Showstopping Plating Ideas That Deliver the Wow Factor

When it comes to creating that exciting dining experience diners crave today, looks matter.

“As chefs, we’ve had to get even more creative in how we present new dishes and really hit that wow factor,” says US Foods® Food Fanatics® Chef Richard Papier, who works with restaurants and operators in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana.

At Tacos del Cartel in New Orleans, Metairie and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Chef/Owner Atzin Santos elevates trendy quesa birria tacos by literally hanging them with clothespins used on the same type of clothesline for hanging laundry – a common site in parts of Mexico, according to Santos. Nixtamal corn tortillas are dipped in the flavorful consommé from the slow-cooked beef, layered with a Mexican cheese blend, closed like a quesadilla and fried until crisp. Click here for a quesa birria taco recipe using Chef’s Line® All Natural* Beef Birria and del Pasado® Mexican-Style Three Cheese Blend.

For dessert, the Carrito de Feria (translation: small fair cart) features scoops of ice cream and cinnamon sugar-dusted churros served in a mini pushcart (complete with the restaurant’s logo and branding) with sweet sauces for dipping.

Even the tequila flights at Tacos del Cartel get the “holy wow” treatment, arriving tableside “in a giant airplane filled with ice – so they’re literally a flight coming in for a landing,” Papier says. “It’s all about making the whole experience fun and memorable.”

To purchase Chef's Line® All Natural* Beef Birria for tacos and for birria recipes, click here.