Great story today in The New York Times about the "death" of the entree.
Kim Severson writes that some restaurants are moving away from one big dish and are heading, more and more, into "smaller" plates options. It gives diners a wider variety of tastes and more sharing options.
I'm on the fence about this "trend." While I love the "tapas" way of eating, sometimes, especially when I really love a dish, I don't want to share nor do I want just a few bites of it.
And then, there's always the awkward last bite moment of sharing - who gets the remaining crumbs on a plate?
I tend to start to lose my appetite when I see too much food on a plate so maybe the boredom of one entree is just a matter of portion size.
But then I remember a few years ago, under former owner Tobias Lawry, 821 restaurant in Wilmington switched to a small plates concept and diners I heard from grumbled that the eatery was now offering less food but at the same cost.
An old Woody Allen joke about a restaurant comes to mind: "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible and such small portions."
What do you think? Should the entree be put out to pasture?
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2 comments:
I personally would like to see smaller portions w/ a smaller price. We Americans eat way too much at one sitting, thus one of the reasons why we are some of the most obese people in the world. Whenever I have visitors from overseas they always say the same thing "Why do you Americans serve such huge portions?" I still laugh (or cringe) when I remember my Italian friend walking thru the tables at Cracker Barrel at breakfast time looking in amazement at each diner's plate. He just could NOT believe the amount of food each person was eating! The sad part was I couldn't really give him a good explanation for the gluttony.
I firmly believe that small plate are indeed the future of dining. 3-4 course meals are reserved for special occasions, but eating, even in small portions, is an everyday event. At least for me.
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