From totalfood.com
By Cherry Dumaual
Chef Jenna McPartland of Joylark Plant Kitchen & Bar on designing plant-based boards with broad guest appeal
These days, charcuterie boards are becoming a menu staple, with industry data showing their incidence on U.S. menus has climbed by roughly 84 percent. Even before the pandemic reshaped how diners approach shared plates and grazing formats, trend forecasters were already bullish: 2022 projections estimated charcuterie boards would grow by approximately 25 percent on U.S. menus over a four-year period.
What those forecasts did not fully anticipate, however, is how the category would expand beyond cured meats and cheeses — opening the door for plant-based interpretations that emphasize fermentation, global flavours, and culinary craft.
Few chefs exemplify that evolution better than Jenna McPartland of Joylark Plant Kitchen & Bar, in Fairfield, CT. The restaurant, which opened last year in October, is a destination in its own right. At Joylark, the 100% vegan menu is designed to feel abundant, craveable, and welcoming. It appeals to plant-based diners and omnivores alike.
In the following Q&A, Chef McPartland shares how she approaches plant-based charcuterie through flavour, technique, and hospitality. From her, operators can learn from reimagining the board for today’s evolving guests.
Joylark Plant Kitchen & Bar is fully plant-based yet designed to feel inclusive and celebratory. What was your vision for the restaurant, and what do you want guests — especially first-time visitors — to feel when they walk in?
I would like everyone to walk in our doors and immediately feel welcome. So many vegan places feel like a stereotype, which can be alienating. Our decor is cheerful and vibrant, with enough elegance to feel special. Our hospitality is warm and inviting. We really want our guests to feel relaxed and cared for. And that’s even before anyone has had a bite to eat! The menu is also designed to be approachable and familiar, yet unexpected. I think most people have pre-conceived notions about vegan food, and we are able to surprise people with just how satisfying it is. After all, good food is good food.
On your website, you say, “The time of plant-based cuisine has arrived — no sacrifices here.” How does that philosophy translate to your approach to charcuterie?
Joylark approaches charcuterie the same way that we approach our menu; We use real ingredients, well seasoned, and plated beautifully. That’s not a sacrifice – it’s delicious. Charcuterie boards have come to mean so much more than meat in recent years. They include nuts, dips, crackers and breads, fruits, jams, cheeses, and more. They range from simple plates to works of art. It’s hard to look at a bountiful platter of delicious finger-foods and feel anything but delighted.
Plant-based menus are sometimes perceived as niche. How do you design a charcuterie board that feels craveable and satisfying to non-vegans — especially guests who may arrive sceptical?
In my experience, the sceptics haven’t had vegan food that was made thoughtfully. The best way to help people to get over that scepticism is to give them things they eat all the time without giving it a second thought. Grapes and strawberries, sourdough bread, mushrooms, almonds… Ominvores eat them all the time without questioning that there’s no meat or dairy involved. Putting those every day items on a platter along with some items that may be lesser known is a great introduction. When a guest spreads our cheese on a toast point and tops it with a dollop of caponata, they are eating something they’ve eaten before — except our cheese is made with coconut milk.
Traditional charcuterie relies on cured meats to deliver fat, salt, and umami. How do you recreate — or reinterpret — those sensory cues using plant-based ingredients? Are there specific techniques or flavour strategies you return to again and again?
Fat, salt, and umami are not unique to cured meats, though most of us never have a reason to consider it. Good chefs incorporate them into everything they create. Marinating a portobello mushroom in tamari provides that familiar flavour, just as holding carrot ribbons in olive oil gives it that fatty unctuousness we all love with charcuterie. There’s no reason to trick people into thinking they are eating meat when they can get all the same satisfaction just by using excellent flavours and techniques.
Joylark’s vibrant design, from bold colour palettes to themed seating areas like The Birdcage, creates a sense of joy and playfulness. How do you encourage your team to carry that same energy into service, and why is hospitality such an important part of the dining experience for you?
Throughout all of history and around the world, people come together over food. For that reason, restaurants have an almost sacred responsibility to deliver that experience with gracious hospitality. At Joylark, we believe that modern fine dining means both the food and the hospitality are about genuine connection. It’s not only possible, but necessary, to be simultaneously elegant and playful. Training staff in the skills necessary for upscale service while giving them the freedom to be human means that they can truly connect. The fact that our guests know that the cute little nook in the back is known as The Birdcage is a sign that those connections are happening.
Learn more about Joylark Plant Kitchen & Bar at Joylarkkitchen.com
https://totalfood.com/charcuterie-reimagined-no-meat-required/
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