Restaurant Wars

Objective: Do you remember the episode of Top Chef where the teams created their own restaurants, concept and menu, and prepared selected items? Well, that is going to be your task over the next two weeks. Your goal is to design a Restaurant that creates the best tasting, most appetizing 3-Course meal using the provided guidelines. Your teachers will judge your final creation. Presentation is crucial!

Guidelines:

  • Design your own restaurant menu based around a theme of your choosing. It can be based on a regional cuisine, a specific ingredient, a meal of the day, etc.
  • You must create a menu with nine different items (3 per course), that captures your theme.
  • You must cook three dishes (one for each course), to be presented to the 3 judges, over the course of 3 days.
  • You will have exactly one hour each day to present the completed dish. This will allow the judges enough time to taste and plenty of time for your group to clean while the judging is completed.
  • The dish/meal created must be challenging and appropriate. Any groups that do not pick appropriate recipes will not receive credit for the assignment.
  • Timing is critical. Your dish/meal must be completed when time is called. No excuses! Points will be deducted for every minute past the presentation time.
  • You must stay within the maximum spending limits for this competition: $15 for items I will purchase, and $15 for items your group will purchase. I will purchase the types of bulk items we use on a regular basis, such as flour, milk, eggs, butter etc. If you are not sure if an item qualifies, run your shopping list by me.
  • Judges will evaluate each Dish based on Taste (15pts), Originality (5pts), and Plating/Appearance (5pts). Judges do not assign grades, but the Winner and Runner-up will receive proportional bonus points from me.

Grading: You will be graded based on your completion of the essential components of Restaurant Wars, which are the following-

  • Menu (one per group)- You must design a menu that captures the Concept and Items that your restaurant is designed around. Using the Templates located on the website as a guide, your menu must have two parts. Hard Copy must be printed out, as well as digital copy emailed to me.
  • Concept: the first page of your menu must introduce the theme around which your Restaurant is designed. It must include an image that embodies that theme, as well as a paragraph describing something about it (i.e. a biography of the chef, a discussion of the roots of the cuisine, an anecdote, etc)
  • Menu Items: You must provide a detailed description of three different dishes for each of the 3 courses: Appetizer, Main Entrée, and Dessert. Simply listing ingredients is not sufficient. Think about creative titles or illustrative descriptions of the dishes components.
  • Market Order for School Purchases (one per group)
  • I will purchase a maximum of $15 worth of ingredients for your menu. You must provide me with a cost analysis for those items. The items MUST be approved by me before the due date.
  • Detailed Market Orders (Each person must turn in individual handwritten copies of 3 market orders)
  • A separate Market Order must be turned in for each of the three menu items you cook
  • Detailed Work Plan (one per group)
  • The specific tasks assigned to each person for each day, and the approx. times required to complete them must be detailed on the work plan.
  • 3 Transcribed Recipes (Each person must complete individually, and handwritten)
  • You must provide the recipes for the 3 dishes you cook, written in the standard recipe format.

Due Dates

Due Friday May 20 (one per group)

  • Market Order for School Purchases
  • Detailed Work Plan for the 5 cooking days

Due Monday 5/23

  • Restaurant Menu
  • Completed Market Orders for each of the three dishes your group will make
  • 3 transcribed recipes (1 set per person)

Calendar of Events

  • 5/16 or 5/19: Introduction of assignment, beginning of computer lab research
  • Friday 5/21: Market Order for School Purchases and Detailed Work Plan for the 5 cooking days due at beginning of class
  • Mon 5/23: Prep day for any or all days of competition. Menu, 3 Market Orders, and 3 Recipes Due
  • Tues 5/24: Appetizer Competition
  • Wed 5/25: Exhibition Day/Prep for Entrée and Dessert days
  • Thurs 5/26: Entrée Competition
  • Fri 5/27: Dessert Competition
  • Tues 5/31: Individual Project Evaluations due.