Fixed-Price Meals

I like price-fixed or fixed-price meals in restaurants, which are much more common in Europe than they are here. In Spain under Franco, I know, the menu del dia was required by law.

In the US, only Chinese restaurants offer them routinely. In most restaurants here they are relegated to 'early bird specials' targeted to seniors, to the children's menu, and to fast food "value meals."

The fixed-price meal can take many forms, but typically it is a 'complete' multiple-course meal for a certain price.

One variation is whether or not a beverage is included. In Spain, wine or wine mixed 50/50 with sparkling water is usually included or you can have coffee or something else. In Paris, the beverage usually is not included. Bread is usually included everywhere.

Although sometimes the menu is 'chef's choice,' it usually is a one-from-column-A, one-from-column B format, with anywhere from three to more than a dozen choices in each category. Another variation is how many categories, i.e., courses, are included. The most common format probably is starter-main course-dessert.

To be a menu it has to include at least two courses. Three courses appears to be the most common number, but you can find them with four, five, or more.

I like price-fixed meals primarily because they let me concentrate on what dishes most appeal to me without also making a financial evaluation, and somehow balancing what I want with how much I'm willing to spend. With the menu I decide how much I'm going to pay first, then decide what I want entirely based on what sounds good to me.

When traveling, the menu has the additional benefit of showing me how people there normally eat. Sure, the most costly dishes the restaurant offers won't be on the menu, but it still tends to feature the most popular dishes. It also helps ease any language barrier.

For the budget-conscious, the menu is usually, but not always, a good value. It may be possible to fashion a meal from the menu that can be had more cheaply a la carte, but most combinations favor the menu.

My experience in Europe is that most of the dishes the restaurant offers are available as part of a menu, as is true in most US Chinese restaurants. Most other US restaurants are more limited, with 'meals'--if they offer them at all--being treated purely as a value proposition. I wish more American restaurants would follow the European practice with regard to fixed-price meals.

Chuck:

Excellent point with several further good observations. I have a sense that the custom of offering a daily menu was a little more common in the States and at some point, perhaps in the 1980's, got pushed aside around the same time chalk boards appeared everywhere with the ever increasing (and mysteriously priced) daily specials. (The habit of offering often markedly more expensive specials but trying to hide the price is a practice of some restaurants that I really dislike, but that's another matter.)

Many Mexican restaurants offer at lunch time a comida corrida which resembles in ways the menu you're writing about -- couple of courses to be chosen from a limited set at very reduced price -- but in other ways is somewhat different, I think -- typically or often at least there's no dessert and the range of dishes included don't seem to range very widely (typically sopas and caldos and guisados are involved, less often other kinds of dishes).

Anyway, at least Franco got one thing right.



Antonius

I like price-fixed meals primarily because they let me concentrate on what dishes most appeal to me without also making a financial evaluation, and somehow balancing what I want with how much I'm willing to spend. With the menu I decide how much I'm going to pay first, then decide what I want entirely based on what sounds good to me.

I think TGI Friday's just came out with a 3 course prix fixe menu. You can choose from either mild or wild. I await your report anxiously.

Flip

The sad thing is that I've seen several higher-end restaurants call these things "prefix" meals, thoroughly losing the original French prix fixe.

And Max and Erma's is now matching TGIFriday's $12.99 3-course meal. Wheee!

HI,

Last week I was at Suzette's Creperie in Wheaton. They offered a 5 course prix-fixe for $34. Some items, like rack of lamb, were offered with an up charge in perentheses. If you wanted a cheese course instead of dessert, then you paid $2 additional. Beverages were an additional price.

If someone wanted to order a la carte from the prix fixe, they offered prices per catagory plus any upcharge. It sort of made for a confusing initial read of the menu all these variations, but we soldiered on for quite a nice meal.

I'll try to post on my meal sometime soon.

Regards,

Le Lan has a $36, three-course prix fixe on Tuesdays. Choose one soup or salad, one entree, and one dessert from the regular daily menu. (Regular menu entrees include the $32 Asian-spiced beef tenderloin and the $30 roast duck breast with seared foie gras.)

Le Lan
749 North Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60610
312.280.9100
www.lelanrestaurant.com

Retro Bistro in Mt. Prospect has prix fixe meals like the ones described, also with other items available at an upcharge. I think it's a pretty good deal. One time I accidentally ordered a prix fixe meal when I thought I was just ordering courses, and noticed the discount when the bill arrived.

Roy's has a 3 course prix fixe meal for $31.

When I worked in Brownsville, TX a while back, most of the Family restaurants (all Mexican) offered the full meal. I ordered a dish and received chips, salsa, soup, entree with rice and beans and a slice of cake. I was a great deal for the pocketbook, but one that was NOT conducive to the afternoon at work.

I got an ad/coupon in the mail from Sapori Trattoria in Lincoln Park which advertised a prix fixe meal for $57 for two diners. It sounded really good, but the offer expires at the end of October.

I'd be very interested in learning of more restaurants that serve prix fixe meals.

Cafe Matou has a prix-fixe for.. $24-ish?