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A menu, lost in transcription


Alex

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I almost put this in Food Funnies, but decided it deserved its own topic. There's a French restaurant in New York City, The Simone, that uses an elegantly scripted handwritten menu (see below). Menupages, by necessity, uses a standard typeface (also see below). Of course, this means that someone had to read the handwriting -- which, granted in this case, does not always lend itself to quick comprehension -- and convert it to text via the keyboard. This particular someone apparently was in a hurry or didn't know a whole lot about food, or both. Their (possible) embarrassment is our gain:

 

The restaurant's handwritten "Terrine de Maison" became "Terrine de Macaron" (hmm, there's a dessert idea)

Goat Cheese Soufflé became Meat Cheese Souffle

caramelized onions --> caesar onions

Sweetbreads --> Sweet Breads

coarse grain mustard --> cheese grain mustard

parmagiano-reggiano [sic] --> parmagiana, nuggets

Greens --> Stew

preserved lemon --> pressed beds

Scallops seared --> Scallops eared

a sauce of romaine lettuce --> a saute of romaine lettuce

sugarsnaps --> sugargrapes

bread crumbs --> bread crushed

prune --> puree

Chicken (Label Rouge Heritage Breed) --> Chicken (label royal heritage bread)

croquettes of thigh, ham, foie gras, mushroom --> croquettes of high, ham, foiegrass, mushrooms

thigh slow roasted --> high slow roasted

skilled seared --> skillet peared

Lamb, oven roasted domestic rack, a sauté of spring peas, ramps, polpettes --> oven roasted domestic pear, a saute of sprig peas, ramen, solpettes

 

5a5ad66477ee5_TheSimonehandwrittenmenu.thumb.jpg.4b11bc6243bccfe229ba81f18d1cdc3f.jpg

 

 

5a5ad66c683db_TheSimoneMenupages.thumb.jpg.86199b65e4bfeb07b8e3dfeb704b6a8f.jpg

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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It looks to me like someone used the dictation feature on an iPhone or the like.

Edited by Anna N
Verb tense (log)
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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

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1 hour ago, Anna N said:

It looks to me like someone used the dictation feature on an iPhone or the like.

 

 

That was my guess, too. Still, the person apparently didn't bother proofreading -- just like a dismaying number of my former students, some of whom ate "crap cakes" or "porn & beans" for dinner; conducted "taste testes"; asked their "pears" for emotional support; or took up "dog breading" as a hobby. And those are just the food-related ones.

 

In a related vein, a recent email from a local purveyor included this gem: "Under pressure from the popular, large volume producers of Champagne, the French government made the boarders of Champagne larger." Hmm. Were they force-fed foie gras?

Edited by Alex
to add content (log)

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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Way back when my DW was a typesetter for a menu printing company. Menu printing companies also print wine lists. They used to get rush jobs for new wine lists and ended up making a parody wine list, The Super Rush Wine List, based on how easy it is to mess things up if you are rushed. We no longer have a copy but I remember one. Wish I could remember more.

 

Graves - served at tomb temperature.

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Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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  • 3 weeks later...

Even the amount of typos and grammatical errors on "reliable" news sites is a disgrace nowadays.

for pity's sake - hire a proof-reader!

(the fact that this site doesn't auto capital when you return a new line annoys me!)

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