach us how to use it. I feel like we are a little crazy because it's literally all just about making tortellini, but for us, it had to be perfect.' Whether on Italian soil or abroad, it is this dedication to the details that makes traditional Italian dishes, like tortellini, so delicious.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Iconic Italian restaurant shutters after 45 years, leaving regulars heartbroken
An iconic Michigan restaurant has closed after 45 years, leaving locals heartbroken. Moro's Dining, a beloved Italian institution in Allen Park, shut its doors for the final time earlier this month. The restaurant drew diners from all over the Detroit district hungry for its shrimp scampi and veal, Minestrone soup and flambéed desserts. 'We are closed but would like to thank you for all your prayers and well wishes,' disappointed customers were told via the restaurant's answering machine. 'Chef Thomas Moro is doing fine,' the voicemail added reassuringly. Thomas Moro, owner and chef at Moro's Dining, put the restaurant up for sale back in 2022. 'I am over 70 years old,' Moro told the Detroit Free Press at the time. 'It's about time to throw the towel in.' One regular wrote on Facebook that she confirmed the restaurant was permanently shut after seeing a 'closed' sign on its front door. 'So sad to see Moro's in Allen Park has closed down,' she wrote. 'The owner retired. Someone buy this place!!!' Ginger Miles Lickorai wrote. 'Moro's has been our "family night out" restaurant for decades now,' another longstanding customer wrote in tribute on Reddit. 'When I was little they had a singing waiter and the table side flaming desserts delighted everyone I ever took there,' the customer recalled. 'We hate to see it go, but I hope the Moros enjoy their retirement, and that their dedicated and hard working staff all find somewhere to land.' Moro began his cooking career washing dishes at Mario's in Detroit's Midtown back in the 1960s. He soon worked his way up into the kitchen, working first as a line chef doing prep work and butchering. In the 1970s he joined the Navy as a chef and conducted two tours of Italy where he learned authentic Italian cooking. The Allen Park institution drew diners from all over the Detroit district The restaurant was famous for its flambéed desserts After returning from the Navy, he worked at a variety of top Michigan restaurants and set up his own catering company. Finally in 1980, Moro had saved enough money to open his own restaurant in Allen Park. It comes as another iconic family restaurant also closed its doors earlier this month. Oscar's Taco House shut up shop after 63 years of serving authentic Mexican cuisine in San Antonio, Texas. Earlier this year another institution, MacLeod's Restaurant in Bucksport, Maine also closed, ending a 45-year run. Family-run restaurants and larger chains have been closing in their droves in the last several years as they face a rising cost of doing business. Several big-name restaurants — including Hooters, Red Lobster, and TGI Fridays — have all shuttered hundreds of restaurants and declared bankruptcy. Food prices have skyrocketed, leaving the companies with higher costs to run their locations. Meanwhile, middle-class shoppers, the core audience for the chains, have cut back on discretionary spending as they pay higher prices at the grocery store. Combining lower revenues with higher costs to stay alive has given several brands a poison pill. Meanwhile, other restaurant staples, like Denny's, Outback Steakhouse, and Cracker Barrel have all reported shrinking sales and cut back their year-long forecasts.
Times
2 days ago
- General
- Times
Braised lamb by Sotto in Edinburgh recipe
T his is a recipe we've been doing to showcase some brilliant late springtime Scottish produce made using classic Italian techniques. This is a great dish for a dinner party as you can prepare it in advance, and sauté the veg fresh at the end to give the dish a nice lift. • Sotto, Edinburgh restaurant review Serves 4 • 800g lamb shoulder • 90ml extra-virgin olive oil • 2 small white onions • 2 carrots• 3 stalks of celery• 2 cloves of garlic• 3 generous glasses of red wine• 250ml beef stock • 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary • 4 sprigs of fresh thyme• 100g broad beans• 100g peas• 2 artichokes • 1 small red chilli, deseeded • Handful of fresh mint, chopped 1. Generously season the lamb with salt and black pepper. Heat a deep saucepan over a high heat then brown the lamb all over for 10 min. Remove the lamb and set aside. 2. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to the same pan and sauté the onions until soft but not brown. Next, add the carrots, celery, one garlic clove and lightly brown. Return the lamb to the pan. Pour over the wine and beef stock and bring to the boil. 3. Season with salt, pepper, the rosemary and thyme. Turn down to simmer, then cook over lowest heat for about 1½ to 2 hours or until the lamb is tender. 4. Blanch the broad beans and peas in boiling water for 30 seconds. Prepare the artichokes by removing all the hard leaves and with a small spoon remove the choke (the fuzzy, inedible centre). Discard these and slice the rest. 5. In a pan, heat the remaining oil. Add the other garlic clove and fresh chilli. Add the sliced artichokes, broad beans and peas and let them cook for 4-5 min, adding the chopped mint right at the end. Serve alongside the lamb and its jus. Francesco Ascrizzi is the head chef at Sotto Enoteca & Trattoria in Stockbridge,
