This hearty new offering from Noodles & Company features large pasta pillows stuffed with a three-cheese blend of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan along with onions and garlic in a choice of tomato cream sauce, pesto cream sauce or garlic & onion cream sauce.

Launched in the second quarter of 2021, stuffed pasta had long been the most requested menu innovation at the chain, and customers responded enthusiastically, contributing to a boost in same-store sales.

This omelet filled with red wine-braised beef short ribs, roasted shallots & cremini mushrooms, spinach and mozzarella cheese topped with Parmesan cream sauce, parsley and chives shows how the culinary team, led by Shane Schaibly, of this chain specializing in breakfast, brunch and lunch can also use ingredients usually reserved for dinner to entice and delight its customers.

Subway’s Eat Fresh Refresh initiative, the largest menu update in the chain’s history, involved a top-to-bottom reexamination of everything on the menu and resulted in improved bread, including new Artisan Italian and Hearty Multigrain options, and new ingredients including fresh mozzarella and smashed avocado, and upgraded deli meats including Black Forest ham, steak and rotisserie-style chicken.

The chain also launched new sandwiches, including the Cali Fresh Sub made with roasted turkey or steak with bacon, smashed avocado, fresh mozzarella, mayonnaise, spinach, red onion and tomatoes.

You would think that a family-dining chain known for breakfast would have long had breakfast burritos, but IHOP didn’t until last year, when this line was introduced. Although some are targeted for breakfast, others are intended for lunch as part of an ongoing endeavor by the chain to attract customers for dayparts after breakfast.

Six varieties were launched, all available in a flour tortilla or served in a bowl:

The Classic: Scrambled eggs cooked with a little buttermilk pancake batter for added fluffiness, choice of bacon pieces or diced sausage, shredded Jack and cheddar cheeses and hash browns, served with a side of salsa   

Country Breakfast: Scrambled eggs cooked with a little buttermilk pancake batter, diced ham and sausage, roasted peppers & onions, shredded Jack & cheddar cheese and hash browns, served with a side of country gravy

Spicy Poblano: Shredded beef, Scrambled eggs with pancake batter, poblano and serrano peppers, red peppers & onions, shredded jack & cheddar cheeses, avocado and hash browns, served with a side of poblano queso

Southwest Chicken: Grilled chicken, Scrambled eggs with pancake batter, bacon pieces, green peppers & onions, tomatoes, queso, shredded Jack & cheddar cheeses and avocado and hash, served with a side of red salsa or green chile salsa

New Mexico Chicken: Grilled chicken, hickory-smoked bacon pieces, roasted green peppers & onions, tomatoes, queso, shredded Jack & cheddar cheese, avocado and a “rice medley” comprised of brown rice, red rice and black barley, served with a side of red salsa or green chile salsa

Spicy Shredded Beef burrito or bowl: Shredded beef, poblano and serrano peppers, roasted red peppers & onions, shredded Jack & cheddar cheeses, avocado and rice, served with a side of poblano queso.

Items that would otherwise be discarded or composted are instead used for these bowls, which include ingredients such as roasted carrots, herb-braised celery, celery leaf salad, watermelon rind pickles, sliced Easter egg radishes and chimichurri made from radish and carrot tops, along with grains including brown rice and sorghum. The result is tasty and healthful meals that also raise awareness about cutting down on waste.

This concept is a partnership between Tyson Cole of Hai Hospitality — which includes non-traditional Japanese restaurants Uchi, Uchiko and Uchiba — and Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue, a cult favorite in Austin, Texas, that has long attracted long lines of devotees from across the country. Loro, which has restaurants in Austin, Dallas and Houston, offers the type of smart, globally influenced cuisine that is expanding the nation’s culinary boundaries. Dishes include smoked brisket or char siu pork belly with Thai papaya salad, Szechuan tofu over coconut rice and seasonal pickles, Japanese fried chicken, and oak grilled snap peas with kimchi emulsion, toasted sesame seeds and Sriracha powder.

Rohini Dey has long been ahead of her time. The economist and former academic and management consultant opened Vermillion, called At Vermillion at the time, in 2004, introducing Chicago to her own style of Latin-influenced Indian cooking. But her influence extends far beyond her tandoori skirt steak, greens in coconut milk with mustard seed, and tamarind Margaritas. In the face of the pandemic she founded Let’s Talk Womxn, a network of independent female restaurateurs who share concerns and best practices, collaborate and provide emotional support. The network has expanded to 13 cities.

After a two-year delay, Thomas Keller is receiving this honor at the celebration at the Drake Hotel in Chicago in May.

Keller transformed American fine dining through his own ingenuity and high standards at restaurants including The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., and Per Se in New York City, as well as fostering those traits in a generation of other chefs who worked in his kitchens and have gone on to build their own restaurant empires.

The MenuMasters Hall of Fame honors chefs who have spent years promoting culinary excellence in American foodservice. Past inductees have included Paul Prudhomme, Daniel Boulud, Jeremiah Tower, Susan Feniger, Mary Sue Milliken, José Andrés and Wolfgang Puck.