Menu's 'Golden Triangle' = High profit dishes for restaurant

[BurnItDwn]

Who the hell eats puzzles?

 

[KidNiki1]

all i could think about after reading the title was "two golden menus":

 

[dullard]

Is there any cuisine that cannot be described that way?

A lot of restaurant cuisines are that way for a good reason. For example many low-to-middle tier Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian, sandwich, etc restaurants do it. Choose your sauce, choose your protein, choose your veggies/starch. If the restaurant only had 4 sauces, 4 meats, and 4 veggie/starches then they have 64 different combinations for the menu. It offers the customer immense variety for not much added cost to the restaurant. That is the whole business model of some companies like Chipotle or Noodles and Company.

But the more you post here the more you are only proving the point of the person you are debating: while it looks like there are 100 items on the menu, there really are just variations of a few items.

Now if you go to a high-end restaurant, then you see food that is not described that way. They have the time, budget, etc. to make a special sauce specifically for each dish. Even your French restaurant suggestion is a good example of food not described that way. There is almost nothing in common from dish to dish in a typical bistro. Beef bourguignon, mussels, grilled cheese, steak tartare, cassoulet, duck confit, cheese fondue, chicken with wine, snails, salads, and fries. Not much overlap in meats, sauces, or veggies there.

 

[Torn Mind]

Used to be you could get the most "material" for the buck by ordering a Beefy 5-Layer Burrito from Taco Bell. Now they jacked the price up on it.

 

[sdifox]

A lot of restaurant cuisines are that way for a good reason. For example many low-to-middle tier Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian, sandwich, etc restaurants do it. Choose your sauce, choose your protein, choose your veggies/starch. If the restaurant only had 4 sauces, 4 meats, and 4 veggie/starches then they have 64 different combinations for the menu. It offers the customer immense variety for not much added cost to the restaurant. That is the whole business model of some companies like Chipotle or Noodles and Company.

But the more you post here the more you are only proving the point of the person you are debating: while it looks like there are 100 items on the menu, there really are just variations of a few items.

Now if you go to a high-end restaurant, then you see food that is not described that way. They have the time, budget, etc. to make a special sauce specifically for each dish. Even your French restaurant suggestion is a good example of food not described that way. There is almost nothing in common from dish to dish in a typical bistro. Beef bourguignon, mussels, grilled cheese, steak tartare, cassoulet, duck confit, cheese fondue, chicken with wine, snails, salads, and fries. Not much overlap in meats, sauces, or veggies there.

If you go to a high end Chinese restaurant, does the same not apply? My point is, doesn't matter which cuisine, you got the everyday dive and the high end restaurants.

This dish takes three days to prepare.

Then you have this guy that got a Michelin Star for one dish

I hope you don't judge Mexican cuicine based on your experience from Chipotle.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Weird. That's not what I call the Golden Triangle.

EXACTLY what I was thinking.

However I have heard this term at various non food service jobs. Our attention span is limited, short & predictable. Important offers in center of page/display
Strongest offer or best margin on the left, even if it is simply pictures. We are all trained to read left to right, we all instinctively look left to right while skimming things even pictures.

 

[Zorba]

If you go to a high end Chinese restaurant, does the same not apply? My point is, doesn't matter which cuisine, you got the everyday dive and the high end restaurants.

This dish takes three days to prepare.

Then you have this guy that got a Michelin Star for one dish

I hope you don't judge Mexican cuicine based on your experience from Chipotle.

To be fair, I was speaking talking about Chinese takeout and buffet places, that have 100 items on their menus.

But why would people judge Mexican cuisine based on Texan cuisine? That would be like judging Japanese food based on Chinese takeout.

 

[sdifox]

To be fair, I was speaking talking about Chinese takeout and buffet places, that have 100 items on their menus.

But why would people judge Mexican cuisine based on Texan cuisine? That would be like judging Japanese food based on Chinese takeout.

Cuz Texas used to be part of Mexico

 

[sdifox]

Who the hell eats puzzles?

The evil kind. You eat one piece of a one thousand pieces puzzle, the person doing the puzzle will get pissed when they can't find the last piece of puzzle.

