Smaller menus, simpler food

As restaurants scrambled to adapt to lockdowns, most of them switched from indoor dining to takeaway and also drastically reduced the menu options to accommodate the change. Now that they are reopening to indoor dining, many of the restaurants are keeping the shorter menus, says Grub Street’s Rachel Sugar. Both independent eateries and large chains are reducing the number of menu options, and Sugar argues that this benefits customers.

Having fewer choices helps the restaurant’s bottom line, but diners also reap rewards when there is a more focused menu, says Sugar: “A kitchen that focuses on its strengths turns out consistently excellent things, even if that results in fewer total things.” Instead of 32 mediocre offerings, paring down to a dozen deftly executed dishes will allow cooks to pay more attention and care to each item. Plus it likely means better service and fewer incorrect orders.

Over the past few months, I found this simplicity appealing in cookbooks as well. I used to be attracted to complicated, fussy recipes that required many bowls, pans, and utensils. Intricate recipes were like mountains to be climbed and conquered. But after more than a year of cooking, cooking, and cooking again, I am increasingly drawn to one bowl, one pan, one spoon dishes.

When I flip through cookbooks these days, the recipes that have three different ingredient lists for separate components of a dish – once a magnet for my attention – are now dismissed with a quick turn of the page. These days the sheet pan dinners are getting all of my love. I do not even have to sacrifice flavor as there are dozens of excellent cookbooks offering delicious foods with less effort.

The books from which I am currently drawing inspiration include Diana Henry’s Simple, Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean, Sabrina Ghayour’s Simply (I cannot say enough good things about this one), Dorie Greenspan’s Everyday Dorie, Ottolenghi Simple, and Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple. Even my baking has become pared down. I found myself wanting to make everything in Yossy Arefi’s Snacking Cakes – many of the recipes are one bowl wonders, astonishingly good for a small amount of effort. Maybe in a few months I will return to complicated cookery, but then again, maybe not. Just like restaurant menus, simple might be sticking around for a while in my kitchen too.

Photo of Sheet pan chicken tikka from Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman