The Great Pare-Down

Why have restaurant menus gotten so simple?

- CHRIS CROWLEY

POTATOES ARE PROBABLY not P the first ingredient you think of when you imagine items that could quickly bankrupt an otherwise successful restaurant, but chances are good that you do not purchase 50 pounds of potatoes every week. Chef Matt Le-Khac, who owns the Vietnamese restaurant Bolero in Williamsburg, does, so when he noticed the price of his preferred fingerling potatoes shooting up, he knew he needed to do something fast. This past spring, a case of the long, knobbly potatoes might have cost Le-Khac about $50. "But in June, it was up to $121," he says.

"That's unsustainable." The reason: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the world's third-largest producer of potatoes, which, when combined with Russia itself, is responsible for 10 percent of the global spud supply. Suddenly, there were far fewer potatoes to go around, and Le-Khac made the decision to remove them from his restaurant's $30 plates of shaken beef.

It's a minor tweak, one that most diners would never notice, but it's also a sign of larger problems that continue to threaten the entire restaurant industry. Chefs have always had to worry about what's known as production. It's not enough to have an idea for a great appetizer; someone must also figure out how to execute and replicate that idea, often hundreds of times per night, while simultaneously ensuring that it doesn't disrupt any of the 1,000 other details that cooks must consider during service. Now, with chefs beset by skyrocketing prices and ongoing labor shortages, the usual way of doing business is untenable. To cope, restaurants have slashed menus, simplified garnishes, and introduced streamlined recipes that can be sent out to dining rooms immediately-that is, if they can find enough cooks to hire in the first place.