Opening new venue soon. Favourite uncommon bar food suggestions wanted! (1 Viewer)

[Señor Tony]

Hi everyone,

My latest venue is opening in a few months and our chef has started developing the menu. It is a smaller capacity (140) double floor bar and live music venue. Basement floor is a piano bar with plenty of intimate seating. Upper level has small stage that will host full live bands, some booths and bar tables along with bar seating and the remainder standing room. We do have foot path dining licence but not sure if we will put tables and chairs outside yet. It will mostly be used to allow patrons to legally move between floors with open drinks.

Weeknights are focused on free entry local acts and weekends will focus on paid entry interstate and international acts. Paid entry artists are mostly ex-members of now broken up or retired famous bands from the 60's - 00's.

Hit me with your favourite uncommon, unusual or just plain tasty bar foods. Going for more finger and share foods rather than knife and fork type stuff.

Pictures help and if you have a favourite of something basic like fries let me know what makes it specials: seasoning, dips etc.

Thanks in advance

 

[detroitdad]

Deep Fried pickles is the first thing that comes to mind. I could probably make this list 25 items long. We love bar food!

 

[BEANO52]

HERE is a long list of appetizers served from a bar and grill in our area. They're famous for this.

 

[Señor Tony]

HERE is a long list of appetizers served from a bar and grill in our area. They're famous for this.

Thanks for the suggestion, I checked out their menu and Instagram. I'd love to see their fryer setup, it must get worked hard! I hope they use fryers with in built filtration.

 

[JustDave]

Assuming you are actually in AUS, right? I wonder how many things translate as what may be uncommon for a lot of us may be common there.

Warm Pretzels with Beer Cheese - Make the Pretzels longer and thin like small baguettes
Nachos, Tacos, Mini Burritos
Anything on a stick - chicken, steak, vegetable. Seriously, if you can cut it thin and thread it onto a skewer and grill it quickly, I'd eat it.
Corndogs or mini corndogs. Korean style Corndogs in particular are rare in the US but very popular.
Scotch Eggs

 

[Señor Tony]

Assuming you are actually in AUS, right? I wonder how many things translate as what may be uncommon for a lot of us may be common there.

Warm Pretzels with Beer Cheese - Make the Pretzels longer and thin like small baguettes
Nachos, Tacos, Mini Burritos
Anything on a stick - chicken, steak, vegetable. Seriously, if you can cut it thin and thread it onto a skewer and grill it quickly, I'd eat it.
Corndogs or mini corndogs. Korean style Corndogs in particular are rare in the US but very popular.
Scotch Eggs

Yep, Brisbane. Don't know what a Korean style corn dog is but I will check it out.

I like the sound of scotch eggs and beer cheese as a dip for something! Thanks

 

[JustDave]

I wonder if people would like Pimento cheese...

 

[Señor Tony]

My Dad's side of family is Spanish so for sure going to have some vague tapas style influences.

My initial thoughts on some potential menu items. I attached some random images for inspiration to take to my chef next week.

• Croquetas of some sort are a must although I generally prefer potato based rather than Spanish style bechamel based.
• Spicy duck taquitos with habanero pineapple salsa
• Skin on fries with multiple house dipping sauces
• Corn ribs
• Cheese curds (novelty and rare in Australia)
• Polenta or chickpea fries
• Devilled eggs
• Small empanadas/Brazilian pastel type hand pie things
• Queso fundido or queso dip with fun textural toppings. Spicy chorizo, pickled red onions, coriander etc

 

[Señor Tony]

I wonder if people would like Pimento cheese...

I could see a dip like this working really well with a spicier red padron pepper! Thanks for suggestion.

 

[buffalojim]

Deep Fried pickles is the first thing that comes to mind. I could probably make this list 25 items long. We love bar food!

Had these for the first time recently, loved them. I'm a fan of the deep fried onion or blooming onion. It wall take 7 years off your life but those are the shitty years at the end anyway.

 

[dkellerd]

Tuna tartare with chips is upscale and easy if you have good fish there. And people can eat it first without ruining their ability to get drunk since it’s light.

 

[JustDave]

My Dad's side of family is Spanish so for sure going to have some vague tapas style influences.

My initial thoughts on some potential menu items. I attached some random images for inspiration to take to my chef next week.

• Croquetas of some sort are a must although I generally prefer potato based rather than Spanish style bechamel based.
• Spicy duck taquitos with habanero pineapple salsa
• Skin on fries with multiple house dipping sauces
• Corn ribs
• Cheese curds (novelty and rare in Australia)
• Polenta or chickpea fries
• Devilled eggs
• Small empanadas/Brazilian pastel type hand pie things
• Queso fundido or queso dip with fun textural toppings. Spicy chorizo, pickled red onions, coriander etc

Menu looks amazing.

I wasn't familiar with Spanish food until my wife started working for a small spanish wine importer and we'd get together with their family a few times a year for events. I absolutely fell in love. Croquetas as a particular favorite and can just be done so many ways, jamon, chicken, cheese, potato. Really easy as bar food as they fry quickly(at least in america where the vast majority of bar food is gonna be fried). My wife had an italian style croquete the other day at a pizza place that was much bigger than the normal spanish ones, almost as large as a tenis ball, so she needed a fork for it, but she liked it a lot.

Fries in different dipping sauces are great. Do you all have tots? Are sweet potato fries a thing in AUS? I think they are starting to take off in the UK where people love them or hate them.

 

[JustDave]

Sorry for posting a lot, I'm fasting to get some blood work done this morning and waiting for the testing site to open so I'm just thinking about food.

