Best Line Extension

Flatbreads, Twin Peaks

This casual-dining chain added a new category to its menu featuring premium toppings such as chicken smoked in-house, scratch-made meatballs, spiced pineapple and marinara sauce made with San Marzano tomatoes.

They’re available in four varieties:

Hawaii Five-O: Ham, bacon, spiced rum pineapple, green onion, parsley, and crushed red pepper over marinara sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, finished with a hot honey drizzle

OG Pepperoni flatbread: Pepperoni, pesto, parsley, oregano, and crushed red pepper over marinara sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses

“The Hottie” Jalapeño Popper flatbread: Smoked chicken, spiced sweetened bacon, jalapeño peppers, parsley, and crushed red pepper over white sauce, a bacon ranch drizzle and cheddar, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses

The Italian flatbread: Beef meatballs, pepperoni, bacon, parsley, oregano, roasted red peppers, and crushed red pepper over marinara sauce and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses

Best Limited Time Offer

Lambda Lambda Burger, Hopdoddy Burger Bar

This was Hopdoddy’s burger of the month for January 2022, and it brought a variety of global flavors to a meat that is still not often seen in burgers. It was made with lamb, grilled halloumi cheese, a spicy red pepper spread called muhammara, arugula, salsa verde, and pomegranate seeds.

Healthful Innovations 

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower, The Habit Burger Grill

This non-fried side at fast-casual Habit Burger Grill appeals to guests for its full flavor as well as its health halo. The satisfying nutty flavor of the roasted cauliflower pairs perfectly with the rich flavor of the roasted garlic aïoli that’s served with it to make an upscale side with culinary flair. It also makes for an easy way to add a serving of vegetables to any meal.

Best Menu Revamp

Friendly’s

This family-dining chain undertook its biggest menu overhaul in more than a decade, both reducing the actual size of the menu from eight pages to two pages and adding 12 new items with on-trend flourishes, including bacon jam. This revamp was meant to target a younger customer base while still keeping core customers satisfied.

New items include:

Tater Kegs: Five larger potato tots stuffed with cheddar cheese, bacon and chives and topped with sour cream

$100,000 Cobb Salad: Lettuce topped with boiled egg, crumbled blue cheese, chopped bacon, cranberries, golden raisins, diced tomato and thinly sliced chicken breast tossed with light balsamic vinaigrette

Chicken Caesar Salad: Mixed lettuce, thinly sliced chicken breast, shaved Parmesan cheese and garlic croutons tossed with Asiago Caesar dressing

Jammed-up Burger: Beef patty topped with white cheddar cheese, beef brisket dressed in cheese sauce, lettuce, tomato and fig jam on a brioche bun

Cheese Skirt Burger: A beef patty with an oversized crispy cheese disk made of Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses, topped with Thousand Island dressing, lettuce, onion, tomato and pickle chips on a brioche bun

Doritos Cool Ranch ChoppedCheese Burger: Beef patty topped with pepper Jack cheese, onions, jalapeño peppers, salsa, ranch dressing and Cool Ranch Doritos tortilla chips on grilled ciabatta

Tex-Mex Alfredo Taco Pasta: Pasta with a Bolognese-style meat sauce with Tex-Mex spices, plus Alfredo Sriracha taco sauce, served with toasted ciabatta

Bangin’ Beef Stroganoff: Thinly sliced sirloin steak in a creamy sauce with mushrooms, onion and garlic tossed with pasta and served with toasted ciabatta

American Cheese Brisket SuperMelt: Beef brisket and American cheese on Parmesan-grilled sourdough bread

Grilled Chicken Mozza SuperMelt: Thinly sliced chicken breast, roasted red peppers and pesto sauce between white cheddar and mozzarella cheeses on grilled sourdough bread

Oven Roasted Beef Brisket: Six ounces of brisked served with steamed vegetables, gravy-topped garlic red skin mashed potatoes and ciabatta toast

Aloha Stir Fry Chicken: Chicken stir-fried with vegetables and pineapple rice in a light sauce served with crispy chow mein noodles

Barking Pretzel ice cream: Brown sugar flavored ice cream swirled with peanut butter, chocolate-coated pretzel pieces and salty pretzel bark pieces

Digital Innovation

Virtual Dining Concepts

This technology company has created a format for restaurant operators, and others, to develop food  brands without walls, allowing low-cost access to consumers across the world, who can order via the brand’s web site or their favorite third-party delivery app.

Perhaps its most successful partnership is MrBeastBurger, created with YouTube celebrity Mr. Beast, which has nearly 1,800 locations and recently opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant to a crowd of 10,000 people. The nascent trend of content creators specifically jumping into the restaurant space has proven to be popular, and allows VDC to leverage those stars’ massive fan bases.

VDC has also partnered with celebrities Maria Carey, Mario Lopez, DJ Pauly D and, most recently, kid-friendly YouTubers LankyBox in collaboration with Chuck E. Cheese. LankyBox Kitchen’s menu items such as twice-baked chicken wings, a mac & cheese-pizza hybrid, and colorful churros, are being prepared in Chuck E. Cheese kitchens.

Innovator of the Year

Erick Williams

The chef and owner of Virtue Restaurant & Bar in the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park offers critically acclaimed southern-accented fine-dining cuisine, but that’s just the beginning of his mission.

“It was once said to me by my father that the search for equality is found through common ground, and sharing a meal is a universal expression of respect and dignity,” Williams says on the restaurant’s web site, and equality is at the foundation of his life’s work. He strives to focus on the wellbeing of his employees as well as his community.

Since opening Virtue in 2018, the restaurant was named one of the country’s best new restaurants by Esquire magazine in 2019, and that same year The New York Times named him one of the Black chefs who are changing food dialogue in the U.S.

In 2020 he was named a Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago magazine and was nominated for best chef in the Great Lakes region by the James Beard Foundation. In 2021 he received the Mayoral Medal of Honor from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for his work feeding frontline workers during the height of the pandemic and for advocating for social justice in the Black community.

Hall of Fame Inductee

Lidia Bastianich

Lidia Mattichio Bastianich is an Emmy award-winning television host, best-selling cookbook author, restaurateur and owner of a flourishing food and entertainment business.

She operates Lidia’s restaurant in Kansas City and Becco in New York City and is a partner in Eataly locations in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, Las Vegas, Toronto, and São Paulo. Those emporiums feature produce, imported Italian foods, and multiple restaurants.

Bastianich’s past award-winning restaurants include Felidia and Del Posto.

She has won seven James Beard Foundation Awards.

Her cookbooks, written with her daughter Tanya, include companion books to her public television series Lidia’s Kitchen, Lidia’s Italy in America, and Lidia’s Italy.

She also wrote a memoir, My American Dream: A life of Love, Family, and Food.

Bastianich is also a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and a founding member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs.