The Menu Trends That Define Dining Right Now: NYT

“The Menu Trends That Define Dining Right Now” from The New York Times (gift link).

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Thanks so much for sharing this article!

Some thoughts:

LEGIBLE FONTS: As someone who recently had to bite the bullet and accept the need for reading glasses (only very occasionally :smile:), I’m all for larger fonts on menus. It was at our watering hole where I spent a good long year blaming my poor eyesight on the equally poor lighting and 3point cocktail menu font.

MISSION STATEMENT: Bound to piss of just about as many as who will appreciate it. Ain’t touching that one.

SMALL, BIG, BIGGER: I welcome this trend, as I don’t care for the app/main/dessert type of meal & prefer to share several plates.

HOLD THE BOOZE: while decidedly not pour moi, I think it’s great that the industry is embracing low & no alcohol options besides water and soda.

WHAT’S IN A DISH: I always think it’s cute when a local restaurant basically delivers the recipe with its menu description (i.e., heavy on the deetz), but disliked the austere trend of only mentioning the main ingredients.

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I enjoyed that, and read it carefully. I was surprised to see this;

“Even as the cost of eggs skyrocketed, restaurants continued to rely on a dessert standby: panna cotta. The bouncy custard”

No eggs, right?

I wonder if the smaller fonts allow for the smaller (as in 1/2 page) menu.

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No eggs, as I understand panna cotta to be. So also not a “custard,” right?

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Egg-zactly! :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

Husband doesn’t like “eggy” things, and panna cotta goes on the short list of things we both like.

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Yes. Irritating AF.
Yes. I honestly don’t care.
and Yes. It’s rare I go out to a restaurant that doesn’t have apps and/or small plates, which is what I prefer.

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I guess they changed it?

“As the cost of food and labor skyrocketed, restaurants turned to a simple, inexpensive dessert standby: panna cotta.”

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I prefer that explanation to most alternatives! I will look for their usual update when they change something. Just in case. :grimacing:

ETA I see no mention of the edited out eggs, but the fact that custard is still in there is re-assuring. Of my sanity, I mean.

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