davidkaneda:

Author William Poundstone dissects the marketing tricks built into Balthazar’s menu, as well as some of the general lingo behind menu design:

“A puzzle is high-profit but unpopular; a plowhorse is the opposite, popular yet unprofitable. Consultants try to turn puzzles into stars, nudge customers away from plowhorses, and convince everyone that the prices on the menu are more reasonable than they look.”

I’m an obvious fan of Balthazar, since my lovely Elsbeth makes all their tasty baked goods ;-) But come to think of it, the worst menu designs must be by Chinese restaurants—so many items, seeming uniformity from one Chinese restaurant to the next, and the unidentifiable grease stains…oh my.