[rat]

Thought I would post my menu for critique, any comments welcome.
Sorry for the formatting, I just cut and pasted it. The descriptions are pretty basic and leave out most of the garnishes and some components of the desserts itself, I have to give the servers something to do.
Dessert Menu
Dinner

Apple strudel 10-

Individual Honey crisp strudel with Tahitian vanilla ice cream,

Green apple chips and Bourbon apple butter

Pear tarte Tatin moderne 10-

Oven roasted pears with cinnamon ice cream and Roquefort crisps

Banoffee cake 8-

Warm banana and date cake with whiskey-toffee sauce,

banana chips and Jack Daniels chocolate ice cream

Navajo “crème brûlée” 9-
Indian corn pudding baked in a sugar pumpkin with candied quince,
pumpkin seed praline and caramel milk sauce

Guittard chocolate martini 8-

Single estate chocolate pot de crème, toasted marshmallow,

fudge and chocolate pistachio crisps

Leaves of Autumn 9-

Frangelico hazelnut torte with milk chocolate mousse,

tuile leaves and roasted hazelnut crème Anglaise sauce

Chocolate stack 10-

Orange chocolate panna cotta, chocolate wafers, cocoa meringue and chocolate confetti

Artisanal cheese selection with traditional garnishes 15-

Selection of ice creams and sorbets 8-

Tahitian vanilla ice cream Green apple sorbet
Raspberry lambic ice cream Concord grape sorbet
Hot cinnamon ice cream Mango colada sorbet
Jack Daniels chocolate ice cream Pear and pomegranate sorbet

Pastry Chef Peter Max Revised October 1, 2008

[shroomgirl]

Love that you included banoffee cake, super selection.....
Hot cinnamon IC and mango sorbet caught my eye.....interesting combos, the rest I can imagine this one is not pulling up in my minds' tastebuds.

Is there a cheese cart, if not, listing the cheeses makes a difference ditto garnishes. 50%+ of the time I'll order the cheese course if something is of interest.

[pastrymama]

I think you have a great selection, some interesting and unusual items. I would like to try one of everything.

[chefpeon]

That navajo creme brulee sounds really cool!
Same with the chocolate martini.....!

MUCH more interesting dessert menu than I've seen in my part of the world......!

[rat]

Thanks so far, any negatives??

[shroomgirl]

chocolate pistachio crisp? is there another name other than crisp?
you've got Roquefort crisp under pear tart, I envision that as fricco like or cracker like but chocolate pistachio comes off more like a bark

Good reading dessert menu.

[chefpeon]

I love your menu, but if you must have a negative, I will say you have a lot of chocolate stuff on there (not that I'D ever complain about THAT!).
What about the obligatory berry or lemony selection? (I know I have customers that MUST have their lemony or berry things.....)

[rat]

OK then the roquefort crisp is like a cracker , the pistachio one is a shaped florentice cookie. Thanks for the input.
Yes, I do have lots of chocolate this time around usually I only have 1 or 2 chocolate desserts but these are the ones the chef picked out. Berries are kind of out of season at the moment and I save the citrus for the winter time or at least later in the fall. So far sales have been pretty even no one favorite item yet. I am suprised the corn pudding is selling I thought that would be the flop for sure.

As far as being a different menu I usually google my ideas and if I get less than a "hundred" hits I would consider the item. Try molten cake on google you will get something like 115,000 pages.I just like to do things no one else does.

[hippie chick]

LOVE the idea of lambic ice cream

only negative - when I see tahitian vanilla anything, I have to supress a yawn.

[boar_d_laze]

You've got a good mix of exciting and comforting selections, with a particularly good use of chocolate. The use of non-citrus fruits is adequate. Although it could benefit from a little more novelty, I don't see that as a serious failing considering the other choices on the menu. You're short of citrus generally; but the real problem is the lack of lemon. As a lover of lemon desserts, if I were a customer I'd regard that as disappointing.

Just a thought, but "Mexican Vanilla" might be a more exciting choice and a better selling point than "Tahitian." IMO, it's better vanilla.

BDL