On a recent visit, Mr. Villacampa said, the chef, Rahmi Massarweh, explained the dishes the dogs were about to eat, detailing which local farm provided each ingredient and how each meal was prepared. He served bone broth tableside, and put the finishing touches to plates like mosaic chicken, thin strips of white meat wrapped in nori, layered together and cooked in a water bath. Mr. Massarweh, a chef for 20 years, trained in French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco.
Dog menus provide a new revenue source for restaurants. The Wilson, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, estimates that it serves meals to most of the 30 to 40 dogs that come in every day. A dog entree of steak and vegetables costs $24.
Despite recent inflation, 54 percent of dog owners said they were willing to spend more to provide their dogs with a more nutritious, whole-food diet that aligns more with their household’s health choices, according to a small survey a year ago by Rover, a pet-sitting service. Rover also said that dogs have become a substitute for children in many households.
“Pets are members of our family, and we equally want to feed them that way,” said Ron Holloway, who owns Woofbowl, a food truck based in Dumbo, Brooklyn, that caters to dogs. Mr. Holloway and his wife, Solo Holloway, a former biochemical and electrical engineer, started the mobile restaurant after making more nutritious meals from scratch for their French bulldogs, Latto and Dino. Mr. Holloway, a military veteran, and his wife, a Cambodian refugee, adopted the dogs as part of his treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Just as some people celebrate their birthdays or holidays at restaurants, many dog owners do the same for their pets. Owners order custom cakes — like one shaped as a ramen bowl for a Shih Tzu named Ramen — from businesses like Maison de Pawz in New York, a dog bakery and catering company where they can choose from flavors like peanut butter, Funfetti, coconut, spiced apple or carob (chocolate is toxic to dogs). The dense cakes are made with buckwheat flour and coconut oil, and though humans can eat it, they probably wouldn’t like the taste, said Mei-i Zien, the owner of the bakery.