 

[dullard]

If you go to a high end Chinese restaurant, does the same not apply? My point is, doesn't matter which cuisine, you got the everyday dive and the high end restaurants.

This dish takes three days to prepare.

Then you have this guy that got a Michelin Star for one dish

I hope you don't judge Mexican cuicine based on your experience from Chipotle.

It does not apply to most higher end restaurants, including most high end Chinese restaurants. I tried to think of the highest end Chinese restaurant that I ate at. It was probably Buddakan in NYC. Lets look at their menu:

Dinner – Buddakan NYC

buddakannyc.com

• The pepper beef is the only meat with a pepper sauce. They don't do pepper chicken, pepper fish, pepper shrimp, pepper pork like a lower end Chinese restaurant usually does.
• The lamb chops is the only dish with a crystallized ginger crust. They don't do a ginger crust on the other meats.
• The mustard sauce is only for one dish: charred filet of beef.
• There is only one lo mein dish. Common Chinese restaurants have beef lo mein, chicken lo mein, vegetable lo mein, pork lo mein, shrim lo mein.
• They do have multiple fried rice dishes, but each fried rice is completely different rice. It isn't the same rice with different meats tossed in at the end.
• Etc.

Now here is one of the largest Chinese franchise chains in the US:

Modern dishes inspired by Chinese tradition | Manchu Wok

Our chef-inspired Chinese food is made with the freshest ingredients and the traditional power of the wok.

manchuwok.com

• Hunan chicken and hunan beef. Same sauce 2 dishes.
• Ginger chicken and ginger beef. Same sauce 2 dishes.
• Black pepper chicken and black pepper beef. Same sauce 2 dishes.
• Chicken & broccoli and beef & broccoli. Same idea 2 dishes.
• Spicy Chicken and spicy beef. Same idea 2 dishes.

Other chains take that idea even further and give the same sauce with more meats (pork, shrimp, "happy family", etc)

As for the rest of your post, I can't even follow what you are trying to convey. Chipotle isn't even Mexican food. At best you can call it tex-mex inspired. You certainly can have a restaurant with just one dish. I applaud that, we should have as much of that as possible. But the majority of US restaurants are based around the concept of a few ingredients made into many dishes. Swap the meat and you have another menu item.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Being a line cook at CF must be an absolute nightmare.

- Went to a Maggiano's once (basically upmarket Olive Garden) and wanted the Spaghetti with giant meatball. I ask the waitress "I want this meatball extra spicy, do you think the guys in the back can load it up with cayenne pepper before they cook it up?"

Waitress has a sort of sheepish look on her face "Sir, we... don't actually cook anything here. Everything is par cooked and sent to us in plastic bags. We basically just microwave the food."

I was a little cobsmacked, both by her honesty which I appreciated, as well as the fact that an outwardle nice looking place like Maggiano's that cooks generally uncomplicated italian food, doesn't actually cook their own food.

"I can bring you a tub of red pepper flakes?" the waitress suggested. I took her up on that offer.

If you really look into it, most cheap/mass market places don't actually even have cooks. A lot of the big chain "sit down" restaurants are really just fast food with more window dressing. I doubt there are any line cooks at OSF.

As I've come to this realization, I've heavily cut back on eating out at all, typically reserving it for high end places or little mom and pop shops a couple times a month.

 

[MrSquished]

- Went to a Maggiano's once (basically upmarket Olive Garden) and wanted the Spaghetti with giant meatball. I ask the waitress "I want this meatball extra spicy, do you think the guys in the back can load it up with cayenne pepper before they cook it up?"

Waitress has a sort of sheepish look on her face "Sir, we... don't actually cook anything here. Everything is par cooked and sent to us in plastic bags. We basically just microwave the food."

I was a little cobsmacked, both by her honesty which I appreciated, as well as the fact that an outwardle nice looking place like Maggiano's that cooks generally uncomplicated italian food, doesn't actually cook their own food.

"I can bring you a tub of red pepper flakes?" the waitress suggested. I took her up on that offer.

If you really look into it, most cheap/mass market places don't actually even have cooks. A lot of the big chain "sit down" restaurants are really just fast food with more window dressing. I doubt there are any line cooks at OSF.

