# Bar food menu



## youngbuck (Oct 23, 2007)

Hello all,

We are starting up a new bar menu and I was wanting some ideas. The place is pretty upscale, but business is slow and we are trying to bring people in that won't dine with us by offering some inexpensive inventive bar food, more than just a snack, but not a big plate of food. Some ideas that I have come across are Crawfish Pot Pie, Fried Oyster Crostinis with citrus aioli, Duck Mac and Cheese with the braised leg meat and cracklin's (what kind of cheese would go with this?) , fried artichoke hearts with lemon/tarragon mayo, sweet potato croquettes, maybe some pulled pork tacos. Some ideas would be greatly appreciated. Also, we are trying to stay away from the more expensive product.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

charcuterie plates are big here, in the upscale rest. they are house made.

warm olives, citrus/herbs/nuts on top

warm nuts, spiced or not

upscale ingredient pizzas.....ie duck confit, or shortrib or tallegio with drizzle of truffle oil......

Pot of pate 

Potted cheese, potted shrimp

frito misto with aioli.....one of my favs...assorted lightly battered veg with mayo


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## greyeaglem (Apr 17, 2006)

I guess I would like to know what you mean by the people who won't dine with you. Are you trying to attract people who can't normally afford the place? This will be hard to do as they will have a perceived idea that the place is expensive and that perception will be nearly impossible to change. If you are an upscale place trying to go cheap, IMHO, it's a recipe for disaster. Your upscale crowd will think you're dumbing the place down, and your pub crowd will think you're being pretentious. It's a tightrope walk. If you want to run a pub menu, I believe you need to separate that completely from your upscale image and run the two as essentially separate entities. Great cheeseburgers and fries in the pub, froie gras in the dining room. I'm not explaining this the way I want to, but what I'm trying to say is you need to be what you are and stay true to what the place is. If business is slow due to affordability, it might be a better idea to trim some expense from your main menu. Upscale is more about service and quality of preparation than it is about expensive ingredients. If you do the duck mac and cheese, I would recommend gruyere, although I don't see that as a great dish. Maybe a Waldorf type salad with duck?


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## cat man (May 7, 2007)

How about some simple offerings...inexpensive, easy to prepare and execute....stuff that makes your customers want to drink more too!

Basket of Sweet Potato Fries
NZ Mussels on the half shell, Rockefeller or Newburg style
Cocktail Claws...either lobster, snow crab or King Crab...or all three


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

alot of restaurants have a snack menu, typically bites at the bar.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

First step, define your "target newcomers"! What are THEY used to?

Go from their "choices", then gently "upscale it".

"Beer drinkers" have different "food tastes" than, say, wine Aficianados (sp?).


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