Looks matter: Pretty food tastes better

CLEVELAND, Ohio — You eat with your eyes first. Or maybe “The camera eats first.”

Either way, looks matter. In recent years neuroscience has proven what we already know … food tastes better when it looks good.

With that in mind, fine dining chefs must approach plating as art. They strive for perfectly prepared food presented with a “wow” factor on the plate.

While cooking is science, plating is art, says Tim McCoy, Education Director at the International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institue and Loretta Paganini School of Cooking in Chesterland. And art is harder to teach.

“It’s not like there’s a set of rules that everybody agrees with,” he says. At least not yet.

“We use a couple of different styles that are popular, and we give them names like classical, concentric, stacked, architectural and linear,” he says. “But it’s not like you’re going into a kitchen, and a chef will give it that name.”

Culinary students are encouraged to know their tools — sauces, glazes, flavored oils as well as hard elements like herbs, croutons, toile and more.

“We encourage our students to play around a little bit,” McCoy says. “Your plating should be in mind before you start. That’s because your plating style may impact how you’re going to choose the ingredients. It may affect how you fabricate your vegetables or how you slice your meat.”

What goes on the plate matters but so does what doesn’t.

“You need enough negative space — enough space around the food — for better impact,” says McCoy. “Negative space tends to focus the interest on the food.”

Plating is becoming a competitive sport as chefs and consumers show off dishes on social media.

We talked to three top chefs in Northeast Ohio about how they approach the plating game.

“Plating, in my eyes, is so important,” says Sam Lesniak, chef at Cru Uncorked, a fine dining establishment in Moreland Hills. “Being able to present your dish aesthetically is only the first step in creating a beautiful dish. Plating is a good way to transfer your energy and idea onto a canvas for others to absorb.”

“People are constantly pushing the boundaries on new plating techniques and cooking techniques to set themselves apart and set the new standard,” he says.

Styles and chefs evolve along the way. Sometimes that happens over years, sometimes over minutes.

“Being able to execute from concept to finish product goes through many different phases and changes until you’re able to nail your initial visualization,” Lesniak explains. “Sometimes completely changing from your original idea into something better.”

Tools in the Cru kitchen include squeeze bottles, misting bottles, tweezers, pastry brushes, cake testers, offset spatula, plating spoons, and various molds to create specific shapes.

It’s not just the tools; ingredients matter as well.

“When you’re provided with beautiful products it’s then our jobs as chefs to know how to prepare it correctly and to fabricate the items in certain ways to really let the product shine naturally,” he explains. “Using house-grown microgreens such as nasturtium, citrus lace, violas, Egyptian star flower, Anise hyssop, pea tendrils, and sorrel is one of my plating go-tos to help add that finishing touch.”

At TURN Bar + Kitchen in the Ritz Carlton Cleveland, Chef Manikandan “Mani” Ramalingam has two things in mind.

The “wow factor” comes first, he says. “Sometimes, I want the guest to take pictures before they start eating.”

When creating that photogenic plate, he builds it in pieces.

“The dish has to have all components — the star of the plate, a crunch element and a sauce that complements the star,” he says. “It should have two to three different flavors — a sweet, a sour, a spicey – so it creates fireworks in your mouth.”

As a rule, he suggests just three or four items on a plate. Once these are determined, developing presentation begins. The final product must be replicated over and over again as a dish is ordered.

“I use squeeze bottles and tweezers,” Ramalingam says of his tools. “Brushes are outdated. I ask my pastry chefs to not use any brushstrokes anymore.”

“Microgreens help elevate as long as they are specific microgreens that complement the food, as long as they are specific to the dish, add value and look good,” he continues.

For example, a tomato dish might include micro basil, an Asian dish micro shiso and a Mexican dish micro cilantro.

Ramalingam has learned from experience and watching celebrity and master chefs he worked with. He continues to follow many of them on social media.

“I follow what’s happening in the world. That’s how I get myself inspired,” he says. “I try to not copy anybody, but I try to get inspired by them.”

Meanwhile at The Culinary Vegetable Institute at The Chef’s Garden in Milan, Ohio, Executive Chef Liaison Jamie Simpson has advantages when it comes to plating. He’s not only a professional chef, but he went to art school. Simpson also absorbed art composition from his grandfather who was a professional photographer.

“He taught me composition, the rule of thirds, dodging, enlarging, and most importantly, collaborating with nature in a way that brings emotion, composition, and storytelling within a single frame,” Simpson says.

He uses that background to create a visual story on the plates he sends out to diners. The Culinary Vegetable Institute is not a restaurant but a showcase for The Chef’s Garden and it hosts special dinner events throughout the year.

“Carefully plated food in restaurant settings has widened its footprint across the industry but overall food seems much simpler today than five years ago,” he observes. “Part of this is due to rising food costs and the big one is rising labor costs. Restaurants should be lean right now to weather the current climate. They should also be intentional in presentation when the spaghetti costs $36.”

Simpson uses whatever tools help tell the story he’s telling.

“Sometimes a cake spatula and a knife are all you need. Sometimes a trip to the hardware store,” he says with a touch of exaggeration.

Working as part of The Chef’s Garden has advantages.

“I’m a bit biased but I feel like every ingredient we grow here on the farm (when placed next to a commodity and even ‘local’ product of the same variety) is miles above and beyond its nearest counterpart,” he says. “The Chef’s Garden grows for flavor, color, shelf life, and texture.”

The food itself is an artistic component. Among these Simpson lists small heads of lettuce, gold beets, petite carrots with tops on, green garlic with roots attached, zucchini blossoms, potatoes the size of peas, flower petals in hundreds of variations.

“The ingredients we grow here are amazing,” he says. “Every ingredient we grow makes food more compelling and that’s the point.”

Simpson gets his inspiration in the garden.

“To walk through the garden is to walk through a kaleidoscope of colors, flavors, and textures,” he says.