Celebrity Chef Dave Lieberman Cooks Up Menu For W Hotels

Food Network star offers his take on global cuisine for hotel brand’s bar/roomservice menu

By Derek Gale, Senior Associate Editor -- Hotels, 5/22/2008 8:45:00 AM

To Food Network Chef Dave Lieberman, “W is about what’s hip and happening. It’s fresh and fun, and that’s what I like to do as well.”

That said, it was only natural for Lieberman to team up with the iconic hotel brand. “I had known some of the brand people from running around different festivals and being around the F&B world,” he says. “We just started talking and developed a conversation around how I could become a partner in the brand.”

The result is Cravings by Dave Lieberman, a new menu developed exclusively for W featuring globally-inspired foods with a twist, to be available in W’s bars, living rooms and guestrooms at select properties in North America starting June 1.

With W looking to expand rapidly around the globe (the recently opened Istanbul property is the brand’s first in Europe), brand leaders wanted F&B offerings to reflect where the brand is going, Lieberman says, including destinations like Milan and Marrakech. That works for him because “that’s how I cook anyway—incorporating lots of different influences,” he says.

“When talking about lounge and in-room dining menus, a lot of hotels tend to stick with classic Americana fare,” he notes. “This is a natural way for us to make it different, in keeping with my style.”

Lieberman says menu items are “global in nature yet still comfort food.” And in addition to his personal twist on the items, “we put a lot of thought into presentation and giving it that W spirit—sleek, hip and colorful,” he says.

Because the Cravings menu is designed for both bars/lounges and in-room dining, offerings range from small-plate size to main-course size.

“It depends on the dish,” Lieberman says. “Some are meant to be more bar food, like sweet and creamy shrimp or chicken kebabs. The BBQ brisket egg rolls are definitely bar food. But the tuna dish and the pasta, which are meant more for in-room dining, are more like a main course. The truffled Taleggio grilled cheese works as [both].”

“We’re trying to fill as many needs as possible with a relatively short list of items,” he says.

To promote the new menu, W is in the midst of putting on three W Happenings in San Diego, Chicago and New York City, at which hotel chefs, hotel guests and local foodies are invited to meet Lieberman and taste some of his creations.

“It’s an opportunity for me to connect with the properties and the chefs to work with them on the dishes and [let them] hear what I was thinking,” Lieberman says. “The other side of the events is the public side, which is inviting the community into the hotel to launch the new menu. It’s outreach at the property level and community level.”

After the events and the official June 1 launch, Lieberman will stay involved by doing seasonal refreshes of the menu through spring 2009, he says. “That’s one of the most exciting parts of the partnership,” he notes. “For fall we’ll have heartier, more autumnal dishes, and a whole new chance to get people excited again about our offerings. Every quarter there will be something new to look forward to at W.”

W Hotels’ Cravings by Dave Lieberman Menu:

- Spicy Tuna with Black Forbidden Rice
- Warm Balsamic Asparagus, Pea Shoot and Baby Arugula Salad with Shaved Pecorino
- Sweet and Creamy Popcorn Shrimp
- Chicken Dumpling Soup
- Pork and Scallion Potstickers with Ponzu and Sweet Mustard Sauces
- BBQ Brisket Eggrolls
- Rosemary Garlic Skirt Steak with Baked Egg and Arugula Salad
- Chicken Kebabs with Harissa Ketchup and Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
- Meatball “Hero” with Red Pepper Tomato Sauce and Provolone
- Spring Pasta with Sausage, Asparagus and Grape Tomatoes
- Outside-In Wagyu Sirloin Burger with Balsamic Caramelized Onions, Sauteed Mushrooms, Applewood Bacon and Special Sauce
- Truffled Taleggio Grilled Cheese sandwich with Balsamic Caramelized Onions, Fried Rosemary, Spicy Mustard, Cornichons and Radishes
- Smokey Yukon Gold Fries