Thread: Your Take on Cool Foods

Do you have a menu for BB's?

Originally Posted by min0 lee

Do you have a menu for BB's?

Well, I had considered this in the past, but due to the super-conservative nature of people around here, I wasn't sure any of them would understand it.
Anything beyond the traditional Southern "meat and three" mentality is sometimes intimidating to these folks.

My wife works at the local YMCA, which seemed like a great target group to market this sort of thing [to], but it might be a conflict in interests....at least through their eyes.

Promote zero transfat?

Have you ever had omlettes at iHop? I've only tried the Colorado Omlette, but I was surprised at how loaded it was. The part I liked most about the omlettes was that you could customize them by adding "extras." I added extra chicken for $0.99 and upgraded the pancakes that come with it to the strawberry banana stack for another $0.99.

Similarly, I was at the Todai seafood restaurant in Manhattan a few summers ago and they had a guy who would cook crepes for you based on whatever fruits and toppings you picked. Needless to say, I had at least four crepes that night.

IHOP



Okay, so I didn't give enough info. from the get-go.

Since my website is under construction, I'll give you a quick run-down...We are a relatively small (75 seats) casual-dining restaurant. (that's a step or two above fast food, but below fine dining) Right now, we offer five appetizers (all made in-house) like hummus and pita, crostini immersi, quesadillas, etc. 21 different "wraps", about five panini's, salads, soups, etc. again, all made fresh, right here. Every weekend, we offer a "rotating" dinner menu. This does two things. It allows me to maintain control over the items offered, and it keeps things fresh for the customer(s)...plus I don't have to keep a lot of food in stock, thereby eliminating waste.

So here's the deal. People here get freaked out by anything other than meatloaf and biscuits & gravy. I got off on the wrong foot because I thought new and unique items would sell since no one else offered them. WRONG. So I've gone back to "traditional Southern" quisine with a little bit of Southern Fusion. Same food, cooler looking presentation.

What I'm looking for are things that no one else does, yet these have to stay within the parameters of smallish southern town thinking. A good example is Scott Peacock's place in Atlanta. Instead of traditional hummus, he has Butterbean Hummus. Cost effective, interesting, yet close enough to home to keep the locals from running off to Piggy Park.

Am I making sense here?

I bet Hawaiian Style Plate Lunch would transfer nicely to a southern menu.....Loco Moco a hamburger patty topped with an egg and smothered in gravy on a bed of rice.......or roast pig and cabbage. Or you could whip up some of my special experiments like French Style Green Beans substituting for spaghetti noodles or mixing peas, corn, and ground turkey into whipped sweet potatoes with a little A1 sauce for spice.....of course thats my Creole kicking in making Jambalaya out of anything like I can make a dish out of rice, chicken and some veggies and then a little bar-b-cue sauce mix it all togehter and call it dinner....One time I took ground turkey, string beans and broccoli, mixed it all up and added some Worchestershire sauce and that was lunch, then I added some green peppers and onions to the rest for dinner......

Oh you know what is really good is broiled chicken breasts marinated in Balsamic Vinaigrette then hand shredded and wrapped in tortillas grilled with a little garlic tinged olive oil with tomatos, strips of sauteed zucchini and romaine lettuce with parmesan romano cheese sprinkled on top....I bet a little sun-dried tomato would have made it better but that wasn't one of my hodge-podge items......you know the chicken has to be broiled to the point that the out side of it is tough crispy like and the inside is juicy tender....mmmmmmmmm!!!!!!

I know people like interesting meats like rattlesnake sausage, bison steaks, elk burgers, etc.

I grew up in SC. Try bisquit and bacon fried in chicken fat smeared in butter with a side of steak. Have underage boys serve the food. For an extra buck it'll be a relative.

Shephard's pie made with pulled pork and topped with mashed sweet potatoes.

this is one of my favorite recipes to make. It's great cuz aside from the portobello the ingredients are always around and it makes for a very easy to make fancy meal that you'd pay big bucks for without knowing it probably cost single digits to make. No meat though so it'll probably turn off your customers

Elegant Stuffed Mushroom With White Wine Cream Sauce Recipe

Originally Posted by Crono1000

this is one of my favorite recipes to make. It's great cuz aside from the portobello the ingredients are always around and it makes for a very easy to make fancy meal that you'd pay big bucks for without knowing it probably cost single digits to make. No meat though so it'll probably turn off your customers

Elegant Stuffed Mushroom With White Wine Cream Sauce Recipe

That sounds really good with the crabmeat actually.

Originally Posted by squanto

That sounds really good with the crabmeat actually.

That sounds great! I want some!

I like Manic's idea, DaMayor. . . I lived in South Carolina for a couple of years. . .well, one in Greenville/Greer, and one in Columbia. Isn't there a USC branch campus in Sumter?

