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Menu Atrocities

rlibkind

By rlibkind
in Restaurant Life

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enurmi

enurmi

Posted
Posted (edited)
The biggest, and most frequent menu atrocity - calling the Main Courses "Entrées"....

I wouldn't say that's an atrocity... Sure, it's not technically correct in France, but it's come to mean something. It's just like how we now say "The data is," which is technically incorrect. It should be "The data are," but if you were to say that, people would look at you askance. The other way has become colloquially grammatical.

Edited by enurmi (log)

I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?

The Guide is definitive. Reality is often inaccurate.

Government Created Killer Nano Robot Infection Epidemic 06.

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Jakea222

Jakea222

Posted
Posted

oh yeah I like the one Pizza Pie

as a southern boy (38yrs old) I learned a lot moving to NY to attend CIA - NYC the foods all over the place were amazing! Some were named like that - it was fun to see what Americans or (blank -insert nationality) Americans call the same thing in different regions - how cool is that -!!

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serpentine

serpentine

Posted
Posted

The "Famous" Chicken and Waffles were memorably described to me and my dining companion.

The restaurant had been open for less than a week. I couldn't help myself from responding "what? famous among whom?"

(Needless to say, this restaurant was not Roscoe's, Wells, or Gladys Knight's.)

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tamiam

tamiam

Posted
Posted (edited)

My personal menu description favorite was at a pub not known for its cuisine. I don't recall the dish, but I do remember that it contained "carmelized cheese".

Edited by tamiam (log)
Oil and potatoes both grow underground so french fries may have eventually invented themselves had they not been invented -- J. Esther
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Reefpimp

Reefpimp

Posted
Posted
one of the most ridiculous I've seen:

Freshly Harpooned Sashimi Quality Bluefin & Hamachi Tuna at a NY restaurant

Not as funny as you might think. When I was attending an Ongoing Maritime Education class in New Bedford, Mass a couple years ago, (I think it was for my STCW cert), I had a couple classmates who'd worked on swordfish boats; apparently bluefin, like swordfish, bask on the surface with enough regularity that hunting and killing them with harpoon is nor nearly as rare an activity as you might think. Every possibility that that tuna had been killed with Ye Olde Harpoone. Crossing over the Acushnet river bridge every morning, I several times saw boats with bow pulpits so elongated that they were stowed folded up over the flying bridge. That would be, I guess, where the harpooner stands in the final moments of the hunt. "Swordfish pulpit" returns some 13,000 responses on everybody's go-to search engine.

This whole love/hate thing would be a lot easier if it was just hate.

Bring me your finest food, stuffed with your second finest!

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Reefpimp

Reefpimp

Posted
Posted
I still love the menu item with the subtitle:

Dutchies Potatoes

Potatoes made with Dutchies

Pass the dutchie on the left hand side....

This whole love/hate thing would be a lot easier if it was just hate.

Bring me your finest food, stuffed with your second finest!

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markk

markk

Posted
Posted

I've also seen "pre-fix" and "pre-fixed" on menus.

Overheard at the Zabar’s prepared food counter in the 1970’s:

Woman (noticing a large bowl of cut fruit): “How much is the fruit salad?”

Counterman: “Three-ninety-eight a pound.”

Woman (incredulous, and loud): “THREE-NINETY EIGHT A POUND ????”

Counterman: “Who’s going to sit and cut fruit all day, lady… YOU?”

Newly updated: my online food photo extravaganza; cook-in/eat-out and photos from the 70's

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phaelon56

phaelon56

Posted
Posted

I once worked in a place that had "French l'oignon soup gratinee" on the menu. That was only one of the many bizarre French/English language mash-ups they had on the menu.

And we have a local Vietnamese restaurant whose menu includes a dish featuring "crunchy cash fish". But it's typo they just havent caught yet (years after it first appeared).

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abadoozy

abadoozy

Posted
Posted

A local hotel here used to advertise "Duck ala Ronge" on their holiday buffets for a good two years in a row. I was tempted to call them and try to explain, but if the chef was so dim that he didn't catch it himself I doubted I could do anything for him.

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K_A_S

K_A_S

Posted
Posted

One of my personal faves is a place that offered "vegetarian chile con carne." I've also seen plenty of the already mentioned shrimp scampi and things served "with au jus." :unsure:

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Niamh

Niamh

Posted
Posted

A great but basic Chinese restaurant at home has several "guts" dishes that we haven't quite got around to trying...Fried Guts with Special Sauce, Steamed Guts with Mushroom.... :blink:

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