500 replies to this topic

[Waitman]

With its scheduled appearance on the menu at Michel Richard's new joint, we must consign the charcuterie/salumi/cured meat-and-artisanal cheese plate to the trite foods list.

Not that they're not great, mind you. Just that everybody's got one, anymore.

[bilrus]

With its scheduled appearance on the menu at Michel Richard's new joint, we must consign the charcuterie/salumi/cured meat-and-artisanal cheese plate to the trite foods list.

Not that they're not great, mind you.  Just that everybody's got one, anymore.

I don't know - I'm willing (excited?) to try Michel Richard's verison before I dismiss this trend. Let's not spook him out of it.

And I'd wager he'll call it charcuterie.

[shogun]

Yeah, I don't know....until The Cheesecake Factory has a charcuterie platter (Subthread: Fun Mass-Appeal Names For Platters Of Cured Mystery Meat) I think I have to support a Trite List Immunity for the cured meat plate. They don't mean to be trite and overexposed! They just want to make people happy.

[JPW]

From the Town Hall thread...

tomato soup with mini grilled cheese

I think that this has hit the superfecta of triteness
1)tomato soup
2)mini
3)grilled cheese
4)mini sandwich
5)grilled cheese with tomato soup

Frankly, I think "comfort food" is becoming trite. It's the new Latin-Asian fusion.

[Jacques Gastreaux]

This just in:

Vermilion has "bison" miniburgers on its bar menu. Perhaps we could ask Tom Power if he could do up some scallop miniburgers for us.

edited to add: And by the way, just out of curiosity, how many miniburgers constitute and "order?" At Vermilion, an order constitutes 2 miniburgers, which is just enough to justify the plural usage. Myself, I believe that an "order" of anything that is plural constitutes at least 3, which is what you get at Matchbox.

Edited by Jacques Gastreaux, 26 August 2005 - 12:44 PM.

[JLK]

On a Midwest Express flight this week, I was offered a turkey sandwich with "smoked gouda and baby lettuces with sundried tomato aioli."

That was bad enough, being offered a plain old (and ICE-COLD) sandwich with a gussied-up name, but making matters worse, it was exactly the size of a mini-burger.

[Jacques Gastreaux]

On a Midwest Express flight this week, I was offered a turkey sandwich with "smoked gouda and baby lettuces with sundried tomato aioli."

That was bad enough, being offered a plain old (and ICE-COLD) sandwich with a gussied-up name, but making matters worse, it was exactly the size of a mini-burger.

I'll bet you paid $10 for the priviledge as well. I'm flying on Midwest Express on Sunday and plan to stop by Cheesetique on the way to the airport for a small loaf of bread and an epoisse to eat on the flight.

[CrescentFresh]

I'll bet you paid $10 for the priviledge as well.  I'm flying on Midwest Express on Sunday and plan to stop by Cheesetique on the way to the airport for a small loaf of bread and an epoisse to eat on the flight.

Bring along a durian, too and watch the fun begin!

[JLK]

I was cheap and went for the $5 option (even though I was traveling on biz - my boss is weird about me expensing small expenses, even though I make peanuts).

There was a $10 option which I think was Chinese chicken salad over noodles.

[Meaghan]

Google's trite, but not in China.

When it gets too trite, change the shape. A ball of BLT (little BLT bullets) solves everything.

[deangold]

Two words I don't believe I've ever seen used together before now... and wish I hadn't!  --  much like "Kobe hotdog" or "mojito martini"

Or Mc DOnalds Crab Cake?

[delyn]

Or the reason Hannah took away my cooking privileges....

"Hot Dog Curry"

[Jacques Gastreaux]

Are "stuffed squash blossoms" creeping into the ubiquity column? And which restaurant was first to market with this product?

[mdt]

Are "stuffed squash blossoms" creeping into the ubiquity column?  And which restaurant was first to market with this product?

What is the fascination with squash blossoms anyway? Is is the fact that you can eat a flower? Is it the fact that they are new, at least to most people? Having grown up eating them I view them as a vehicle for stuffing or adding to certain dishes as they have no real taste, to me at least.

[JLK]

Had 'em at Cashions. Thought they were eh. The breading was nice though.

[JPW]

It must be noted that, although they may be entering triteness, Waitman makes some excellent stuffed squash blossoms.

[Jacques Gastreaux]

It must be noted that, although they may be entering triteness, Waitman makes some excellent stuffed squash blossoms.

