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favorite bar foods

post #1 of 34
9/11/00 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
We're working on a menu for our bar. What are some of your all time favorites. It's a midpriced, midwestern bar. The local favorites are buffalo wings, nachos etc. Have you tried anything different lately that stands out.
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post #2 of 34
9/12/00 at 1:39am
Sweet potato chips with blue cheese dip
Fried raviolis are HUGE here and actually pretty good...(beef filling breaded and deep fried served with marinara)
Calamari with lime aioli
This is really going over the edge with Fat Fried battered quiche
edames (just steamed)
Bourbon glazed chicken bites
cheese straws
I always adored a great cheese and meat/fruit
plate with a glass of wine.
tiropete and spanokopita
always spinach dip
oozy melted brie with fruit
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #3 of 34
9/12/00 at 6:19am
What? No pickled pigs' feet and pickled eggs and pickled sausages?? (THAT'S how long it's been since I hung out in a bar....). Wings and various forms of fried onions are big around here... pretty traditional territory.
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post #4 of 34
9/12/00 at 6:46am
Thread Starter 
One of my favorites are fried pita chips w/ parmesan and a ranch-jalepeno dip. Another favorite is shrooms....fried mushrooms w/ a cream cheese-ranch filling.....so where did your name come from shroomgirl.
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post #5 of 34
9/12/00 at 1:31pm
The best freebie I've had is Tony Mantuano's rosemary potato chips at Tuttaposto and Mantuano's.
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post #6 of 34
9/12/00 at 8:23pm
Wild Things not domesticated....noramally wild shrooms are not stuffed and fried. Though I do know a guy that finds HUGE (in size and haul) morels that he insists on battering and frying every Winter Picnic....really messes them up.....real culinary crime.
There is a bar that also serves beet chips...supposed to be good with beer.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #7 of 34
9/12/00 at 8:30pm
Wow, I am really plain. I like a good salsa and chip. Hmmm, springrolls. I like hot and spicy shrimp. Sausages.
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post #8 of 34
9/13/00 at 6:17am
I agree, salsa and chips are the way to go... nice spicy salsa!
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post #9 of 34
9/13/00 at 8:34am
At the brewery I was at we used to do a mixed bowl of veg chips (boniato root, malanga, beet, and sweet potato) served with a roasted red pepper stout dip. Huge seller.
Thanks,

Nicko 
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post #10 of 34
9/13/00 at 7:23pm
If you're dealing with Midwest palates you want meat, and if you're doing bar food, skewers are the way to go. Use the "right names" for the skewers or not, it won't matter to people as long as they like it and order another.

Beef and/or pork chunks in olive oil, red wine, garlic, rosemary, oregano, salt & pepper etc. (souvlaki)

Chicken in the above minus the red wine, add a little lemon juice (chicken souvlaki)

Chicken (thigh is best) in coconut milk, ginger, garlic, lime juice, curry powder, cilantro, etc. (sate)

Serve 'em with the right dipping sauce --(tzaziki, garlic-cucumber-yogurt-dill with the souvlaki; peanut sauce, ground-roast-peanut-coconut-milk-etc. for the sate) --

or, just something generically nice (a little fresh cut salsa with or without fresh papaya)

good honest bar food cause you can just whip out the skewers when you need 'em. nibblers who don't want a steak or a chicken basket will go for a skewer i bet. do this right and they'll beg you for more.

*sigh* i have a skewer fixation, it's true. it's because worked with a church group to raise money this summer, sold $30,000 of souvlaki in a week with a volunteer crew. people just go nuts for a proper skewer.

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited September 13, 2000).]
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post #11 of 34
9/13/00 at 8:07pm
Yeah, I have this friend who always makes skewers for every single potluck dinner party. Doesn't matter what the theme is, those d**n skewers are always there!
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post #12 of 34
9/14/00 at 7:47pm
break off the sharp tips or the drunks will poke their eyes out....
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #13 of 34
9/14/00 at 8:18pm
Good point shroomgirl. Better yet, yank the stick and settle the goods down on a nice toasty round of cushy pita bread, or bit of jasmine rice for the sate...
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post #14 of 34
9/14/00 at 8:24pm
I have to say I've gotten into nachos with a twist, there was a place here that did a really light chip with smoked salmon, chipotle cream cheese and the standard salmon toppings. Yummy and much lighter than your standard nacho.

Again, wings are good, but how 'bout something different than your standard hotwing? A tandoori spiced or oriental stcky wing or a parmesan garlic? People have gotten too focused on the "it has to be hot!" thing and there's not alot at your average restaurant to satisfy . So use your basics but accompany them with something a little calmer. There's a whole bunch of people out there that love food, love flavour and can't "stomach" the heat! (Bad I know, but I couldn't resist. Just look at the TV for one evening, you are inundated with ads for gastric reflux, heartburn upset stomachs, pepsid, tums...
Sweet Dreams!!
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post #15 of 34
9/24/00 at 6:01am
Really good onion rings...vidalla, mahi, 1016 whatever with a light buttermilk batter and blue cheese dressing (Harvest restaurant)
does a good job with those here.

