Gordon Biersch taps health, food trends with new menu

Gordon Biersch has revamped its food and cocktail menus with 23 new offerings.

The new menu focuses on fresh, popular ingredients, presentation and creating layers of flavor, said Carrie Kleban, chief marketing officer at the chain's parent company CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries Inc. It includes additions such as a quinoa kale pilaf side dish and sweet potato fries, two items that highlight current health and food trends.

“It’s important to be able to evolve and be relevant,” she said. “We need to keep up with our guests…and also keep up with the trends.”’

The 34-unit casual-dining chain revamped its burger, too, she said, creating a stacked presentation that needs to be eaten with a knife and fork. The company also did away with its pizzas and introduced six new flatbreads.

“Flatbreads feel a little more current and relevant than a pizza,” Kleban said. “Pizza you can get anywhere, but flatbreads you can’t.”

Presentation of foods, she said, was key to the menu revamp because guests eat — and order — with their eyes first. “That first ‘wow’ that the customer has when something is placed in front of them sets the expectation,” she said. “That makes all the difference.”

New food items include:

- Turkey & Wild Mushroom Meatloaf, made with a blend of ground turkey and shiitake and button mushrooms. Served with roasted-garlic mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and beer gravy.

- Miso Mahi, miso-glazed mahi served with marinated shiitake mushrooms, a soy butter sauce, and quinoa kale pilaf.

- Korean BBQ Pork Chop, cooked in a soy-chili glaze and served with marinated shiitake mushrooms, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a soy butter sauce.

- Chipotle Shrimp Flatbread, topped with shrimp, grilled pineapple, roasted Anaheim peppers, feta cheese and caramelized onions.

In addition, the chain is eliminating its Mai-Thai and Rum Runner cocktails and adding a Honey Basil Collins, made with gin, housemade honey syrup, basil and soda, and a Veev Mule, made with açaí spirit, mint, fresh lime and ginger ale.

Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Gordon Biersch overhauls its menu every 12-18 months, Kleban said. “This has been a yearlong project,” she added. “It’s always fun to work on this.”

Contact Erin Dostal at [email protected].
Follow her on Twitter: @ErinDostal