AT LAST! A real menu for children

Kids are people too. But you wouldn't know it to look at most restaurants' children's menu.  I think "picky eaters" aren't born, they are taught. Of course, there are exceptions to this statement, but for the most part, I think I'm right about this.  

My mom told me years ago about an article she read. There was an experiment involving kids and their eating habits.  On day 1, the kids came into a room to find a long table filled with cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream, chocolate, potato chips, Doritos and the like. They also found grilled chicken, fish, green beans, spinach, squash, broccoli, fruits, etc. As expected, on day 1, the sweets were quickly demolished and the "real food" left untouched.

However, this began to change gradually. Each day, less and less of the sweets & junk food were consumed and more and more of the good stuff.  By the end of the week, the kids were eating full, balanced meals with maybe one dessert selection.  The conclusion?  The kids ate what they needed. Their bodies needed (wanted) the nutritious foods to survive.  The novelty of the junk wore off quickly even though the kids had unlimited choices of "fun" foods in front of them. 

This has been my basic philosophy about feeding my daughter: make available what she needs. From the time we began giving her solid foods, my husband and I focused on giving her good, balanced meals and we changed it up a lot.  We have continued to offer new, different dishes and meals to expose her to the great big world and to encourage healthy and adventurous eating.  Some foods are a hit, some not.  But, I don't give up.  I'll try them prepared differently next time and guess what?  Eventually those foods make it onto the "thumbs up" list.

Going to a restaurant with a child can be a challenge.  Most have a kids menu, but frankly, they usually just make me mad.  You've seen it before...the unhealthy, junky, uncoordinated selections they make available to your child.  Chicken fingers, french fries, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, corn dog.  And don't forget the lovely sides: jello, applesauce, fries, yogurt. 

Kids are people too!  When was the last time you waltzed into a restaurant and said "Yes, I'll have the corn dog with a side of applesauce and macaroni."  I'm betting NEVER.There's a place in the Vista that has macaroni for kids.  We ordered it one time.  I swear to you, they cooked an entire box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, dumped the whole pot into a bowl and served it to my 4 year old with an adult-sized soup spoon.  So, she was given a portion size fit for Paul Bunyan, a spoon that won't fit in her mouth to eat a bowl full of crap from a box that I don't even make at home.  

Here's a tip:  you're a restaurant.  Cook!  Make some macaroni. It's not that hard. Serve kids a smaller portion.  Or, for that matter, how about just serve ANYTHING on your menu at a kid-sized portion and price?  Now, that is sheer brilliance, if I do say so myself.

Ok, ok, ranting aside, the real purpose of this post is to give major applause and accolades to Harper's in Five Points. We went in today after church.  Viv received the usual kids menu with accompanying crayons.  I started looking it over and almost fell out of the booth.  I have never, ever, ever seen a children's menu like this!  Actual entrees, vegetables, includes a dessert and only $6. Take a look:

  
Notice anything?  There is salmon, grilled chicken, BBQ sliders, roasted vegetables, fruit as well as brunch items.  Now with this, you can build a real meal for your child.  Viv chose the grilled salmon with honey mustard glaze.  She really does love salmon.  She was talking about ordering French toast when the salmon caught her eye. She selected fruit as her side and the scoop of ice cream for dessert.  Just for the record, despite what she circled above, I did give in and let her have a Dr. Pepper since her soda consumption is practically non-existent, but I 86'd the milkshake.

This is the plate she was served.  It looked fantastic and I had to try it.  It was perfectly cooked, you could taste the wood fire, nice "crust" on the outside.  It was delicious.  

I was euphoric through the rest of our lunch, because I was so jacked that someone finally gets it.  Kids don't need to live off cheese, fried chicken and pasta.  And, what kind of idiot puts PB&J on a menu?  Restaurants need to act like restaurants and cook.  Cook for all your customers regardless their age. Kids will eat real food.  But you have to make it available to them.  If every restaurant would adopt my "just make a smaller portion" concept (anybody remember "ladies' portions?), we could have kids everywhere experimenting and developing their little palates every time they eat out.

Kudos to you Harper's!  I hadn't been to your restaurant in a long time (no reason, just hadn't made it in) but I tell you what, we'll be in frequently now.  Thank you for offering vegetables and lean proteins to our kids.  Thank you for serving them an appropriate serving size at an appropriate price.  You get it.