Boudin blanc steamed....boy I sure miss a good boudin.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #16 of 34
9/24/00 at 8:16am
We make our own BBQ potato chips. Fry the chips then sprinkle them with our own BBQ spice. Best potato chips I have ever had. How about little empanadas or taquitos? Also check out the last year of Food Arts. They have run a number of articles on bar food recently.

Shroomgirl, I love fried morels! But the only way to fry them is seasoned, dredged in flour, and pan-fried in bacon fat. Try it, it's great!
From Man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the World-Saint Arnoldus
http://www.onceachef.com/
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post #17 of 34
9/24/00 at 8:26am
This topic has been moved to the Inside Scoop as it seems to be a better place for it.


------------------
Thanks,

Nicko
nicko@cheftalk.com
Thanks,

Nicko 
ChefTalk.com Founder
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post #18 of 34
9/24/00 at 8:34am
Bangers and Mashed!

Invention, my dear friends, is ninety-three percent perspiration, six percent electricity, four percent evaporation, and two percent butterscotch ripple

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post #19 of 34
9/24/00 at 10:53am
Hey, shroomgirl, Enlighten me. What is 1016?
Thanks.
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post #20 of 34
9/24/00 at 4:07pm
Texas sweet onions....they are huge and that is the # designated when they were developed.
Texas 1016 like walla walla or vidalia
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #21 of 34
9/27/00 at 12:11am
We do artichoke hearts stuffed with pepperjack then breaded, fried, and served with a lime/cilantro aioli. Can't take it off the menu. Also crabcakes go well at the bar.
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post #22 of 34
9/28/00 at 6:06pm
If anybody is interested, in this week's Restaurant Business Magazine, there is an article about the new trends in bar food (page 83).
Some highlights:
Roasted sardines, lemon aioli and dill
Brushetta
Fennel Crusted calamari
Pepper filled with shrimp and crab
Homemade potato chips with bleu cheese
Rice ball with peas and provolone (ehh??)
Sweet corn flan
Grilled eggplant with spinach
...anyhow, you get the idea.

Invention, my dear friends, is ninety-three percent perspiration, six percent electricity, four percent evaporation, and two percent butterscotch ripple

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post #23 of 34
9/28/00 at 6:12pm
Pretty funky list ....what do you drink with eggplant and spinach or corn custard was it.......Lager just doesn't go that far.....
Who comes up with this stuff and why do they have to be weird about it?
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #24 of 34
9/28/00 at 6:15pm
I think sometimes, agree with me or not, that A LOT of cooking is done for the sake of being different.

Invention, my dear friends, is ninety-three percent perspiration, six percent electricity, four percent evaporation, and two percent butterscotch ripple

My Author Page

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post #25 of 34
9/28/00 at 6:23pm
Jim I think your right it's like guess we NEED to do something different this year lets eat kohlrabi and snails Hey we can even serve it at the bar......
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #26 of 34
9/28/00 at 6:26pm
Shroomy,
Might make for an interesting topic on its own... "Innovation versus Insanity" or "Trendy versus Tradition".

[This message has been edited by Jim (edited September 28, 2000).]

Invention, my dear friends, is ninety-three percent perspiration, six percent electricity, four percent evaporation, and two percent butterscotch ripple

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post #27 of 34
9/29/00 at 6:21am
Hey! I thought we were all artists. Who cares if anyone likes the combinations we come up with as long as it satsifies our creative urges. Charlie doesn't care so why should we?
From Man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the World-Saint Arnoldus
http://www.onceachef.com/
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post #28 of 34
9/29/00 at 12:35pm
LOL Pete there are always going to be shock guys (either they need shock therapy or they are shooting to just shock you cause they don't have finesse) and then there are others artists if you will that have some method to the madness and actually think out what they are doing.....it's like any art it's in the eye of the beholder.....but peers are the best(?) critics.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #29 of 34
10/2/00 at 12:52am
I think bar food should be easy to eat and assertive enough to stand up to the drinks. Sometimes different works, sometimes it doesn't. We just put macaroni and cheese on our menu because it is a comfort food, but we added Sonoma chevre and white cheddar topped it with fried onion bread crumbs and a roasted tomato, a little different but all things are pretty much still familiar. I heard of a chef doing a vanilla crusted rack of veal that some said was awful, would it have been better if it was just "old hat" with a Dijon and breadcrumb crust and cooked to perfection? Probably.
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post #30 of 34
10/2/00 at 5:56am
Grown up Mac n' Cheese - sounds wonderful! And familiar.
Sweet Dreams!!
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