A Way With Words

While it’s fine to have fun, one of the most important things on a menu can be accuracy. Think of the times you’ve been excited to order a dish, only to have the reality of it provoke disappointment. “When you write a menu, you want to deliver the food that you promise,” says Terrance Brennan.

Mark Peel adds, “I like for people to get a little more than they expect. And I’ve read many menus where something sounds great, and you get it and it’s not quite what it sounded like. Or it’s less than it sounded like. And that’s very disappointing. And I would rather that there be a little more, that there’s a little surprise there. I don’t like menus that read like shopping lists.”