The Bazaar by José Andrés, a Beverly Hills, Calif., bar and restaurant, cost more than $12 million to build.
It serves no appetizers or entrees: All meals are made up of tapas, and signature items include drinks and canapés dipped in vats of liquid nitrogen. First-time visitors might wander the ground floor of the SLS Hotel looking for the restaurant—and not realize that they are already standing in it. A palm-reader roams the floor, offering predictions.
Some Learnings:
- Snacks Replace the Meal
Small-plates restaurants have been growing throughout the decade, but in the past year have made a quantum leap in popularity as restaurateurs look for ways to offer customers cheaper food without appearing to discount.
In November, New York's Tabla restaurant, from restaurateur Danny Meyer, scrapped its mandatory $89 tasting menu in favor of an a la carte menu with many small plates.
- It's in a Hotel
Hotel restaurants have long been associated with mediocrity, but these days, hotels are among the only investors willing to bankroll big, splashy new restaurants. Restaurateurs say fine dining will largely migrate into hotels, resorts and some commercial developments in the coming years.
- The Bar Is the Focus
All restaurants aspire to high alcohol sales, because the margins are better than on food sales. In the past, fine-dining restaurants relied mainly on selling wine for liquor revenue. But during the recession, many have gambled with their haute images and gotten more aggressive about selling cocktails and beer. Some have ripped out dining room tables to expand their bar areas, and many have launched bar menus.
- Rejecting Tradition
White tablecloths are practically a relic. At City Center, the $8.5 billion Las Vegas development that started opening venues this month, only two restaurants out of 28 currently plan to use white linen. Most restaurateurs say that at least for the next two or three years, they will be opening more casual places.
- The Restaurant Is the Entertainment
Mr. Chang predicts that in the future, more fine-dining chefs will replace waiters and serve the food themselves, as they do at his Momofuku Ko in New York. D'Amico Kitchen in Minneapolis splashes a live streamed video of the action inside its kitchen on an outside wall. Several restaurants, from Oliveto in Oakland, Calif., to L20 in Chicago, publish elaborate blogs about their ingredients and cooking.
- Wild Cuisine
Avant-garde cuisine has transformed fine dining in Europe. American avant-garde chefs, from Grant Achatz of Chicago's Alinea to Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 in New York, are heroes to many young chefs.
- The Open Floor Plan
Fine-dining restaurants of the future will likely have free-flowing floor plans that are loosely divided into distinct areas, several restaurateurs say. The goal is to get diners to come back more often, offering them a different ambience each time. Many restaurants will eliminate separate private dining rooms, particularly in cities like New York and Los Angeles, where real estate is especially expensive. These rooms were built throughout the decade as corporate dinner parties boomed, but sat empty during a steep decline in corporate entertaining this past year.
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