Restaurant words

I hadn't really thought about it before, but once I read this article, I realized how right they are about the use of restaurant words. Phrases like "grilled to perfection" (what is "perfection?") or "world famous" or "garden fresh" or "homemade" or steak "melting in your mouth" are all odd, when you think about it.

Posts: 24735 | Location: Chicago, USA

wordmatic

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posted July 06, 2009 21:55

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My favorite is "medallions" of beef, pork, lamb. What this really means is that the chunks of meat on your plate are really, really small.

Wordmatic

Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Ignored post by wordmatic posted July 06, 2009 21:55

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arnie

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posted July 07, 2009 11:37

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Yes, these words and phrases do nothing but pad out the menu. One, similar to the "Garden Fresh" mentioned in the article is "Dew-fresh". Huh? Dew can settle on anything if it's left out overnight; it doesn't confer any special level of freshness.

Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.

Posts: 10940 | Location: London

Ignored post by arnie posted July 07, 2009 11:37

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neveu

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posted July 07, 2009 11:55

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while I was in college in Madison, Wisconsin I worked in a restaurant that I'll call the Beautiful Door. When asked if the asparagus was fresh, the wait staff were instructed to answer "it's fresh-frozen", probably on the theory that anyone stupid enough to ask, in Wisconsin, in December, if the asparagus was "fresh" deserved any answer they got.

Posts: 1242 | Location: San Francisco

Ignored post by neveu posted July 07, 2009 11:55

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posted July 07, 2009 12:40

In Colorado, my wife was intrigued by one dish which she thought would only be found in a seacoast city -- mountain oysters. Against my better judgement I asked the waiter what they were.

Also on the menu, which was their idea of a joke, in the beverage column along with Coke, coffee, tea, milk, and others was "aerated moose urine." We passed on what they had passed.

BobHale

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posted July 07, 2009 13:36

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quote:
Originally posted by Proofreader:

Also on the menu, which was their idea of a joke, in the beverage column along with Coke, coffee, tea, milk, and others was "aerated moose urine." We passed on what they had passed.

Good idea, those carbonated beverages are never any good. Next time ask for the still version.

"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.

Posts: 9423 | Location: England

Ignored post by BobHale posted July 07, 2009 13:36

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Kalleh

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posted July 07, 2009 20:03

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Unless I haven't been around a lot, I have never seen "dew-fresh" here in the U.S.A. Have other Americans seen that?

Posts: 24735 | Location: Chicago, USA

Ignored post by Kalleh posted July 07, 2009 20:03

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tinman

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posted July 08, 2009 23:02

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I don't remember hearing dew-fresh, but I have heard fresh as the morning dew.

From the the OED Online:

quote:

dew n.
1. a. The moisture deposited in minute drops upon any cool surface by the condensation of the vapour in the atmosphere; formed after a hot day during or towards night, and plentiful in the early morning."

2. fig. Something likened to dew in its operation or effect: a. as coming with refreshing power or with gentle fall; b. as characteristic of the morning of life, of early years, like the ‘early dew’.

Generally dew is formed in the evening and burns off the next morning. Hence, it is relatively fresh.

Posts: 2879 | Location: Shoreline, WA, USA

Ignored post by tinman posted July 08, 2009 23:02

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wordmatic

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posted July 10, 2009 12:54

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quote:
mountain oysters.

I had to Google it. Did you try them? Were they any good? Did they taste like 1.) chicken? 2.) oysters? 3.)liver? 4.) mushrooms? 5.) what?

WM

Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Ignored post by wordmatic posted July 10, 2009 12:54

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posted July 10, 2009 13:50

Taste like? You'll have ask someone more adventurous gastronomically than I am.

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