Roasted cauliflower chunks are great too. You can get a ton of flavor with just some oil and spices.

Can't do spanish anything without potatoes bravas.

Both may make you think 'that needs a fork' but we have had them at times with just a bunch of toothpicks and they work great.

 

[dmoney]

Going for more finger and share

Good luck with your new venture!

 

[SteveEH]

Potato skins. Thin and crispy (some places don't scoop enough of the inside of the potato out), real bacon bits, scallions/chives, and a better dip than plain sour cream/ranch. A 50/50 sour cream and ranch combo is pretty good actually.

Buena suerte, señor!

 

[Machine]

Scotch Eggs - great bar food!
Beef Jerky - hard to find, simple to make, if you want to deep dive look up Alton Brown's content, really cool old episode of Good Eats
Candied Bacon - there are different types, basically you can make it in an oven
Chicken Tenders with a quality hot sauce, or honey mustard, and / or ranch (not all together)
At SQM these two dudes introduced me to French bread with hummus and hot sauce, it was really good

 

[Bill_Man618]

Hi everyone,

My latest venue is opening in a few months and our chef has started developing the menu. It is a smaller capacity (140) double floor bar and live music venue. Basement floor is a piano bar with plenty of intimate seating. Upper level has small stage that will host full live bands, some booths and bar tables along with bar seating and the remainder standing room. We do have foot path dining licence but not sure if we will put tables and chairs outside yet. It will mostly be used to allow patrons to legally move between floors with open drinks.

Weeknights are focused on free entry local acts and weekends will focus on paid entry interstate and international acts. Paid entry artists are mostly ex-members of now broken up or retired famous bands from the 60's - 00's.

Hit me with your favourite uncommon, unusual or just plain tasty bar foods. Going for more finger and share foods rather than knife and fork type stuff.

Pictures help and if you have a favourite of something basic like fries let me know what makes it specials: seasoning, dips etc.

Thanks in advance

Dude if you're doing anything related to brunch you've gotta make Millionaires Bacon (maybe different name there?). Get a thick cut slab of bacon and cook it, then you coat it in brown sugar, and then finally you put it in a salamander for about 2-3 mins to get the sugar crispy. Insanely good and if you're doing bloody mary's it would also be a good garnish. My dads a good chef and traveled a lot of work around the world so he can whip up some insanely good eats. If you want some of his favorite bar food recommendations I can see if he has some. Most of the stuff he cooks is on par or better than what I'd expect from a high end restaurant.

Also if you're serving breakfast please please please make your own bacon. It will significantly improve the quality of it. I've had really nice store bought bacon and then homemade bacon and every person who tried the homemade bacon told me it was "the best bacon they'd had in their life" so it's prolly worth it to get that feedback from customers.

 

[Bill_Man618]

Oh and that menu looks so so good!

 

[buzzmonkey]

Not a finger food, but can't go wrong with some Poutine. French fried potatoes, cheese curds, and some brown gravy. It can be tailored to local ingredients so whatever your local potatoes, cheese curd and animal gravy choices are.

And then if you want some sweets you can make Whoopie Pies ahead of time and just wrap them to sell at the counter:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10016/whoopie-pies-i/

 

[sheikh617]

Pretzel bites with some kind of queso or beer cheese. I will order this anywhere I go and so don't my friends!

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Don't know what a Korean style corn dog is but I will check it out.

I'm hoping these are different than the one I bought from a street vendor in Korea several years ago. It was basically an undersalted hot dog dipped in a bland flour-based batter, rolled in panko, and deep fried.

I had lots of wonderful food on that trip, but this was not good.

 

[inapinch]

That Buffalo chicken dip recipe that used to be printed (maybe still is?) on Frank’s red hot sauce was always a crowd fav for several events I’ve attended

 

[BPTDirector]

Mini egg rolls with peanut sauce
Toasted ravioli with marinara
Bacon wrapped mini sausages with bbq sauce

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Get a thick cut slab of bacon and cook it

Yeah, I'm with you.

then you coat it in brown sugar

Sounds amazing so far.

and then finally you put it in a salamander for about 2-3 mins to get the sugar crispy.

Um... wat?

I thought this was a weird autocorrect that I couldn't figure out, or you were using small amphibians to finish your bacon.

TIL that a salamander is a commercial broiler.

 

[CDC]

Tuna tartar with advocado on crackers.

Spam fries

Patatas Bravas

All very easy to prepare!

 

[Bill_Man618]

Yeah, I'm with you.


Sounds amazing so far.


Um... wat?

I thought this was a weird autocorrect that I couldn't figure out, or you were using small amphibians to finish your bacon.

TIL that a salamander is a commercial broiler.

Haha yeah its a commercial broiler. When we remodeled the kitchen my Dad took the microwave out and told us we were getting a steam oven/salamander as well. 10/10 would recommended it. Only other grub I recommend is something called Pulled Bacon Hash. You can do with that information what you wish it is single handedly the best food I've ever had to date. I'm not gonna share the recipe though since its a family secret. But it involves pulled bacon and hash browns. You use the pulled bacon instead of corned beef.

 

[buzzmonkey]

Pulled Bacon Hash.

This sounds like a sex act Taco from The League would try.

 

[Defarse]

Spring rolls in rice wrapper with Thai peanut sauce

 

[Bill_Man618]

This sounds like a sex act Taco from The League would try.

I mean if the sex act led to sex as good as the food they’d prolly make books on it.

 

[philhut]

Pulled pork sundaes!

Pulled pork, mashed potatoes and bbq sause. Garnish with bacon and cheese.

"Dessert for Men"