Where does he stuff them?

[Waitman]

It must be noted that, although they may be entering triteness, Waitman makes some excellent stuffed squash blossoms.

Actually, it should be noted that Mrs. B is the squash chem, while I merely man the deep-fryer. Perhaps she'll way in on the details...

Apropos of my post upthread that charcuterie plates, while excellent, were getting a bit trite (from Sietsema's 2-star review of Sonoma):

"Suddenly, a diner can't turn around in a new restaurant without bumping into charcuterie, plates of artisanal cheeses and more wines by the glass than Baskin-Robbins lists flavors."

[JPW]

Actually, it should be noted that Mrs. B is the squash chem, while I merely man the deep-fryer. Perhaps she'll way in on the details...

Apologies to the estimable Mrs B.

[Heather]

"Suddenly, a diner can't turn around in a new restaurant without bumping into charcuterie, plates of artisanal cheeses and more wines by the glass than Baskin-Robbins lists flavors."

Is this a bad thing?

[Stretch]

Is this a bad thing?

I doubt Sietsema thinks so. He's been going on for years about the lack of decent wine bars in DC.

[JPW]

Is this a bad thing?

In general, no.
However, mediocre trite food will always be mediocre trite food.

Not that I've been to Sonoma, but its image is fixed in my head of being, in large part, a wine bar. This is what a wine bar should serve. Same thing with Dino. My eyebrow of triteness would be raised if, say, IndeBleu started offering one.

When Cheesecake Factory starts having one it would, to paraphrase Martha, "not be a good thing".

[giant shrimp]

i think squash blossoms are usually more trouble than they are worth and, like cucumbers, they can be bitter. however, the squash blossom grilled cheese sandwiches i ran into earlier this summer at jaleo provided pleasing company, although the treatment somewhat obscured the main ingredient.

how about watermelon? it has been popping up all over the place, mostly frozen, and is borderline trite. i have no first-hand experience of what happens when you pair up a watermelon with a juicy tomato. personally, i like to encounter the orange seedless variety alone by itself.

winter is a better time to judge if artichokes have become trite, but i order them whenever i can because there is nothing i would rather avoid than trimming them

in the early summer, i am grateful for cherry tomatoes. once the big tomatoes roll in, it is only natural to spurn them and call them trite in front of your friends.

[Al Dente]

I went to a party in Georgetown last night that was catered by Susan Gage. The miniest of miniburgers were served. These made Matchbox's look like Big Macs. They were no bigger than postage stamps (well, a little thicker)! Tasty though...

[Jonathan]

i can understand how mini-burgers have become trite....a play off an old dish. but how exactly can an ingredient like squash blossoms or artichokes or watermelon become trite? they are ingredients. stuffed squash blossoms have been used all over the mediterranean, not because they are pretty, but because they are widespread. people use what they have. and i have had delicious squash blossoms here, the most memorable being at komi this sommer, stuffed with ricotta and deep fried and then served with house made pasterma.....oh but i guess homeade charcuterie is trite....

and so is the deep fryer.

trite for me:
spring rolls or "cigars" served anywhere besides real asian restaurants

[JLK]

So you think Corduroy's spring rolls are trite?

trite for me:
spring rolls or "cigars" served anywhere besides real asian restaurants

[Meaghan]

Flatbread is trite.
Gooooo awwwwway flatbread.

[Jonathan]

i like naan bread. is that considered flatbread and therefore trite?

is sprite trite?

or tripe trite?

[porcupine]

raspberry coulis, especially when it's used to decorate a dish that has nothing to do with raspberries.

[qwertyy]

Sprinkling crap--whether it's parsley or spices or whatever--around the edge of the plate is trite. And uncreative. And ugly. And it gets on your shirt cuffs.

[bilrus]

Sprinkling crap--whether it's parsley or spices or whatever--around the edge of the plate is trite. And uncreative. And ugly. And it gets on your shirt cuffs.

BAM!!!

[Jonathan]

i think bad food for big prices is trite.