Anyway, I'm wondering if you could pull from some unique ideas from different states - nothing too crazy, but a rotation where you could do something like Manic's Hawaiian suggestion, and then do some Louisiana meat pies one week/or month (hell, I didn't even know meat pies were a big deal in Louisiana). If you started with the more exotic states (and, of course, the southern ones) that might keep the people interested in trying something new.

I know what you mean about the meat + three idea down there. Hell, the first year I was there, I had trouble finding canned pumpkin in the stores for Thanksgiving, and most everyone I knew there had never even tried pumpkin pie.

In summer, I really like dishes that have a citrus touch - like lime marinade on chicken. I know Carolina is big on barbecue sauce - that sorta mustard-based sauce in Columbia. Are there ways you can tweak a couple of wraps you do now and just add a sauce or something, a couple of other ingredients and come up with something kinda native? Shoot - I should send you a bottle of our local BBQ sauce - it might be a hit down there.

I know when I was getting my master's at Carolina-Columbia, I dreamed about those chili slaw dogs at Sandy's. And their awesome thick milk shakes -complete with an extra scoop of ice cream on top of the mixed stuff...damn.

Okay...you are fancier than Sandy's. . .though they had awesome chicken salad, too - add some pecans and/or grapes or even a few mandarin oranges.

What about something like an open-faced po'boy, with some shrimp and your own created seasonings and trimmings. . .

Is there seasonal foods, you can focus on during different times of the year?

I know up here in Canuck land, berries are starting to come into season.

Incorporating seasonal foods might be an idea.

For the dinner menu a nice pan seared duck breast with some seasonal fruit?

Apps? Seafood? Scallops wrapped in bacon? Calamari?
Pruscuitto and melon?

I neglected to mention the Cajun/Soul Food angle we've been trying to preserve..as well as the Southern thing, of course.
Since this is Drew's Blues Cafe' I thought it logical to stick with "blues themed" dishes. I figured a mix between Southern/Cajun/and Soul would do the trick, but made an extra effort not to present these foods like the local Hog troughs, er, I mean franchises. So we've been doing this for almost 3 years at this location.

I know people like interesting meats like rattlesnake sausage, bison steaks, elk burgers, etc.

Now, this is something I've wanted to do for a while. BUT, specialty products are outrageously expensive, so you take quite a risk when offering this stuff. Alligator Tail.....mmmmmmmmm

Shephard's pie made with pulled pork and topped with mashed sweet potatoes.

Shepherd's pie is something we do during colder months. The sweet potato approach sounds good....besides, sweet taters are very trendy right now.


We have done everything ranging from Ossobuco, to roasted cornish game in hens in a chipotle/plum sauce to Jambalaya, Fettuccini Alfredo, Gumbo, Pecan encrusted chicken breasts, to mojo meatloaf, sofrito mashed potatoes to neckbones and rice and Mad Dog jello shooters. (the last one was a joke, of course)
What I'm after are simple, reasonably healthy foods with a kick ass presentation. No canned crap, no bottled sauces (we make everything from scratch if possible) I hate franchise junk......

I'm just dried up creatively.

Hell, I'm just dried up.

Ok what about typical Gumbo's or Jambalaya. I know not to original.

Being southern or Cajun, some sort of Crawfish dish?

Originally Posted by IainDaniel

Ok what about typical Gumbo's or Jambalaya. I know not to original. We do these (different variations) about once a month, at least.
Being southern or Cajun, some sort of Crawfish dish?

Crawfish..another great food.......that freaks people out.

I'm adding an app/salsa that incorporates mud bugs.

mmmm I love Crawfish..... haven't had in years.

So sweet

Bulls testicles?

Originally Posted by min0 lee

Bulls testicles?

Those would be referred to as "Mountain Oysters" around here.

Summer Time I would do Carribean, Jamaican, Tropical foods.....Winter Time do some stews, chowders and soups from different countries. Filipino's love to eat this pork and peas dish it's simple roast pork with peas and tomato sauce, you could also do any variant of adobo. Curried Meat Pies or Jerk Meat Pies are yummy, I had some Jamaican Jerk Potato Salad once and fell in love with it.....

Jamaican Jerk Potato Salad Recipe at Epicurious.com



Here's a unique recipe Coffee Glazed Chicken
Coffee Glazed Chicken

MMMMmmmm! FOoD

when I was in Mexico I had shark fried in Chili peppers. it was awesome, great texture, and had some spice to it.

Originally Posted by Scarface30

when I was in Mexico I had shark fried in Chili peppers. it was awesome, great texture, and had some spice to it.

That sounds great.

How about some Red/ green currys? Noodle soup?

Heck yeah. I love shark steaks....BUT, they're very expensive. The mark-up would cause a riot.

Onion rings from outback steak house. They are so good and it looks cool too. However, it is pretty bad for you but i don't care.

buffalo chicken anything. Buffalo chicken tenders, buffalo chicken pizza, buffalo chicken cheese breadsticks, buffalo chicken nachos, buffalo chicken salad, quesadilla.

Of course served with plenty of blue cheese on the side. It is a huge thing up here in western MA.