Scrivenings of the King-Beyond-The-Wall

Giovanni's #1

If I opened a restaurant, I would want to open a casual lunch place that serves five-star food with global influences. I hate it when fancy restaurants are only open for dinner, and I would want a fine dining experience for the lunch crowd, complete with takeout and delivery options for nearby customers who can’t make it to the restaurant or don’t want to wait for a table.

I get bored with the same cuisine all the time, so my menu would feature selections from all over the world. I’d probably change it up all the time, but I think it would be amazing to have international dishes featured alongside one another. Instead of a list of appetizers, sandwiches, entrees, etc., I would arrange the menu by geographical location. For example, I’d have sections for South American fare, European cuisine, Asian food options, and African selections. Each section would have small bites, entrees, etc. so no matter what you were in the mood for, you could find something to eat that strikes your fancy.

If this restaurant were going to reflect my personal tastes, I would want it to have a lot of different sandwich options, a couple of salads, and some easy-to-carry-out entrees like bowls and one-pot meals (stews, hearty soups, etc.). I’m also a huge fan of appetizers and small bites, so I imagine the menu would have a lot of options along these lines, for people who arrive not terribly hungry, or want to do a tasting menu of a lot of different options from all over the world.

Understanding that would be incredibly expensive to have to maintain all the variety of ingredients from around the world, and that you’d need a staff trained or hired that can cook a variety of cuisines, I’d want a large restaurant and kitchen that could also serve as an event space that could be rented out during evenings for wedding receptions, office parties, birthdays, etc. Combined with a small catering operation could give us the diverse income needed to support the restaurant and its staff. I’d also consider some kind of a short order window or cafe option to remain open when the dining room isn’t, so people would feel welcome to come outside of meal service times.

I’d want to open the restaurant in my current area (Orange County, California), both to get a diverse menu out to new clientele and because, selfishly, I’ve been doing a long commute for all the twenty-plus years of my professional career. I’d like to have a workplace near my home for once!

I’m not sure what the name of my restaurant would be, but probably something international-sounding that highlights the fact that you can find all kinds of different cuisines under one roof. A local celebrity chef (he was on multiple seasons of Top Chef) opened a restaurant called just “Food Hall” and something like that would be an easy way to identify all the different options you could get at my new restaurant.


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Prompt: If you opened a restaurant, what kind of restaurant would you open?