Back of the House Class Current Menu

"I am almost done with school...

Currently I am finishing up my competancy class next week which culminates in a black basket 3 course meal for the final evening, similar to what contestants have to come up with on chopped. The difference is that we have one basket to create a soup/salad, an appetizer, and an entree and that each basket is different for each person and carries a geographical theme such as American, Latin, "Healthy", etc. After this class is over we move into our Back of the House/Front of the House class where we learn what it is like to "work" in a kitchen and "manage" a kitchen as well as what it is like to "work" as a server/FOH employee and "manage" the FOH. For this particular class there is a static menu for the students to work off and as each new chef starts to teach the class they are handed the most recent menu. Every so often the menu is changed however, this particular one has been in use for the last few months.

Friday night we were given the list of the 6 regional baskets that we might get as well as the Back of the House Menu. After looking it over briefly I asked my chef if it would be possible to make some suggestive changes to it as I didn't feel it was refined enough nor was it cohesive from course to course. Granted there are things on the menu that I feel should stay as we will all be asked to make some version of them throughout the course of our careers, but there were other things on there that just don't seem to fit. First I will provide you with the current menu as it stands with no revisions..."

Soup
Chicken and Corn Chowder

Salad
Caesar Salad - Tossed Tableside

Entrees
Grilled New York Strip
Sauce- Mushroom and Onion Red Wine Reduction with Reduced Veal Stock
Starch- Duchesse Potatoes
Vegetable- Sauteed Baby Spinach

Stuffed Chicken Roulades
Sauce- Chicken Veloute with Mushrooms
Starch- Sun-dried Tomato Risotto
Vegetable- Steamed baby carrots and sugar snap peas with a Sage Compound Butter

Fettuccini Alfredo with Roasted Vegetables
Vegetables- Eggplant, Squash, Peppers, Tomatoes, Mushrooms
Sauce- Alfredo

Fish of the Day - Options can include: sole, salmon, tilapia, tuna, shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels, sea bass, and calamari
Sauce- TBD
Starch- Kindly choose from one of the other entrees
Vegetable- Kindly choose from one of the other entrees

Dessert
Spiced Pear Upside-down Cake
with Vanilla Ice Cream
Chocolate Mousse
with Whipped Cream, Chopped Pistachios, and White Chocolate Curls

(Fresh Bread Made Daily)