How the Equinox Hotel is rethinking dining
More often than not, room service is neither nutritious nor enticing. But, at the Equinox Hotel, the concept of dining in situ is turned on its head. The menu includes “hydrators” like collagen sparkling tea, toasts served on spelt bread from local favorite Roberta’s, and ingredients sourced from New York staples like the Union Square Greenmarket.
The offerings were developed and conceptualized by Ara Dalzell-Patterson, vice president of food and beverage for Equinox Hotels and Kyle Knall, executive chef of STARR group’s Electric Lemon, the hotel’s onsite restaurant; Equinox’s Health Advisory Board also provided insight. “The in-room dining program features a lifestyle-focused menu designed around high performance,” explains Dalzell-Patterson. “It targets factors such as time of day and function.”
Knall and Dalzell-Patterson spoke to Furthermore about favorite menu items, jet lag–reducing smoothies, and more:
Seasonal focus
Kyle Knall: We treat the in-room dining program the same way we treat the restaurant menu. It is important that hotel guests know that what they are eating is specific to New York City at this moment. You can expect proteins such as Hudson Valley steelhead trout and pasture-raised, all-natural chicken.
Ara Dalzell-Patterson: The menu is hyper-seasonal. Every Monday, our chef will feature an image on Instagram with the hashtag #EQXPANTRYEDITION showing the ingredients that'll be used in the kitchen for the week.
High performance meets hedonism
KK: We want to make sure that guests are able to rejuvenate, nourish, and also indulge. The menu is executed on a high level so that fats are not overused and the nuances [of the ingredients] are able to shine through.
AD-P: Guests can choose to create their dishes through the “simply cooked’ section, picking lean proteins and pairing them with seasonal vegetables, while a grass-fed burger is a nod to familiar comfort food created with quality in mind. Even the kid’s menu is conceived of with nutritional value as a priority without a compromise on taste.
A superfood latte selection
A D-P: Our lattes are made with the highest-quality products from Sun Potion, Moon Juice, Golde, and Four Sigmatic. Highlights include the golden milk latte (a golden turmeric tonic blend with honey and almond milk) as well as a medicinal mushroom latte (with coffee, Four Sigmatic 5 mushroom blend, vegan collagen blend, and almond milk.) Other lattes in the menu include a matcha latte, cacao latte, and chai latte.
Power down provisions
A D-P: The Sleep-Well menu is comprised of smoothies and light bites developed with ingredients aiding in the natural production of magnesium, melatonin, and targeted adaptogens—all of which promote restful sleep, support regeneration, and help combat the effects of jet lag.
Team favorites
KK: My favorite item on the room service menu is either the carrot banh mì or the Simply Cooked Chicken. The idea of the chicken is to comfort people who are traveling, so they feel like they are eating more of a home-cooked meal.
A D-P: Many of the items contain functional, bioactive ingredients with health benefits. Some are a bit exotic, so we’ve included a detailed guide and glossary at the end of the menu. My favorite dish would be the breakfast Beauty Bowl made with beet yogurt.
