Menu Evolution
| February 3, 2010 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Executive Chef, Bryan Moscatello
Updating and evolving a menu is the part of being a chef that I consider to be the most fun. As I sit down with my crew of chefs and we begin to theorize what items to add to our menus, which ones to remove and what ones should stay, it begins to be equally challenging. Take Zola Wine and Kitchen for example, our great quick serve, farm-to-table lunch program with a nice repeat guest track record, what is the approach?
I don’t want to jeopardize taking the wrong thing off the menu, but at the same time there are things that need to change, go into hibernation or be put on a regular special rotation. So where do we start? Well I approached this one differently than I do most other menu changes because usually I feel you just simply change everything.
This time, however I started by ordering one of everything and trying each dish with the manager and chef of the restaurant. While we went through this process we discussed what sells the most, what do people come in for day after day and are any of those items that just have to come off due to deteriorating quality, and seasonality. While we did that we also spoke about what specials that we had run and we received requests for? Also, what dishes don’t sell very well and what type of items would we like to see on the menu that are not represented?
Bite after bite we make the decisions based on what we perceived the guest wanted. So we kept some of the most popular sandwiches: House smoked veal pastrami and Swiss with purple slaw, the caprese sandwich on foccacia, and the salami. We added two past special sandwiches which received high praise and requests for their return: The tuna burger (we added a tempura fried tango leaf for texture) as well as the pressed pork with pickle slaw and mojo mayo. No sandwich menu would be complete without some kind of BLT or grilled cheese so we combined them to form our Bacon and Comte grilled cheese with tomato jam. There’s also a truffled chicken salad sandwich. As for the salad option we did change them all to really represent the time of year. My favorite is the smoked duck and potato salad with bacon-grain mustard vinaigrette and eggs. We have a wonderful roasted beet with oranges and garoxta cheese, a white bean with house cured salami and chipotle lime vinaigrette as well as a new and improved pasta salad with fennel-buttermilk ranch dressing.
As for the entrée section of the menu that changes next week all I can say is that I’m looking forward to the all American breakfast for lunch. Come on down and check out the new items and if you have not tried the red velvet “whoopee” pie, treat yourself to one its delicious.
Check out the updated Zola Wine & Kitchen menu: http://bit.ly/bMESJB
