Maybe a nitpick, but in fairness, those of us who don’t eat meat (no meat or poultry for me for over 16 years, although I absolutely love fresh seafood) are pretty used to asking the server about any dish that we may be unsure about—In other words, I have never met a non-meat eater who would order a dish with an ingredient that was unfamiliar without inquiring about what it was.
If it’s important to someone to follow a certain dietary standard, it is up to them, not the restaurant, to find out if it is something they (I) would want to eat…
True enough, but I think it’s also good business for the restaurant to have a menu that is easy to understand. This is neither the only nor the worst example of an item on this menu that seems confusing or misleading to me. Although some of the listed dishes do sound tasty, reading this menu makes me feel like I’d rather just go to a different restaurant where I wouldn’t have to keep asking the server a bunch of questions.
To be fair, I think ‘Fish & Chips’ and ‘Milk & Cookies’ were intended to be fanciful names rather than actual descriptions of the dishes. I agree that ‘Fish & Chips’ should not be used, because it doesn’t fit the description of the dish. ‘Milk & Cookies’ doesn’t bother me, since actual milk and cookies can cover a wide variety of cookies and there is no automatically assumption that a ‘dish’ would be an order of milk and an order of cookies.
I’m partial to the panang curry and the yum salad. The salad lives up to its name - the dressing has mint, lime, garlic, chilies; it’s a perfect balance of salty, sour, savory and pungent. I like their curries because they use the right ratios of coconut milk and curry paste to solids - a lot of places use too much coconut milk and not enough curry paste.
The dumplings are closer to kreplach than to potstickers, but they are a filled meat dumpling.
The chile fries are a reasonable portion - about four Fresno and four jalapeno peppers. When I costed it out, it came to about 22% food cost.
The yams might technically fall under the category of “sweet potatoes”, but they’re what gets sold as a yam here.
The chorizo is a fresh sausage rather than a cured sausage. I don’t recall the rules for serving house-cured meats, but ISTR something about having to file a Critical Control Point plan with some government agency. There’s a lot that can go wrong - botulism is a killer.
To the poster who asked about coffee and wines - yes, these would almost certainly be on the menu. They’re not my area of expertise, though - I’d need help. I mean, asking me what coffees taste good is like asking me my favorite flavor of mud.
And if it has broad enough appeal to show up on an Applebee’s menu, that’s fine. I’m not concerned with being hip and trendy - good is good independent of trends.
Avocado-Roasted Corn Salad - None of the appetizers really stand out to me but this is the one that sounds best.
Roasted Chicken and Savory Cranberries - There is nothing like a really good roasted chicken. Your execution of this dish would determine whether or not I’d return to your restaurant.
Habanero Tres Leches - Tres leches is my favorite dessert, but the habanero makes me very skeptical. I don’t like the spicy dessert thing. I don’t like black pepper in my chocolate chip cookies, nor mustard in my ice cream, nor red pepper pastries. It is very trendy right now, but honestly I believe most people don’t really like this either. I have the feeling that a decade from now we’ll look back at spiced up desserts as a culinary fad. Still I’d give it a try. Though in my city I can get truly great tres leches at about a dozen different places, and I can get a whole cake for the cost of two of your pieces.
The prices seem a bit high for what I’m getting, and I eat at places similarly priced. Of course the atmosphere and service at your place could make it worth it (or not worth it). The menu is just too small if it is a permanent menu. If it is changed often then it could be okay.
Also, to be fair, pancetta really isn’t esoteric. (They sell at my local supermarket in the deli section, for instance.) I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it on an Applebee’s or Olive Garden menu. It’s just that, for whatever reason, you haven’t come across it yet. No biggie. It’d strike me as odd to see it explained on the OP’s menu.
I agree with this, but would like to expand on it. It takes almost as much labor to make a serving of a fried something-or-other as it takes to make a shift’s worth of this fried thing. Most people aren’t going to go to the trouble of roasting, peeling, julienning, dredging and deep-frying a handful of peppers, or making the dough and the filling and the dipping sauce for two empanadas. It’s a lot of work for such a small thing.
When an order comes in at a restaurant, they already have an asston of fries and empanadas ready to go, and the oil is already up to temperature, and will only need to be drained once, at a later time.
Something else I’d considered - play it safer in the beginning, but start sneaking some of the riskier items in as a complimentary little amuse-bouche. If people like them, add them to the menu.
Also, Renee was correct about target audience - 30s to early 40s, childless, may or may not be partnered, eats in a variety of restaurants, (relatively) affluent.
About the cost for a three-course meal, I’m going on the assumption that most diners won’t go for all three. I’m aiming for people who dine out on Wednesday (and nearly every other weeknight), rather than people who treat dining out as a special thing you do on the weekends. I think people who eat here are likelier to order a main course each with a shared app/dessert, or several apps to share.
The fish and chips descriptions created a lexicographical and gastronomic dissonance within me, with the pistachio crusted, sauteed, salmon and blue potatoes. That might very well be a nice dish, but you turned me off from the get-go.
I understand that, I just think it’s a terrible idea to use the names of traditional dishes in a “fanciful” way like this. If someone actually wants traditional fish and chips they’re likely to be disappointed when they read the description, even if they might otherwise have liked the salmon dish, and someone who doesn’t want traditional fish and chips is likely to skip the description and never realize it was something different that they might have liked.
I think you also don’t understand. I don’t think it’s terrible to use fanciful terminology, I just don’t like inaccurate fancifulness and this kind of unoriginal description. I would go for a very distinctive menu, to back up the food you serve, this menu should only be considered a draft.
Be fanciful if you want, but consult with some native cooks first, You (OP) know some Seattle cooks, right?
In other words, don’t pay lip service in name to a classic preparation of a dish when your interpretation is convoluted enough to make the diner forget what they are ordering.
The menu looks like a collection of dishes you like, which is fine if you are cooking for yourself, but you aren’t. It is missing staples like a leafy salad, beef, and chocolate.
I quoted this because you referred to “the Thai restaurant”, how do you want people to refer to your restaurant? What is it exactly? Fusion? Bistro? It would really help if there was a recognizable theme.
Some people have commented about the “fanciful” names already and honestly they put me off. You have created colourful dishes that hint of different ethnic influences, I’d like to see names that reflect that. The names are the first thing the diner sees, intentionally making them sound like standard boring dishes seems counterproductive to me. Instead of Fish and Chips, call it Crusted Fish and Blue Chips, or emphasize the region with Indian Rose Mousse.
If you want to keep the menu small with 3 distinct courses, then you might want to offer a prix fixe option. You could either set it for all three courses, or for two with an entree plus a choice of starter or dessert.
Yea, there is a big difference between making food, and selling food…
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In other words, don’t pay lip service in name to a classic preparation of a dish when your interpretation is convoluted enough to make the diner forget what they are ordering.
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