The New Tasting Menu

You don’t call it that, of course. You call it small plates. Sharing style. À la carte.

But somehow — by the time the third server explains the concept and the fourth dish arrives — you realize what’s happening. You’re on a tasting menu. You just didn’t agree to it.

It’s not that the food isn’t good. It usually is. Thoughtful, seasonal, maybe even local. There’s a crudo, a tartare, something grilled, something pickled, something dipped in brown butter. You build your own arc. The price adds up the same.

This is the new model. Less commitment. Less structure. But also: less clarity. Less storytelling. No opening course designed to disarm. No intentional climax. Just a slow stacking of snacks and hopes that something will hit hard enough to count as a main.

Sometimes it does. Other times, you look down at your fifth tiny plate of the night and wonder if you’ve just been softly upsold into an experience you never really signed up for.

Traditional tasting menus were rigid. But at least they told you a story.