can be purchased individually and they each have their own individual price. It's also

true that restaurants can be prix fixe, they can have a set menu, perhaps with some choices

within that menu and it prescribes how many courses you're going to have and what you're

going to pay for the overall food experience.

A la carte dining gives the guest the most choice. They can choose how much or how little

they are going to eat. They could order a few appetizers, or they could order an appetizer,

an entree, and a dessert. Or they could order nothing but dessert. There's no prescription

on how they're going to use the restaurant. They also can decide how much money they're

going to spend during their dinner, or their meal.

In a prix fixe restaurant, or a restaurant with fixed price, there's a set menu. Maybe

it's four courses. Or maybe it's a tasting menu, with many courses. And that menu comes

at a specific price.

The tasting menu, or the multi-course menu with prix fixe is at the restaurant's decision.

The restaurant decides how many courses a guest will have and how much they will pay

for all of those courses combined.

Serving a multi-course menu to a guest, or a tasting menu, requires some careful thought

and consideration. You want to have a progress of dishes that makes sense and is enjoyable

for the guests. Much like a story. You don't want all the exciting part to be in the beginning,

so that people end up being bored with the menu as it continues. It's important to build

on the menu in a way that is refreshing and enjoyable and creates some anticipation for

what's coming next.

Often multi-course menus will have multiple courses before a main protein item, like an

entree, that is considered the climax of the savory part of the meal. Sometimes tasting

menus have multiple dessert courses that may end with petit fours or chocolates.

When serving a multi-course or tasting menu, timing is critical. If the food comes too

fast, the guests are not going to enjoy it. And if it takes too long, they're going to

wonder what's going on and they're going to get impatient. That connection of timing and

enjoyment is critical for a multi-course menu.

In a restaurant, it is required that the kitchen and the dining room have wonderful communication

about the pace at which a guest is enjoying their meal. Some people will eat fast and

some people will eat more slowly. It's very important that a table be treated as a whole.

Everyone should be cleared from each course together and the restaurant should be able

to provide a wave-like progress, where the table is prepared with all of the correct

service ware. The beverages are poured. And then the food is delivered. Everyone enjoys

their food, and then the dishes are cleared, the service ware is replaced, the table is

crumbed, the beverages are poured, and the next course arrives.

Now the only way that can happen in a beautiful, and consistent, and appropriate manner is

if the dining room is letting the kitchen know how quickly people are eating and when

he perceives that they might need a breather, when they might need a break before they continue

with their next course. The kitchen needs to be able to respond to the changing tempo

of all of the different dining room tables and how they are dining either quickly or

more slowly.

This is the dance of the restaurant business in multi-course menus and tasting menus, making

sure that the kitchen, the dining room and the guests are all performing the dance in

the right way, in the right tempo, for the guests ultimate enjoyment.