[giant shrimp]

i can understand how mini-burgers have become trite....a play off an old dish. but how exactly can an ingredient like squash blossoms or artichokes or watermelon become trite? they are ingredients. stuffed squash blossoms have been used all over the mediterranean, not because they are pretty, but because they are widespread. people use what they have. and i have had delicious squash blossoms here, the most memorable being at komi this sommer, stuffed with ricotta and deep fried and then served with house made pasterma.....oh but i guess homeade charcuterie is trite....

and so is the deep fryer.

trite for me:
spring rolls or "cigars" served anywhere besides real asian restaurants

squash blossoms are trite when they are put on the menu because they sound good but the people in the kitchen in all honesty would rather spend their time doing something else, and it shows on the plate. a chef of high repute does something creative with watermelon and tomatoes and everyone starts jumping on the bandwagon, and before you know it watermelon starts popping up where it didn't used to be, and who needs it. it's easier to spit out the seeds at home.

[Stretch]

Ok, DC may not be lahdidahdi frickin' New York, but at least it isn't Boston.

They're bite-size nuggets of appetizer heaven. Mini-burgers are all the rage around Boston. -- Boston Globe, January 11, 2006.

TimeOut's Curry predicts that when this craze passes, brunch may be the next to shrink. Expect mini French toast, mini waffles, and mini pigs-in-blankets. ''God knows,' he says, "they're adorable."

Mini pigs-in-blankets. Preemptively trite.

Edited by Stretch, 11 January 2006 - 08:55 PM.

[DonRocks]

They're bite-size nuggets of appetizer heaven. Mini-burgers are all the rage around Boston. -- Boston Globe, January 11, 2006.

See the reaction of diners showing up for Restaurant Week and told by Nadya that the $30.06 main course will consist of either a chicken breast or Mini-Burghers

Roe,
Dan.

[Principia]

Mini pigs-in-blankets. Preemptively trite.

How can you have mini pigs-in-blankets? Why am I envisioning them being served in the hands of a Barbie doll?

My personal enemies: the inevitable soup troika of French Onion, Clam Chowder, and Creamy Potato—the latter of which is inevitably guaranteed to consist mostly of chicken stock and bacon.

[lizzie]

Mini pigs-in-blankets. Preemptively trite.
According to KidsPost, April 24 is National Pigs-in-blankets day. Can they be trite if they have their own day?

[porcupine]

See the reaction of diners showing up for Restaurant Week and told by Nadya that the $30.06 main course will consist of either a chicken breast or Mini-Burghers

Roe,
Dan.

For a maxi-burgher check out 2941.

[JLK]

Beets, beets, everwhere beets!
[but I like them so it's ok if they're becoming trite.]

[Meaghan]

The thing is beets and tuna tartare have been on menus for a long time. They're not really trite, they are survivors.

It's not trite, but who's sick of no good ceviche? Why are there so many that taste the same? zzzzzzzzzz

[Banco]

Not that I don't like them, but: vegetable purées. Or is their ubiquity just a sign of chefs' seasonal challenge of coming up with various ways to serve root vegetables?

[Heather]

Mini pigs-in-blankets. Preemptively trite.

Oh my god, how passe. I've been making them for my daughter's birthday parties for 4 years now.

[bilrus]

Oh my god, how passe.  I've been making them for my daughter's birthday parties for 4 years now. 

No, you're just avant-garde.

[Hannah]

Ok, it's official. According to a commercial I just saw, Ruby Tuesday is now offering miniburgers.

[DonRocks]

Ok, it's official.  According to a commercial I just saw, Ruby Tuesday is now offering miniburgers.

Does anyone know who coined the term "miniburgers?" I think Matchbox pioneered the concept in the DC area (actually, Little Tavern did), but did they come up with the name as well?

[Meaghan]

Does anyone know who coined the term "miniburgers?"  I think Matchbox pioneered the concept in the DC area (actually, Little Tavern did), but did they come up with the name as well?

In 1989 Phyllis wrote about them, how they were appearing as a kids' item (at The Jockey Club), and there's even a recipe in that column. And I wonder, food writers does AP have style guidelines for "mini-burger" yet? I see "mini burger" and "miniburger" just as much. I for one, like miniature hambergers (mingers). Can't wait til Ray's has wagU mingers.

Edited by Meaghan, 19 February 2006 - 10:17 PM.

[MeMc]

Fusion anything: latin asian, in particular.

The only way that fusion as a description is OK is if it's a '90s nostalgia place.

(Can you tell I reluctantly ate at Merkado last week?)

Edited by MeMc, 19 February 2006 - 05:58 PM.

[Stretch]

I for one, like minger.

Don't ask. Don't tell.

[porcupine]

Maybe not quite trite, but I couldn't think where else to put this:
don't read if you're squeamish

[Meaghan]

One more mini-burger plug...
I've always thought the other Washington was cooler than this one.