Randy Hobson
Owner, Pangea Kitchen
We want to ensure that each dish is made with top quality ingredients and executed extremely well each time.
As the owner of Pangea, the part I play in creating a new menu is really listening to our customers’ feedback and finding out what they love and why they love it.
A lot of our customers come from different backgrounds and cultures across the world, so it is really awesome to learn more about their cultures and find new ideas and influences for our dishes.
Our private dining area is also a great way for us to experiment with new foods. If a customer is planning an event and is interested in trying something new, this gives us a great opportunity to try some very unique recipes.
New inspiration also comes from traveling to different restaurants. When we travel we often find great food that we enjoy, and then we come back with these new ideas and change them up to make it unique to Pangea. Finding a good balance with our food is very important.
We are very selective with our menu items because we want to ensure that each dish is made with top quality ingredients and executed in an authentic manner every time. With everything we do, we communicate with the chefs, the line cooks, and the operation managers.
We make most of our ingredients in-house, import from high-quality vendors, and make it a top priority to always buy local when possible. This ensures that our ingredients are fresh, top-quality, and create a great final product.
Once we have base ideas for new items, we want our team to have a lot of freedom to develop those ideas further and add their own creative twist. Even if it takes numerous trials to get something right, we do it. Now’s the time. Before we first opened our doors, we had our test kitchen to make sure everything was good to go. With our new menu, we take those same steps to make sure everything has been worked through consistently.
With our dishes, we strive to use authentic ingredients and take them to a whole new level. For example, we finished our Mumbai Cheese pie with kaffir lime leaves instead of fresh mint or cilantro. This very unexpected combination creates a very unique flavor profile. That is the kind of experience we are looking to create, a crossroad of authenticity and creativity.