If I was going to open a restaurant for picky eaters, what items should I put on the menu?

Distilled water.

Macaroni and cheese. Gluten free macaroni and cashew cheese. Chicken.

@talljasperman I was hoping you would answer. I will indeed put distilled water on the menu. What else would you like?

@zenvelo I actually make a gluten free mac and cheese at home (I’ve been using gluten free brown rice noodles which taste just like regular to me) but I don’t have a food processor, so I’ve yet to experiment with cashew cheese, although I have recipes saved. What kind of chicken do you think people would like? Do picky folks tend to like other types of chicken besides chicken nuggets?

“Gluten free macaroni and cashew cheese.”

* gag *

Chicken tenders and fried chicken.

@livelaughlove21 I was hoping you would stop by. What is your favorite food in the whole world. I’m expecting you to say meat, but what kind of meat or meat recipe do you love? Meatloaf? Fried chicken? Hamburgers? Carnitas? Just let me know, so we can add it to the menu.

@jonsblond Do the picky folks (especially kids) like those frozen chicken tenders that you can get at Costco, or does it need to be almost identical to Chicken McNuggets at McDonald’s? Fried chicken ought to work, although when I was a picky child, I hated fried chicken. Do you have a tried and true recipe?

Fresh lightly chilled ripe fruit (bananas and salted and peppered avocadoes. Vegetables with dip (broccoli and cauliflower)

Serve everything a la carte so people can choose what they want, how they want it cooked, etc. You can’t please everyone, but I have longed for such a restaurant.

You will need a replicator.

Any and all foods you would want in heaven, if there was such a place.

Some really good cheesecake.

Chicken alfredo seems to be a safe bet

Oh, I think you should have one of those places where the customer fills a bowl with the ingredients they like and then the ingredients are thrown on a round griddle and beat with a stick! lol

CRAB meat. I request CRAB MEAT. Not Krab meat. Pureed fish turned into Knox Blocks is not “crab meat”.

Calamari. I trust you not to use hog butt-hole substitute (per NPR).

Mashed potatoes.

Toast!

Boiled potatoes that have been mashed, @dappled_leaves? As opposed to boxed or bagged? Real butter and at least whole milk, please.

@ibstubro I am in total agreement, on all counts.

Baked chicken. My daughter loves when I bake chicken parts in a dish with Sunny D, baste or spoon juices at least twice.
Sometimes I use some plain baked chicken, cut bite size pieces, put in a skillet with garlic butter or garlic and butter, turn the heat all the way up, then as the butter bubbles, splash in some very chilled lemon juice. In seconds the reaction is; the flavors absorb into the chicken, brown crispy texture forms on chicken. Keep the pieces active for about 15 – 20 seconds, then turn off heat Mmm.
Chicken nuggets? There are way better nuggets to be had than McD’s.
Fish is a great go to, but often is done wrong. I used to get a baked flounder in Baltimore that if I were on death row would be my last meal request.
Mahi mahi, ahhhhhh, but over or under cooking should be punishable by law.

I was also going to say macaroni ‘n’ cheese; I’ve never met a picky eater who didn’t like it.

Pasta with marinara as well and I also agree about various chicken things…when my brother was a picky eater, these were the things he liked.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

My S/O is “not fond of” mac and cheese, @DominicX, and I was not fond of tomatoes for 20+ years, cooked tomato products, even longer. Hold your meat. >:-D I’m a veggie.

However, if you’d like to (real) butter/garlic/salt and Parmesan some noodles, I’ll feast.

O
M
G
I just saw that @Jonesn4burgers mentioned Mahi mahi. Jonesn4mahimahi. Slap ‘er on the grill!~

Some really good coffee. Nice and hot.

Grilled cheese sandwiches. Choose-a-cheese and real butter.
(Do you get the impression that I like butterbutter?)

Cinnamon toast, with POWDERED sugar, or, for those who can’t have spices, just sugared toast.
Omelets made to order cover almost everyone.
Chew Z Taste Buds too corny for a name?

Hot fudge sundaes

@jca, cheesecake? I say fifty varieties of cheesecake!

I want a generous helping of Stu, I mean, stew. ;-)

Tarragon
restaurant name, @Jonesn4burgers reminded us.
House of Kardamoms?
Frizzers

Exotic
“Adderwort to Zedoary”
“Our herbs sold here”

Sarcastic answer deleted by me. Waiting tables 2 years left me bitter and resentful.

Make the kid’s meal section the dinner entree section. Hamburgers, hot dogs, mac n cheese, chicken tenders, grilled cheese, pizza, pb&j, mozzarella sticks, and this may be risking it but meatloaf. Cereal if all else fails.

@Haleth I think @Kardamom is looking for the sarcastic answers here!

