My first restaurant menu

[howsmatt]

I am close to buying my first restaurant. The concept will be the family table and I plan to have 2 large tables for communal style eating and attitude. The food will be modernized-restaurant complicated family/mom's cooking. For example: sous vide cooked eggs with bernaise, apple smoked then braised bacon and a steel cut oat brulee instead of the usual bacon, eggs and porridge.

I will be serving breakfast, lunch, dinner.

breakfast I'm mostly happy with what I have (but not averse to further suggestions)

for lunch I would like to mostly serve sandwiches that are efficient and cost effective--also because I will likely have a decent amount of take out.

For dinner--reasonably priced ingredients is the only real restriction.

So ultimately the question is what home made classics do you love and how might you bling them up given an industrial kitchen and a capable chef.

Matt

[mkayahara]

Well, to my mind, there are three mains you definitely need to offer: roast chicken, pork chops (with applesauce; bonus points if you serve it in a Mason jar), and beef stew. Roast beef, pot roast and lasagna are also high on the list. And given your location, I assume you're offering cretons somewhere on the menu?

For desserts, I think brownies and apple pie are both must-haves.

[Fantastic Mr Fox]

Perhaps some sort of "casserole" dish...basmati rice, peas, pearl onions, garlic, some nice cheese of your preference (maybe a sharp cheddar), house-made breadcrumb topping or maybe panko. Could be served in individual portions/crockery or as a family-style dish.

Overall, I recommend trying to keep it simple and basic, but choose good, delicious ingredients.

[MattyC]

Sounds like a great idea, I wish you the best of luck with this, I really like the modernized family style idea you have going there. I don't have much in the way of suggestions only because your examples show you definitely are on the right track :-p

As much as I like jazzing up classics, I do think things like a whole roasted chicken is something you might possibly leave alone, if you were to do something like that. I think some classics are done so horribly most of the time, one done simply yet perfectly is almost better.

I'm not sure of your operation, but for lunch, what about baking the sandwich breads in house? That's always a good touch, although if you have a small staff, not a great option. But house baking brioche for french toast on the breakfast side, marble rye and other breads for lunches, etc. That will give you options of jazzing up different breads as well to fit certain sandwiches.

[Busboy]

Where are you located? What's the competition? What are the economics of your target audience? Who doesn't love roast chicken, but are there three other decent chicken places (or pasta joints or steakhouse) nearby?

What makes you suspect that there's a huge market for sous vide eggs rather than "over easy?" Not that I'm against them, there's a restaurant in DC that serves theme with black beans and crema and they're brilliant, but I'm trying to get a feel for the neighborhood. And are people really craving braised pork belly for breakfast rather than a couple of crisp rashers of apple-wood smoked? It all seems kind of the opposite of the more traditional "Sandwiches for lunch" approach.

Are your potential customers willing to pay more for local/organic/free range, and will a commitment to that differentiate you? Serious pork chops are certainly traditional-yet-different dish, and I once got on a cooking show by serving them on top of a warm cabbage/apple/onion slaw, but would people recognize the difference and pay for it? ALso, are they adventurous to allow you to buy a whole hog and serve the "weird bits?"

in some circles, they remain relatively rare at restaurants, keep your food costs down and there are plenty of opportunities to tweak a basic stock-red wine braise to make yours unique. Also, they nestle nicely into a pile of polenta or potatoes on a cold winter night.

Also: chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.

Good luck!

[howsmatt]

Mason jars for all drinks.

Pork chop and roast chicken sound good. Gotta figure out a way to have a roast chicken come out hot and juicy quickly and without waste.

Apple something dessert for sure.

Casserole-basmati don't really feel it.

I am hoping to bake the bread that goes on the table and biscuits but that's about it--and even that is hopeful.

In the neighbourhood there is a breakfast place, a wine bar and a spanish restaurant. Also pizza cheap-o type joint. Basically nothing too good and a little all over the map.

