4 ms·

There's a lot of western restaurants (Admittedly usually on the higher end) who change their menus seasonally, if not daily to reflect whats available. Its part

There's a lot of western restaurants (Admittedly usually on the higher end) who change their menus seasonally, if not daily to reflect whats available. Its part of what the whole farm-to-table phenomenon is about.

dogma1138 10y ago
It's not about farm to table, it's about economics and about what people prefer to eat especially in places where there is a big difference between winter and summer. Gazpacho isn't a dish you really want to have when the temperatures drop below 0, but on a hot summer day is perfection. Pretty much most restaurants regardless of being high end or not, have fish of the day, soup of the day, dish of the day etc. that's just a normal reaction to the supply of the market during that day as it's often considerably cheaper to secure the daily catch or w/e your veggie guy has that morning than securing seasonal items daily.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  IMO, it's all about getting food from speciality purveyors vs. just checking boxes from Sysco. The cost reflects that, as the chef has to go hunt around for stuff.
jimmywanger 10y ago
One thing is a lot of asian recipes tend to be more modular. Also, the middle/lower range asian restaurants can't afford to print menus each day. So for instance, if the shrimp don't look good that day, they'll gladly throw in the littleneck clams that just came in. Same with green leafy vegetables, where they're pretty much interchangeable. "We have ong choy instead of a choy. Deal with it." Whereas in a lot of western cuisines, if you need endive in a dish, it has to be endive. Especially in higher end restaurants. They care so much about the flavor that substitutions are not possible. Maybe this green is slightly more bitter than this other green, and it throws off the whole flavor of the dish. Whereas, in a lower/middle end asian restaurant, nobody really cares.
- throwaway676565 10y ago
  > nobody really cares They will eventually though. As someone said above, they're not far away enough from the farms yet.

dogma1138 10y ago

It's not about farm to table, it's about economics and about what people prefer to eat especially in places where there is a big difference between winter and summer. Gazpacho isn't a dish you really want to have when the temperatures drop below 0, but on a hot summer day is perfection. Pretty much most restaurants regardless of being high end or not, have fish of the day, soup of the day, dish of the day etc. that's just a normal reaction to the supply of the market during that day as it's often considerably cheaper to secure the daily catch or w/e your veggie guy has that morning than securing seasonal items daily.

Spooky23 10y ago
IMO, it's all about getting food from speciality purveyors vs. just checking boxes from Sysco. The cost reflects that, as the chef has to go hunt around for stuff.

jimmywanger 10y ago

One thing is a lot of asian recipes tend to be more modular. Also, the middle/lower range asian restaurants can't afford to print menus each day. So for instance, if the shrimp don't look good that day, they'll gladly throw in the littleneck clams that just came in. Same with green leafy vegetables, where they're pretty much interchangeable. "We have ong choy instead of a choy. Deal with it." Whereas in a lot of western cuisines, if you need endive in a dish, it has to be endive. Especially in higher end restaurants. They care so much about the flavor that substitutions are not possible. Maybe this green is slightly more bitter than this other green, and it throws off the whole flavor of the dish. Whereas, in a lower/middle end asian restaurant, nobody really cares.

throwaway676565 10y ago
> nobody really cares They will eventually though. As someone said above, they're not far away enough from the farms yet.