Tasting menus took on the feeling of a Gilded Age dinner party with too many formal courses. Then the exorbitant prices for them was also off putting. However a new generation of chefs is changing all that. The portions are smaller and the prices are affordable.
Regular contributor and restuarant critic Brett Anderson wrote about this new generation in today's New York Times Food section. Tasting menus, especially around metro areas like New York and Los Angeles were expensive affairs where diners got tiny plate after tiny plate of carefully arranged food. The idea became a bit too stuffy - until young chefs grabbed the idea. They ran with it, creaing a new sort of dining, fun and flavorful. It does pay off and it's more cost effective for these young restauranteurs who are watching their budgets. A big advantage is they they encourage thrift, Because they tend to require reservations and compel diners to pay in advance for the meals, tasting menus allow chefs to estimate exactly what they want and the cost of these ingredients. Food is purchased with precision which reduces the waste of ala carte eateries. another plus is that only certain ingredients are bought and not a wide variety of meats, and produce.Fixed meals also require less steps which makes for less staff needing to be hired.Since the places also tend to be tiny , less space is needed hence lower rents.
These are reasons for any new chef to consider opening a tasting restaurant. It also gives them space to highlight their dishes. They could be creative takes on classics or updated family ones. At Southern Soigne in Jackson, Mississippi, chef Zacheus Golden uses t dishes like lump crab cakes and spices it with whipped Creole cream cheese frosting. and rabbit porch cheek terrine with strawberry jam, pickled mustard seeds and bread lace.It's also a fraction of the cost of more formal tasting menus at only $95.Amanda Shulman has opeend up Her Place Supper Club in Philadelphia takes advatnage of the season and the fact she has good fresh Jersey and Pennsylvania produce at her fingertips. Her tasting menu includes tomato panzanella and corn and truffle profiteroles.Her Place puts the food on the table family like the famed New Orleans Mosquito Supper CLub. They have a tasting menu for eleven months of the year, shutting down in August. Theirs is pure seafood, celebrating the area's shrimpers and fisherman with such recipes as raw oyster with mignonette sauce and fried shrimp boulettes.
Could tasting menus be the next food trend. Most certainly. They're now new and innovative with recipes bursting with flavor.
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