Food for Thought; Menu Philosophy

At the risk of being a post whore...

I had to put together some information about my menu/menu philosophy for a new hire at the 'straunt and thought it would be interesting to see how it stacks up with what you do when you plan a menu/new dish/special dinner... etc. This is cut and pasted from the notes I prepared for the newbie...

Our menu philosophy is; As local, seasonal and sustainable as possible.

We purchase 90% of our produce from the Farmers Market. All produce is hand chosen with the finished dish in mind (size, shape, color, variety).

100% of our seafood is local. And , I am happy to say that we have brought almost 70% of our meat program to within the state of California.

We have changed the menu over 110 times since we opened in August of 2008. These menu changes reflect seasonal/crop rotational cooking that goes on in our kitchen. The goal is to bring a connection with the ingredients through our close contact with the farmers we use. Particular farmers grow particular things we use. If that farmer and that crop get hit by gophers, and they lose the crop, we lose the menu item. Very rarely do we settle for a similar product from a different farmer.

We want food to be fun. We attempt to push the envelope on what people feel comfortable with eating. We are not fine dining. We encourage excess and suggest the tasting menu.

Everything is made in house except the bread. That comes from O.D.B.

Our Desserts are not mind blowing and we know that. They are PERFECTLY executed examples of what they are. We are not pastry chefs (thank god) and we don’t have a convection oven.