Are Tasting Menus a Good Thing?

Pete Wells, restaurant critic for the New York Times, tackles this question in a recent article. While tasting menus can be a great way to highlight different tastes and techniques, they can also be a huge time and money commitment that may or may not live up to expectations. Mr. Wells wonders if this is the direction we want to go: “A high-end anomaly a few years ago, three- or four-hour menus now look like the future of fine dining. Before corner delis begin parceling sandwiches into 18-course pastrami tastings, it’s worth asking if this is the future we want.”

Read the full story here: Nibbled to Death

The response to his original article – with over 240 comments – prompted a follow-up. It seems many people decry the shift towards these marathon tasting sessions and yearn for a la carte options. Or, as Mr. Wells puts it, “…tasting menus might be a great business model for restaurants that can get away with them, but the chefs may want to give some thought to all those diners who would love a chance to experience their cuisine if it didn’t require signing on for an expensive, time-consuming, all-or-nothing extravaganza.”

Read the follow-up article here: A Lament About Tasting Menus Strikes a Chord