All Rise! The Soufflé Is Chefs’ Comfort Food of Choice This Year

(Bloomberg) -- At a time when hand sanitizer is more valuable than luxury ingredients like lobster, an unexpected item is animating restaurant menus across the country. The soufflé, that classic French dish made from whipped egg whites, is popping up—pun intended—in dining rooms from coast to coast. The reasons aren’t entirely clear, except soufflés seem to delight chefs as much as they do customers. 

In the U.S., soufflés had their last true star turn in the late ’70s during the heyday of Julia Child. The dish never disappeared from menus, but it also never made much noise.

Fans might want to give partial credit for the resurgence to the cult of Japanese pancakes. Last fall the Japanese chain Flippers opened an outpost in Soho in New York, and the lines were endless. The delightfully fluffy snacks look like silver dollar pancakes pumped full of air. Their height helps them look good on social media, and the melt-in-your mouth texture makes them more like a snack than their weightier American counterparts.

At the Japanese comfort food spot Bessou in Manhattan, pancakes in the style of bananas Foster have become a brunch staple. “The soufflé pancake trend speaks to what people are craving these days: elevated comfort food,” says owner Maiko Kyogoku. “With so much uneasiness in the world around us recently—being on the brink of a global pandemic?—pancakes can make anyone smile, yes, but fluffy soufflé pancakes even more.” 

Other, not-strictly French establishments have seen soufflés as a messaging opportunity. At Terrace & Outdoor Gardens at the Edition in New York, the menu is American brasserie. Chef John Fraser nods to his Times Square location with a chocolate soufflé for two, emblazoned with an “I love New York” decal.

Chef Jordan Guevara also sees soufflés as a chance to send a message. A longtime fan of the dish, he has a “Fear No Soufflé” tattoo. At the new Gap Year at Nico in San Francisco, Guevara offers a chestnut version made with cake flour so it’s more like an airy chiffon cake. “It eats more like a pancake than a soufflé,” he says. His next one will be flavored with spring onions, garlic, and Comté cheese, and garnished with black truffle shavings and the restaurant’s logo. “Soufflés make people happy,” he says, echoing many of his peers. 

In Los Angeles, spots like Dear John’s that evoke decades-old standards are having a moment, and the old-school dishes from their menus are being resurrected. Supper club Delilah pays homage to the now-closed power dining room Chasen’s by bringing back its carrot soufflé, a dense, sweet orangey side dish beloved by regulars. 

The coming Sauce, a multi-concept restaurant in Detroit that will include a wine bar and cafe, will pay homage to the soufflé, too. Pastry chef Sharyn Harding is experimenting with a frozen pistachio and olive oil dessert made with sweet Italian meringue and whipped cream. “Soufflés fell out of favor,” Harding says. “Now there’s a whole new generation of diners that haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy them. A soufflé is instantly recognizable but still rare enough to entice people to order it.”

But the trend is most pronounced, as you might expect, at French restaurants. Lafayette, the grand brasserie in downtown New York, opened in 2013, but chef-owner Andrew Carmellini is only now putting a soufflé on the menu. His dessert version will be mandarin orange, accompanied by a small pitcher of vanilla cream. “Classics make people happy when you put a new spin on it,” Carmellini says. Servers will add a tableside dollop of kumquat preserves to the finished dessert.

The most ambitious of the soufflé joints is the coming Francis & Staub in New York’s Flatiron district, opening this spring in the former Les Halles space made famous by the late Anthony Bourdain. Chef Richard Farnabe will offer 10 versions of the dish—half of them sweet, half savory—and have two designated soufflé stations operated by two chefs. Farnabe has developed a faster recipe (he cuts the flour in some cases, lowering the cooking time) that also yields a lighter result.

He’s planning flavors that range from foie gras and figs to mezcal mint jalapeño—even French bubble gum. “Some chefs may have forgotten about [soufflés],” he says. “We want to bring them back to life. It doesn’t hurt that they are photogenic.”

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gaddy at jgaddy@bloomberg.net

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