Alina Dizik, Baby’s First Words, ‘What’s the Puree of the Day?’, Wall St. J., Aug. 4, 2011 at D1:
When a peacefully sleeping infant grows into a wailing, flailing toddler, it can quickly put the kibosh on dining out. So cafes and shops are cooking up healthy, gummable dishes, hoping that serving the tiniest diners will turn their parents into loyal customers.
On the tykes’ menu: pureed squash, organic chicken and even “babe-a-ccino” — a coffee-free cappuccino. Some restaurants are venturing into toddler territory for the first time, while others with a dedicated clientele of new parents are protecting their market by expanding kids’ menus to include options for babies as young as eight months.
For Alberto Gonzalez, founder of GustOrganics, a casual New York restaurant, the baby-food revelation came three years ago.
“One of the managers used to see the mothers ordering regular food and processing the food to feed their babies,” he says. Now the restaurant prepares organic dishes including a tenderloin beef puree with zucchini, carrot and bay leaf, and a dessert of banana and dulce de leche puree. Dishes made from scratch, without additives like salt, typically take 35 minutes to prepare, he says.
… At Seesaw, in addition to the Danish- and Korean-inspired kids’ menu, Ms. Gabel offers the “babe-a-ccino,” steamed milk with cocoa powder in a cappuccino cup, and the “tiny-ccino,” a miniature version served in an espresso cup. All of the porcelain coffee cups are still intact, says Ms. Gabel, who owns the cafe with her husband.