As I've come to this realization, I've heavily cut back on eating out at all, typically reserving it for high end places or little mom and pop shops a couple times a month.

Yeah I remember hearing some time back how the food at OG is basically just reheated. I did work at a TGI Friday's when I was like 18, they do cook shit there. I knew a guy who worked at Cheesecake factory once, and he said they do a lot of the cooking there but it is so fucking unhealthy. It's all just rich calorie/fat bombs.

But once I left the burbs, I really am able to avoid chains altogether, besides when I crave a Popeye's chicken sandwich or that soft supreme from Taco bell. This is why I like living where there are shit tons of mom and pops within walking/biking or cheap uber distance, from super casual take out/sit down joints and street carts, plus numerous mom and pop restaurants where it's mostly or all made from scratch, mostly casual with some nicer ones thrown in. There are some restauteurs around here that have two or three joints now, but those are usually the ones that are better at their jobs, so it works out.

I finally had Xi'an Famous Foods noodles yesterday. That guy now has multiple locations in Manhattan. But it was just his pops doing hand pulled noodles in Flushing, Queens and Bourdain blew up his spot. But they still do it the right way. That's the kind of chain I like. Talk to me in 10 years if they fuck it all up but it's perfect now.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Who the hell eats puzzles?

I am puzzled by your attitude, young Padawan.

The first rule of capitalism is to sell cheap shit for a high profit margin thus making enough money to retire and not have to deal with riff raff that wonders in and orders a puzzleburger w/mayo... to go.

 

[FelixDeCat]

No triangle here. Nice price tag though:

 

[nakedfrog]

- Went to a Maggiano's once (basically upmarket Olive Garden) and wanted the Spaghetti with giant meatball. I ask the waitress "I want this meatball extra spicy, do you think the guys in the back can load it up with cayenne pepper before they cook it up?"

Waitress has a sort of sheepish look on her face "Sir, we... don't actually cook anything here. Everything is par cooked and sent to us in plastic bags. We basically just microwave the food."

I was a little cobsmacked, both by her honesty which I appreciated, as well as the fact that an outwardle nice looking place like Maggiano's that cooks generally uncomplicated italian food, doesn't actually cook their own food.

"I can bring you a tub of red pepper flakes?" the waitress suggested. I took her up on that offer.

If you really look into it, most cheap/mass market places don't actually even have cooks. A lot of the big chain "sit down" restaurants are really just fast food with more window dressing. I doubt there are any line cooks at OSF.

As I've come to this realization, I've heavily cut back on eating out at all, typically reserving it for high end places or little mom and pop shops a couple times a month.

1) "gobsmacked"
2) Yeah, lots of places get their food from Sysco, I've heard tell Outback does as well.

 

[Captante]

1) "gobsmacked"
2) Yeah, lots of places get their food from Sysco, I've heard tell Outback does as well.

Sysco (and most other restaurant food-suppliers) ALSO provides the individual ingredients for cooking the food yourself.

However you are otherwise correct... I worked in a place called the Ground Round many years ago and the only actual "chef" in that kitchen was Chef "Mic"!! (except for burgers and steaks which were cooked there on a griddle)

 

[BurnItDwn]

Sysco (and most other restaurant food-suppliers) ALSO provides the individual ingredients for cooking the food yourself.

However you are otherwise correct... I worked in a place called the Ground Round many years ago and the only actual "chef" in that kitchen was Chef "Mic"!! (except for burgers and steaks which were cooked there on a griddle)

Holy crap, I remember going to the ground round in like the 80s in the Chicago suburbs .... Those places have been gone from this area for at like 20 or more years i believe.

 

[Captante]

Holy crap, I remember going to the ground round in like the 80s in the Chicago suburbs .... Those places have been gone from this area for at like 20 or more years i believe.

This one was next to the old skating-rink by Stamford (CT) Town Center Landmark Square. One of the walls of the dining room was floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the ice.

For a crappy corporate-restaurant it was pretty cool!

This is the only picture I could find in a 5 minute search ... the Ground Round windows (or whatever was there when this was taken!) are in the dark area to the right beneath the overhang.

