Another expression is sometimes used:
amuse-gueule.
What were you thinking of making? Rick Tramonto of Tru has a great book,
Amuse-bouche, that is where I turn when I'm looking for inspiratrion for this kind of thing. Some of these are so good I have scaled them up to make larger courses (e.g. Shooter of Duck Wonton with Duck Consomme).
Bill/SFNM