To celebrate the 10-month anniversary of Jagger’s successful spine surgery, her goldendoodle, Cat Torrejon-Nisbet didn’t buy him the traditional rawhide dog bone. Instead, she paid $15 for a pale pink, rose-shaped dog pastry made with antelope heart from Dogue, a San Francisco dog restaurant.
“They won’t love you anymore because you give them a nice treat,” says Ms. Torrejon-Nisbet, 50, who lives in Santa Barbara, California, with Jagger and his Bernedoodle sister, Sierra. “It’s more about the love we have for our dogs.”
Dog owners like Ms. Torrejon-Nisbet are increasingly visiting restaurants across the country that offer separate menus for their four-legged relatives. Dog menus have become the new version of children’s menus in some restaurants. Pet parents can now order their dog an Alaskan steak or salmon with steamed rice. The dog can wash that down with a non-alcoholic “beer” made from pork stock, or a bowl of Dög Pawrignon made with wild-caught salmon oil.
Other restaurants have gone a step further and cater exclusively to dogs, from custom birthday cakes for dogs to food trucks serving chicken nuggets and burgers. At Dogue, dogs eat a gourmet tasting menu.
Kelly Lockett, 32, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, has taken Benji, her mini schnauzer mix, to several New York restaurants with dog menus, including Judy Z’s in Greenwich Village. “He gets so happy and he likes to spend time with us and not just at home,” she said.
The pandemic has led to an increase in pet ownership, according to a 2021-2022 study by the American Pet Products Association, which found dogs in about 65.1 million U.S. households. Pet product sales are up $46 billion since 2018, according to the association, which predicted they will reach $143.6 billion this year.
In San Francisco, Jason Villacampa, 40, has treated his corgis, Tony and Captain, to the tasting menu at Dogue four times. It costs $75 per dog, with free sparkling water or mimosas for the owner.
On a recent visit, Mr. Villacampa, the chef, Rahmi Massarweh, explained what dishes the dogs were going to eat, detailing which local farm supplied each ingredient and how each meal was prepared. He served bone broth to the table and put the finishing touches on plates such as mosaic chicken, thin strips of white meat wrapped in nori, layered on top of each other 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 are a new source of income for restaurants. The Wilson, in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, estimates it serves meals to most of the 30 to 40 dogs that come in each day. A dog dish of steak and vegetables costs $24.
Despite recent inflation, 54 percent of dog owners said they were willing to spend more to feed their dogs a more nutritious, whole-food diet more in line with their household’s health choices, according to a small survey a year ago by Rover, a pet-sitting service . Rover also said dogs have become a substitute for children in many households.
“Pets are members of our family, and we want to feed them that way,” says Ron Holloway, owner of Woofbowl, a food truck in Dumbo, Brooklyn, that focuses on dogs. Mr. Holloway and his wife, Solo Holloway, a former biochemical and electrical engineer, started the mobile restaurant after making more nutritious meals 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 pies — such as a ramen bowl mold for a Shih Tzu named Ramen — from companies like New York’s Maison de Pawz, a dog bakery and catering company where they can choose from flavors like peanut butter, Funfetti, coconut, spiced apple or carob (chocolate is poisonous to dogs). The hearty cakes are made with buckwheat flour and coconut oil, and while people can eat it, they probably won’t like the taste, said Mei-i Zien, the bakery’s owner.
Ashley Marino, who lives on the Upper East Side, plans to take Henry, her Maltipoo, to a birthday brunch at the Wilson later this month. She’ll probably order him his favorite dish, chicken with baby veggies in a dog bowl, and he’ll eat a bacon or banana flavored cupcake later. (She hasn’t decided which one.)
“I want to go through this with him,” said Ms. Marino, 37. She and her boyfriend celebrate birthdays with brunch and want to do the same for Henry. “It sounds so ridiculous to say out loud. It’s just nice to take him out and treat him to something. We all enjoy it together.”
To comply with health department regulations, New York City’s pet-oriented restaurants only serve products for dogs or prepare meals for pets and humans separately. At Judy Z’s and the Wilson, dogs and their owners sit outside at tables and food is served in dog bowls that must be placed on the floor.
At Boris & Horton in the East Village, which serves treats for Mrs. Zien, dog items and pastries for humans are prepared by a separate member of staff and served on disposable plates to prevent cross-contamination. Logan Mikhly, a founder of the dog cafe, said the city’s health department was “helpful with what we had to do to get it done with a strict list of things that we’re following down to the last detail.”
When Joey, a Yorkshire terrier, visits New York City, his owner Rachel Choi, 25, usually takes him to socialize at a dog park on the Lower East Side. But Ms. Choi said that his nagging at the entrance makes it clear that he doesn’t want to be there. He wants to go to Boris & Horton, which has air conditioning, to enjoy a peanut butter cupcake and let other people pet him.
“He just seems to be in a good mood there in a way he’s not anywhere else,” she said.