The idea isn't to advertise the technology or effort and simply allow people to think, damn that's good bacon and eggs. Why is the yolk so creamy? Why is the bacon so tender even though it's cut thick and tastes like apple wood. I have no immediate plans to go organic/local/expensive. I will not be serving offal etc. as few of our moms did such things. My prices will be very competitive with any other good value for quality type place.

Thanks.

Matt

[Doodad]

My first thought along the lines of economy of scale and multi use is meatloaf. Jazz it up maybe creole style and serve it grilled with mashed potatoes or rice for dinner and then as a sandwich at lunch perhaps with a remoulade to keep the creole theme?

[boagman]

My first thought was spicing up the typical pot roast with, well, spices! By that, I'm referring to the hot variety. Of course, then you'd have to not trim the fat as much, but for someone like me...awesome. The spiciness could also really jazz up the typical served-with veggies that accompany a pot roast (potatoes, carrots, onion, etc.).

I tried currying-up a pork roast not too long ago with some pretty good results.

In terms of casseroles, what about a different take on Shepherd's Pie?

I'm really at a loss trying to think about the sandwiches at lunch...except that a prime rib sandwich can be just fantastic, and they're hard to find. Couple that with a *actual* horseradish-type spread, and that's pretty darned efficient. Don't go all mamby-pamby on the horseradish spread, now. I realize that prime rib might not fall under your "cheap ingredients" idea, but it honestly is cost-efficient, as well as kitchen efficient.

[howsmatt]

Ya, my wife suggested meatloaf. She really enjoyed the good eats one. It's also a bit different which is good. Don't know about "Prime" rib, but a roast beef sandwich with grated horseradish is certainly a possibility.

No curry and other such ethnicly identifiable items except perhaps as specials when I'm in the mood.

You grill meatloaf??? I've never had this. Sounds like a good idea though. Sort of an extra seasoned grilled burger.

Matt

[David A. Goldfarb]

Macaroni & cheese, but maybe with some kind of interesting, hydrocolloid type "macaroni."

[Tri2Cook]

Macaroni & cheese, but maybe with some kind of interesting, hydrocolloid type "macaroni."

I wouldn't go that route in this setting. I've played around with a lot of hydrocolloid "noodles" using known recipes and my own experimenting and it can be a useful technique but it's not really the right thing for family-style mac and cheese (although it could be fun in the right setting). It's really delicate unless you pump up the hydrocolloids to the point that they're more like gummy worms. It's an excellent way to surprise people with a clean and unexpected flavor in noodle form but it doesn't really behave like a noodle. It doesn't have the chew or the ability to absorb and carry the sauce that traditional pasta has. If "mom's cooking" is the theme you have to be careful what you do to people's mac and cheese.

[howsmatt]

Mac n' cheese is a good idea. Probably baked is more homey. I agree, I wouldn't go agar noodle because it doesn't fit. I will only use interesting food technology if it takes a classic and makes it taste great but isn't an important part of the final product.

[Chris Amirault]

Mason jars for all drinks? What's the drinks menu? I have to say, I reacted extremely negatively to that. They ain't made for drinkin', after all....

[howsmatt]

I love drinking out of mason jars, although it may work better for kids drinks. Likely drink menu includes basics, shakes and floats.

[BKYLN]

The concept will be the family table and I plan to have 2 large tables for communal style eating and attitude.

Will you have normal tables in addition to the 2 communals? IMO communal tables are a very bad idea. You assume that strangers want to eat together, and they don't. I would never eat at a communal table that wasn't empty.

[howsmatt]

I will have both, but sitting at the communal table will be encouraged. The restaurant is attached to a hotel so I hope this will help.

Ultimately complaints about tables and glasses are not the topic of this thread.

So...

Are there other upgraded or upgradeable lunch or dinner comfort food items that you would suggest for the menu in such a space?

Matt

[Doodad]

If I had to think of the one thing that can cover so many meals and is economical except from a time to cook standpoint, but yields plenty once it is done, is the pork shoulder.

Serve with a pan sauce and greens at dinner, bbq sandwich at lunch or in brunswick stew, posole etc and you could even sneak it into an omelette or quiche or burrito at breakfast.

Find a way to smoke it and even better.