Tell me this isn’t a good idea. Get a couple of good Dallas restaurants to make a special, three-course meal for $30. Then donate $6 to the North Texas Food Bank. The restaurant gets new business (that may turn into repeat business), the food bank gets money and a traditionally dead week in the restaurant industry gets a boost.
Money to the food bank is a good thing but fancy restaurants like Nana take a hosing. People come in thinking they’re going to get a Nana meal for $30. With entrees alone hovering at the $40 mark, there’s no way we can serve our usual portions or plating for $24.
Moreover, the people who come for restaurant night aren’t likely to return to our restaurant when the prices go back to normal.
The week was a nightmare. We did 300-400 covers per night (our usual busy night is 200). The waiters call it plop and drop because with that number of covers, one can’t knock out elaborately plated dishes. As a result, we had to dumb down the menu. The filet was served with mashed potatoes rather than smashed fingerlings. We served halibut with Israeli cous cous tabouli (tomatoes, cucumber, mint, cilantro, parsley, olive oil, lemon and salt). Wait, that was on our regular menu. Peeky toe crab salad, buffalo mozzarella salad (which is actually made from buffalo milk NOT cow milk).
Hopefully next year the hotel will write a check for $12,000 (roughly the amount of our contribution) and let us serve the fancy food we usually serve.