Hahaha…well, certainly not beets, peas, okra, cabbage, sweet breads, organ meats, head cheese, creamed corn, onions, etc. etc. etc.
I’d stick to toast.

Nothing but toast.
The toastess with the mostess. lol

Grilled Cheese and Fries
Chicken Strips and fries
Pizza

I’m super picky. But for me that comes from anxiety. It isn’t so much that I dislike the ingredients it is that I don’t like to roll the dice. Like if I order a bacon cheeseburger and ask for ketsup only I dissect the hell out of to make sure a pickle wasn’t snuck in. I do hate pickles.

So basically things where it is pretty much boring and you can see everything in it without dissecting the food on the plate.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0NdwzdOLkE ;-)

I would name your restaurant “Risky Business” since each picky eater has his or her own particular fetish, it would be next to impossible to come up with a menu suitable to filling the seats in the place.,

Name of said restaurant…The Spice Grills
You could then sing to your picky patrons, “so tell me what you want, what you really really want, I really really really wanna zigga zig ahh”

Hello. (tap tap) Is this thing on?

@Kardamom I don’t really have a favorite food, but cheeseburgers and fried chicken would do me just fine. Oh, and desserts! Any desserts will do.

PLAIN JANE’S
A Restaurant for the Choosiest of Eaters

All your favorite ingredients, prepared hot and fresh, just the way you like it.

No spice? No gluten? No sugar? No problem! At Plain Jane’s, we put your comfort in our food.

Join us on Sundays for our Bland Breakfast Buffet and be sure to ask about our custom Picky Party for your next birthday or event.

Note that all our comfortable and spacious restrooms are fully stocked with Tums, Mylanta, and Prilosec.

@cookieman, still cracking me up. :-P

@Jonesn4burgers: Ha! You laugh, but if @Kardamom decides to really open this joint, I’ll be ready to go with a marketing and branding plan. :^)

Pout, didn’t you even get a chuckle from Chew Z Taste Buds?
Well, anyway, I want to eat there when it opens. I’ll bring my own cimetidine though.

Chew Z is really funny.

Awwww, you say the sweetest things.

turkey fillets, fish and broccoli spaghetti, risotto and shrimp spaghetti are some of my favourite dishes. Ice-cream and millefeuille are also great!

I think you would need to open a restaurant for each picky eater since picky eaters are each picky in their own way!

Picky eaters IME tend to like really artificial or just unhealthy food. (I think this is part of the reason fast food places do so well)

Ding! Ding! Ding! I think we’ve got a winner with @cookieman‘s restaurant name Plain Jane’s.

I love the idea of the Bland Breakfast Buffet and the Picky Parties. OMG! That is too funny.

For those of you who mentioned toast as a menu item, I think that is absolutely perfect!

@ibstubro, I’m going to have a butter bar just for you.

@janbb I think you’re onto something too, maybe there would be separate sections, kind of like back when there was Smoking and Non-Smoking. There could be Vegetables and Non-Vegetables, Spicy and Non-Spicy, Mayonnaise and Non-Mayonnaise sections.

One of the reasons I asked this question, was because I was looking back to my own childhood. I was extremely picky. I would only eat spaghetti with butter and Parmesan cheese (no red sauce, no meat sauce, no pesto nor Alfredo sauce) peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches on white bread, cheese pizza (no other toppings) hot dogs (but not hamburgers) French fries (but not onion rings) no fish and no meat except white meat turkey at Thanksgiving and I would eat that processed, pressed lunch meat that comes in the square plastic packaging. The only veggies I would eat were lettuce, carrots and celery. Of course I liked macaroni and cheese, but it couldn’t be anything gourmet like we have today. I think I single handedly kept Kraft in business.

One of my cousins, who is a year older than me, recalls that one time when I went to spend the night with them, when I was about 4 or 5, I told her Mom, my Aunt, that I only ate ice.

I’m just glad I grew out of that phase.

@Kardamom But only crustless toast.

Don’t forget to have plates with separators so the different foods do not touch!

@LuckyGuy Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that!

I like this System that they have in Indian restaurants. You get one big metal tray and a bunch of these little metal bowls.

I want my food touching! As long as it’s all savory, I don’t care hot from cold…put some cheese on it and smother in gravy or ranch/blue cheese dressing.

At the top of the menu make a statement that each food is served on or in a separate dish. No mixing of juices or food touching!

I want crust on my toast, too. It’s the best part.

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s gonna be a bumpy dine!

@ibstubro You’re not picky though, silly. I think you’d eat anything that I would prepare. What are you hungry for today?

Pasta salad sounds good, and cooling, @Kardamom. Let’s keep the cheese on the top for now. I want to taste it when I bite in. Nothing sweet?