Notes on writing a menu
Three restaurants asked me to rewrite their menus this year. The rules I gave each of them.
By Clara Weiss
A menu is the shortest piece of food writing there is, and the one people read most closely. Three restaurants asked me to rewrite theirs this year.
- Name the dish the way a regular orders it.
- One line of description, no adjectives a waiter would not say aloud.
- Say where the main ingredient comes from only if the kitchen can say it every night.
All three menus got shorter. Two restaurants reported that people ordered faster. The third reported that people argued less about the specials.
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