Eyeing the Menu
Posted by Michael Voltaggio on Feb 5, 2010

If you followed Bryan and I on Top Chef, or have been reading this blog, you know that we are big on presentation.  How we plate dishes is very important to us because it's one of the ways we get to be creative as chefs.  The big way is the food, of course, with the next big one being how the food is displayed to you.  Another way, which doesn't get talked about very often, is the menu.

Composing a menu is just as much an art form as the creation of the dishes on it.  You have to consider how, when and where to list everything, how you will describe each dish, and how the menu itself will look.  When you are trying out a new dish, if you don't describe it properly, or in a way that isn't attractive or intriguing, no one's gonna order it.  Without a solid menu, your dish can be a bust before you even get the chance to make it.  So you can see why menus are a big thing for us.

I noticed many of you posted menus of restaurants you've been to, and described your experiences.  I thought it would be good to take a look at them.  In the comments, tell us what you like and don’t like about what you see.

Phil sent in the menu from my restaurant:

"It is true that Michael changes the tasting menu periodically and this picture is proof. This is a copy of the Dining Room’s tasting menu at the end of December. Each course was amazing but my favorite this time was the Foie Grass and Kuroge Beef. In October, the Foie Grass was served with concord grapes. The Foie Grass this time was light, airy and melted in my mouth. The Kuroge beef was perfectly cooked and the flavor exploded with each bite. I have pictures from each course that I will upload in another album. I was not the only person taking pictures of the food that night."

Phil also sent in the menu for Joel Rubochon's restaurant:

"This is a copy of Joel Robuchon’s 16 course tasting menu in December. I had very high expectations given Robuchon’s “Chef of the Century” recognition. The first three courses (Le Caviar, Le Foie Gras and Les Champignons) were unbelievable but quickly fell flat after that. All the food was shipped from Europe and I recognize that most of the items on the menu are made especially for Robuchon. Don’t get me wrong, the food was good but it didn’t wow me. My wife also did not appreciate the strong taste of the bourbon soaked fruit on the desserts (which they did not warn us about). However, the bread and the chocolate truffles carts were out of this world. Given Robuchon’s reputation and the steep price they charge (I think the price was quoted in Euros), I was expecting to be blown away. The staff's arrogance also added to the disappointment. I definitely have had much better overall experiences at The Dining Room."

And Phil sent in Aureole’s Las Vegas tasting menu:

"This is a copy of the Aureole’s Las Vegas tasting menu; Charlie Plamer’s comfort food at its best. All the courses were outstanding but the desserts were unbelievable. The Chocolate Tart and the different flavors of ice cream were a perfect ending to an amazing meal."

Peg Ward posted a menu of the Charlie Palmer Steakhouse:

If you have a menu picture, upload it to your profile and flag it as "Cool".  Every so often, we'll take a minute to look at menus and discuss what we like and don't like about them.

Enjoy the weekend.

-Michael

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  • Categories: User Content , Voltaggio Brothers , Menus
I have been remiss in not posting the wonderful menu of Table 21 of Volt! I'll fix that situation soon.
If you want the opinion of a graphic designer, we've gotta get you some more intriguing typefaces here, with smaller titles, maybe less bold, maybe some creative text placement that leaves more white space.  Think of it the same as you think of plating - a small, colorful punch in the midst of a large, white rectangular plate.  Let the menu design mirror your plating style.
As a chef myself i often struggle with writing a menu because you don't want every description to be to long its hard to breakdown a dish into a sentence in my eyes its nearly impossible. So that said i really do rely allot on my waitstaff the explain the dish well and this is where relationship between the FOH and BOH can sour quickly.  Its hard to get a waiter to understand the overall concept of every dish and explain it how you yourself a chef would explain it . i think the is a catch 22 because you cant make the menu too long but you have to excite the customer at the same time.
Hmmm.....I am not a fan of pretension of any kind.  My husband and I had the pleasure of eating at French Laundry almost nine years ago, and let me tell you, while it was "fancy" dining, the menu was not initmidating at all (aka no" what  the heck is this I am I eating???)  It was just an amazingly delicious experience.  I've lived in Los Angeles for the past 20 plus years, and my favorite restaurants, consistantly are ones that do not try too hard.  I love Melisse in Santa Monica.  Loved the old Patina on Melrose, sadly now gone, Wolfgang Puck's Chinois.  Oh, and Father's Office for burgers!
For those of you who like to look at menus, and get some ideas for wordings, ect. here are a few sites that list them...
http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/the-waverly-inn/menu

http://www.menusonly.com/menus/philipshaverhouse/default.asp

I agree on the typeface Mark.  Someday, maybe someday, my palate will be able to experience the art of just one of these lovely locations.
Funny you should post about menus! I was just complaining about one this weekend.

I never understand why some restaurants disregard the quality of their menus.  I see it as the real communication between the heart of the establishment (kitchen) and the guest.  I was at Broadway East over the weekend (food decent, service VERY SLOW), I ordered the chickpea veggie burger and the server told me they didn't have it anymore and it had been off the menu for over a week (as if I was supposed to know and I had not been there in months).  There was no mention from her when we arrived, a quick mention of how some items might not be available would have helped, and if the item had been gone for a week, I would think they would make new menus or even very neatly cross the item off.

When Orchid Lounge closed I kept one of their drink menus because it was beautiful and they always updated it and cared.  I would not have kept this menu, and I would think in larger frankly fancier places where you know the overhead is huge that they would want to keep you coming back. 

Update the menu!  With printer tech now and nice papers and a paper cutter it can be done without major expense.  Clean your menus, splattered dirty menu holders are gross, wipe it with a cloth.  I won't keep going on I am just again, surprised that more places do not care or seem to care about the first thing that goes into their customer's hands as their representation of what they can do.
Ps.. I was my partner's family, it wasn't like just us two I had to hold everyone up having to go through to choose again and the server chose to come back like "oh you need another minute" holding things up further.  She also brought the others coffee first way before food arrived, I am not a coffee drinker but doesn't that come last?  So it was cold when they wanted it *sigh*  And salt and pepper were requested several times and didn't arrive until 5 min after the food arrived.  They can be a good place they just need to improve on the little things.
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