 

[BurnItDwn]

This one was next to the old skating-rink by Stamford (CT) Town Center Landmark Square. One of the walls of the dining room was floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the ice.

For a crappy corporate-restaurant it was pretty cool!

This is the only picture I could find in a 5 minute search ... the Ground Round windows (or whatever was there when this was taken!) are in the dark area to the right beneath the overhang.

looks like a nice place, a lot more interesting than a depressing strip mall or outlot in suburbia.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Then Cheesecake Factory plops you down with a spiral bound tome the thickness of War and Peace.

I will never eat at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant again. Any place with a huge menu is basically doing nothing well and it shows in their food.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I will never eat at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant again. Any place with a huge menu is basically doing nothing well and it shows in their food.

Their Cheesecakes are good, albeit expensive. But yea, have had their food a few times, and its not terrible, but, not anything special. Tastes like high end microwave dinner

 

[Captante]

Their Cheesecakes are good, albeit expensive. But yea, have had their food a few times, and its not terrible, but, not anything special. Tastes like high end microwave dinner

My younger daughter just LOVES the Cheesecake Factory.... I have no idea why. Maybe because my parents-in-law used to take her there when she was little?

To be fair it's one of the better "corporate" versions of a restaurant in terms of ingredient quality but just like my former employer Ground-Round back in the day very little in the way of actual "cooking" takes place in their kitchen!

 

[sdifox]

It does not apply to most higher end restaurants, including most high end Chinese restaurants. I tried to think of the highest end Chinese restaurant that I ate at. It was probably Buddakan in NYC. Lets look at their menu:

Dinner – Buddakan NYC

buddakannyc.com

• The pepper beef is the only meat with a pepper sauce. They don't do pepper chicken, pepper fish, pepper shrimp, pepper pork like a lower end Chinese restaurant usually does.
• The lamb chops is the only dish with a crystallized ginger crust. They don't do a ginger crust on the other meats.
• The mustard sauce is only for one dish: charred filet of beef.
• There is only one lo mein dish. Common Chinese restaurants have beef lo mein, chicken lo mein, vegetable lo mein, pork lo mein, shrim lo mein.
• They do have multiple fried rice dishes, but each fried rice is completely different rice. It isn't the same rice with different meats tossed in at the end.
• Etc.

Now here is one of the largest Chinese franchise chains in the US:

Modern dishes inspired by Chinese tradition | Manchu Wok

Our chef-inspired Chinese food is made with the freshest ingredients and the traditional power of the wok.

manchuwok.com

• Hunan chicken and hunan beef. Same sauce 2 dishes.
• Ginger chicken and ginger beef. Same sauce 2 dishes.
• Black pepper chicken and black pepper beef. Same sauce 2 dishes.
• Chicken & broccoli and beef & broccoli. Same idea 2 dishes.
• Spicy Chicken and spicy beef. Same idea 2 dishes.

Other chains take that idea even further and give the same sauce with more meats (pork, shrimp, "happy family", etc)

As for the rest of your post, I can't even follow what you are trying to convey. Chipotle isn't even Mexican food. At best you can call it tex-mex inspired. You certainly can have a restaurant with just one dish. I applaud that, we should have as much of that as possible. But the majority of US restaurants are based around the concept of a few ingredients made into many dishes. Swap the meat and you have another menu item.

Just a hint, a Chinese food place with a Japanese name is no good xd.

I guess I am spoiled here. I have access to plenty of authentic cuisine from around the world and they are all affordable.
And it is basically if I want a particular dish I go to a specific restaurant.

LoL Manchu Wok doesn't qualify as food, let alone restaurant. It's a mall food court joint.

I am from a city of foodies so maybe that is why.

 

[dullard]

LoL Manchu Wok doesn't qualify as food, let alone restaurant. It's a mall food court joint.

Psst: this side topic IS about mall food court joints. Maybe that is why you seem to be disagreeing with others--you are having a conversation that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

 

[sdifox]

Psst: this side topic IS about mall food court joints. Maybe that is why you seem to be disagreeing with others--you are having a conversation that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

Mall food joints don't have menu like the one op showed.