New on the Menu: Rabbit curry and springtime halibut
Plus Hawaiian-inspired short ribs, Puerto Rican-inspired tenderloin, and a clarified Piña Colada-Daiquiri mashup
May 29, 2026
The Miami Vice is a popular cocktail in South Florida made by layering a Piña Colada and a frozen Strawberry Daiquiri. Little Torch at The Shelbourne by Proper hotel in Miami Beach takes that combination and turns it into a milk punch.
In Atlanta, at Capolinea, chef Christopher Li takes a southern Italian fish preparation, acqua pazza, and gives it Southern flair with the use of local seasonal vegetables such as snap peas and asparagus.
Local rabbit is on the menu at Oak Steakhouse’s Rogers, Ark., location, where executive chef Travis Kirkley cooks it into a curry, and at AYA, in Sonoma County, Calif., Hawaiian, Texan, and Korean influences are all brought to bear on smoked short ribs.
And at Gatheria Studio in Tampa, Fla., Rosana Rivera takes a traditional Puerto Rican home-cooked dish, Bistec Encebollado, and reworks it into a fine-dining dish with a fine cut of beef and French culinary techniques.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on TikTok and Instagram: @foodwriterdiary
About the Author
Bret Thorn
Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News
Senior Food & Beverage Editor
Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.
Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications.
He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.
From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.
He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN.
A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.
He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.
Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.
He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.
A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends.
Bret Thorn’s Experience:
Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989
Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary
TikTok: @foodwriterdiary
Content Spotlight
The Technomic Top 500: Another tough year for chain restaurants
Top 500 chain restaurant sales slowed again in 2025 as consumers cut back on dining, but sectors like coffee, beverages and snacks and chicken thrived
Featured
May 28, 2026
May 21, 2026
Recent News
Content Spotlight
Get to know Rick Cardenas, the Darden CEO who started there as a busser
The executive shares his advice, along with his most-binged TV show, favorite sports team, and most-used app
Source: This story originated with Nation's Restaurant News.
View Original Article →