What sorts of unique dishes and specials might diners see on the menu at Arlo Grey that celebrate the season?

When I think about holiday menu planning with restaurants, it’s one of those things where you have to remain thoughtful and broad, but I still want to hit on the comfort and nostalgia of things that I grew up on. However, everyone has different holiday menus. My chef, Alex [Munoz], and I try to keep it as broad as we can. Thankfully, he comes from a different background than I do, so he’s bringing his input. He asks the team what they want to do. Rather than doing a full preset menu and that’s the only thing we serve, we keep our full dinner menu — and then we add one starter, one main, and one dessert that are an option [for holidays]. You can do one, or all, or none.

Being in a hotel, we also need to remain neutral in some ways. If someone wants a bowl of the mushroom pasta that we have on our menu that is the classic tried-and-true and has been there forever, people can still get that. You have travelers that aren’t necessarily celebrating or are celebrating away from family. We like to give as many options for comfort as we can.

Any specific dishes you could clue us into?

We don’t know yet … Last time I was actually in Austin, he did throw out wanting to do pheasant.

What’s a dish that you typically like to make at home that signals the change of a season for you?

Any braise, any soup, anything brothy, warming, like a savory tea … If it can remind me of a savory tea, that’s the vibe that I like. I grew up in Michigan, and I oftentimes ate canned soup for breakfast because I’m much more of a savory breakfast eater than I was a sweet breakfast eater. My mom was like, “Kristen, a canned vegetable soup or something — eat something of nutritional value, please, before you go to school.” I always have this nostalgic comfort surrounding pre-made soups, which is a thing. And braises … Anything you can do in one pot, throw in the oven, forget about it, and come back four hours later, and it’s perfect.

Do you have a favorite soup or braise that you like to go for?

When I have a lot of time, any kind of beef stew or beef bourguignon. Coq au vin is beautiful, or it can be as simple as a braised chicken thigh. The recipe I made for Pacific Foods is a braised dish — technically, a braised chicken thigh that cooks for less than an hour.