MENUS, IN LIVING COLOR

Meetings & Conventions: Short Cuts November 1998 Current Issue
November 1998
Short Cuts:
MENUS, IN LIVING COLOR

"How do you describe a waterfall?" asks Peter Sherlock, executive chef at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. In essence, words can't do justice to a natural wonder like water cascading over a cliff - or one of Sherlock's gastronomic creations. So, The Fairmont has put all of its 300 banquet menu items on computer in full color. Such dishes as Muscovy duck with lavender-flavored Montrachet cheese, and medallions of Maine lobster with mild ancho and annato seed dressing are photographed with a digital camera and downloaded onto the hotel's computer network. Two weeks before a meeting, the banquet event order lists the function's menu, with a computer-image reference number attached to each course. The process is designed to let meeting planners see what they're ordering and also to provide a picture for the kitchen staff to duplicate. Planners can receive the images via e-mail and may modify the dishes through computer graphics to get exactly what they want.