Alternatives add excitement

摘要

Start your day with sunnyside-up eggs with crab cakes or fried clams? Veggie burgers and buffalo chili on burger-chain menus? Southern ravioli stuffed with barbecued pork, pureed blackeyed peas, or catfish? Or Mexican egg rolls? You bet. With American tastes staying closer to home, creative chefs are mixing foods long tied to traditional day parts and courses, using more exotic and/or regional varieties of familiar ingredients, or simply making surprise substitutions to add pizzazz to flavorful favorites and traditional foods. It used to be that some foods were primarily served at a specific day part or even as a particular course, but today anything goes and chefs are taking advantage of mixing and matching foods, flavors, and forms. Among the most significant trends is the migration of nontraditional protein foods into the breakfast arena. Chick-fil-A is breaking new ground serving chicken and biscuit sandwiches at breakfast time. Atlanta Bread Co. recently added panini and hot breakfast sandwiches to its menu, including hearty flavors such as char-grilled chicken pesto and Cuban pork loin, while other eateries are serving seafood or fish alongside traditional morning fare.