“The Menu Trends That Define Dining Right Now” from The New York Times (gift link).
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 ), 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.
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.
No eggs, as I understand panna cotta to be. So also not a “custard,” right?
Egg-zactly!
Husband doesn’t like “eggy” things, and panna cotta goes on the short list of things we both like.
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.
I guess they changed it?
“As the cost of food and labor skyrocketed, restaurants turned to a simple, inexpensive dessert standby: panna cotta.”
I prefer that explanation to most alternatives! I will look for their usual update when they change something. Just in case.
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.