The Burger Challenge Continues

The hamburger is distinctly and uniquely American.  We all make them at home, we grab them from a window and eat them at 80 mph, we order them in bars, restaurants, at cookouts, birthday parties, even fine dining restaurants have gotten in on the action.  It seems to be the one food we Americans can't live without.  Proof?  Even the vegetarians still wants burgers, thus the invention of the veggie, or veggie-substance, burger.  

The funny thing is that in the burger restaurant world, there is this constant, on-going battle to be the best burger on the planet.  After 44 years on Earth, years of watching Guy Fieri travel the country, experimenting with a gazillion types of burger at home, I've come to the conclusion that WE WILL NEVER CROWN A WINNER. It's just that simple.  For the most part, all burgers are good.  Now, some have their time and place.  For instance, I'd never find myself craving a fast food burger, but if I'm traveling through Beavistown with nothing else in sight, all of a sudden, the Golden Arches seem to have just earned a Michelin star.  As far as real restaurants go, I've decided to quit trying to determine who has the best because there's another factor at play here:  the cook.  One day it may be the best hamburger you've had all year, then next time, someone else is manning the grill, and it's just a whole different burger.  From now one, I keep a list of where my favorite burgers reside, but I won't even make myself crazy by trying to name one as the king-daddy burger master.

Many of you are aware of the new restaurant called Burger Tavern 77 on Devine Street. It's located in the old Yo Burrito building.  This past weekend, I met Neil and the Vivver there for lunch.  We had yet to make it over there, so this was our maiden voyage.  Their menu can be viewed here. One thing to note, that section on the right that says "Build your Burger" isn't attached to the menus that you are given in the restaurant.  Turns out they are in a little rack on the table, but our server didn't point that out.  Neil was pretty disappointed to realize what they were after we ordered, because he would have preferred to go this route.  That would be a good thing for the servers to be in the habit of mentioning.  One other note about the menus.  They were beat up, bent and dirty.  If a 6 year old points that out, your menus need help, people.

Okay, on to the food.  I ordered "the Charleston." I asked for it to be cooked medium-rare and explained to the waitress that I like it just on the "medium side of medium-rare."  She nodded her understanding and told me that they tend to cook on the rare side, so if she put it in as medium, it would be pink and juicy inside.  Well, I guess someone else was in the kitchen that day, because this was one friggin' well done hamburger.  You can tell just by looking at the picture of it.  

But, I will admit that it was still a flavorful burger.  The pimento cheese was pretty tasty and melded well with the good quality bacon they use.  I chose the fries which were presented in a cup lined with a newsprint look paper.  Very cute and they were well cooked.

Neil ordered "The Bleu" and added jalapenos (of course!).  His was also overcooked, but he still enjoyed it.  

For his side, he ordered the tomato/cucumber salad.  Sometimes I think he orders the most bizarre side dish possible.  It's like he worries about all the other weird sides sitting around in the kitchen, little fingers crossed, saying "pick me, pick me!" and he has to help them out.  I mean, a tomato/cucumber salad isn't a bad thing, but with a hamburger?  I just don't get it.

As I was trying to come up with an appetizer or sharing scenario for the Vivver (note that there is no children's menu here), the waitress then let me know that they do indeed have a kids menu, but it's not printed anywhere.  One question:  WHY? Apparently, you have to be "in the know" or hope that your server will casually mention this to you, or you will never know.  So, the little one got a child's plate of 2 burger sliders (I hate this term, but that's a whole other story) and fries.  She was pleased and ate them both.

The burgers were good, although I hope next time we go we can get them cooked the way we want them.  But, there was one major complaint that we had.  In fact, I'm surprised that Neil didn't want to pack up our plates and take them home.  FLIES.  Tons of flies.  There were so many flies buzzing around this place, we might as well have been sitting out in the park trying to eat our lunch.  For Pete's sake, invest in one of those fans that you install at the front door to blow all that air OUT  as people enter, then these vile creatures can't invade your restaurant.  And, the 1" crack under your back door could have something to do with it too.  Seriously, this is a problem that this restaurant must fix.  If I decide to start at $10 to build my own burger, I'm going to be royally pi$%ed off if I have to shoo flies off it the whole time, like I did the other day.  Or, as Neil said, we can only go there in the winter.