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I’m thinking of starting my own Italian restaurant. I want to keep it really simple, and focus on quality products. Maybe only 4 or 5 pasta dishes to start with.
What does /ck/ think? Any suggestions?
>>7630974
Gabagool
Spaghetti with meatballs as big as your head. Just lika momma made in the old country.
>>7630974
What 4-5 types of exact dishes we talking about?
>>7630974
Bro if you are, I'll work for you. I ran a bar and grill last year with a good friend of mine. He ended up selling it because the lease agreement for the building was absurd (over 12,000 a month just for rent) we want to move out of state anyways lol
>>7630974
dont do it, more than likely you'll go under in less than a year
Unless you have the capital to go ~2yrs w/o making any money
>>7630974
Italian here, dont forget to include a white sauce dish like a nice alfredo or a carbonara and do stuffed shells if you want. A good dessert that I barely ever see in any "Italian" restaurants is creme puffs. My g.gma used to make them from scratch and they are god tier. Id give you the recipe but I never got it before she died :'(
You could also make your own raviolis or tortelli/ni, maybe do a little spinah and ricotta for a veggie one and then make some meat ones with beef or lamb and pair it with a nice sauce.
Id also like to suggest maybe going online and looking up some pasta/wine pairs, Italians love wine and itd be a good way to sell two things in one.
Thats all I got for now and damn Im hungry. Miss my g.gma and her food :'(
NO FUCKIN ZITI?
>>7631033
Not OP but fuck ziti its as played out as spaghetti
OP here, maybe I should elaborate
I was thinking that the best way to start a restaurant and to be successful was to do e fewe dishes really well instead trying to do a full menu all at once. This would allow me to keep costs under control and deliver good quality. Later I could gradually expand the menu.
So to start off I would like to do a few classic pasta dishes that everybody recognizes
>Ragù
>Amitriciana
>Vongole
>Putanesca
>Primavera
I guess it would almost be like a pop-up restaurant at first. With a very small menu overall
>2 desserts
>2 or 3 red wines to choose from
>Free bottled water
>Coffee, Cappuccino and Esspresso
>Bread with sea salt and EVOO
The goal is to attract customers with quality food, good service and sharp prizes.
Better to serve one meal really well than to have a dozen items which you can barely manage.
Does this make sense?
>>7630974
You'd better have spaghetti. I went to a "nice" Italian restaurant and was forced to eat linguine. Never again.
>>7630975
ova hea
>>7630974
>>I'm thinking of starting my own restaurant
as always, kitchen confidential, read it or listen to it before you make any kitchen decisions.
>>7630974
sautee chef in an italian restaurant here. pesto, alfredo, alpesto, scampi, puttanesca, some kind of meat sauce, and butter for the kids.
DON'T focus on pasta. Put your main focus on actual Italian foods, meat, fish, seafood, vegetables. And have a small smattering of very good pasta dishes (like you said, three or four) as your "primo" selection before "secundo" (which would be your main course).
>>7631258
What the fuck kind of Italian restaurant do you work at, "Old Spaghetti Factory" or "Olive Garden"?
>>7631223
Pleb. I bet they didn't offer your "sketti" sauce, either.
>>7631351
Linguine is disgusting compared to spaghetti
>>7630974
if you insist on a rediculously low number of dishes, limit it to one pasta dish (a homemade ravioli/tortellini), and have soup, a poultry dish, a veal dish, and a seafood dish at least. Splurge and throw in a dessert, couple appetizer options, and a rabbit dish.
Also do away with free bread as a starter. serves no purpose. Serve a unit of bread with dishes where it makes sense to have it.
Just serve Special Ricata Entaca Tilapia
>>7631370
you take that back son of a bitch
>>7631215
>free bottled water
To survive in this era you need to offer more than one thing. Do pasta, Chinese food and Burgers
>>7630974
If you don't live in New York, open a New York-style deli. When I visited my brother in Chicago I realized that the corner store/deli isn't really a thing in most cities, and it should be.
A proper deli sells groceries, beer, cigarettes, newspapers/magazines, some convenience store/pharmacy stuff. They also make fresh salads, sandwiches, hot breakfast, burgers and other grill items. Think "Subway"-style hero sandwiches, but with genuinely fresh ingredients and much better quality meats and vegetables. The best ones also do takeout and delivery.
Pasta and Italian food could easily fit into the menu. Most of them don't do pizza, but they do chicken/meatball part and stuff like that.
>>7631390
>Also do away with free bread as a starter. serves no purpose. Serve a unit of bread with dishes where it makes sense to have it.
This sounds right
Do you have any experience with restaurants? If no, don't do it.
italian is so easy you could have 20 sauces..why limit yourself and your clientele? A few weekly special menu items might be more appropriate
>>7631701
Actually I don't
But the idea just keeps popping up in my head
>>7631756
Yeah, nah, don't do it. You're just going to end up losing a lot of money, with a few more greys, and very jaded. Work in an actual restaurant first, then come back to us.
>>7631032
You are not italian
>>7631773
You're prob right. But still...
>>7631350
theyre simple dishes you can make with premium ingredients for great results and happy customers. i never said these were my menu. but if you must know i work at a family owned restaurant in san francisco
Just get to work at Fazolis
OHHHHHH
>>7630974
On top of spaghetti...
>>7631807
Lol why do you say that?
>>7630974
Don't do it.
Like many of the other people ITT said. Don't do it. Cooking for pleasure is totally different with cooking for business. Are you up to handling the pressure? Do you have a good location? Do you have enough money to cover renovations, equipment and codes compliance? Do you have money to cover wages, bills and buying ingredients for at least 2-5 years of not breaking even? If no, then cook for pleasure only.
>Cacio e Pepe - linguini or pici
>Ravioli - Spinach and Ricotta (Better idea, change the filling weekly)
>Beef Ragu tagliatelle
>Carbonara with Rigatoni
>Fifth item should be something seasonal eg. Pasta alla norma,.
>>7631223
Linguini is superior.
>>7631955
When shit hits the fan majorly, don't say I didn't tell you so.
Opening a restaurant isn't the happy funtime you're picturing in your starry-eyed little head, it's serious work. It's not just cooking and choosing the menu like what you're thinking now.
>>7631215
Italian clocking in.
Listen to me, and listen fucking good, anon. If you want a good Italian restaurant, somewhere that people talk about and want to go, no matter how many menu items are on your dish, no matter how much free bottled water you dish out to suburban moms thinking it's close to the Olive Garden... One thing will help you succeed.
You or your chef had better be able to make a goddamn good tomato sauce.
>>7631215
why don't you just serve free tap water bottled water is disgusting
>>7630974
Are you italian? There's so much more to italian food than pasta mein neger. Explore the wonders of polenta.
>>7632598
>Do you have money to cover wages, bills and buying ingredients for at least 2-5 years of not breaking even?
said no startup ever, fuck off pessimistic sack of shit
>>7631258
Parents with enough taste to be eating at quality Italian restaurants aren't likely to have kids picky enough to be eating plain pasta and butter.
>>7630974
>Spagooder
>sea food/chicken alfredo
>Carbonara
>Lasagna
>Something fresh and veggie heavy
>>7631955
Going to fail/10
>>7635722
Pasta and butter isn't a damn menu item anywhere. You just shove that shit together if some shithead's kid wants it.
